Alice chess is a very tricky variant and one of the few that I think works as a "serious" game.
You have to remember that squares and pieces can only be protected from the other board, since a capturing (or moving) piece then goes to that board. That means that you can't interpose normally to block a check, but only from that other board. Checks can therefore be much more dangerous than in normal chess ("never miss a check - it may be mate").
In the opening 1.d4 is much more aggressive than normal,  the pawn on d7 is now under attack. 1...,Nf6 (to cover the arriving square) or the more sneaky 1....,c6 (to meet 2.Qxd7 with 2...,Be6 trapping the Queen). Now that I've told you that, I can't win that way anymore - drat it.
One final thought, it seems to me that casting is often counterproductive, leaving the King even more at risk, so you should only do that as a last resort.