Well I just finished my 6th game of fasting, and I think I may have just played my first winning game. The results won't be in for 12 hours, but I feel like I covered my bases on most of the facets of the game.
I continued to refine my strategy of having two Final 3 alliances with one key player included in both with me. In this particular game, though, my double-ally had to leave the game at the 9 slot, and I was worried that I was going to lose control of my two alliances, but both of my alliances seemed to respect my strategic gameplay and listened to my suggestions. I was able to control every eviction from start to finish.
This game, I added two more pocket votes, by making a third final 3 alliance who I didn't strategize with, I just told them who to nom and who to vote for. They cooperated for the most part, and it was easy to burn them both between 8th place and 6th place. When I got to the final 5, I was in control of every vote left in the game, and I was free to choose between which final 3 alliance I wanted to take with me to the end.
I really appreciate alliances that demonstrate trustworthiness. When my secret double-ally left the game at the 9 slot, the other two in one of my F3 alliances seemed very upset to lose her and even wanted to bring her inactive into our final 4. At that point, I knew that they were extremely trustworthy, and decided that they were going to be my final 3 no matter what. There's another good lesson there: if you demonstrate extraordinary loyalty to your alliance, your alliance will demonstrate extraordinary loyalty to you.
The reason I suspect I may have won this game is that I was never nominated, and I won a POV for the first time ever. I was more active in the public chat than I've ever been before, and it paid off. I wound up with the POV at the crucial 5 slot, and was free to make my choice from there of who to take with me to the end.
