It looks to me like you are on a great track so far. Here are some bread crumbs, maybe some of them are helpful:
- level all your kingdoms to level 10. Focus on kingdoms that provide a bonus to your magic (karakoth, darkstone, zhul kari and blighted lands). After that is done get one at a time to 1 gold star. Then one at a time to three gold stars.
- you will need a ton of souls. Using the Valkyrie troop is an easy way to get them along the way. We had a nice thread discussing various valkyrie teams just a few days back: Wonderful Valkyrie
- don’t worry to much about traits until you want to level up your kingdoms. For the most part they are not very important - just nice to have. Obviously you should not be too stingy either. If you have a favourite (useful) troop that has good traits: Go for it!
- if you plan to be somewhat active for a longer time, look for a decent guild (if yours isn’t). The difference between a random guild and one that is well managed is pretty huge in terms of income for the members.
- for team ideas: Tacet had a nice video last week highlighting some of the better teams for this patch: Video: 1.0.9 Best Teams
Most of the teams are pretty expensive/endgame but maybe you can find some inspiration there. - Most important: Have fun!