I am on your shard Revenant. I have tried to figure out your payout time before but that's impossible because anytime anyone attacks you then you attack right back. Perhaps that is the main reason that you think you are sitting in first uncontested. Why would anyone bother to waste any attempts to take your position knowing that you will just attack right back? Most likely people are just waiting until their payout time to bump you.
Don't get me wrong, your squad is solid but it's certainly not sitting there because nobody can beat it. I believe Douding is on some sort of Asian time zone, so he just hangs around until he needs to take 1st. There are a few others that just pop into the top 5 to get their crystals. That's generally what I do unless I'm testing out a new team comp or it is arena day.
Anyway... I agree with you that the arena system in this game is tiresome. It requires more luck than skill to get #1 when several people are going after it. However... It doesn't seem like it is high on their list of priorities to change.
Feel free to send me a PM if you would like to talk about our shard or anything. Have a good one.