Hey y'all, so this finale was a MESSY turn of events, I had multiple planned endings for my speech, but I could not have predicted this in the slightest sense.
So first things first, I just want to say thanks to JB for convincing me to play this game - I have a fairly unlucky record in his games, so it's nice to make a final for a change.
Second things second, I want to acknowledge Noah as a worthy adversary. I know I've played a good game, but it doesn't mean I can't recognise his too.
And third things third, I want to say thanks to all of you who played this game, both with and against me. This one was fun, it wasn't toxic, and I respect all of you.
This game was a battle in 4 parts:
The first was our original tribes. It was Sameed who made a chat with myself, Rodrigo and Julian. They were discussing what to do about the twist re: The Desert. It was myself who suggested that someone reach out to Jordan to send them. This was because it left our group of 4 in a group of 7 should Jordan lose, meaning we would have the votes. But we could also say that we were sending them to protect them, thus keeping them as a potentially interchangeable part of that 4 should one of us end up in the desert. This was all viewed as a good idea, and carried out, and gave the people I was working with faith in me that I would be thinking strategically in conjunction with them.
The second was our swap tribe. It originally looked like the tribal lines might be fairly blurred, as were reached out to by a number of the original Nobatia. However it soon became evident that Steve was trying to orchestrate a split by feigning loyalty to various members of Alodia. I convinced Sameed that to negate the possibility of an idol play, those of us who were voting for him should fake a conversation, which he would then send to Steve. So myself, Brian, Rodrigo and Sameed all had a conversation about how we were voting for someone else, and Sameed played it up as “Haha, what idiots” to Steve, so that whatever happened we could blindside him. As it happened, there was no idol play, we sent Steve out the door with his tail between his legs, and we didn’t actually have to go back to tribal before the merge.
The third was the early merge. Now I’m going to openly admit, I slightly checked out for a couple of rounds here - I had real life stuff get in the way, I’m not going to try and bullshit otherwise, those I spoke to much know what was going on. The Julian vote completely blindsided me, I voted in minority, but Rodrigo talked to me afterwards and said he was trying to distance himself from the 2 of us, and given the circumstances, I don’t blame him at all. The following vote was also complete carnage. Noah started messaging me to throw a random vote somewhere, Rodrigo messaged me telling me I was getting votes and to vote Johnny. I decided to trust Rod despite the round before, voted Johnny, whilst the other side somehow a) split their vote, and b) lost votes on me because Brian gave me his Twisted Necklace, which I still have no idea why, although I appreciated it even if I wasn’t going home.
After this, I was able to get my head back in the game. It started with a mixed bag, as we had another plan to lead the other side on a wild goose chase. The good thing about this, was that Bobby played an idol on Noah, flushing it from the game and completely wasting it, as we’d moved the vote away from Noah. The bad thing was that Brian hadn’t been able to get online, and had only seen Rod’s freakout from the night before, and thus had voted him. As a result Rod left, but it gave us a better idea of what was going on. Noah was messaging me consistently trying to get me to flip, and I played up my indecision about which side I was going to be on to feed him the idea that Bobby would be the vote for the following. We assumed that this would be what they’d assume anyway, as Bobby had just played an idol, thus making him the least likely person to have an idol now. Yes, for that vote we were helped by the fact that Jordan was medevacced, but we specifically didn’t vote for them for that reason. Having set that up, they idoled Bobby, we voted Lilly, and this time we both flushed an idol AND got one of their number out of the door.
Final 6… Final 6 was a mess. We had a feeling that Brian was going to vote with Noah and Bobby, and for that reason we thought it might be a good idea to vote Brian, because if Noah was hoarding idols, then he probably wasn’t going to use it on him. He was hoarding idols, he did use it on Bobby, it was another idol that negated nothing and it went to a tie. Unfortunately, the idol meant Sameed and I had the choice to either go to rocks, or to vote Zay out. We decided we’d go to rocks for 2 reasons. 1) We’d agreed we would if it came to it, and both of us wanted to keep our word, but 2) Noah has been going on about Sameed for several rounds. We felt that the chances were, Sameed was more of a target to him than Zay was. We thought that just maybe, given the fact he is a notorious crackhead, he might switch his vote, thinking one of us would switch OUR vote to try and MAKE us go to rocks so that Sameed had a chance to go. The way I saw it, this was the ONE way that if we called his bluff, we might get rid of Brian, and so we put our big boy pants on and rolled the dice. It didn’t work, Sameed left. I maintain it was worth the risk, because it was the only way we could potentially have gone into F5 with majority.
Final 5, I was immune, because Noah’s not the only one who can win a comp (shades emoji) - 7 seconds for 10 messages, fuck yeah. That said, there was still some strategy going into this. We noticed Brian wasn’t about, and didn’t know whether he’d have sent a boot list. By not voting for him, we actually ended up being able to take 2 out for the price of one, as the revote meant he got himself medevacced, and Bobby decided to fall on his sword for Noah for some reason.
We did kind of think that we were just going to be a Final 3, but JB decided to be a bastard and make us do another comp, Noah won, I convinced him to bring me, and here we are.
Basically, I had good allies, who I worked with for long stretches, I turned a weakness (having to check out for a bit) into a positive (keeping Noah talking to me enough to get a read on him), I showed strategy. And I didn’t misplay idols/have allies misplay idols on me, unless you count the necklace, which I’m still confused about…
Anyway, feel free to ask me any questions, and I’ll do my best to answer accordingly.
Hello Jury! So this has been a VERY intense 9 days. My mind has been wired in on this game like 90% of the time I’m awake, which is genuinely not an exaggeration. It’s was on my mind when I was eating, in the shower, falling asleep, just, everywhere. 90% might actually be underselling it. And given it’s the first time since February 21, 2019 that I’ve actually made it to a Final Tribal Council, it almost doesn’t feel real. But, I’m prepped for this FTC, like I was prepped for every element of this game in advance since the cast reveal. So, what I want to do, is essentially take you all through my entire game step by step, and make my argument as to why I deserve to win at the bottom. Alright, let’s get to it…
———A Cutthroat Noah: Desert Edition———
—Chapter 1: A Twist Giveth Me Life—
To begin, I was thrust into this game, I wasn’t set to play or even a possibility until the night before the cast reveal. I just figured, another game, probbly another flop on my end. But then, before posting the cast, JB did something interesting and unleashed the now infamous, among us at least, Dueling Desert. Now, I’m with you all, I’m not the biggest fan of it, but it was perfect for me, and I’m an opportunist, with little fear. So I saw it’s attributes, and knew immediately I wanted to go for it. Seeing the things like, if you’re there you’re immune, and it’s comp basis, played to my strengths, and navigating tribe swaps have always been a weakness for me. And I knew, I could avoid that weakness with another strength that was key to my entire game longterm, my ability to predict the production of this season. I knew, once I studied the previous iteration of the twist, and how it went down, I would be able to figure out the optimal way to play it. And with the 2 rounds of post-merge safety, it was too good of a deal to pass up. There were also so many more benefits to it, that I realized once I had the time to think deeply about it.
So, the second we were added to the tribes, I used my known comp strength to my advantage, and volunteered to go first. Tim being there was the first thing I saw, and I knew he was strong, and Tim and I aren’t exactly well…close. So, I was just like to myself, do whatever the hell you need to do to get yourself sent to the Dueling Desert. Because once there, I would be out out of their reach, and could essentially use my challenge strength and production predicting ability to brute force my way into the merge, it was also at this time, I came up with the idea of a Desert alliance. It didn’t end up panning out, but the idea was, I’d be alone in a chat with multiple people for extended periods of time, all of whom would be safe for 2 rounds post-merge, so all these players are in it for the long haul, and could essentially act separated for the first 2 rounds of the merge, and then come together and take control. And essentially, all of these players would be picking each other if I approached them with my plan including my throwing of challenges. And everyone would expect all these Desert players to not really want to talk when they’re in a duel against each other and competing. Just like 2 dudes in a sword fight don’t actually talk, just in the movies. But I knew with my irresistible charm and wit ;), I could actually form tight bonds with the players who went through there, and be collaborative, not competitive.
Meanwhile, back at Nobatia, my goal was making sure the rest of the tribe was unaware of what I wanted to do, so I carried out the normal socializing routine. So, I did what I normally do, and reached out to every member of the tribe. The person who was most active in talking to me was, to nobody’s surprise, Steve. Look, y’all might think I’m super active and was on all the time and stuff, but my man STEVE was on a whole other level. Like, there were times early during this game where I was taking a break, and being normal, watching Live Feeds. And Steve was just all up in my pms. Usually I’m on the other end, so for Steve to be THAT active, made me aware of the fact that he was up to no good. But, Steve messaged me, SUPER quickly, about making a group, and suggested Zay who also reached out to him, which made me gather Zay and I both did the same thing and made our rounds with the tribe. And Zay apparently suggested to him they bring Johnny into it, which gave me the impression Zay/Johnny were tight. I was planning to betray them immediately by throwing challenges, but I wasn’t going to say no to an alliance chat, so I acted. Steve made it, and I brought up some points about how Lilly’s thoughts on optimal play with those who return from Dueling Desert (they can’t contribute to the tribe so vote them out) and Tim’s dislike of me had me scared, and how I was glad to have something locked down. And I now had “hesitation” about going to Dueling Desert, but I would take one for the team. Steve was all up in my pms, and actually asked me if I wanted to throw the first challenge to get Tim out. I didn’t want to create any material that would make people not send me to DD and get the votes switched, so I said I’d consider it but acted hesitant about throwing. Come the vote, I was kind of shook at first when they first were coming out, but I was successful. I later found out that Tim didn’t vote me because of the dislike, and Lilly didn’t vote me, likely due to suspicion of me? That info came from Steve, so it may be false, but Lilly, good on you for realizing I was full of shit. I knew Tim would be a tough sell, but Lilly was the only person on Nobatia I didn’t convince I had pure intent. Maybe there were more, but there was 1 vote Ray, and to this day, I don’t know who the Ray vote was, but it didn’t matter. Jordan got sent with me, so it was time to go to work.
—Chapter 2: The Holy Desert—
Coming into the Desert, I only had a few hours to communicate with Jordan, given Jordan was offline, I was wondering and waiting what would happen if neither of us submitted. Because I certainly wasn’t going to risk accidentally beating Jordan. Jordan did eventually come online, and said he wanted to win, and prove himself to his tribe when I asked. Creating essentially no conflict. Jordan and I didn’t have a close enough relationship in that timeframe to where I believe Jordan would trust me with a score, so I decided not to ask, and actively try to get the lowest score possible. I figured out 3 challenges was the optimal route to take by looking at and studying the first Dueling Desert season, because, that would give me 2 chances of winning and getting off Dueling Desert and avoiding being stranded. Which means 75% odds of merging and making final 9, which is actually BETTER than the odds of making F9 at the beginning of the game, given 75% translates to 12/16, and also I get the added 2 rounds of safety. And if I win on my first go not throwing, I get to to tribal, with safety. Not to mention the long period of time to find the idol as an added bonus. I shared some of this with Jordan, including my plans to bring me and the first three people I threw to into a secret alliance, and Jordan liked the plan, and decided Rodrigo would be a good pick.
When Rodrigo came, I had a video message ready for him, with the entire plan explained out for him. Luckily for me, Rodrigo was easily the most active of the Dueling Desert occupants, and we were able to discuss a lot. This is when JB introduced the idols twist, and steal/split. After some shenanigans, I saw how the twist worked, and pointed out if someone steals, they take the clue from the other person (which they could just give), and then they also get another clue. So, I offered to let Rodrigo steal, in an effort to build some trust. We then talked a little more about the game, and Rodrigo agreed on my ideas, and we discussed who a good person would be to pull in. He eventually decided Brian would be a good choice, given he was relatively not connected well, and then, I threw, and Brian came. We also discussed some other things which I’ll get too later. I essentially did the same thing with Brian that I did with Rodrigo, the split/steal, the video messages and stuff, everything. And with all 3, we talked more about the game, just so I could foster some trust with each of them individually. Brian and I went on a call, Rodrigo and I talked through pms, and Jordan I didn’t have much time to speak with. But I suggested to Brian that we pick Bobby and strand him in the desert, because I could probbly beat him pretty handily. I also knew, based on last season, that whoever my Dueling desert replacement choice was going to end up on my new tribe, and I chose Steve, because I wanted to get his perspective at Tribal #3 since he was keeping me informed about the going ons of Nobatia throughout. And then I would hopefully go to Tribal #4 immune, and have some good information to act on.
Bobby then came, and I figured, Bobby would be easier to work than Brian/Rodrigo. I got him to agree to split when I stole, giving me 2 guesses, with 3 clues for the idol already, which was pretty good odds, and I did end up finding it. And, comp wise, I was right about Bobby, that was an easy win for me, and I got off Desert Duel safe the entire pre-merge without a scratch. In addition, I did such a good job convincing Bobby that we’re close, that he straight up told me that he had the Alodia idol unprompted. I also wanted to send STEVE to the Desert, but he said it was too risky for his game, and not wanting to potentially piss him off thinking he’d beat Bobby. I sent Ray, which was Steve’s suggestion, and I wanted to keep Steve happy, and it didn’t matter much to me since Ray and I had sent like 3 messages back and forth. When Steve left (which I knew was coming eventually) it really didn’t change much for me, the information I got that he was in control of everyone was obviously false, and at that point, I still felt good with my Desert Alliance potentially making a deep run. At tribal council, with new Alodia, since La La was unconnected, it was a pretty easy and relatively sane vote. Nobody had a problem with it, and La La was super unconnected.
—Chapter 3: Desert Alliance Flops—
Coming into the merge, my plan was, the Desert Alliance, now dubbed “The Deserters” needs to act separated. Since we’re all immune, my thought is there’s 0 risk to all voting together. So I stick with my original tribe, Brian/Rodrigo stick with their people, Jordan goes wherever (As Jordan said he felt felt closer to my original tribe), and whichever side lands majority doesn’t matter, as we could pull a shocker move once we were all non-immune. Jordan however, seemed to have some alternate plans, like nothing too bad but I could tell, Jordan didn’t seem to be feeling the Desert Alliance. In my talks with Sameed, is really when everything REALLY began to all fall apart. So what I agreed on with Zay/Sameed/Lilly/Jordan/Johnny, all separately and through PMs, was that we would vote for Julian, while the other group thought they had Sameed due to their original tribe. But we knew Sameed was tight with Zay, and wanted to go with us. But, what I need up doing, was I tried to inform Rodrigo of the vote (before Brian), because Sameed said he was tight with Julian/Zee. Based on my talks with him at Dueling Desert, the discussion of Julian/Zee’s connection we had, and Rodrigo telling me something Julian said to him, which was “Julian doesn’t want anything to do with Brian”, (which I did tell Brian about btw to make sure he wasn’t close to Julian), I figured that Rodrigo was wanting to play more of an individual game and was with the Deserters. So, I go and tell him about what’s happening, and we talk and I tell him majority of votes are going to Julian when he asks about the vote. Before I can tell him to potentially vote in minority, Rodrigo immediately says he’ll vote with majority to send Julian home, which I think was where Rodrigo and I first went wrong, because I believe Rodrigo thought I was confronting him, when I was actually trying to get him to play the other side and didn’t doubt him yet. I felt this way at the time, but I felt like me correcting the situation would have just been too much, and before I could figure out how else to go about the vote, as everyone knows, Sameed messages me asking if I told Rodrigo Julian was the vote, I deflect quickly and decide to be truthful about what I told Rodrigo, but not reveal the desert group. And I thought at this time, Rodrigo was betraying my confidence to trust in Sameed, when I don’t belive that was actually the case now, and Sameed just figured out it was me. At this point, I no longer trusted the Desert Alliance would work, and felt like the best thing to do was make that shat go inactive, so it doesn’t become a thing people bring up later on. I then scrambled to re-configure how I wanted to move forward in this game. I informed Jordan of the situation with Rodrigo, and Brian separately, and formed a final 2 with Brian because I felt Rodrigo/Jordan would not be trustworthy longterm, and I figured at the very least, I could strengthen my connection with Brian. Me telling Rodrigo and Brian what was up, essentially turned Julian’s ouster into a near-consensus vote, and I told Bobby what was up, but he decided to vote Lilly anyway. And as you all already know, I became VERY weary of Sameed’s game after Rodrigo went to him specifically.
So, going into final 10, I felt like I couldn’t really form a meaningful trust/relationship with Zee, so my initial thought was, go with the easy vote of Zee, and THEN deal with the Sameed problem. Which would pulling everyone who I thought I could from Sameed, being Jordan/Lilly and Brian/Bobby. And Jordan made a chat with myself/Brian/Lilly. My blow up on Sameed explains a lot of what I was thinking this vote, but Sameed told me Johnny was completely loyal to him, Zay is tight with him, and Rodrigo, well I obviously didn’t feel I could include. So those 4 were the 4 I planned to leave out. But I still wanted Zee early on in the day, but Lilly suggested we make a big move after winning immunity given we were all immune, and I agreed after that, and felt it was the smart idea. To clarify, it WASN’T actually my idea to go after Sameed at 10, it was actually Lilly’s, and I agreed, because I felt Lilly is smart, and I valued Lilly’s input, and we had formed a stronger relationship after merging, than we had before I left for the Desert. And, I knew Lilly was smart enough to see my bullcrap at F16, so I was willing to listen. I then suggested we just play the Twisted Necklace that Brian got on Zee, and Jordan said no because it could trigger an idol play. I figured fine, because Johnny/Zay were both loyal to Sameed, so it’s still a win. But Jordan felt like we could pull in Zay/Johnny afterwords. I figured (wrongly) at the time, Jordan has Zay/Johnny and wants to separate them from Sameed. And that Jordan/Lilly were tight and planned to make that a 4. So what i wanted to do, was deal with the Sameed problem, and explain myself to Rodrigo, then pull Rodrigo/Bobby/Brian as well as Zee (Who I felt like would go with a group Rodrigo/Bobby were in), and blindside Jordan, then play the pendulum strategy. I then wanted to talk to Zee, and I messaged him, and told him just not to self-vote, because I didn’t trust him not to just go back to Sameed and ruin everything, and told him he was likely staying. I wanted to have a BASIS to try and reel him in after. I also knew Bobby was with me, and convinced him to vote Sameed, locking in my 5-4-1 plan. Right before the vote, Sameed/Zay came up to my pms, saying they knew something was up. And Sameed motioned knowing Jordan/Lilly specifically. At this point, I wasn’t taking any chances, and went to Brian to see if I could get him to sue the necklace on Zee just to be safe. He agreed (not sure if he was always going that), and when I saw him play the necklace on Zee, I felt a sigh of relief. And Sameed played nothing, so I thought we were all good, but then Johnny gets voted out, to my surprise.
—Chapter 4: Recovering from a Failed Move—
I genuinely was just in utter confusion after the vote, and I think the REASON behind my confusion, was it didn’t make sense in my head for a few of the players. Sameed/Zay I thought were LOCKED in with Johnny, and those 3 were tight as could be, so I didn’t see them turning on him. And with Brian, I felt like I had his loyalty there, so I wasn’t expecting him to turn on me. I will admit, full props to Brian for getting me on the Johnny vote. After that, we headed immediately to the auction. I knew Bobby had an idol, and I had one myself. So I knew I had a blanket of safety going into the auction. And considering how well Brian got me, I was just generally distrusting of the cast. So my new philosophy becomes to just use idols to save myself, prep for comps, and hopefully beast out/retake control. I went for an immunity advantage, because I wasn’t willing to take a risk on a covered item. I figured I could turn an advantage into immunity with my relative comp skill. Bobby/Zay got immunity, which I knew I could use. I found an idol with luck post-auction. But, I wanted to keep them for myself, so what I did, was I WORKED on Bobby, and convinced him that he should play an idol on me. He agreed to it, so I knew I could duck through f9 tribal council, immune. And looking at the remaining options, there was an obvious vote for me, Rodrigo. Brian I figured still wanted to work with me, so I couldn’t vote for him, Jordan was just not included in the Johny plan, and Zee was kind of in the middle and didn’t know which way to go. So I figured, Rodrigo is the only unbeatable option for me, and if Bobby/I vote for him, worst case is someone who leans middle or to the other side goes home anyways. We did not trust in Brian’s loyalty too much at this point, but I told him, and Zee, about the plan in case. Zee said no and his message to be basically revealed he and Rodrigo had a strong trust. However, My plans were more focused on how to keep myself immune the following votes. So, the spam raffle comp, I spammed hard, but I didn’t spend most of my time there, I spent most of my time looking through previous seasons, and seeing which comps were played in the fast forward. And the last few times, the challenge had always been “Row Your Boat”, so I prepped SPECIFICALLY for that challenge. Here’s a video proving I indeed did so and explaining why it made more sense to focus on that over spam raffle:
Come the vote, my move was sucsessful and I managed to get to final 8 with 2 idols, without risk. But the vote tied, and Brian actually voted with us, and the others hadn’t all voted Jordan, which actually gave me the advantage on the re-vote. I knew Brian’s re-vote would stay, but I considered flipping my vote off Rodrigo, the reasoning being, Zee/Rodrigo were essentially tight, and I didn’t want to make it optimal for Zee to go with Sameed, causing a 4-4-1 vote with Jordan self-voting. But I eventually came to the decision, that Brian/Lilly/Bobby myself could vote for JORDAN the following vote, piggybacking off a self-vote there. And then we could move to F7 with numbers, avoiding the bullet of Zee’s extra vote. So we sent Rodrigo home, and that indeed happened, and I lucked into an immunity win at 8. My issue was Bobby/Brian/Lilly weren’t active talkative enough to get that plan to go forward to put votes on Jordan, and I figured Brian had already voted with a list, and I wasn’t making the same mistake the other side had made, so I decided to put votes on Sameed in the FF, and I said I’d play my idol, so at the very worst, we would have the advantage if it came to rocks. And, I knew since I was immune at f8, and Jordan would be getting pulled, I could safely use an idol to protect someone else and try to take numbers, rather than focus on protecting myself solely. And, Lilly told me that Bobby was the target of the other side, and I trusted in Lilly’s judgement on who they were voting for, which is why I placed my idol on Bobby. But then, I hit a nightmare scenario, Lilly was wrong, and us 4 weren’t all locked together. And Lilly ended up going home. With a Jordan medieval.
—Chapter 5: Batshit Fucking Ending—
At the final 6, I knew i had to win immunity, luckily, it was the comp I prepped for. I was pretty sure if Zee/Sameed/Zay had an idol, they’d have likely played it before then. So I figured, if I won immunity, I could save Bobby, and we would win out the F6. With pretty much the entire thing on my shoulders. I pulled out the win due to my prep. With the Final 6 vote underway, I was playing it on Bobby no matter what because Brian’s loyalty still wasn’t 100% solid in my mind. So, what i did was I TOLD Bobby/Brian about that idol. This essentially was a move to protect Brian, because I didn’t want Brian trying to pull something and getting voted out 3-2-1 or something of the sort. And we decided as a group (I don’t take credit when it’s not mine to take) to vote for ZAY to avoid an idol play if there was one. I talked with Zee, and tried to convince him to vote Sameed in an attempt to throw them off (I never expected him too), and when Zay approached me on call, we talked, and Zay talked about potentially taking Sameed out soon, and finale plans. But by this point, I was starting to feel 90% in Brian’s loyalty. So, it was a 3-3 game by that point. ALSO, during the day, I prepped for the final immunity challenge, I kid you not, I studied for that final challenge for SIX HOURS. I knew, with Brian not being present, and bobby not being the best at comps, I’d HAVE to win for us, and I made goddamn sure I would:
Then the madness happened, so my idol play on Bobby was unsuccessful, which I suspected might be the case, but they didn’t play one in response, so we easily had them beat, when only Zee/Sameed could draw rocks. I thought one of them would flip, but NEITHER of them did, which kind of had me shook. Sameed wouldn’t vote Zay out due to loyalty, and Zee said he was hoping Bobby/I would be stupid and flip and try to force rocks to get Sameed out, which I would never do, since I had the 3-2 guaranteed advantage going into an idol-free final 5, and I was sure only I could win final immunity. I was pretty damn sure no matter what, Brian/Bobby/I would be final 3. So Zee wins immunity, so we vote for Zay again, and I’m expecting Brian’s list to come through. The PROBLEM is, Brian forgot to send the list, which I reminded him to do, and he said he DID. So, I was BONED. However, I had done SUCH a good job with Bobby, and convincing him to be loyal to me (And we weren’t friends before this game), that he was willing to go to rocks with the person getting med-evaced for me. And Bobby, I hope to god this doesn’t lose your jury vote, but I have to be honest: https://imgur.com/a/3W7Nssh
So Bobby did go to rocks for me, and I knew at that point, I was making it to the end for sure, because nobody else could touch me in final immunity the way I studied. And Bobby got rocked out, and I expected a F3, but we got a F2. And luckily, my extreme preparation paid off. I won final immunity, after a few hiccups with the real-world events. And I had to make a decision in less than 10 minutes, that I didn’t know was even in the realm of possibility, despite all my pre-planning and everything. And I decided, that since Zay played a really strong game (Like I’d have voted Zay over Zee 10 times out of ten), got two people to go for rocks for him at f6 despite it having 0 benefit to their side, and essentially running the game with Sammed, I figured, I’d have the argument over Zee, and I wouldn’t over Zay. So that’s why I made the cut I did. In the hopes that this jury wouldn’t vote solely based off loyalty.
———Why Should I Win———
Alright, well I came into this game with NO CLOSE FRIENDS. Meanwhile Zee came in here with 2 in Julian/Rodrigo. I know they weren’t unbreakable persay, but Zee had that advantage, given they all started on the same tribe, and didn’t have to build a strong relationship from scratch. I did, and yet, I got Bobby to go to rocks for me at 5, despite that in ZERO way being in his best intrest, and I got him to play an idol on me when I had 2 sitting in my pocket.
My strategy to get through the pre-merge portion of the game, was flawless, it gets me through the pre-merge 75% of the time, and even higher if you count my comp abilities. Zee went to ONE tribal the entire pre-merge, and was 1 vote away from going home.
I MADE my fate in this game, I’m the one who set in motion the massive butterfly effect that changed the pre-merge. Zee LUCKED OUT by not being on a tribe with me, which essentially carried Zee to merge, through my strategy. Had he been on my tribe, there’s a good chance he doesn’t make it deep.
Come merge, Zee was on the bottom of that vote, one of only two people to vote incorrectly. Meanwhile at that point I had my connections, which O’d been working on, and re-developed after coming of Dueling Desert. I made sure to reach out to every single person in this game and at least talk a bit, meanwhile pretty much everyone had to come to Zee. The Julian vote, could have just as easily been Zee.
At Final 10, Zee was only saved by what the rest of us did, and did nothing to actively save himself, in fact he was SO inactive at this point I figured i had to tell him not to self-vote.
At Final 9, Zee lost his closest ally, meanwhile, I had a foolproof plan to get through the round. I’m not asking you to be impressed that I guessed 2 numbers correctly, I’m asking you to acknowledge I tricked Bobby into making me immune with his ONLY idol, while I had TWO.
At Final 8, Zee had just lucked into a good middle position, and had 2 votes, I’ll admit they got me on this one, but mores they got LILLY, and i beloved in Lilly’s judgement.
At Final 6, I used the correct strategy in immunity and prep to ensure that my 3 advanced and took control, meanwhile, he decided to draw a rock, hoping I’d be extra cracked.
At Final 5, he was safe, and I had the numbers, but I still got Bobby to go to rocks for me, after fucking him over at f9 and leaving him out in the dust.
At Final 3, I was the one who studied despite knowing I’d have numbers in finale, while Zee didn’t think to do that, even though it was his life on the line. Had Brian actually voted at 5. I would’ve won immunity at 4, and Zee goes 3-1, he DEPENDED on random things like Brian and Jordan going inactive, both of whom I had relationships with.
If you’re all voting based on loyalty, then Zee wins. He was loyal to Julian/Rodrigo till they left, and then re-placed that loyalty with Zay/Sameed. Meanwhile, I was SOLEY loyal to what benefited me/myself/I, I was Cutthroat. Notice, I NEVER saved Bobby unless I was already safe, and developed SUCHa close relationship with him, that he used an idol on me when I had 2, trusted me after I tried to strand him in a Desert, and went to rocks for me at 5 to top it all off.
I CLEARLY put more effort into this thing, in fact, there’s SO MUCH not in this speech, the whole Sameed call out had it’s reasoning, but it didn’t really fit into my story. But I NEVER, I repeat NEVER would do something solely for entertainment value. Zee only showed up to play at like f9 and almost went home before that, only surviving due to inactivity and pure luck. Meanwhile, I was playing hard and i made my own fate. And if you want to judge me for relying on competition wins/idols, then Zee should also be judged for relying on random medical evacuations. Winning this game, would mean the WORLD to me, I KNOW I played this thing much stronger than Zee, and I will call/make videos/answer in text if you want to know more about my game, and why I deserve to represent this season. I USED the twist to my benefit, meanwhile Zee coasted, as I was making a power alliance, that could’ve worked, had it not been for all the previous connections in this game.
PLEASE don’t vote based on who your friends/loyalties were. If I was sitting on the jury, and you were next to Bobby (jurors other than Bobby), I know you’d feel gypped if I didn’t listen to what you had to say, and just voted for him based on the fact that we were allies and he never betrayed me. Vote based off gameplay, please. It’s CLEAR my game had SO MUCH more effort than everyone else, but ESPECIALLY Zee.
"At Final 10, Zee was only saved by what the rest of us did, and did nothing to actively save himself, in fact he was SO inactive at this point I figured i had to tell him not to self-vote."
You didn't. Hence me voting the way that actually fucked you up. I checked out for 2 games. The rest of the time I played as strong a game as you. I just managed to make myself look like more of a dead duck to you in order to keep you from voting for me. It worked.
Please focus on your own successes rather than trying to exaggerate my weaknesses. I showed your game respect, please do the same.
Games aren't won by playing hard, and playing constantly. Games are won by playing smart. Voting for you just based on effort would be pretty lame, when my lower energy approach outsmarted you on more than one occasion.
Ok, so I didn't tell you to vote for a name, I just told you to throw your vote. There was no "decision" to be made. And if you think you played just as strong, you're SOLEY mistaken. Did you also study for multiple hours for the immunity you won? No, you just got lucky you sent them so fast, and they didn't get out of order. That comp is pretty much soley based off how good your internet is, not actual skill. And as you said, you were just as active as I was, but didn't think to check previous seasons.
And just to clarify in case this argument, YOU deserve respect as a person, and whatever you were going through irl, I don't mean to touch that. But, what it led to, was you doing nothing, and other players shaping your game. Your low-effort approach included just sitting back, and waiting for others to come to you. I genuinely don't know if you actually were the first to reach out to any single person in this game.
Effort should be huge, imo what you put in is what you should get back out. I put my heart and soul into this game, you did not.
I spent half an hour working on the best way to approach it, which is how I got my time down. I don't need to spend hours.
Others didn't shape my game. Everyone I played with in this game will tell you that the majority of the decisions were made if not by me, then in conjunction with me. I just sometimes am happy to let others take the lead too. It builds trust.
Your effort is only relevant if it paid off. I don't put my heart and soul into games, because I have enough perspective to see that my family, my friends, my self-care, my work are things that deserve my heart and my soul. But once those things are taken care of, then I put my remaining energy into games. I'm comfortable with that, and anyone with a grip on reality I would imagine would be similar.
Yeah, and again, the comp is based soley off the speed of your internet. And you only prepared for things when they were served up to you. I actively looked through forums in this group just to get everything down.
And I mean, my effort DID pay off, it put me in the final tribal council. Had I not put forth the effort I did, I wouldn't be here. Ok, and that's fair on the last point. I'm pretty fucked up mentally. But you ADMITTED that I deserve to win this game against anyone else. There was NO strategic benefit to doing so, but you did it anyways because that's the way you felt. So, the only way you can say you deserve this win is if you are telling me you think you played the best, me second best, and everyone else after.
"So, the only way you can say you deserve this win is if you are telling me you think you played the best, me second best, and everyone else after."
Which is exactly how I feel. You played obsessively, and you did some things which outsmarted me. I played in a focused fashion and did some things which outsmarted you.
You're also not bearing in mind the fact that I made it clear, my conversations with you were designed to make me look weaker in your eyes. Indecision was a part of that. I had no intention on going along with you at any point.
Yes, and you did a good job at selling your weakness in the game, I admit that, you played poossum essentially.
And, I think the difference between you and I, is vested in the fact that you thought it would be a good decision to likely pull a rock at the final 6, predicting my thoughts on the matter completely wrong. You basically were fine with having a 999/2000 chance of going home, taking the 1/1000 odds that I decide to change my vote just to get Sameed out hoping you both do, just to get majority, when you know for a fact you got 7 seconds in the F5 comp (I.E. A ridiculously good score), and you were one immunity away from the end. You didn't know how hard I actually studied, so you thought the odds were better of me wanting Sameed out SO bad that I was willing to risk Brian's game just to do it, and risk my majority, when I had 2 more chances to get him out than your odds were of winning final immunity. And like understandable if someone from the other side is drawing as well, but we were all safe.
It wasn't predicting your thoughts going "He's going to do this", it was thinking that it was a possibility. And feeling that that was a move which could have cemented the game. I will always take a risk if I feel it behoves my game to do so.
Also, I had no idea whether my score was good or not, I've not done the comp before to the best of my memory, and thus was unsure how to measure it.
I agree, it was a risk, that could have theoretically payed off. And I do admire you for trying to predict my crackdness.
But your risk, depends completely on the fact that I'm taking a risk. And my risk would be to risk my own numbers, and my own future safety which, was pretty much guaranteed (assuming Brian voted), just to get out Sameed over Zay. After I'd just proven that I wasn't willing to stack votes on Sameed, because I was worried 1 of you had the Nobatia idol, and wanted to avoid that, despite the odds of it being used on Sameed being a little over 1/3.
That risk, for me, had a negligible benefit, and a potentially disastrous outcome. So, therefore for me, it's a bad risk.
So, if you had thought about it and realized how bad of a risk that is for my game, then you would realize, that the chances of yours working were extremely slim-none, and the potential consequences for your game, could have been disastrous?
If you knew for a FACT that tying that vote would take it to rocks between yourself/Sameed, would you have taken it there?
