I don't know how both of you play your mage, but from my observation mage class is inclined towards using single stack unit. Most peoples play mage like that. Armies are for warrior and paladin.
And the best dragon for mage is emerald, not black nor red, emerald dragon + invisible works best with mage (that's one of cheap tactic beside eviln+BK or BD+spells), because mage has the highest mana, can cast more than 1 spell/turn, their offensive spells are the most dmg ing (due to having highest int), also must be remembered that high lv offensive spell need very high mana (again, it's mage expertise).
I don't know why your entire stack got killed by 24k astral dmg with 70% astral resistance, that 24k astral dmg should become a joke with 70% astral resistance coupled with caution 3 (any class can take it, all my mages always have caution 3), if you have holy armor 3 triggered, just laugh at their dmg.
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