I think that how he has it now, he gets more aether faster than if it was mark. The upped bonus is quite effective, and outweighs the mark for a fast deck, which this is supposed to be. You are right about a faster singularity though, but unless he gets 3 pends first turn, he has to wait until turn 2 anyway, which is not much faster than turn 3, especially if you can spam faster TU's.