Overall I'm losing more troops...but I expected to do that in the old format as I wanted to go to providence 25x6. I did that last (marble) and was surprised that I didn't lose a lot more, but only a few more. In addition, I found I could cater more and that meant that I could afford to lose a few more troops at the higher level. And I did that with only my Fire Phoenix. Steel is easier and I'm on the same path with a few support buildings to aide my Fire Phoenix. So, overall, a bit more troops, but a lot faster and easier overall.
My only problem is that when there are 3 - 5 different troop types I have to be more careful and do more "mixing and matching." That may take some time but if I can't figure it out catering isn't that expensive if I limit it to either the places where my choices are defeated or where I don't think I have a cost effective troop choice. I used to cater, at most, the first 6 provinces, but now I do up to 10, which saves me troops. And since I can build troops using all three troop buildings, I find I can keep up. My plan is to now go through the tournament cycle doing 25x6 and then, when steel comes around again, to go all out and see how far I can get.
Summary: so far so good. Faster to do, about the same level of difficulty, and I'm actually managing a few more points.
AJ