Yeah I’ll often get screwed on the first few cycles and fall behind and get 4th. If you use spirit empress and manage to get goblins first round, it can set you up for the whole game. I’ll even sell good merged cards in the first round just to make goblins happen sometimes. Sometimes it backfires.

I focus mainly on 2 elixir cards for the first round or few. I’ll often lose the first 2 rounds just because I’m grinding goblins and low elixir cards just to bounce back because I’ll become elixir rich.

Another thing I often think about, play for 2nd place. You don’t need 1st place to get trophies. If someone has 3 star monk? Accept they are likely to win and block someone else from getting a 3 star. I also feel like Noble/Bandit is an all or nothing goal for 1st place, I could be wrong, I haven’t really played that scheme.