[Valerius]

I was beaten to the punch in suggesting fire and ice, EA Abysia and EA Niefelheim. Some things they have in common: good to excellent sacred troops and commanders that work well with an Earth 9/Nature 6 bless, immunity to their respective elements, heat and chill aura's, access to blood magic.

EA Aby's Burning Ones attack opponents in several ways: two hard hitting attacks per round (even more so when they go berserk), a fire shield that will harm opponents when they attack the Burning One (I think they are the only recruitable troop with this ability), and a heat aura that will fatigue opponents (fatigue increase the chances of a critical hit). Anointed of Rhuax are thuggable commanders and will let you experiment with that aspect of the game.

Niefel Giants aren't as good at inflicting damage as Burning Ones but they don't have to be. With their high HP they will be able to hang in there until their stacked chill auras do their job. Once the opponent is fatigued they become easier to hit and giants hit plenty hard. Even if they never hit the opponent, eventually the chill aura will go from fatiguing the opponent to killing them. If you use these take note of the effect of the chill aura on opponents - it really is a powerful weapon and can fatigue opponents without cold resistance frighteningly quickly. But Niefelheim's star is the Niefel Jarl - plain and simple they are recruitable SCs. They are well equipped for crowd control with a chill aura just like Niefel Giants and capable of casting Soul Vortex which will both damage opponents and heal/reinvigorate the caster.

Since both these nations are immune to their elements feel free to cast Falling Fires/Falling Frost without worrying about harming your own troops. Also, cast Heat from Hell and Grip of Winter to tire opponents (if possible precede the battle with a casting of Wolven Winter to make Grip of Winter even more effective).

Now while these two nations share some attributes they are actually on opposite ends of the power curve. Their respective access to blood is a good example. EA Aby's blood access is through a capitol only mage; Niefel has recruit everywhere blood mages. Who can transform into a wolf shape that is perfectly capable of killing SCs. Or once Blood 9 is researched just cast them into hell. But regardless of the power differences between them both these nations will give you an opportunity to experiment with blood magic. Note that in the case of Abysia you'll want to empower a nature mage in blood so you can forge Jade Knives. Give these to your sacred mages and you'll see the power of blood sacrificing in pushing dominion (note: selecting a high dominion when designing your pretender and using the strongest priests you have are very helpful in this process).

Lastly, both these nations lend themselves to a strong bless (though they don't *have* to be played that way). MA Ulm and Man don't (though you can make a case for the latter if you play using the CBM mod) - in those cases look for your pretender to provide good scales and magic diversity. When designing a pretender you can get varying combinations of bless, scales, magic diversity and combat ability. Try different nations and different approaches to see what you enjoy most.

Anyway, welcome and have fun!