New Player question - taking out Oceania

[K]

Tuidjy said:
Let me ask you this. You ranked Air Higher than water underwater. All other
things being equal, would you rather have, underwater
A) One A4, three A3, five A2, ten A1, and one W4 mage and a bunch of troops or
B) One W4, three W3, five W2, ten W1, and one A4 mage and a bunch of troops
Assume that the SC/Thug/wimp ratios are constant.

If you went with the Air heavy option, consider what your guys would do to a
Water based SC wearing a Charcoal Shield and a Ring of Shock Resistance.

That's a bad example that heavily favors Water magic for the following reasons.

1. Your SC is deliberately immune to most low-level Air magic. That heavily skews any comparison, so we can't even pretend it's fair.

2. The best air magic requires communions or more powerful Air casters. One Mists of Deception would kill this guy for only a few gems in cost, but your example won't allow that.

Heck, since we aren't even talking about a specific SC, he might even be vulnerable to Wind Ride.

3. There is no further information on the SC. If he's a Neifel Yarl, an Ice Devil, or one of the many classic undead SCs like a Wraith Lord or Bane Lord, he's actually more immune to Water magic because of Cold Immunty (with the exception of Water Strike, which is both feeble and inaccurate).

Overall, Air compares better than Water because:

A. In combat, you are far more likely to encounter cold-resistant or cold-immune troops than lightning immune troops. Both are essentially single target attack suites, but Air wins handily on this point.

B. Higher level Air battlefield spells win battles. Fog Warriors and Mists of Deception have no equal in Water magic.

C. Most battle magic for Water requires Cold to be truly effective, so you need to burn heavy amounts of Water gems for Wolven Winters or just get lucky with a Cold opponent. If you have a Heat opponent, it's a bad day for you.

D. Low level Air magic makes good SCs as well. Mist Form and Mirror Image can't be replicated by items, so casters who do Air instead of Water have the best of both worlds since the good Water magic can be gained by items.