Well, if I see that I do have an aggressive build, it is often better for me to take the initiative by attacking first, and attacking hard. I will usually run to the near center, and cast battle forge. The next round, I will full round a gorgon, and then face down a zone trap enchant in that zone. And then you use position control and large boulders to strategically cut the aggressive mages life total down by large chunks at a time, while making them incredibly weak. Iron golem if you really need, and you have the two rounds for the mage dropping back to heal up. and then it's just beat down to the win.