sorry i think pay is for noobs. i play clean way, no need use wallet 

I think if you've been playing 4+ years - even as F2P - that you can have strong teams in almost every aspect of the game (probably excluding top arena) but would require diligent grinding and resource allocation. 

Grinding and resource management name of the game anyway. 

If I may add my 2 cents to the pot...

When I first started playing the game, I invested a lot of money into it. There were events where I would put $600 into them. Overall, I am embarassed to say that I have probably put about $6000 into the game over the past 5 years.

However, for the past 2 years, I've been unemployed. Every month my bills get tighter and tighter. For the past year, the only expense I do in game is the $10 for the month of gems (which I believe is a good investment for the game). These past 2 years have been hard and has shifted my play style to focus more on resource management. This current Oz event is a good example. A few weeks ago, there was a 2x event for sacred shards. In the past, I wouldn't have thought to pull all my sacred shards. However, I knew a shard event for a champ would happen soon. Now, I should be able to pull Ozilda when the event goes live in a few more hours. I may not be able to get her AND her awakened soul but you have to make sacrifices somewhere. Also, I would imagine that there will be a Tinman soul event afterwards that I will have to skip. That way, I have the resources I need for Scarecrow that will most likely be the event near Halloween. I am ALSO doing the Theimios event as well at the same time. Normally, I use my books and soulstones during CvC but now I only use epic books during CvC because of how many I get in a week. This past week had personal rewards and opening my legend books would have given me more goodies. However, because I saved them instead, it made this past champ training a breeze to get the fusion champ.

So, the main goal is knowing when or when not to use your resources. For instance, I summoned a lot of rare champs for the current summon rush but put them into my bank. Why? Because there will be another champ training event and they will be my "chickens" to gain points during that event. I'm sure someone, somewhere has a good guide on how to resource manage as a F2P player. Just remember, there will be tempting events and shiney distractions to make you want to use resources. The long play players know that saving them for the BIG stuff is where you keep your account fresh and not fall behind.

I can not be in the 1% of players; almost no one can being an average player unless you win the lottery and waste your money instead of investing it. I admit I get a bit jealous when I face a whale account that has +4 legend/myth champs with 5 or 6 star awakened souls. However, I can not imagine the amount of money spent to aquire them either. I could probably buy a brand new truck off the lot with that kind of money. However, I take my lose and move on to the next manageable player. The game isn't bad so long as you know how to manage your resources better.