@thelee Tactician/Skaen is fine, most time waste lies in the route usually.
Difference between Bloodmage and Tactician is mainly the early game, there is some cool stuff BM can do late, which Tactician can't but for the most part their difference comes down to Tactician getting easier brilliant and BM getting easier Mind over matter (which is mostly useful for the dlcs).
Yes the BM has a lot of spells, but at the end of the day high level Storm of Holy Fire often is all you need.
I do agree BM seems stronger overall, my point is just the time a run takes should not be shorter with a BM, since buffing just takes longer in general.
(which is partially negated by the fact once you have mom you can keep SOTing during combat).
The amount of time traveling takes makes a perfect route jsut by far the biggest factor.