Mage

Overview

A mage builds solely mage towers, which create mages, and uses those mages to cast spells to create cash via Tree of Gold (ToG) or food via Cornucopia (Corn).
If food is available on the Public Market (Pub) it is usually advantageous to cast ToG and buy off Pub.
You will need to rely on Pub for troops as well, as the two primary mage races do not have a Black Market bonus.

Races and Era

Elf and Drow are the two pure mage races, with their large buffs to Magic and Energy.
However hybrid strategies using a race like Tengu or even Gnome can be viable.

Elf is more production focused and has a slight edge over Drow in resource creation. Drow is more offense focused and will have an easier time attacking and defending, while still having decent resource creation capabilities.

The Past Era has the best mana buff and is the era of choice.

Structures

You'll want to aim for 100% Mage Towers
As a mage, your mages provide for all your resource needs, though initially 5 - 10% farms can be helpful as you build up your base of mages.

Using Turns

1. Wait for 360 turns.
   There are select times when it's advantageous to run before hitting 360, but waiting for 360 gives you the most turns to use the land you gather.
2. Attack for land.
   While attacking your health is reduced, as a mage it can be advantageous to use Meditate or Heal to get back to 100% health
3. Build Mage Towers.
   As a mage this is it, your one structure that does it all.
4. Repeat step #2 and #3 until you have a decent chunk of land
   Some will use all 30 available attacks, but there are diminishing returns to gathering every last scrap of land you can.
5. While you were attacking and using Meditate to heal you've been gathering a stockpile of Mana. Now's the time to use it, cast ToG (while watching how much food you have!) and make some cash.
6. Use the money earned from ToG to purchase some food and military units from the Public Market, and stockpile the rest in your bank for next run.