I didn't level up Sandro at all; as soon as I got him, I used his starting army, only adding some phoenixes (I didn't even replace the wizards right away), and sent him into battle. Because it was too much of a hassle to drag him around with the main hero, just as a key-opening unit. His army quickly devolved into just liches, and the phoenixes remained. And I specifically mentioned WoG because the only modification enabled from that expansion was the accumulation of creatures in dwellings, as I don't like having to run around everywhere every week with a bunch of small heroes.