Like Paladins, Smite Rivals faces callouts of copying another game. And like Paladins, I disagree.

I find that just because one game made the mobile multiple lane game genre popular, doesn't mean they OWN that genre and every other game inspired by that is a copy. I don't care if one game came first before the other, it all boils down to what I know of the company and what kind of heroes they have. For example in mobile games most people who know who Gameloft are know they have a sketchy background. I don't care that they made mobile MOBAs popular with Heroes of Order And Chaos, I'll gladly choose Vainglory every day. This also translates to PC if you've heard of APB Reloaded, a new company bought the game and now they made the game forced to run on a 8+ year old engine, making even the best pc's lag. I'd never buy a game from them.

But Hi Rez is different in my mind, they make reliably good games with no pay wall. I feel as though Rivals will do the same. I find the god approach more enjoyable than animated Clash of Clans characters, and that's why I'll choose Rivals.

Also, just like Paladin's got called out on copying Overwatch, both the games Overwatch and Clash Royale copied their ideas from somewhere, too. I could easily cry that Overwatch copied TF2 and that Royale copied Hearthstone, or multiple other popular mobile games. (Can't think of many off the top of my head cause I don't use mobile for much gaming wise.)

TL;DR = Rivals isn't a copy because why the genre is the same, they both have very different backgrounds being Clash of Clans v Gods of Mythology, making two VERY different games.