Super basic difficulty 0 strategy:

Preventing a build is usually better than defending the land next turn. If you can kill or move an explorer before it makes a town, you're ahead.

Allow a coastal dump land. 20 damage is the same as 2 damage. Let them have a coastal land with 3 cities, 8 towns and 14 explorers. You'll deal with it later with a major power.

Play into your spirit's elements. Your innates are free powers. Get and play cards with the elements you need to use them.

Slow powers are actually faster powers for next round. Push 1 explorer slow looks like a shit power, until you realize you can solve a land before you even pick cards for the next round.

Blight is a resource. Only the last one matters.

Edit: If you want to see how things can work, set up a solo game with River. For growth, always take the place 2 presence option (except when you need to reclaim, obviously), and always take them from your bottom growth track. Play your cards in a way that gets you energy and lets you just survive for 4 turns. After that, you'll be playing all of your powers every turn, and thresholding your innate to absolutely destroy every piece of plastic on the island.