We were unlucky
BlackBull in my cluster was the only top xan/ldk galaxy (though they did drain effectively all of their block's defence), their gc was still ridiculously high ranked all round. Any other cluster, except c2, and we do very well.
Which brings me to c2, that cluster had quite a few t&p galaxies (JC was in one!) - ok t&p wasn't at its greatest in r7, but the few LDK galaxies in that cluster totally owned them and bashed them into smitherenes. Again, they were unlucky that they landed in a cluster with 2 or 3 top LDK galaxies. We were unfortunate to end in a cluster with the 3 best xanadu & co galaxies.
I remember threads on the forums about c2 & c18 being hellholes tbh, I might dig them up for you. But basically, HCs galore in c18 & c2 - all they played for was to bash the enemy in their clusters (laid to awesome irc confrontations brokered by mitre <3), while obviously legion & co didn't make those clusters a high priority... their war was won.
[tbh, r7 was the best thing that ever happened to me! I became friends with Mitre incluster <3]