[ano]

Astral golem is not that ultimate SC and maybe even not sc at all. It is rather vulnerable in fact even to good troops. And it is no better than well equipped sneaking raiding thugs who ruin your day. These guys also can hardly be dealt with and no one says it is bad.
As for AI algorithm, I think it is just fine because I was one of those people who liked leaving the whole enemy army without gems with a sudden magical attack (Call of the Winds the most often) in Dom PPP. It was a common tactic those days.
And as you could see, I'm not arguing about AI algorithm in general, just about one spell (or two, taking VoR into account) which is indeed very different from any other.