Right now I'm spoiled for choice with Mages though they are all gold or silver. All my other units its either a case of I only have 1-3 so I run with what I have or duelists where I run the best one from the class I have.

These are the mages I have right now :

Mehlis 50CC41
Valerie 50CC43
Pallis 20, 15, 6
Barbie 1
Cyrus 1 (lucky shrine roll - yay for saving DCs)

What I am looking at is where to go for Mage #3. Until I get any platinum (or if I get lucky black) mages I think Valerie and Mehlis will do the job.

I am considering Pallis because even though she is silver she is female. Affection items are a lot easier to acquire than booze. Also Cyrus and Barbie look similar so I'm unsure who to choose even if I went with one of them.

Or would I be better off just going with 2 mages and adding to them when a platinum option comes along? My witch stocks are decent (Despara 50CC40, Cloris 50CC30, Calliope 30, 20, 1) and I have Charlotte 50CC40 and Horace 50 so I can cover ranged magic attacks fairly well.