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Major Whirl, if you manage to secure the leadership, there will be no need for a trade. With empathy and dedication, the mage casts spells much more often than the enemy. He simply dominates. In the single-player campaign, I spent a lot of money on leadership for Zehir. No enemy, including Biara, cast a single spell.
However, in a game against human players, I'm unlikely to spend many turns in a row investing in the mentor without building anything in the castle. By the time you get the leadership, they will come and defeat you.
Currently, in the original campaign in version 3.0, the first witch encountered in the 2nd mission gave Zehir leadership.