Hey, I had never played Stacklands, but, giving a quick look at it, it looks awesome and really has some of the vibes here! Definetely going to check it out further :)
Glad you enjoyed it! It is intended for players to be able to start on a non-1 critter card (especially to help in the early game money generation, where you might not have the correct cards), but, I'll probably add a UI feedback to show piles that are not starting on a 1!
Thanks a lot for the feedback and glad you liked it!