for isiah:
My question is for both of you. A major theme by the end of the game was trust. Who could trust and who you couldn't trust. How well do you think you did when it came to developing this skill though out the course of the game?
I can't lie, establishing trust was a bit of a difficulty for me with a few people. this was mostly due to my own social game, where admittedly i was slacking. despite being in a strong alliance and the trust between us holding strong up until the final 8, simply being in an alliance isn't enough. earlier on in the game, i should have worked harder at establishing some sort of dialogue with people like you, ryan, and nahuel. having stronger relationships with you three during the final 8 would have made my life much easier.
even so, i was always open to conversations with people, and even after ryan/nahuel voted out some of my allies, i was honest enough with them to the point where regaining trust with them was possible, especially at the f6 through to the finale. ryan was straightforward with me about his plans for all of those votes, and nahuel was honest with me at f6 and f4.
on the opposite side of the coin, the people i had close bonds with and that i could trust became valuable allies. sanda, jordan, and newz were all incredibly amazing allies that i did have a very consistent sense of trust with. i had mutual & unbreakable trust with newz and sanda, and even when jordan voted out newz at the f8, he still trusted me enough to come to me for my vote at f7.
so i had an interesting relationship with trust in this game, but my general strategy was to be as honest as possible with people- and a lot of times, that honesty was reflected. even when i had people against me, they were willing to be honest with me because i was honest with them. obviously, i lied at times, too, i'm not innocent- but overall i think i managed my trust with people well and had plenty of meaningful bonds with people.
for chandler: (im gonna answer ur other question a bit later cuz that one will take me a while lol)
Also, tell me about our relationship in this game from your point of view, say something about my game and tell me why I should specifically vote for you.
um... our relationship was certainly interesting, that's for sure. we definitely got along very well at the beginning of the game, and when our goals were aligned we did plenty of damage. but as the game progressed, we both started working against each other, and i think we both knew it. it was very david/zeke in mvgx type rivalry. i got wind of you trying to vote me out at final 9, and we argued over that, i threatened you and all that, we've already been there. i don't think i had a lot of tact handling that situation, but i think i was just a little pissed that i could be going home so my emotions clouded by judgement. regardless, the vote for cam still went down. now the line was definitely drawn, and we both gunned for each other from that point on, resulting in the very iconic 0-0 vote between us with the double idol play.
but that's where most of my talk about our relationship ends, and i go into your gameplay as a standalone - you were in a very solid spot in your foursome, and i can't confidently say that i would still be here if both me and sanda weren't safe at f6. you were the main person who was behind booting me, so any chance to take you out was a good chance to take for me. if i had to make a singular statement about you and your game, it would be that (assuming i win) you were the CPN villain who received the 'main antagonist/final obstacle for the winner' edit solely because i needed to be the heroic winner, even though you were probably more of a hero in terms of social play than i was.
why should you vote for me? well, personally, i think that our games were very similar- we both played very aggressively and unapologetically, and were zoned in on taking out the biggest threats to us, and paving a simple road to the end. i had a few roadblocks, but i still made it here. even though i was /technically/ safe from f8 to the end of the game, i only had to win immunity twice and play an idol correctly once- the soul wish, although a cheap immunity, required me to have a good relationship with someone who was booted off, so that does speak to my social play at least a little bit.
also, during the f5, i was again vulnerable (i had my idol, but nobody was sure about that fact except sanda)- but i wasn't on anyone's radar but nahuel's, and i had good relationships to the point where i was able to make my own move and used that strategic momentum to propel me here. i also won f4 immunity, but like i said, i felt that i was in a good spot after the move i made at f5, so i'm not sure if i needed that one.
the only immunity i am 100% sure i needed was at f7, as that gave me many more options moving forward (like being able to use the soul wish for f6 tribal, and use immunity to protect sanda) as well as bought me enough time to claw back into the good graces of many of you to the point where when it came down to being vulnerable again, i didn't end up being a target. it's impossible to say whether i needed the rest of them- maybe i do end up getting targeted at f4, but all i can personally do is speculate.
hopefully that both answers your question, and gives you a different perspective on the narrative that i am ONLY here because of my comp wins. sure, that's a part of my game- i can't deny that. but i honestly believe that my immunity wins served as a safety net for when i needed them (mostly at f7), as well as a nice little bonus to add to my resume.
