I haven't been playing as much lately, due to family holidays stuff. However, what I have been doing is using gold from my mines and dumping it into walls immediately to get my skulls. This frees up some elixir and dark elixir for me to use to trophy push. The updated mechanic for shield and village guard also lets me get like three attacks in after a single defense, and I won't have to worry about getting attacked while my 8 dragons are cooking. Successfully pushed from Gold I to Crystal II with minimal play time, trying to get to Masters to get that 1000 gems. I know a lot of the update is kinda wonky, but I have been able to find enjoyment in this for now. Just wanted to share. I'll see how it goes when I have to start saving up millions of gold ._.