- Sun Oct 23, 2016 11:40:44 pm
#6949
DEFYING THE ODDS
The first time I logged onto the board for this game, the final 3 seemed like an unimaginable fantasyland. First, the game was big - 24 people? I'd need to beat 21 other people to make it to the end. Second, the game was filled with strangers. For many of you in this game, you came into this game with your ally and then a bunch of other people with whom you had played before and with whom you had pre-existing relationships, made stronger by your Skype chatting, both before and during the game. I came into the game with Tammy and Tammy only. While she's a great ally, this was undoubtedly a huge disadvantage - how in the world was a team of two going to overcome a massive web of pre-existing relationships? Beating 22 other people? It seemed impossible. Yet, here we are.
Surviving the original Saipan tribe with Tammy wasn't that difficult. By building strong relationships with Richard, Cassandra, and Penner, we managed to make sure that we would be the last pair targeted before the inevitable tribe swap. When that tribe swap came, however, Tammy and I were separated. I was devastated, and very worried about Tammy's ability to maintain her emotional well-being and her place in the game. Immediately, however, I was more worried about myself on the new Pohnpei tribe. On my new nine-person tribe, I was one of three people from the original Saipan tribe. In my mind, there were three threesomes and two would team up to take out a third. Well, I was away most of the weekend and I came back to find out that Cassandra was the target, because apparently Pohnpei was run by a bunch of racists.
DEFINING THE ENEMY
After much drama at tribal council, Cassandra, who was one of my closest allies, was voted out of the game. It was a tragedy from both a personal and strategic standpoint, but it brought the game into focus for me. It highlighted to me what pre-existing dynamics and relationships were truly driving the game forward. There were two loose conglomerations of players, one based around Stranded in Indonesia and another based around Stranded in the Faroe Islands (another fantasyland, as far as I'm concerned). With Cassandra gone, I started to build strong relationships with players on the tribe that I genuinely liked and expressed genuine interest in working with me - Ozzy and Val. These moments of bonding with them on Pohnpei proved to be consequential as the game went forward, as their loyalties to me were extraordinarily important
After lots of prayers, I was rewarded with two challenges wins and then a public tribal council where I got "voted out" of the tribe and given the opportunity to craft an entirely new tribe for myself. This was a great moment for me to make a strategic choice based on all of the information I had gathered on Pohnpei, and put myself in a position to take out some important targets before the merge. The other tribe was filled mostly with people I hadn't met or who I knew weren't going to be helpful to me, and my new tribe was structured in a way in which I knew I would be able to easily vote out other people I knew were not on my side. Whether the new Saipan won or lost immunity, I was going to be in a better position at the merge.
HURRICANE HEIDI
The goal at a thirteen-person merge is to get seven votes. We lost Val's vote at the first tribal council, and I lost Richard, one of my most important allies. The road forward, I knew from that point, was going to be treacherous. I knew that with so few pairs left, that power duo Dan and Sierra were going to be coming for Tammy and I so that they could get the individual immunity necklaces. We were seemingly shit out of luck the next tribal council - but Tammy's relationship with Nate and my relationships with Val and Ozzy, got them back on our side to tie the vote and then Ozzy played the idol to save me and send home Drew, one of Dan's most loyal and competent henchmen.
For the next two votes, Tammy and I called the shots. We sent home Dan, securing ourselves the individual immunity necklaces, and then Rocky, who was never going to be helpful for Tammy and I in the game. Then we were betrayed by Nate, Ozzy, and Penner, for reasons that still don't make a lot of sense to me. Luckily, both Tammy and I were immune, thanks to our challenge strength and our ability to make sure we were the last pair of allies in the game. Luckily, thanks to a relationship that Tammy and I had formed with Sierra (and her two cronies, Sugar and Hayden) we were able to turn things on Nate, the flipper to whom Tammy and I were least close. We needed him gone if we wanted Penner or Ozzy to work with us again.
My ingenuity gifted Tammy and I an extra vote, allowing us to rope in Ozzy and go to rocks. Ozzy, Tammy, and I all knew that we stood no chance in the game if I left that night. We were just in it to save ourselves, and luckily math put the odds in our favor, but we lucked out by taking Sierra out of game. Sierra was someone I genuinely loved and wished I had gotten a chance to work with, but she was too big of a threat to risk getting to the end with. None of this would have been possible without the relationship I had built with Ozzy, dating back to the time we spent on Pohnpei together after the first swap. I know for certain that Sierra would be sitting in this final 3 and I’d be sitting on the jury if that evening hadn’t worked out like it did.
The next round we had to take out Sugar, who I believe was a threat in a different kind of way. She was on her way to the final three alongside Penner, who undoubtedly saw her as a goat. I couldn’t have her taking my spot in the final three. The next round, we took out Ozzy in what was totally an act of self-preservation. Ozzy had turned on Tammy and I, but we convinced Hayden that it was in his best interest to go to the final 4 with us instead of Ozzy, who had previously been voted a big threat to win the game. Tammy and I would have voted Penner at the final 4 no matter who won immunity, because we saw him as competition for jury votes.
Here we are, after a lot of fun and a lot of craziness – Tammy and I made it to the final 3. We’ve been powerhouses in this games since the beginning, a status that put big targets on Tammy and I at the merge. The target on me was the largest one, and people took every opportunity they could to write my name down. Despite the amount of votes I’ve received since the merge, I’m still here. Despite the lack of pre-game relationships I came into the game with, I’m still here. Despite being labeled as a target and a threat to win the game, I’m still here. I made moves.
I look forward to answering your questions and explaining to y’all why I deserve to win and why Hayden and Tammy don’t. Just like at every tribal council before this one, I’m going to speak the truth and give it to you in the most straightforward way possible, whether it’s what you want to hear or not.
The first time I logged onto the board for this game, the final 3 seemed like an unimaginable fantasyland. First, the game was big - 24 people? I'd need to beat 21 other people to make it to the end. Second, the game was filled with strangers. For many of you in this game, you came into this game with your ally and then a bunch of other people with whom you had played before and with whom you had pre-existing relationships, made stronger by your Skype chatting, both before and during the game. I came into the game with Tammy and Tammy only. While she's a great ally, this was undoubtedly a huge disadvantage - how in the world was a team of two going to overcome a massive web of pre-existing relationships? Beating 22 other people? It seemed impossible. Yet, here we are.
Surviving the original Saipan tribe with Tammy wasn't that difficult. By building strong relationships with Richard, Cassandra, and Penner, we managed to make sure that we would be the last pair targeted before the inevitable tribe swap. When that tribe swap came, however, Tammy and I were separated. I was devastated, and very worried about Tammy's ability to maintain her emotional well-being and her place in the game. Immediately, however, I was more worried about myself on the new Pohnpei tribe. On my new nine-person tribe, I was one of three people from the original Saipan tribe. In my mind, there were three threesomes and two would team up to take out a third. Well, I was away most of the weekend and I came back to find out that Cassandra was the target, because apparently Pohnpei was run by a bunch of racists.
DEFINING THE ENEMY
After much drama at tribal council, Cassandra, who was one of my closest allies, was voted out of the game. It was a tragedy from both a personal and strategic standpoint, but it brought the game into focus for me. It highlighted to me what pre-existing dynamics and relationships were truly driving the game forward. There were two loose conglomerations of players, one based around Stranded in Indonesia and another based around Stranded in the Faroe Islands (another fantasyland, as far as I'm concerned). With Cassandra gone, I started to build strong relationships with players on the tribe that I genuinely liked and expressed genuine interest in working with me - Ozzy and Val. These moments of bonding with them on Pohnpei proved to be consequential as the game went forward, as their loyalties to me were extraordinarily important
After lots of prayers, I was rewarded with two challenges wins and then a public tribal council where I got "voted out" of the tribe and given the opportunity to craft an entirely new tribe for myself. This was a great moment for me to make a strategic choice based on all of the information I had gathered on Pohnpei, and put myself in a position to take out some important targets before the merge. The other tribe was filled mostly with people I hadn't met or who I knew weren't going to be helpful to me, and my new tribe was structured in a way in which I knew I would be able to easily vote out other people I knew were not on my side. Whether the new Saipan won or lost immunity, I was going to be in a better position at the merge.
HURRICANE HEIDI
The goal at a thirteen-person merge is to get seven votes. We lost Val's vote at the first tribal council, and I lost Richard, one of my most important allies. The road forward, I knew from that point, was going to be treacherous. I knew that with so few pairs left, that power duo Dan and Sierra were going to be coming for Tammy and I so that they could get the individual immunity necklaces. We were seemingly shit out of luck the next tribal council - but Tammy's relationship with Nate and my relationships with Val and Ozzy, got them back on our side to tie the vote and then Ozzy played the idol to save me and send home Drew, one of Dan's most loyal and competent henchmen.
For the next two votes, Tammy and I called the shots. We sent home Dan, securing ourselves the individual immunity necklaces, and then Rocky, who was never going to be helpful for Tammy and I in the game. Then we were betrayed by Nate, Ozzy, and Penner, for reasons that still don't make a lot of sense to me. Luckily, both Tammy and I were immune, thanks to our challenge strength and our ability to make sure we were the last pair of allies in the game. Luckily, thanks to a relationship that Tammy and I had formed with Sierra (and her two cronies, Sugar and Hayden) we were able to turn things on Nate, the flipper to whom Tammy and I were least close. We needed him gone if we wanted Penner or Ozzy to work with us again.
My ingenuity gifted Tammy and I an extra vote, allowing us to rope in Ozzy and go to rocks. Ozzy, Tammy, and I all knew that we stood no chance in the game if I left that night. We were just in it to save ourselves, and luckily math put the odds in our favor, but we lucked out by taking Sierra out of game. Sierra was someone I genuinely loved and wished I had gotten a chance to work with, but she was too big of a threat to risk getting to the end with. None of this would have been possible without the relationship I had built with Ozzy, dating back to the time we spent on Pohnpei together after the first swap. I know for certain that Sierra would be sitting in this final 3 and I’d be sitting on the jury if that evening hadn’t worked out like it did.
The next round we had to take out Sugar, who I believe was a threat in a different kind of way. She was on her way to the final three alongside Penner, who undoubtedly saw her as a goat. I couldn’t have her taking my spot in the final three. The next round, we took out Ozzy in what was totally an act of self-preservation. Ozzy had turned on Tammy and I, but we convinced Hayden that it was in his best interest to go to the final 4 with us instead of Ozzy, who had previously been voted a big threat to win the game. Tammy and I would have voted Penner at the final 4 no matter who won immunity, because we saw him as competition for jury votes.
Here we are, after a lot of fun and a lot of craziness – Tammy and I made it to the final 3. We’ve been powerhouses in this games since the beginning, a status that put big targets on Tammy and I at the merge. The target on me was the largest one, and people took every opportunity they could to write my name down. Despite the amount of votes I’ve received since the merge, I’m still here. Despite the lack of pre-game relationships I came into the game with, I’m still here. Despite being labeled as a target and a threat to win the game, I’m still here. I made moves.
I look forward to answering your questions and explaining to y’all why I deserve to win and why Hayden and Tammy don’t. Just like at every tribal council before this one, I’m going to speak the truth and give it to you in the most straightforward way possible, whether it’s what you want to hear or not.
