Ok, first of all, I would like to say congrats to X, I think me and him both did what we needed to get here. All together, me and him only got 1 vote, and that was a premerge tribal when Aveline voted me. So, to start off this game, I liked my chances. I had Rubes and Jasoi, who I was allies with in Vietnam. Then Drew, who I was friends with. The only person I really was nervous about was X, but I think I made amends with him at the merge. Truthfully, I think my social game was the best thing for me. I was friends with a lot of the people, and that got me added to a lot of alliances. (The premerge was nothing note-worthy so I will not mention it)
At the merge, I was in an alliance with Jasoi and Rubes. Whenever Jasoi blew up the foodchain comp group and left it, that tunred into an alliance when they added me and Rubes. I kept in close with Jasoi and X at this time, so I would have options. Jasoi blew up AJ playing his idol on Rubes, causing her to flip to the other side. At this point, I fully trusted Rubes but I knew that we were on the bottom of that alliance. All the while, I was able to keep X from playing his idol by relaying the info about the Drew vote.
At the Sys vote, I wanted to flip. They wanted to split it 3-2, incase X played his idol. I told Rubes I wanted to flip, but she didn't see it. I knew if I flipped, it would be 3-2-2-1 with AJ leaving. However, they saw through me and got Sys voted out 4-3-1. However, Rubes wanted to flip as AJ accused her of voting him. (all because of kyle flopping)
So, Rubes flipped and Josh went. We then took out AJ finally. At the final 5, Kyle won immunity, and I knew Rubes was at the bottom so she was doomed. However, this wasn't the worst for me strategically as I got the advantage.
Honestly, it wasn't just X telling me who to vote, either. He wanted Rubes out at the final 6, but I flipped it to AJ otherwise. I think the only reason X had a lot of power in this game was because of his idols. The idols are the main reason I never flipped. I would have 100% flipped on him earlier otherwise (sorry x..)
All in all, I think my social game was superb. I never was actually seen as a vote, which let me get a lot of info on each vote. Please ask me any questions. This s only my second ftc so I may be trash at opening statements