Grid loop – Static & Latest Posts page style

Hi, I’m using Genesis Eleven40-pro. I love the grid loop style of the landing page, but I want two Blog pages with independent articles. For that I would have to opt for a static page giving me two independent blog pages, but loosing the landing page layout. I was advised to use the Genesis Grid Loop plugin, but don’t see how this helps at all. Am I correct in assuming the only benefit is controlling how many columns, image size etc? To be frank, changes made don’t appear on my site.

I’m too new to this plugin to judge, so any advice would be heartily appreciated!
Thank you