It's interesting to hear about your different strategies and how you experimented with different aspects of the game.
I'm glad you found the Martyr cards to be effective. They can be a great way to protect your backline cards and get some extra value out of your summoners. I've also been experimenting with Gladius cards, and I agree that they can be very powerful. It can be a bit of a challenge to get them upgraded, but it's worth it in the long run.
For the Xbot.app. I've been considering trying it out myself, but I'm not sure if it's worth the cost.
Give the 7 day xbot trial a go. It'll cost you nothing.