The Syndicate

me too i like almost winning

Golden wrote:

Quin wrote:I'm actually Denise the lunch lady.

Oh, you were fired from your job for playing this game?

I'm actually Denise the lunch lady.

Golden wrote:I was talking to my niece about the game and was thinking I would try to put a real life Survivor player against each player who played in this game, but it will take a bit of work.

Here's a start

Opt_Outside. She set herself up as a loyal ally to many, and had the ability to get people onside even after she hurt their allies. She took out the one ally she felt she had to take out in order to win, but otherwise played a remarkably loyal game. No-one ever truly came after her or wanted her out. Opt_Outside is Earl Cole.

Quin. He made big moves, and he was willing to antagonise people to make them. He stayed loyal, but primarily because he believed he could beat everyone. His game will be disputed among the Survivor Mafia fandom for eons, asking whether or not he was robbed. Quin is, quite legitimately, Russell Hantz.

Sorsha. She was at her social best, connecting with the right people at the right times and not letting the other people left at the end realise just how socially well connected she was. She was probably a couple of unlucky breaks away from winning (if Quin had gone down at 5 and she had a clear shot at opt at 4, I think she was odds on favourite). She wasn't able to answer as many questions at final tribal council and lost some votes there. Sorsha is Amanda Kimmel.

Happens a lot

DharmaHelper wrote:

Quin wrote:

DharmaHelper wrote:I think it came down to a misconception. My understanding was "Quin's role shows him where the idols are, and lo and behold, he keeps running into idols and getting people out with them."

I dunno if that's a fair assumption or not. I also wouldn't have kept more than 3 idols in the game if I were hosting (One on each starting tribe, one on the merge) But that's just me.

That's exactly what it did. I won't refute that the role was overpowered. Since Scotty seemed to plant a new idol after one was played, in theory once I got the first one I could have played it, gotten the next one, played it, and so on.

I just think people are ignoring my game in favour of saying 'he doesn't deserve it' (explicit words said by somebody...) because of what damage my role could have done, rather than what it did.

I think part of that from the Jury side is trying to convince other jurors to vote for the person they want to win. It's a good argument. Maybe not a fair or 100% correct one, but it's good.

I hope that's it.

Long Con wrote:

Quin wrote:

Long Con wrote:

Quin wrote:

S~V~S wrote:Also I did not understand how it worked,I thought you could only use it onyourself. So I wanted you to pick it up since you seemed more in danger than I.

Idols? Nah. Actually, when LC started bringing up your name and trying to control my BTSC choices, I considered asking Scotty if I could give you the idol. But without a message to go with it, I was worried it'd be wasted, so I just tried to change his mind.

I didn't see it so much as "controlling you"... more like "I'm glad we're on the same page and I can trust him."

Yeah, I'm more-so saying that from my perspective, because I wanted to go back to SVS and you kept saying 'no, go talk to sawyer and DF'. And as long as you didn't check my role, I thought I could trust you too. But I didn't see a situation where a member of your alliance could go unchecked so I'm a little glad that didn't become a problem.

You could have trusted me with knowing your role. A powerful role in the hands of an ally is a good thing.

Maybe. Before you though, my loyalty was to SVS and Golden. If circumstances worked out that you could be brought into that then I'd have been welcoming of it - but with you wanting to take on sawyer and DF, while also being part of the 'five' , I didn't see that happening. It would have been cool to work with you longer though, you're a cool dude.

Long Con wrote:

Quin wrote:

S~V~S wrote:Also I did not understand how it worked,I thought you could only use it onyourself. So I wanted you to pick it up since you seemed more in danger than I.

Idols? Nah. Actually, when LC started bringing up your name and trying to control my BTSC choices, I considered asking Scotty if I could give you the idol. But without a message to go with it, I was worried it'd be wasted, so I just tried to change his mind.

I didn't see it so much as "controlling you"... more like "I'm glad we're on the same page and I can trust him."

Yeah, I'm more-so saying that from my perspective, because I wanted to go back to SVS and you kept saying 'no, go talk to sawyer and DF'. And as long as you didn't check my role, I thought I could trust you too. But I didn't see a situation where a member of your alliance could go unchecked so I'm a little glad that didn't become a problem.

DharmaHelper wrote:I think it came down to a misconception. My understanding was "Quin's role shows him where the idols are, and lo and behold, he keeps running into idols and getting people out with them."

I dunno if that's a fair assumption or not. I also wouldn't have kept more than 3 idols in the game if I were hosting (One on each starting tribe, one on the merge) But that's just me.

That's exactly what it did. I won't refute that the role was overpowered. Since Scotty seemed to plant a new idol after one was played, in theory once I got the first one I could have played it, gotten the next one, played it, and so on.

I just think people are ignoring my game in favour of saying 'he doesn't deserve it' (explicit words said by somebody...) because of what damage my role could have done, rather than what it did.

S~V~S wrote:Also I did not understand how it worked,I thought you could only use it onyourself. So I wanted you to pick it up since you seemed more in danger than I.

Idols? Nah. Actually, when LC started bringing up your name and trying to control my BTSC choices, I considered asking Scotty if I could give you the idol. But without a message to go with it, I was worried it'd be wasted, so I just tried to change his mind.

S~V~S wrote:Oh 100%. That's why i am getting lulz from people blaming *me* for DH when that was your idea.

But people believe what they wanna believe

And you picked up the first one, not me, cause I was paranoid, remember?

Yeah. I even said to you 'here's where the idol is, I'm not sure if I can go get it - so go get it.'

I mean, in the end people probably can't stop themselves from making assumptions because they weren't right by my side the whole time. But it does sting thinking people think I had a free ride. I worked my ass off for this.

Epignosis wrote:

Quin wrote:Someone made a good point in the spectator thread. My role was overpowered, sure. But for 99 percent of the game, nobody ever wanted me out. It's not like I was hiding it. Half the game knew and you let me on my merry way, so in the end, it's mainly on the players heads that I got to the end.

Spoiler: show

But you lost.

Yeah, and in reading the threads it sounds like I was fucked from the get go. I don't like people putting my being here solely in the basket of 'I carried myself with idols'. It's not true. I couldn't use my bonus role in getting the first idol. I told three people where the second idol was, and never went to get it myself. I used the third on another person.

I still hold onto the idea that the only thing my role did for me was determine the circumstances that got me to the end. If I went with DH's crew, I could have made 5 and with a much different line-up. If I hadn't betrayed Golden, I'd have made final 4 and had a shot at immunity.

Someone made a good point in the spectator thread. My role was overpowered, sure. But for 99 percent of the game, nobody ever wanted me out. It's not like I was hiding it. Half the game knew and you let me on my merry way, so in the end, it's mainly on the players heads that I got to the end.

Epignosis wrote:Quin, how did you know I was your counterpart?

PoE. I knew who everybody else was after like, two nights. LC told me straight up when I asked for confirmation.

just read the jury thread. god that hurts

Yes, my role was overpowered. No, it's not why I made it to the end. I think suggesting that my social game has nothing to do with it is just a god awful assumption, so hopefully my answers changed peoples minds there.

Opt_Outside wrote:

Golden wrote:Click User control Panel
Click the profile tag
Say edit signature

In thread, quote scotty's post, and copy and paste the correct link into the signature. Done!

Sweeeet

It's neat that your first banner is literally a one-of-a-kind banner. Nobody else will ever have it. Be proud.

Golden wrote:

Quin wrote:My banner repertoire got good

You should have a banner that says 'Mad Max - loser, but won best mafia for it anyway'

I want that banner. Somebody please make me that banner.

My banner repertoire got good

Golden wrote:

Quin wrote:btw I'm accepting alliance requests for season 2 hmu

Too late, I've already made two final three deals.

yeah, but I already have six idols.

btw I'm accepting alliance requests for season 2 hmu

What I really didn't expect was Sorsha blindsiding me though. I wasn't really a fan of her mindset towards the end, but I don't blame her for having it.

Golden wrote:

Quin wrote:I wasn't really happy with the decision I made then, but I thought it for the best.

I really thought it cost you the game in the moment, but then somehow here you were at final 3.

I was like 'noooo Quin, I'm the only one who will have your back! I owe you one. That was a bad move!'.

But hey, I was wrong. You did just fine.

It was kind of funny. I'd just told you about how there's no way Opt would bring me to the final 3 over you, and then out of nowhere she says to me 'let's vote out Golden' and go to the end together. It just felt really genuine, and maybe my paranoia was working against me, but you weren't.

Long Con wrote:

Quin wrote:

Long Con wrote:

Golden wrote:LC, you seem to think you had an 'original five' deal with me. I had never even heard about such a thing until after you were gone. Someone was bullshitting you that I had allied with you.

DH... he lied to me and to Quin. Same lie. Was INH even involved? DH, you are too corrupt and deceitful to ever trust.

DH and I never spoke at all - in fact, you were the one who told me about the alliance. When you told me that there was a five, I didn't know what to do. I didn't trust it at all though.

It's okay. We're both victims here.

Scotty, what was the deal with alibis? Did they ever have an impact?

Opt_Outside wrote:

Golden wrote:That's one of the funny things that happened in this game... people thought I had a lot of deals but then I was being told I was in deals that I never was...

Deals I made in the game:

Final three with Quin and SVS pre-game, and a side pact with DH
Final three with Opt and DH at Atamai, final five with LoRab and speedchuck
Final three with Opt and sorsha in the post-swap tribe
Then I gave LoRab a final three deal to slot in to DH's place come merge when he was gone

That was all the deals I made... it's a few, but I heard a lot more that I had apparently made.

Oh interesting- did svs and quin not propose the final four to you that they did to me? That's where my pact with quin came from. Our final four that turned into final three once svs was out.

Initially, it was a 3 between Golden, SVS and myself. But once we got to the merge, Golden insisted we bring you into the fold, so that 3 really became a four. I'm glad it did.

Long Con wrote:

Golden wrote:LC, you seem to think you had an 'original five' deal with me. I had never even heard about such a thing until after you were gone. Someone was bullshitting you that I had allied with you.

DH... he lied to me and to Quin. Same lie. Was INH even involved? DH, you are too corrupt and deceitful to ever trust.

DH and I never spoke at all - in fact, you were the one who told me about the alliance. When you told me that there was a five, I didn't know what to do. I didn't trust it at all though.

Golden wrote:

Quin wrote:Golden, one day I promise you we'll play a game together where we don't rip each others throats out.

I never ripped your throat out. I never even lied to you once in the chat that day I was really trying to figure out how to get you to the end. I felt like I owed you for voting SVS out.

It was me this time Smiles aside, I can be a brute.

During our BTSC that night - I was fully prepared to put my faith in you. 100 percent. I thought 'this is someone I want to go to the end with - if he blindsides me, I'll be super pissed, but he'd probably wind up with my jury vote.' But then Opt came and convinced me and I changed my train of thought - blind faith wasn't enough. I thought 'you'd understand, but you'd most definitely be pissed'

I wasn't really happy with the decision I made then, but I thought it for the best.

Opt_Outside wrote:

Quin wrote:Putting on my self-entitlement hat for a second - I'm actually surprised I only got one jury vote. Who dat

Me too dude. I seriously expected to lose to you lol

Honestly, from the way people talked about you in the thread, I expected to win as well. You had some great answers though, and this could have gone either way.

Golden, one day I promise you we'll play a game together where we don't rip each others throats out.

Yeah... looks like the final 5 thing was never going to work out. Too many big egos, no?

Also, cool banners. I'm proud that I've got something to show for what I consider a successful game on my part (although in truth it's anything but)

Long Con wrote:

Quin wrote:Putting on my self-entitlement hat for a second - I'm actually surprised I only got one jury vote. Who dat

I would have voted you dude. Congrats on Final Three... rumour has it there's a banner involved in that.

DharmaHelper wrote:Oddly I think Eloh's elimination hit me the hardest. She was my last BTSC partner alongside SVS, and I enjoyed our conversations RE: Loyalty. I think if she'd made it to the end she would have been in the running.

Linki @ LC: Some birdies told me you were talking all kinds of shit about me.

The fact is that I had a column in my spreadsheet just titled "DH", and people got a positive or negative number for how they were inclined to you. I started it when you started the King of the Island shit. I never wavered for a second from the Goal. I guarantee you that. Anything I said about you was about reading the results for our future benefit.

This makes me feel slightly better

At least I won't get canonically killed off, right?

DharmaHelper wrote:

Quin wrote:Putting on my self-entitlement hat for a second - I'm actually surprised I only got one jury vote. Who dat

If I were in the Jury and it was between the three of you, you might have needed to answer whatever B.S question I came up with to convince me to vote your way. I think fairly or unfairly, your idol power made the jury hesitant to vote for you to win.

Linki @ Golden - I suspected he had the idol (as did INH) I just didn't have the gas in the tank to get the votes swapped around to where it would have mattered.

After a while I sort of went 'this role sucks'. I was actively trying to make it so my role wasn't as overpowered as it was. It's literally half the reason why I came into BTSC and said 'hey, here's the idol - go get it'.

DharmaHelper wrote:How the fuck you gonna do me so dirty when I kicked so much ass at battleship guys?

soz

i just really wanted that rick grimes gif

Putting on my self-entitlement hat for a second - I'm actually surprised I only got one jury vote. Who dat

Congrats Opt! I'm happy for you

Opt_Outside wrote:Just wanna say one thing unrelated to the vote. I've never played an online game like this before. I play a lot of hidden traitor games with my friends in real life and sometimes we end up screaming at each other until we're blue in the face. But after the game ends and our cards are flipped over, it's all laughs. And the fact that someone might have yelled "SHUT UP *****" in my face was all just in-game hilarity. That's the same spirit I tried to bring here. Everything negative or aggressive I've said or done has just been a part of the game. In reality, I've loved getting to know you all and hope to come back and play some more!

I, and I'm sure everybody else who played, enjoyed playing with you a lot. I hope you sign up to more games soon.

LoRab wrote:Quin: You've admitted that you were intentionally unpleasant when we joined your tribe way back when. And you take a lot of credit for taking DH out, because of the perceived threat of his play. I don't think he was actually that threatening. Also, I think you could have easily made that whole thing work without bringing an air of meanness to the thread that didn't need to be there, and I'm not sure ever really went away. Just yesterday, you implied that I didn't really deserve to be there--I know you claim that you didn't mean that, but if you put your posts together, that's exactly what you were implying in your plea to Sorsha to not vote for you.

So, my question for you is, why should I vote for you?

I don't think I could have made it work without making myself the villain. There was every chance that DH would try to take me under his wing, tell me to vote for DFaraday and then have the four of you vote for SVS as a way of both testing my allegiance and eliminating my options. I wasn't going to let that happen. You say that my meanness didn't go away - but it did. If you think I was implying you didn't deserve to be at the end, you're wrong. You do. But when I have to make a plea to have someone bring me to the end, I can't make a case in anybody else's favour. I have to say 'hey, you all suck compared to me - take me with you.'

You should vote for me because I worked harder in this game than anybody else. If you think about who really set the game in motion, who played this game the hardest, I should be at the top of your mind every time. I got to the end without (unnecessarily) breaking promises to those who I had promised things to, by creating relationships that kept me safe and by making moves that set the course of this game. I think I found the perfect balance of strategy and loyalty in this game.

speedchuck wrote:A question for each of you:
If you were ruled out and sent to be on the council with us, which of the remaining two players would you pick to win and why?

Opt, no question. No offense to Sorsha, but she played a very under the radar game, never taking the steering wheel for any of the big moves in the game. If you want to call her vote for me at the final 5 a big move, fine. But to me it just looked easy and convenient. She played a good social game in the beginning, and secured herself lynch immunity for a long time because of her generosity (especially in the wake of everyone being sick). Otherwise, I'm underwhelmed.

Opt made plenty of big moves. The Golden vote was her idea. While the execution was a joint effort and couldn't have been done without both of us, it never would have happened if she didn't stick her neck out. Her social game was marvelous considering she was only voted for one time, and her challenge history is admirable.

I became seen as the big villain of this game after the DH vote. My choice is obvious. I decided that I wasn't interested in the final 5 alliance. With you and Golden as the exception, I was an afterthought in the eyes of the other two. That's barely even part of the reason I did what I did, though. In my information gathering, I found out that LC's role could have ended my game if he ever checked me. While we worked together in the early days, I can't call what we had an alliance. He was actively trying to manipulate my BTSC choices after I first got in contact with him. If Manama hadn't taken him out, I would have had to do it myself. While DH had apparently wanted to take me on board, there was still the issue of him wanting to eliminate the Atamai tribe specifically, because I was outnumbered within that alliance and would have gotten stuck between a rock and a hard place had they ever turned on me.

Therefore, I became the shittest piece of shit in the thread to lure every single Manama vote to take out the person who would have posed the biggest threat to me down the line and disrupt 4 strong from coming together. In doing so I likely set three people with strong ties to DH against me for the rest of the game, and still came out on top. The only reason Golden is being perceived as the biggest threat is because I didn't let DH take the stage.

Also,

notsawyer540 wrote:My first question to everyone:

Who have you voted for since the merger, and why?

1. notsawyer - I voted for you for multiple reasons. One being the most important - because you asked for it. 99 percent of the time I would much rather vote someone who didn't want to stay in the game over someone who intended to fight for their life. I also felt more comfortable doing that because in a game where every vote (whether successful or not) has repercussions, a vote with minimal consequence is desirable. You were by every definition a 'safe' vote. Coming into the merge, alliances hadn't formed yet and BTSC chains were too messed up to properly strategise. Golden brought up your desire to be voted out, and he decided to bring that into the thread to make that vote happen.

2. Eloh - In reality, my vote was changed to Epi by Golden's role. My BTSC links to my alliance was cut off for whatever reason and I wasn't sure that the alliance was ready for an Epi lynch. We knew that Eloh and Epi would inevitably come together as an alliance and needed to be broken up. Eloh was also one of the tribe-swapped Manama who I tricked with the DH vote, and she had come into the merged thread extremely unhappy about it. I was sure she would never be on my side.

3. INH - I mentioned this in my opening statement. INH had chosen the Manama/DH alliance over mine and I was forced to trick him. I had to clean up my mess.

4. speedchuck - I made this vote because Golden wanted it. It was a 'favour for a favour' type of thing, since he voted Epi because I needed it. I had no specific reason to want him gone, nor did I have one for him to stay.

5. DFaraday - Pretty much the same as why I voted for notsawyer. He volunteered, and I had no reason to say no.

6. LoRab - I voted LoRab because of my ties to SVS and because that was the mindset of the thread at the time. I was fooled with that idol play.

7. Golden - I didn't vote for Golden because I couldn't beat him at the end. Frankly, I think I stood a chance and if not; I'd have still taken pride in taking someone formidable to the end with me. I voted for him because I stopped trusting in the alliance that he had promised me. After SVS's lynch, I started thinking about it and it became more and more clear that the alliance he intended to stick to included himself, LoRab and Opt. I'd have loved to go to the end with Golden, but alas, the never ending cycle of a Quin/Golden opposition begins anew.

8. Eloh - A vote I'd tried to get to happen for a while. I'd let LoRab off the hook because of her allegiance to Golden, but nobody had any real relationships with Eloh in this game.

9. LoRab - I was never going to betray Opt. Opt played a fantastic game and most definitely deserves a spot in the final three. It sounds idealistic considering Opt wasn't voted for, but before we knew for sure how things were going to go, that was the promise I made to her. LoRab was the only option left.

S~V~S wrote:Congratulations to all three of you.

I am happy that one member of my primary alliance, Quin, made it to the end. I am also glad that two members of my secondary alliance, Atamai made it, Sorsha, and again, Quin. And all of those Immunity wins, Opt! Very impressive to watch.

This first question is for all of you.

Your success in all three cases, can be attributed to a variety of things. I want to know what, in your opinion, those things are. Skill and luck will both play in, just like real life Survivor. But here we have the added element of role powers.

The Question: What percentage of your success was due to skill, and what to luck, and what to a role power? And if any percentage to a role power,what was that power?

Being in the final three is mainly a cross between luck and skill. Obviously, luck comes into the fire making challenge. I'd either be sitting here or sitting on the jury. Elsewhere, I don't think Lady Luck favoured me much during this game. My skill in interacting with people, manipulating who I needed to, forming a rapport with people both in my alliance and out, and carrying myself in a way that made me appear invested yet harmless is what I think did the most for me in this game.

My role factors in for sure. But like I said to Golden, I don't think it had a lot to do with why I'm sitting at the end. One could argue that my secondary ability (being to choose a second option on the poll) helped me. But in reality, it didn't. I've explained why I disagree with this in terms of idol hunting, but I also disagree with the assumption that I gained an advantage by secretly boosting my stats. I still lost the challenges that relied on expending my stats. Without that power, my challenge performance would hardly be any different. Where it did admittedly help was in camping the well. I removed one BTSC link from play by anyone who intended to use it as a way to rally numbers to vote me out. That said, I don't believe that there was ever a need for it, or at least I haven't been told whether that was ever on the table.

My role primarily helped to dictate the way that this game unfolded. Without my role, as I said, the line-up would be significantly different. But whether I hadn't voted out DH or Golden, I'd have still made it far enough to have a real shot at taking this spot.

Golden wrote:Hi quin

Congrats on getting to the end. I'm surprised they let you get there, I'll be honest I expected all three votes to come your way, and I think people were foolish not to vote you out. I'll be honest, I thought you made a big mistake voting me out and that you would need my vote at 4 (which you would have had) so I'm proud of you.

Having said that, there's one big problem with voting you to win. For you, finding idols was way to easy. Why should I vote for someone who essentially had a free path to final four?

My idol finding ability was only a small part of the reason that I’m here now. It’s true that for me, finding idols was easy. Even so, there were times where it was impossible for me to get my hands on an idol, and the relationships I formed protected me from being voted out during that time. The way I used my role is significantly more telling as to why I’m here. Something that I strongly believed in was that having an idol was not something that I needed to progress my own game. I put my trust in my core four alliance, and the first time I ever had BTSC with you, SVS or Opt, I came straight out and said to you ‘This is my role, and I trust that we can work together, so here is where the idol is right now’. The reason Opt ever found an idol was because I specifically told her that it was there. There’s not a single idol that was placed that I didn’t talk about with my alliance, except for the last one which I kept to myself both so I could see where I stood, and just for the sake of a bit of drama.

The way I used my role was significantly more strategic and complex than waiting for an idol and taking it. As I said, I was not afraid to tell my alliance members exactly where the idols were. SVS was supposed to take the first idol, though I can’t remember the circumstances that lead to me taking it instead. For the second idol, I gave the location to both Opt and yourself. The third I found myself, but I was not scared to use it on somebody else, especially so late in the game when it could have been me at any point.

As for how I did use my role, I used it for two main purposes: To secretly keep my energy and hunger stats up in preparation for a challenge like the pole one, and to camp the well so that I would always be either privy to larger BTSC conversations, or else to prevent it from being used by those who ever wanted me out. I also made plans with Opt to work towards getting the four of us to the well at the same time, using my second poll vote and Opts ability to move someone somewhere else.

Almost every time that I performed an idol play, there was always an alternative route I could have gone. With DH, I could have kept the idol hidden, joined DH and worked with the final five alliance. When we voted you out, I could have let Sorsha go and worked with you – likely securing myself at worst final four. I needed the idol at 5, and truthfully, having the idol then was sheer dumb luck. But if I had stuck with you, I might not have needed it. Maybe the same could be true of the first idol play, but that’s too far back.

I didn’t need the idols to make it here. But they helped me to get here on my own terms.

Epignosis wrote:Final candidates, I lay before you a task.

Spoiler: show

1. Look at this map.
2. Take these gold doubloons, worth exactly $200.
3. On the map you will see many names, some familiar, others strange and exotic. Each name has been assigned a value and a symbol (PG, SG, SF, PF, C).
4. Choose eight names. You must choose names that match these symbols: PG, SG, G (can be either PG or SG), SF, PF, F (can be either SF or PF), C, and U (universal- you can put any name here). You cannot, for example, choose three names that are C, but you could choose two that are C (one for C and one for U).
5. You must not exceed the value of your gold doubloons ($200).
6. It is presently just after 5pm EST. The first names on your map will do battle at 7pm EST. If the battle has begun, and you have not posted your names, you cannot select names from that battle, and must make do with those from later battles.
7. Post your eight names in the thread for all to see.

What eight names did you choose?

I'll come back to earlier questions soon, just answering this now because there's a deadline.

PG - J. Nelson (14)
SG - C. Miles (10)
G - N. Batum (27)
SF - D. Gallinari (25)
PF - A. Gordon (20)
F - K. Leonard (50)
C - S. Adams (17)
U - E. Payton (31)

Wanted to make some edits but the money isn't showing up on refresh so

The most important thing that you should take from my game is that every single promise and relationship I made meant something to me. Except for INH and Golden (both of which I will explain in a moment), there was not one time that I made a promise to somebody with the intention of stabbing them in the back, whether it be right then or later down the track. I actively tried to keep every promise I had made, and I was not loose with such promises.

For INH, the ordeal regarding the DH vote forced my hand. At the time, he had made his decision about which alliance he intended to stick to, and I felt that if I didn’t clean up my mess, it would come back to haunt me. If I were to say which vote I most regretted, this would be it, because even though INH had always been honest with me, and I didn’t consider us to be enemies, I had to make the decision out of sheer paranoia that he’d get his revenge when he could.

Golden was the vote that hurt me the most to make. The final four alliance that I had with him, SVS and Opt was in my eyes ‘The Alliance’. The decision to vote Golden out was essentially self-preservation. There’s a reason that he was the majority vote for the player with too many alliances in the plate challenge. When SVS was lynched, I realised that he had to go. He had made plenty of excuses for LoRab in our BTSC chats, how he had promised her final five, yet voted out one of the planned final four without a second thought. So while this vote hurt me to make, I don’t regret it. If I didn’t vote Golden out, I don’t think I’d be here right now.

Although my personal loyalty code was a driving factor in how I approached the game, it was not all about friendships and morals. I played this game hard and made plenty of big moves. On the Atamai tribe, I was probably one of the first to pick up the pace and play this game for real. I was strategising, organising my alliances and gathering information straight away. I can’t take credit away from Long Con, but both he and I worked together early to create early game security for ourselves. Even then, I directed him away from SVS, who was in his sights for a vote, to Epi, who was my role enemy.

I can confidently say that I set the entire course for this game with my idol play at the tribe swap. From his interactions on Day 0 and the way he approached the game with his Manama alliance, I took out the biggest threat to my game before he even had the opportunity to strike. I did this even knowing that a final 5 alliance with me, Golden, DH, INH and LC was already in the works. I could have kept the idol secret and followed like a puppy, but I didn’t. I wanted to preserve the alliance I had. If I hadn’t done this, there’s no doubt that the line-up of jury and finalists would be much different. I don’t think I’d be here right now, especially since this was an alliance I wasn’t told I was in until the game had already started.

During challenges, I tried my ass off. While Opt beat me in almost every challenge, these were almost always by small margins. I also strategized my stats constantly. I finished with each of my stats extremely high. I think if it came down to a straight waiting game, I’d outlast both Opt and Sorsha.

In the plate challenge, while two won immunity, I did beat Opt by plate count. Essentially, that means that even among those I wasn’t aligned with, I was considered either an after-thought or someone who didn’t pose a threat to them. I was not setting myself up as an underdog. I presented myself to the thread as a person who was quite clearly playing the game, but also as someone that people liked having around. I shared information as much as I could even when it was disadvantageous to do so, and kept a friendly demeanour to every player, regardless of whether I was aligned with them (and coupled with having to vote one of those players out every night, that is not an easy feat). That’s reflected in the results of that challenge. Relationship management, was again, crucial for my game.

Since it’s been said, (I’ll barely skim the surface here and answer it extensively in the morning), I agree that my role was slightly overpowered. I was told whenever an idol was placed, though sometimes I was given multiple locations as to where it could be. There were also fake idols in play which could have spelled my doom if I wasn’t perceptive enough. With Epi (my role enemy) gone, I could go to a second location each day without anybody knowing. Even so, my role was only a small part of the reason why I’m here now. I want to emphasise that as much as I can now. My hard work (and a little bit of luck) got me here.

I think I’ve said just about everything I wanted to for now. I do want to say that I’ve never had so much fun playing a game on this site with you guys. There was never a dull moment, and for those I crossed, and for those who crossed me, I had fun with that too. For Scotty, there’d have to be a truly spectacular game this year for me to not submit this for the Sockys.

Again, Good luck to Sorsha and Opt. Whoever wins should be extremely proud that they did so. I think all three of us are deserving of the win in our own way.

SVS and sawyer, just making sure you know but there's no 'first' question. You can address each of us once.

I'm not sure if Scotty will let you change your question if this changes things for you, but

My rellies stayed a lot longer than I anticipated and I'm tired now. I'll get an opening statement of sorts out before bed and then answer as many questions as I'm asked once I wake up in the morning.

first off let me just say holy shit i was shaking reading the fire making challenge

Second off, my nan and pop are over tonight so I'll properly be back tonight.

Congrats Sorsha and Opt, good luck!