No, the Paladin is not a Knight or a Soldier (his subclass is Ivarium and his type is Human), so he does not benefit from special effects that target either type of creature.  I believe that you would gain Valor if your Challenged enemy attacked a guard instead of you and, yes, your Challenged enemy is not obligated to attack during a turn (it could Guard and, if it just has a full round attack, would never generate Valor), but you can always pay 2 Valor to return the Challenge Marker.

Wouldn't Eagle Wings interfere with the Trample ability of the elephant?

Meditation Amulets require full actions to use, so I do not particularly see how that is much better, since you are not moving while you generate mana.  It is also quite a target for a Dissolve if they see you using it each turn.  Anyway, you are still having to stay in the back with your Temple since you are not summoning creatures with your Mage, and Priestesses lose if they turtle (something silverclawgrizzly taught me during our first few months of playing).

Never have had much a challenge from anyone using a spawnpoint since I stopped using one (with the exception of the Necromancer with the book, which has to be the best spawnpoint in the game).  I will generally have creature superiority by turn one and mana superiority by turn two.   

It says reveal at the beginning of the roll dice step.  If the attack is canceled or avoided before rolling dice, the necessary condition is not met for mandatory reveal, so the card should not be revealed.

If you are going the Divine Intervention route, it is often better to use it on the enemy mage after you have established a bunch of heavy hitters (like a few Knights of Westlock or a couple of other heavy hitters).  I generally prefer using a Teleport followed by a Divine Intervention, so I can yank them back with the Divine Intervention if they run.  With four Kinght of Westlock, you an get 8 hits at 5+ dice each, which will cause most mages to whimper and die, especially if you have spent your time destroying their protective equipment and enchantments.

And no one says that you cannot modify a netbook.  For example, I would never play most of the netbooks that people post because I do not like the lack of creatures (I prefer to have 3-4 creatures on the board all of the time, meaning that I need a minimum of 6-8 creatures in a spellbook to tolerate attrition).

I agree.  With my books, I tend to run 8-12 level 3-4 creatures (the Necromancer and the Druid being the exceptions), so I just hardcast them.  With 13-14 Channeling, you can usually get a large creature out every other turn.