LA Marignon Questions

[Legendary League]

I have a couple questions about LA Marignon, for an upcoming (newbie!) game that I'll be hosting. Keep in mind I'll be using the newest CBM, so any advice on how Mary changes from vanilla would be helpful!

First off, I've seen alot of guides recommending either a Baphomet F9S9 bless for flagellants or an awake SC (usually an E4 Cyclops or a Moloch). Since I am leaning towards the second route, wouldn't an A?S4 Virtue be a viable choice (allowing Mary to leverage into Astral and Air, since they already have high blood/fire)? Also in my test runs, and having a Dom10 (expecting to face an Ermor, R'lyeh, and Ulm in game, so sort of mandatory+blood sacrifice) the Virtue clears indies mindlessly (air shield, twist fate, +7 Awe), and can be empowered later in fire to start summoning Seraphs when necessary. I understand the Cyclops SC would give me a reinvig bless to my mages (otoh, I have reinvig through blood), and the Moloch can be used for early soul contracts/lifelong protections, but would a Virtue be an wise tradeoff? Additionally, how worth it is the production scale to Marignon, and how has the recent CBM changes affected the growth scale (mathematically: I know the base bonus has been nerfed and the growth rate increased)?

Also, a quick question about sailing: does it work with move 1 units (and hence make Mary infantry remotely usable), or do you need to be at least move 2 to utilize it?

Thanks!