I've been playing a hybrid Shielding Swordmage/Wizard for a couple levels and he is fantastic.
Swordmage loses almost nothing as a hybrid, and his defender mechanic fires off as an immediate action... so I can spend my minor action marking a target, (or targets, I'm level 13 now), my standard action throwing some wizard controller spell, and then later in the round I can likely use my immediate action to reduce the damage an ally takes.
It's a powerful combination of Defender/Controller, and both roles can be executed every round, versus most other hybrids choosing which role they'll use their standard action on.
Swordmage loses almost nothing as a hybrid, and his defender mechanic fires off as an immediate action... so I can spend my minor action marking a target, (or targets, I'm level 13 now), my standard action throwing some wizard controller spell, and then later in the round I can likely use my immediate action to reduce the damage an ally takes.
It's a powerful combination of Defender/Controller, and both roles can be executed every round, versus most other hybrids choosing which role they'll use their standard action on.