To the Original Poster: Choose your battles/cities wisely. With a 50% boost (up to 70% at F), even Blayd/Riot can be beaten. And if they have Maria (or at a Fort or base that heals) they won't even be scratched.

To Mischief: I see your point about the 5-realm GW. Yes having no cities is certainly a noticeable disadvantage, and with each realm having 2-3 cities each, your realm may be screwed.
On the bright side however, it's exponentially easier to keep up with a 0 city-buff vs 3 city-buffs .... than a 0 city vs 9 city-buffs discrepancy like before.