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Adam D. / mradamman12
JAMES:
Ahh Adam is actually a really good player I think. I’ve been slayed by him a few times myself, like he isn’t afraid to be cutthroat when he needs, yet at the same time maintains a persona that people enjoy, so I really think Adam can make it deep into the season. He’s also decent at comps which will help him for sure!
RAUL:
I think Adam is a very well rounded player, I've never seen him dominate a season in its entirety, but I've seen him do decent enough to cause a significant impact in a season, I definitely think Adam is one to watch out for come the later stages of the game, my only question really is how we would handle the mid-game of the game where usually you need to guarantee your own safety either by winning comps or having allies win them, and I think that's his biggest obstacle.
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Admir A. / Admir
JAMES:
I personally think of this entire cast Admir has the best social game. I’ve never played with him in a group game nor properly watched him, but seen him 2/2 for making the end in the ones he HAS played. And just from general experience of knowing him I think he’s easily someone people can be fond of. A potential risk for him is his close relationship with Brad, but I think he will go deep for sure.
RAUL:
Admir is definitely one of the people that I think has the better chance of winning this game, I genuinely do not see a universe where he goes out in the first half of the game, however, I can be wrong, and while I'm confident in his ability as a player I think a lot of things can go wrong for him, but I think if he plays his cards right he has one of the higher chances of making it to the end out of the entire cast.
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Ben P. / benp428
JAMES:
Ben is easily one of the most competitive people in this cast. Ben is the kinda person who wouldn’t throw comps even if it made logical sense to, and I definitely feel I relate to him in that regard. This also however though screams ‘early juror’ potential, as a player like Ben sorta lacks socially, and he can’t rely on comps every week most likely. If he strengthens the social game he stands a decent chance I think.
RAUL:
I feel like people see Ben and they kind of assume he's not actually that big of a threat, mainly because you wouldn't associate him with a big group in a season or as the clear frontrunner socially or strategically, but I know he's fully capable as a player and I know he can make it far if given the opportunity, it's really just a matter of him avoiding getting sniped during the late prejury-early jury for me, but other than that I can see Ben making it pretty deep into the game, don't sleep on him.
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Brad E. / Darbe
JAMES:
Brad is a pretty strong challenger from what I’ve seen previously, and in addition I think he has a good social game in the regard he can be good at convincing, along with being likeable which often helps him get his way. I think Brad’s risk is through either his tightness with Admir, or the fact he and Jake don’t get along, and with Jake being another strong competitor this could jeopardise Brad. If Brad gets Jake out though, I see Brad making it very far.
RAUL:
Brad's definitely a capable player, you can just tell by how he interacts with people and his experiences on tengaged as a whole, and I dont think he has a lot of things going against him except for his apparent rivalry with Jake, who is really probably also his biggest competition both physically and strategically, for me I see Brad either getting flung around the mid-section of the game, but it really depends how the game turns out for him.
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Brian C. / cfff
JAMES:
Ok personally I LOVE playing with Brian because I think he’s such a loyal player. What I do know is that Brian’s risk he often finds is sometimes he doesn’t make social bonds as early as other players, which can be a risk for him, but I think he himself is very likeable, so if he focuses on the social element he can progress. He also has a known tight relationship with the likes of Eoin and Jake, which may benefit him as using them as a shield, but could also be a struggle.
RAUL:
I've seen Brian on tengaged for a while now, I know he probably has had the opportunity to interact with a majority of the cast before, and I think that's something that's really going to help him, I think Brian is a player that can have a lot of influence in the season, but it's just a matter of whether him or his allies win power consistently, because without it, I'm not entirely too confident in his ability to turn the game around when his back is against the wall.
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Craig C. / Singsongers
JAMES:
Craig is quite a large personality from my perspective in games. He’s good at comps for sure, and typically also has a decent social game. Characters similar to Craig honestly often don’t do too well, but Craig is an exception as from what I’ve seen he normally does actually pretty decent. I don’t really know who he is too close with this game except Ryan, so it’ll be fun to watch him.
RAUL:
Craig's an interesting player for me because I know he can have his little character moments, I haven't actually seen his ability in-game so I can't really comment on that, and while I don't necessarily see him as the winner of the season straight up, I wouldn't be surprised if he somehow managed to make final 2, on the other hand, I also wouldn't be surprised seeing him getting early pre-jury, he's a very high variance player for me.
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Eoin Q. / Eoin
JAMES:
Eoin. I think Eoin definitely is someone many people will want to work with, though there is risk for him this game due to people knowing his closeness with players like Brian and Jake, which may just glue him to them. But if either of Brian/Jake leave early, then I think Eoin has a broad playing field and can make things happen. Even if all three of them go deep, Eoin still stands a good chance I believe, as Eoin will never shut others out unless he has a direct reasoning for it.
RAUL:
I've played with Eoin and I know he is a strategically sound player, as well as pretty decent at comps when he needs to be, and I have no doubt in his ability to make it far into the game, I think Eoin's problem though is he usually is seen as a threat in the end game and I have seen him getting flung multiple times around it, and I wonder how he's going to overcome that challenge.
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Hong V. / Hong
JAMES:
Hong is certainly the greatest wildcard for the season. He’s never played a group game before, and I’ve never even seen/played with him in a regular game. He seemed passionate about wanting to play which gives good vibes, so I feel he may try harder as a social player this season. But, as a newbie to the group game scene, he could easily be seen as an outcast which results in an early boot, or the opposite and he slides under the radar.
RAUL:
I don't know what to think of Hong, I don't think neither myself or James (or really, anyone on the cast) knew about him, and I think that can be a pretty good thing, or a very very terrible thing, I definitely see Hong going up at least once in the prejury, whether he stays or goes is entirely up to how he performs socially, because I'm not too sure on his competition ability, especially against this cast. Regardless, I'm really excited to see what he can bring to the season!
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Jake B. / Lemjam6
JAMES:
I definitely feel the vast majority of people will come into this and view Jake as the biggest threat. Jake is Jake and overall is quite an all-rounder of a player. However, Jake does often get targeted by people, and honestly if people are smart here they would target Jake early just because of what he can do. He is close with Brian and Eoin in particular which helps, but also has some other relations. Jake is the kinda player who likely needs to be backdoored early, or just the rest of the houseguests hope they can take him down later on.
RAUL:
For me Jake is definitely the biggest threat to win on paper, obviously it's going to play out much more different than what I'm anticipating, but unless Jake has a really rough start I think Jake is probably the biggest threat coming into the mid-game, although I do think he has a chip on his shoulder with the existence of Brad, who also has social connections that could work against him.
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Kat E. / hellocat
JAMES:
Kat is such a nice person, and she’s a strong player to play with too. She can hold her own well in comps, and then having a good social game definitely will benefit her. I know she feels like she has a decent relationship with some people who may not have her on the top of their totem pole, so it’s just whether she goes down the route of following them or making a move on them, that is the difference between her getting like 6th or standing a good chance to win.
RAUL:
I think Kat is a great player, she's just really not an enormous in-your-face kind of threat but really she's always there and you know she's there, and honestly I can definitely see her sneaking by, and I think her biggest problem is also the mid-game portion of the game where I can see her getting put up once there's less options.
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Layla J. / LaylaLove
JAMES:
Layla is 100% one of the most underrated current group game players. I’ve seen her play and she is SO good. Strong at competitions, amazing socially, just something about her naturally attracts people to her. She’s also not a scared player, and will make the right moves at the right time for her own game. I would love to see her go deep in the game, and she definitely has the potential to do that.
RAUL:
I think Layla's great. She recently has been taking the group game community by storm and honestly I think that same thing is going to happen during this season, I think her biggest trouble would be whether she's targeted early on or not, it's a matter of how she manages her relationships with this cast, because of the way I see this, I think this cast puts the narrative in a way where Layla isn't going to be in the spotlight for a while, and she has that in her favor.
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Matt N. / Matte
JAMES:
Matt is such a strong social player. He’s pretty decent in comps too, but yeah his social gameplay is his biggest strength for sure, and he is one of the stronger social players on the cast. He is good at pleasing people to ensure they feel a good sense of trust with him, but like he also plays a loyal game too. He’s loyal and very smart, his biggest risk is just whether he lets his loyalty make the wrong decision for him ultimately.
RAUL:
I like Matt! Having players that don't have english as their first language (or only language...) always gives it a different dynamic that I've enjoyed so far. Like, we've had a lot of brazilian/spanish speaking players in the past and they've always done decent and were rootable, and I think Matt's going to be rootable too. I have high hopes for him with this cast because I think he can have the better social over some of the other outcasts that might be excluded of alliances, to the point where he might be able to get well integrated.
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Nathan H. / nmh95
JAMES:
Nathan is probably in one of the best positions coming into the game. He is strong at comps, he has many relationships with people that can benefit him. Nathan is more likely to be the kinda person to win and not make the boldest moves, but that’s just because he doesn’t need to, as he’s able to then focus on them social relations with the other bigger threats, so that if they win they shoot at one another, not him.
RAUL:
Nathan can win comps, is likable, and has the strategic mind for the game, I'd be surprised if he doesn't make the jury with at least a couple of comp wins under his belt, I predict Nathan is going to have a direct influence in the game one way or another, I can't say I'm incredibly confident in his ability to win the game, but I don't think it's impossible either.
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Pickles W. / jwbrine
JAMES:
I’ve not seen Pickles play before personally, but the name alone suggests great opportunity for a good personality. Pickles is another person I’d definitely deem as a wildcard, as yeah I’m not sure what he will offer, but I do hope he can pave his way through the game. Right now I’d maybe see him as an early juror just based on not knowing if he has any connections, but we love a surprise and I’d love to see him surprise us!
RAUL:
Pickles is weird for me, I played 1 game back in like 2016 with him and he was part of a pretty solid majority, and I really was never able to crack that majority, so I don't doubt his ability to play the social game, I just don't know if he has many room to wiggle with this cast, because I think out of everyone in the cast he's probably one of the most disconnected people in it, but I do think he can turn things around for himself, I just think it's going to be a very difficult and uphill battle.
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Ryan V. / endIessryan
JAMES:
Ryan was the last addition to the cast, but I think he has decent potential. He is close with Craig, but I also feel that Craig can definitely serve as a shield for him, which long-term is perfect for him as that either secures a vote, or potentially another week of safety in the game. Bar knowing Craig I don’t really know a lot about Ryan, but based on his early game interactions seems like he’ll be mainly a social player.
RAUL:
Ryan came late, so he already has that going against him, but I think he's definitely going to be decent socially, while I cant speak of his competitive abilities, I unfortunately think he doesn't have that much of a chance with such a stacked cast, but I can definitely see him making it to at least jury, seeing how he has Craig as a connection he can use to his advantage, theres hope for him!.