Rusher War

The Rusher War was a major conflict on 2b2t that took place during the summer of 2016 and ending in mid-fall of 2016. The war is highly controversial as many have varying opinions on the subject. Some claim that the war saved the server as it gave the server a long-needed "revival" (some say a little too much of a revival), as many players quit or migrated to Constantiam after the early 2016 backdoor crisis. Others believed that it was nothing but staged YouTube drama and used solely to benefit the many YouTubers involved, such as TheCampingRusher and FitMC. The war was mainly between Team Rusher and Team Veteran, however they were also some smaller groups involved in the war such as The Resistance, and the Peacekeepers. The war took place from June 13th to October 9th, 2016.

Rusher Invasion
On June 1, 2016, YouTuber TheCampingRusher, with almost a million subscribers, posted a video about 2b2t. The video sparked a massive influx of players to the server as Rusher's fans flooded in. The video went viral and reached over 750k views in just 9 days. The influx was so large that the server could not handle it and lead to massive TPS/lag drops and even crashes. Hausemaster noticed this massive popularity and had to change the server to a temporary map and added a queue system. Pre-June players began to become angry with this large wave of newfags joining the server, and so early sparks of the war began with massacres throughout spawn on these newfags.

Beginning of the Rusher War
On June 4, 2016, Rusher declared war on the oldfags, which he called "OGs", and established Team Rusher. June 13, 2016, can be considered the first day of The War, as, on this day, Fit was chosen to be the leader of Team Veteran. Fit posted a massacre of 40 Rushers and many other anti-Rusher videos beforehand on his YouTube channel. On July 17, a war meeting was conducted by the newly founded Team Veteran which assembled many old players. The war continued on the original map of 2b2t and the queue system was given an upgrade by Rusher himself, who contributed and donated to the server as he felt a bit guilty for flooding the server.

Major battles and events
Many minor battles and skirmishes have occurred throughout the course of the war. The majority of these events were first publicized on YouTube, and may possibly have been staged.


 * Rusher Invasion – Rusher creates his first 2b2t video on June 1, 2016, beginning the invasion.
 * Rusher Declaration of War – Rusher officially declared war on June 4th, 2016 on the "OGs".
 * Largest Single Massacre on 2b2t – On June 13th, 2016, Fit posted a video where he, Babbaj, and jared2013 attacked a large rusher sanctuary with approximately 40 Rushers the day before. Most of them were killed in the 3v40 and this kicked off the initial attention around Fit and lead to his inauguration.
 * Fit's inauguration – Fit was inaugurated to become Team Veteran's leader after he posted several videos about him massacring Rushers. This was on June 13th, 2016, and can be considered the first day of the war as the two official groups began fighting.
 * Team Veteran War Meeting – This meeting assembled several oldfags together to fight for the Veteran initiative. This was on July 17th, 2016
 * The Lava Cast – The Lava Cast was the first attempt to control the massive flood of Rushers at spawn by the Veterans. The original idea was to make a large lava wall around a 500 radius of spawn which was supposed to kill and stop Rushers from escaping spawn. The attempt later failed as many Rushers were finding holes and creating passages through the wall. During the War, the unfinished wall was griefed and created into a large cobble monster.
 * Rusher Paradise Raid – On June 22nd, 2016, Team Veteran found Rusher's first attempt to create a base after being on the run for a month. The Veterans completely lavacasted the Paradise.
 * Operation Poseidon – Operation Poseidon was the second attempt to contain the Rushers at spawn by the Veterans. The operation involved flooding the entirety of spawn with water, making it difficult to navigate spawn and to drown Rushers. The operation failed as people with the frost walker enchant (later removed by Hausemaster) began to freeze up the water and others began to clog the water flow. The biomes around spawn also contributed to the failure as there is a large tundra biome near spawn that froze a lot of water.
 * Bombing of Spawn – The bombing of spawn was the third and final attempt to keep the Rushers at spawn by the Veterans. The bombing was supposed to obliterate spawn, difficult to navigate through than it already was. The Veterans used slime and redstone block airships, designed by the player BastiVC, that dropped an infinite amount of duped TNT that could obliterate any area all the way to bedrock. The Veterans managed to create a large trench in the overworld later called Basti's Canyon. The Veterans also managed to completely destroy the nether spawn, although they shortly abandoned the operation due to the increase in Crystal/bed bombings. This backfired as many newfags began killing Veterans, Rushers, and anyone else wearing god gear. This caused Spawn to become too dangerous and players easily able to grief the airships.
 * Crystal Islands Compromise – On July 15, 2016, Rusher visited an old base known as the Crystal Islands. The veterans later abandoned the base after the compromise and the Islands were eventually griefed. It was later known that Fit gave the coords of the Crystal Islands to Rusher, starting a long feud between Offtopia and Fit.
 * Destruction of the Valley of Wheat - On July 16, 2016, the Valley of Wheat was griefed. Initially blamed on TheCampingRusher, it was later revealed that CorruptedUnicorn, the Resistance, and few Rushers were responsible. This event earned the Resistance its hatred by the general community.
 * The 4th Incursion – The Fourth Incursion began on July 24, 2016, where Fit declared the invasion of spawn and had Sato86 as the head of the Incursion. During the Incursion, large amounts of Rushers were killed and several enemy bases were griefed by Team Veteran. However, the Incursion ended in disaster for Team Veteran due to them giving naked players crystals to kill people on their bounty list. On September 6th, 2016, Fit declared the 4th Incursion officially over as Sato86 disappeared from the server and spawn was becoming too dangerous because of the large amounts of crystal/bed bombers. (NOTE: The 4th Incursion, Team Veteran. and the Rusher War are three completely different entities.)
 * Largest Raid on 2b2t – This raid kicked off the 4th Incursion and so happened on July 24 as well. The raid was on Napkin0fTruths old spawn base and a Resistance dupe stash. 14 people took part in the raid.
 * 4 vs. 15 Spawn Battle (second largest battle on 2b2t)- During the height of the War, a large battle occurred at spawn on July 28th between Team Veteran and The Resistance where 4 Resistance members faced off against 15 Veterans. The battle grew so large that other members from other groups joined the fight (example: UnstoppableRageTrain). The battle ended with a dispute on who won until both groups agreed to disagree.
 * The Destruction of Aureus City – On July 31, 2016, Team Veteran was forced to destroy Aureus City as the coordinates had been compromised by CancerChan, who acted as a girl to convince SnackyNorph that he was his girlfriend. Snacky gave the coordinates to CancerChan who later gave the coords to Rusher.
 * Napkin–GoDz Drama – On August 1, 2016, GoDz saw Napkin0fTruth and WildX in a base near spawn and met with them. This was an ambush, and a player attacked GoDz without protection from Napkin0fTruth and WildX, who were murdering newfags at the time, leading GoDz to believe that Napkin0fTruth betrayed him. This began a loose hostility between Team Rusher and the Resistance.
 * Fit–Rusher Duel – On August 5th, 2016, a duel between Fit and Rusher was scheduled at the Dark Souls Castle. Fit ended up being the victor by killing Rusher.
 * The Torogadude Incident – On August 19th, 2016, Torogadude was stripped of his veteran queue status, which was owned by Rusher. Prior to this, rumors started going around that Hausemaster sold the server out to TheCampingRusher and gave him control of the queue. This caused a commotion in the community as many saw this as a form of banning and that it went against the structure of an anarchy server.
 * The Largest Battle In 2b2t History (The Battle of Spawn) - This battle was the last battle of the Rusher War and happened on September 16th, 2016. It was originally between Team Rusher and Veteran. However, members of other groups joined in the fight. Team Veteran made an alliance with The Resistance against Rusher, however CorruptedUnicorn was the only member at that point. The war was supposedly 30 Veterans vs. 3 Rushers, however the battle soon became a free for all mess as everyone began fighting each other.
 * Battle Against Bed Bombers – On September 17, 2016, a minor yet important battle occurred between Team Veteran, a bed/crystal bomber group, and a few Peacekeepers. This battle exterminated the bomber group and lessened the number of suicide bombers around spawn. However, many independent bombers lingered around spawn a few months after the conflict. The change in PVP style also spawned a small meme based off of a forward operations base named Baghdad

The Rusher Massacre
Over the course of the Rusher War, there was massive slaughter of newfags by Team Veteran and other parties. The amount of Rushers killed is estimated to be 10,400 based on documented evidence. There may have been more Rusher kills that were undocumented throughout the server.

End of the War
The Rusher War ended when TheCampingRusher left the server for about two months with no activity on it at all. FitMC declared the war officially over on October 9th, 2016, obviously claiming that Team Veteran was victorious. However, Rusher did return but did not instigate the continuation of the conflict, meaning his departure was not an armistice. In terms of victor, neither side really won the war. In fact, it wasn't the dominance of one group over the other that ended the war, but rather the boredom of players, the lessening popularity, and the increase of suicide bombers. The suicide bombers ended up being one of the biggest mistakes that Team Veteran created during the war.

Both teams, in a way, failed their objectives during the war. Team Veteran managed to exterminate many Rushers and lessen the wait line in queue but by the end of the war, many Rushers escaped spawn and scattered throughout the server and it still took over 2 hours to get on the server after the whole fiasco. The group also failed because many oldfags disagreed with the group in its entirety, leading to a group with less old players than new ones. They also failed to kick Rusher off the server as he came back and stated that he did not leave due to Team Veteran (in fact, it was the reason he kept playing) and that he was simply running out of ideas for the series. He then simply ended the series on October 22nd, 2016, marking the end of the Rusher Period. Team Rusher failed as Rusher never set up an official base, failing to prevent his group from griefing, and never really getting involved with other groups to defeat Team Veteran. The Rusher problem took care of itself, because after Rusher left, the server's population began to decrease. Rusher did eventually come back to the server when the war was declared over and made his final 3 videos (''for more information on the subject matter see the Rusher Era page). ''However, these videos did not re-instigate fighting.

Groups involved

 * Major
 * Team Rusher – A group created by TheCampingRusher who fought against the Veterans as they declared that they were on the server not to grief and to simply enjoy and be in awe of the wonders and incredible builds (that Rusher called "monuments") on 2b2t. The group was mainly composed of Rusher's fans and other newfags known as "Rushers".
 * Team Veteran – A group created by the oldfags of the server who fought against the Rushers as they feared that their "monuments" would be griefed by them. They also fought against them due to the queue system and large flood of players that kept producing large amounts of lag. The group was mainly composed of oldfags and midfags, with some newfags being hired, known as "Veterans". However, most of these newfags only joined because of Fit's ruse during the tempmape and were killed later on.


 * Other groups
 * Peacekeepers (Team Equinox/Neutrality) – Originally intended to be a "neutral" side of the war and to keep the peace on the server by fighting both sides (hence the name). Eventually, the group became allied with Team Rusher.
 * The Resistance – Often thought of as an ally of Team Rusher, the Resistance was the cause of the destruction of the Valley of Wheat.
 * The 4th Reich – A group known for multiple griefs and destruction throughout the course of the war. They were often thought of as an ally of Team Veteran and were known to dumpster multiple Rusher and pro-Rusher bases.
 * Vortex Coalition – Joined the conflict early on, initially being anti Rusher but eventually becoming neutral.
 * Team Aurora – Created after NedaT was exposed as a Resistance insider and leaked dupe stashes to Veteran members and joined the war towards the end being an anti Rusher group.
 * Several other small fagtions and groups

Legacy
Although highly controversial, the Rusher War remains one of the most influential periods in 2b2t history. The explosion in player population, the creation of the queue, and newfound prevalence in the Minecraft community as a whole all occurred because of the Rusher War. Additionally, many events on the server have become chronologically defined by their relation to this era. Today, the impact continues in the form of many new players, a lengthy queue, and Youtubers such as FitMC.

Several people, including oldfags, believed that, in a way, the war saved the server as it gave it a new breath of life. During the spring of 2016, the server was experiencing one of its lowest points as many players left due to the backdoor scandal of late 2015 and early 2016. Many Valkyrian associated players claimed that Offtopia was paying the fees for the server in order for it to survive. This eventually changed when summer rolled around and massive swarms of players joined the server, in which donations and the queue began to help the server get off its knees.

The 2b2t community has currently witnessed 5 anniversaries since the beginning of the Rusher War and each year, various forms of 2b2t media posts memoires, memes, and shitposts relating to the war. Players have also created various war memorials. Since the end of the war, Rusher had only briefly returned in 2019, however nothing major came of it.

Issues/Drama
To many of the oldfags, midfags, and some newfags, the war was viewed as simply role-playing and a YouTube publicity stunt to get more attention on the server. Some do not even call it a war and believe that the many events portrayed on the most popular youtube channels were entirely fabricated and staged. The objective of Team Veteran to exterminate Rushers and get them off the server was also contested. Multiple theories exist of what happened:

The plot theory: This theory about the Rusher war, was that it was from the very beginning staged by TheCampingRusher and FitMC in order to make money off of the war in YouTube views, and to save 2b2t from dying. However this theory is very unlikely as before the war, Fit's channel was basically non existent, and this would be a huge gamble due to 2b2t being a very obscure server. Even after the war, Fit's channel was still quite small and didn't begin to take off until the 6th Incursion years later. Also even though Fit would later claim he and TheCampingRusher saved 2b2t, this was a lie by Fit to save face. As the backdoor crisis was only temporary and the server had already recovered from it before TheCampingRusher even made his video. In TheCampingRusher's very first video, around 20 to 30 players are online and active in chat.

The organic theory: This is the theory that the Rusher war was entirely organic in nature, in that Fit and TheCampingRusher where not working together at all, and instead where legitimate enemies. This theory is also unlikely as Fit and TheCampingRusher frequently showed up at spawn with their allies and fought each other, so at the very least, they had to agree on when and where to battle.

The taking advantage theory: This theory states that while the Rusher war was originally organic, as the war progressed Fit and TheCampingRusher each purposefully caused the war to be much larger in scale. For TheCampingRusher this would be for YouTube money, and for Fit this would be for attaining clout/fame on the server. This theory is the most likely, as the server already had a hatred of new players imbedded in its culture, so a war would have happened regardless, although at a much smaller scale. But many times during the war, such as when Fit and TheCampingRusher dueled each other, where obviously set up in advance, although the outcomes of the battles where likely organic.

Trivia

 * The first usage of Crystal/bed Bombing as common weapons began during this war, changing warfare on 2b2t forever.
 * This was the first time that such population numbers were reached on 2b2t and has never reached these numbers before or since.
 * Months after the war, the "war" simply became a meme, often being asked by newfags if there is still a war, to which the regulars would often respond jokingly and offensively.
 * The issue of YouTubers still remains a problem to this day as Fit has been essentially called a second Rusher and most find that he has been completely consumed by a typical YouTube personality with dramatization, misinformation, and clickbait in his content.