Good ideas! I have been struggling to explain succinctly what the term "Group" refers to. It's basically any set of touching cards of the same type (including face down cards).
Could you explain more about what makes you feel the game is oddly balanced and a little too random?
Totally agree that there should be a log book and/or easier ways to tell what perks did what to which cards. It's on our feature TO DO list and just haven't had time to implement it yet.