Heh, I went guildless to be honest, they had a 2 ally max rule back then and I was anti-social, my second try on blitz had me casting spells that built my army past what entire alliances had access too
So I just took over when I needed land, it sounds harsh but it's how things tend to get done on that game, armageddon was what stopped me from ranking top 5 before the original servers went boom :/ that spell needs serious help...
One other tip I should mention, if your going to spell hoarde (learn multiple types/elements) learn all of your own good stuff first and build up, there is no reason to learn other specialties if its going to take away from what you do best, and building up will get you past all the little spells in no time anyway, so it all works out