Reiter
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Exactly, it's about playing against NEUTRAL factions. And if a well-developed hero appears, for example, from the Castle. On the first turn, Archu casts Slow, and that's it (and the swamp hero will be very unlucky if he doesn't have air magic with Haste, that's the only thing that can save them). By the way, Tazar has a very low chance of dropping air magic (1, while mages have 6). But scouting, pathfinding, ballistics, navigation, and shooting have a higher chance of appearing on a hero (7-8).
From personal experience, I know that there are many ways to overcome the apparent obstacles you described. And some players, when I played online, have used them in practice more than once. But, since your experience suggests otherwise, I won't argue - what's the point?