Drop medals and enjoy the game. I'm having a blast wiping out weaker player's bases at lower medals. That's how they have planned this game to work. I would play at 500 medals if that's where the best gold per hour was. But with league bonuses, it's better to play higher but not so high that you have no opponents left.
Forget about leaderboard ranking and you will get less frustrated. Once you reach dynasty and got your 2000 crowns, you'll have diminishing returns in terms of ressources pushing too high.
They said they are working on better matchmaking. Until then, stay where you get the best return for opps and loot.