You were one of the first, talking against this tactician mode and saying that the early phase is only doable with a lot cheesing around? You even invented new cheese tactics for it.
That was my first impression and I will still say that the mode will leave a very bad impression, mainly because mages are absolutely crap on level 1 - 4 with no item support and minimal skill. All the ridiculously useful one are locked behind Tier 2 or Tier 3 on Geo/Hydro that when used well, completely wins all non-boss fights.
I gave it a few more hours and I was willing to change and accept that the mode was actually decent and fun compared to classic where I rekted everything with my brain turned off.
Also, I never used any of the cheese I found. I was just messing around to find it for the lol because as a programmer, trying to imagine the way other people code their game and certain function and finding loopholes is just another fun of mine. I'm playing the game completely normal with min-max build. Every encounter can be cleared because they are more of a puzzle with very obvious answer.
