Checking Wiki, i've read that next Mages should be Sorcerer and Illusionist...
For Sorcerer: i hope non-Dark related Mage (we have Warlock & Necro here), or maybe Arcane + LVL 1 Dark, with no holy & no nature limitation.
As special perk, maybe he could cast ('X' times per game) a full action attack as a quick action, but paying more mana (Lvl of attack)...
For Illusionist? Air and Mind, i think. And an ability like innate Defense (6+, 1x) that costs -1 channel each time is used ( "a la Mirror Images").
CYA
Gigi