Good to hear you have a goal in mind.
Q. What strategies did you use?
A. For the most part of my journey I used an army consisting of Hogs, Wizards, Minions, Archers and Clan Castle Troops.
Army Composition (190 troops): 25 Hog Riders (Level 1), 8 Wizards (Level 4), 10 Minions (Level 1), 13 Archers (Level 4) and Clan Castle Troops (20 spaces - usually Level 5 Wiz or Archers, sometimes high level Minions or Dragon)
Spells: 2 Healing Spells (Level 3) and 1 Rage Spell (Level 3) - I did have my Spell Factory boosted for a lot of the time, the gems I collected from cleaning up obstacles really helped and I didn't lose too many gems from what I initially started off with.
Q. How long were your play sessions?
A. Anywhere from 1-3 hrs, 3-4 sessions a day. I'd say roughly 6 hours a day. I have a Mid Semester break at the moment so that's why I'm playing a fair bit.
Q. Do you think you can actually stay up there (crystal 2+) permanently?
A. I can definitely stay in C1+ if I play 1-2 hours a day. It's not that difficult to maintain as long as you use your shields wisely.

