Nobody doubts that you can be rank 1, especially if you're going to spend almost a hundred dollars' worth of pp. I imagine you could have even survived and thrived in my area. The point is that that probably doesn't apply to a new player.
I joined over a week late and I still matched the rank 1's per day looting (and almost scavenging even though he had like 8 villages) within 8 days. I've been playing this game for 15 years, have a couple of rank 1s, mostly due to cheese but whatever, and I still got forced out by a guy who was smart enough to buy troops along with his day 7 academy: so what hope does a newer player have? Obviously, they would have to become part of the problem. That's not a solution I favor, personally.
Alternatively, I just got really unlucky. But the fact remains that if that's possible, shit's fucked.