Transition to the end game.....

[SsSam]

So, I've reached the point where I'm not totally lost in a MP game.

I'm reasonably competitive over the first half - 2/3 of the game, but there are things I just don't do well at all. I can get out to a good (sometimes even great) start. I play competently as thugs and SC's start to dominate the battlefield.

And then the wheels fall off. Somebody has wish, or more than half the elemental royalty and I fall out of the pack to obscurity.
I don't have the national mages to counter the big stuff and my pretender was designed to get me to a bit start.

How do YOU handle the transition from mid game to late game? How do you PLAN for that?