The Conjuration skill has a relatively cheap upgrade. But recruiting angels costs 20,000 gold. Most likely, phoenixes and angels will become available in the same week. However, horses will appear later, after level 6 of the Conjuration skill, because the money was directly spent on recruiting angels. And the first turn of the phoenixes is terrifying. With a single phoenix, you attack the entire castle army, hitting the angels with an explosion, and then bribe your way out. You might get caught and put in shackles, but on fixed maps, this is often disabled, and it doesn't happen that often on random maps either. You can test it out, even sacrificing a phoenix to do so. And in a battle between full armies, it's not always necessary to cast Haste or Slow on the first turn, because the opponent might have the counter-spell. Often, it turns into a battle of nerves, where each player tries to cast the spell first, and in this case, the first turn (and the last turn in a drawn-out battle) of the phoenixes can often be decisive. In general, the Castle faction has many strong points. And also, about the heroes. The Warriors in both castles are roughly equal. But the Mages of Conflux are stronger. They have magical stats of 3.3, and Wisdom is accompanied by some kind of secondary magic skill, which is good for combat.