I have (finally!) made my pretender. Thank you to all those who read / participated.
here are the options I seriously considered. Let me know which you think closest to optimal. Also guess which I actually chose.
Map is AsiaTwist 19 nations site freq 60.
Wyrm no magic. awake. for waterstomping regenerating poison immune goodness.
Phoenix f4a4 dormant. just in time for fire arrow rush.
Oracle: always popular for scalewhoring efficiency. s4 imp gives +13 scales s6 +12 s9 +9 scales all at Dom8!
Sacred statue. one scale less than oracle, in exchange for better stats (though not slots) and amphibious.
Mother of rivers, w9 Dom5 imp leaves you +7 scales. Awake is -1/-2 scales but expands shockingly well.
Lady of fortune considered several imp setups. w9s9 dom 10 (-4 scales) to w9s4 dom 7 (+4 scales)
Jade Emperor considered several imp configs from a4s4w4 dom 6 (+9 scales) to a9s9w9 (don't ask)
Cyclops for e9 for sacred mages. he needs either f1 or dom3 back, or a price reduction to be competitive IMHO
Lord of Plenty everything from s4e4 to s9e9 (curiously the nerf of his gem production made him much less attractive even with *much* less to do with earth gems.)
Does he have a luck effect similar to the Lady of Fortune?
Crone, various setup based around s4d4n4(?1) for endgame options and site searching/path expanding fun. +6 scales Dom 6 dormant, before further adds.
Titan a9s4 dom7 dormant for lightning immune sacreds with a little something for the magery.
Looked at the dragons, but Dom1 really hurts them. I think they may need a buff.
I am impressed with the way 1.7 always leaves you a tiny bit short of further synergy. With 3 more points to spend I would have chosen differently.
