- Sun Oct 23, 2016 1:59:32 am
#6896
Sometimes the winner of a season defines the greatness of said season. Sometimes it's a mere anecdote. Sometimes it harms or helps a season. This season, I can say whatever the outcome, this will be one of the best seasons of Stranded. I think this season is full of the best PLAYERS we have ever seen. Even the characters were strong contenders this season. I think everyone offered something great and no one went out without a fight and that's the mark of a great season. No vote was easy and every vote offered some kind of controversy or notable occurrence. I would even go as far as to say this was the best Strategic season in Stranded history. Everyone came to play.
I think usually I can predict how a season will end, but in this case, it was completely open at every single vote. Even through the final four! That's remarkable. Literally, anything could happen. Of course, it would be, in a season full of rock draws, extra votes, immunity necklaces, hidden immunity idols, public immunity idols, shifting alliances. Allies sticking together, allies turning on each other it was insane.
I think it says a lot that the final 3 consists of a pair of allies and an individual who lost their ally in the first episode. This season did not go at all like I thought it would. I think there is something to be said for Tammy and Heidi having the most trust between them of any of the allies and them not only making it the furthest of all the allies but to the final fucking three. I think that's remarkable and really proves the concept of this season.
We were really concerned that this would just be a bunch of pregame friendships that teamed up and went all the way to the final 6 together. That might have been entertaining, but we wanted a season that really tested Friendships and incentivized people to go solo. I think we succeeded in that only 2 pairs made the merge, meaning almost all the pairs were split up as soon as possible. I hate that we had someone try to sabotage the season and marred it with controversy, but literally every open ID game has that, and I think it happened at the perfect time so we could all move on from it. Really I think the only players it truly screwed over was Richard. Maybe Mookie.
In the end, I think this season was a wild success... One of my favorite seasons really. It was exciting beyond belief and really really fun to watch. I loved all the characters.
Hayden has been extremely likable, it's the main reason we brought him back. Unfortunately, I think he hasn't gotten his hands dirty enough. He's been very go-with-the-flow which is the reason why he's made it to the end. Whether that warrants a win is another story. Hayden has stepped it up in the final 6 by turning on Sugar and then Ozzy in the final 5. Then he went on to win the Final Immunity Challenge. I think being up against two allies will help him here. He is the other option to them and I think that, along with his likability is why he may end up winning. But he'll have to be convincing as I think the jury is convinced he did more than he claims. Full disclosure, he's not my ideal winner here, but... he's played an admirable game albeit not as exciting as the others. He would be a solid winner and I love the guy so there's that too. Just wish he had done a bit more to warrant it.
Heidi came into this game after having last played in season 12. That was in 2010, 6 years ago. She came into this season amongst players who played stranded only 1 year ago and some only 2 months ago. She didn't know anyone other than her ally Tammy. Yet, she was able to bulldoze her way throughout the season like I have never seen. At one point she was on the bottom clawing her way out of an impossible situation and due to a lucky break was able to survive until the merge. In the merge it was her people vs. Dan's people and she was able to win out. Time and time again she was able to escape seemingly impossible odds to make it all the way until the friggin merge. Unbelievable. She has graduated from All-star to Legend to top 10 all time player. I'll never understand her feud with Dan seeing as they really should have worked together here, but if it ends up consting her the game... I think that's unfortunate. They are so similar and yet, Dan lacks the flexibility to be a truly great player like Heidi is. I think the jury hatred for her is ridiculous. This notion that "Hayden was never in danger so he was a better player" is obsurd. If that were the case than Sherri, Mick Trimming, Rick, would be among the best players of all time. It's ludicris. What makes this game hard is playing publicly enough to WIN but also not publicly enough to stay in the game. Heidi's game is outstanding and i think after the game she will be looked at as one of the all-time greats. I've had a pleasure watching her play and I think the jurors will regret their votes after this is all said and done if they don't see the light in the finals. The one reason I would think Heidi deserves it over Tammy or Hayden is that she has been the most at risk. She was taking bullets and put her own life on the line to get ahead.
I think while Heidi has played the more openly visible and exciting game, Tammy has played the most strategic game this season. She had backup plans on top of backup plans. Made things happened, is a huge reason why Heidi stayed around as long as she did and even made her own plans knowning Heidi would likely be taken out. If the jury was going to vote for someone who was the least in danger, it's by far Tammy. Unlike Hayden she has been playing the game HARD since day 1 and has steered how this season would go. I don't think she'll get credit for that, I hope she does. Penner alluded to it during the last TC and the jury seemed to scoff at it. The jury's gross this season. I think Tammy played a superior game to Hayden and Heidi and would be the perfect winner this season. Tammy has had an even longer layoff than Heidi having only played Stranded twice and the last time was season 9 in 2009, 7 years ago! She is a dominant player outside of this and to see her finally show her prowess in this game is amazing. I really hope she can find a way to pull out the win, but i don't know... it's such an uphill battle. They've viewed her as useless for so long that she may not be able to. That combined with her hate for being associated with Heidi is retarded. She's a winner in my eyes though and should absolutely be proud of what she did here <3
I was initially not stoked about Penner, but his reputation as a former winner has become legendary from about final 8 on. I thought he was going to UTR it and have an easy road to the end just by virtue of everyone loving him outside of the game. But then... he stepped his game up big time. I LOVED his feud with Heidi and that everyone called him out on his strategy of going to the end with goats AGAIN. This made his road there 10x harder and as such made him 20x more interesting. I would have LOVED him being the first two-time (legitimate) winner in Stranded history. He clawed and scratched his way from where he was and very nearly made it to the final. I loved Tammy and Heidi tag-teaming him and I loved watching people get the best of him, finally. Not since Cassandra/Candice/Penner in Faroe has there been such a fun cat and mouse game. I loved it. I think he has reached Legend status for sure and his performance here added so much to this season. Kudos to him <3. He's gone from likable winner to one of our greatest winners this season.
Oh I was so hoping Ozzy would win here. He for sure reached legend status this season. I think he's gone from a strategic threat UTR pre-merge boot to an absolute Stranded Legend™. From finding idols on new Pohnpei to shifting the way the politics of the game went to finally his greatest move in teaming up with Heidi/Tammy. I think his mistake was not riding them out to the end. He would have easily won had he done that. Still, what a great character. I loved seeing him play it was an absolute joy. I think he will be remembered as one of the all time great strategists and players in the game. I loved when the merge first happened he kind of bounced between alliances with Val and dictated how the game would go. His friendship and idol hunts with Nate were amazing. I love Ozzy and I'm so thrilled he was a break out star in this season finally making the merge and the final 5 at that. Within an earshot of the final.
Adorable and cool as always. It's great to have you back in the Stranded family. I don't think this was your most exciting performance, certainly not as great as Suriname was for you. I feel like you shied away from a lot of the drama that was handed to you and in the past you would have gone toe to toe with the best of them. In a sense, that shows a lot of maturity and knowing yourself to be able to brush off haters... in the other sense I miss that feisty kick ass attitude. Beyond that though you proved yourself to bea s likable as ever and were ultimately fun to watch. I think the shining moment for me was when you stood up to Dan during the tie breaking council where you refused to promise him that you would throw the challenge. That was a great moment.
We finally saw you come alive when Dan was voted out, as suspected. I wish I had seen more of you before then, but then again that's what got you voted out premerge last time. I think you were on a strong path to winning, but then again a lot of players saw you as a big threat and we have a lot of great players. So it's hard to say for sure that you would win if you weren't rocked out, but you certainly had a decent shot at it. You played a really strong game after the Dan vote. We saw you really step up and begin to shift the game in a big way. In any other season you would be the mastermind controlling how everything goes, in this season you were one of a handful that were really going at it and it was so fun to watch. I hope you had as much fun trying to navigate all the mayhem as well. Kudos.
You came into the game and started it with a bang. You controlled early Pohnpei and found the original idol. Then when the swap happened you found the second idol and maintained control. When the third swap happened you made one of the biggest moves in stranded history by playing two idols and voting out Rachel. It was amazing. Then in the merge you found your third idol. And in another great Stranded moment, you were blindsided by playing the idol on Penner and being voted out. It was amazing. I think you have nothing to be ashamed of, you played the game hard came out swinging and went out with a bang. Well done.
You came into this game after having a pretty rough and maybe unfair wrap as a winner last season. You showed massive potential and I took a risk on you here and I'm so glad I did. You elevated your game and became hated! As they say, if you're hated then you've reached distinction. I actually applaud your gameplay, I feel like you didn't go far enough. You shoulda just gone full Valhalla and continued to flip back and forth and cause as much shit as you could. Your biggest fault is not owning your personality. We saw you own it a lot more this season and you were much more memorable. I loved you here and you were definitely a compelling character.
Rocky is a gem of a character. It's unfortunately taht we didn't get to see a lot of him up until his boot council, which was glorious by the way. I think he had some activity/timing issues which he has since admitted. I still believe in him as a huge character, I just hope the next time he gets a chance he shows up and lets us see all of it a little earlier. Still, he was fun here.
Dan came into this game as one of the most popular players coming off of Indonesia so I had high hopes that he would do well here. He did not disappoint. Dan is the same Dan though, he will never change. His inability to be flexible in the game is why he will always end up early jury. Still, I LOVE having him here. He's always entertaining, he's always adding a lot of drama to the game and pushing people to their limits. I think the obvious move for him would have been to team up with the other large threats, but he instead went to war with them resulting in his undoubted early execution. I love having him here even if he does dip into hypocricy often, he's so entertaining. He's definitely a Stranded Legend and one of the largest characters we've had in 28 seasons, and this just reinforced that.
I was most looking forward to Drew this seaosn, I think he was my winners pick. I had high hopes for him, but I think he got too caught up in being with Dan. That really hurt his game. Not the loyalty, but the fact that he didn't play WITH Dan so much as FOR Dan. I really think he was waiting for Dan to be voted out and then would break out on his own, but that's the risk with hiding behind a "shield." You are collateral damage in the event of an idol play or immunity win. So we never got to see Drew's full potential and that's on Drew. He came out of Nauru playing VERY strong and continued to do so in the swap. The merge he just got lazy and played the UTR game a little too much.
I was rooting for Richard hard in this game and I'm really glad he got to get a full experience this season. I think he got his hands dirty this time and was actually doing really well... until the Dale incident. I think of everyone it affected his game the most. That said, he recovered from the whole thing really well, but Val snuffed him out and pushed hard for his vote in fear he would have a sympathetic underdog story at the end. So really, without that incident, I think Richard would make it further in the game for sure. That said, I think he proved himself as a good player and definitely helped his reputation from Nepal. I hope he's back into the Stranded fold for good and won't be scared to play again because he's got nothing to be ashamed of.
- Overall Game Assessment -
Sometimes the winner of a season defines the greatness of said season. Sometimes it's a mere anecdote. Sometimes it harms or helps a season. This season, I can say whatever the outcome, this will be one of the best seasons of Stranded. I think this season is full of the best PLAYERS we have ever seen. Even the characters were strong contenders this season. I think everyone offered something great and no one went out without a fight and that's the mark of a great season. No vote was easy and every vote offered some kind of controversy or notable occurrence. I would even go as far as to say this was the best Strategic season in Stranded history. Everyone came to play.
I think usually I can predict how a season will end, but in this case, it was completely open at every single vote. Even through the final four! That's remarkable. Literally, anything could happen. Of course, it would be, in a season full of rock draws, extra votes, immunity necklaces, hidden immunity idols, public immunity idols, shifting alliances. Allies sticking together, allies turning on each other it was insane.
I think it says a lot that the final 3 consists of a pair of allies and an individual who lost their ally in the first episode. This season did not go at all like I thought it would. I think there is something to be said for Tammy and Heidi having the most trust between them of any of the allies and them not only making it the furthest of all the allies but to the final fucking three. I think that's remarkable and really proves the concept of this season.
We were really concerned that this would just be a bunch of pregame friendships that teamed up and went all the way to the final 6 together. That might have been entertaining, but we wanted a season that really tested Friendships and incentivized people to go solo. I think we succeeded in that only 2 pairs made the merge, meaning almost all the pairs were split up as soon as possible. I hate that we had someone try to sabotage the season and marred it with controversy, but literally every open ID game has that, and I think it happened at the perfect time so we could all move on from it. Really I think the only players it truly screwed over was Richard. Maybe Mookie.
In the end, I think this season was a wild success... One of my favorite seasons really. It was exciting beyond belief and really really fun to watch. I loved all the characters.
- Final 3 Assessment -
HAYDEN
Hayden has been extremely likable, it's the main reason we brought him back. Unfortunately, I think he hasn't gotten his hands dirty enough. He's been very go-with-the-flow which is the reason why he's made it to the end. Whether that warrants a win is another story. Hayden has stepped it up in the final 6 by turning on Sugar and then Ozzy in the final 5. Then he went on to win the Final Immunity Challenge. I think being up against two allies will help him here. He is the other option to them and I think that, along with his likability is why he may end up winning. But he'll have to be convincing as I think the jury is convinced he did more than he claims. Full disclosure, he's not my ideal winner here, but... he's played an admirable game albeit not as exciting as the others. He would be a solid winner and I love the guy so there's that too. Just wish he had done a bit more to warrant it.
HEIDI
Heidi came into this game after having last played in season 12. That was in 2010, 6 years ago. She came into this season amongst players who played stranded only 1 year ago and some only 2 months ago. She didn't know anyone other than her ally Tammy. Yet, she was able to bulldoze her way throughout the season like I have never seen. At one point she was on the bottom clawing her way out of an impossible situation and due to a lucky break was able to survive until the merge. In the merge it was her people vs. Dan's people and she was able to win out. Time and time again she was able to escape seemingly impossible odds to make it all the way until the friggin merge. Unbelievable. She has graduated from All-star to Legend to top 10 all time player. I'll never understand her feud with Dan seeing as they really should have worked together here, but if it ends up consting her the game... I think that's unfortunate. They are so similar and yet, Dan lacks the flexibility to be a truly great player like Heidi is. I think the jury hatred for her is ridiculous. This notion that "Hayden was never in danger so he was a better player" is obsurd. If that were the case than Sherri, Mick Trimming, Rick, would be among the best players of all time. It's ludicris. What makes this game hard is playing publicly enough to WIN but also not publicly enough to stay in the game. Heidi's game is outstanding and i think after the game she will be looked at as one of the all-time greats. I've had a pleasure watching her play and I think the jurors will regret their votes after this is all said and done if they don't see the light in the finals. The one reason I would think Heidi deserves it over Tammy or Hayden is that she has been the most at risk. She was taking bullets and put her own life on the line to get ahead.
TAMMY
I think while Heidi has played the more openly visible and exciting game, Tammy has played the most strategic game this season. She had backup plans on top of backup plans. Made things happened, is a huge reason why Heidi stayed around as long as she did and even made her own plans knowning Heidi would likely be taken out. If the jury was going to vote for someone who was the least in danger, it's by far Tammy. Unlike Hayden she has been playing the game HARD since day 1 and has steered how this season would go. I don't think she'll get credit for that, I hope she does. Penner alluded to it during the last TC and the jury seemed to scoff at it. The jury's gross this season. I think Tammy played a superior game to Hayden and Heidi and would be the perfect winner this season. Tammy has had an even longer layoff than Heidi having only played Stranded twice and the last time was season 9 in 2009, 7 years ago! She is a dominant player outside of this and to see her finally show her prowess in this game is amazing. I really hope she can find a way to pull out the win, but i don't know... it's such an uphill battle. They've viewed her as useless for so long that she may not be able to. That combined with her hate for being associated with Heidi is retarded. She's a winner in my eyes though and should absolutely be proud of what she did here <3
- Jury Assessment -
PENNER
I was initially not stoked about Penner, but his reputation as a former winner has become legendary from about final 8 on. I thought he was going to UTR it and have an easy road to the end just by virtue of everyone loving him outside of the game. But then... he stepped his game up big time. I LOVED his feud with Heidi and that everyone called him out on his strategy of going to the end with goats AGAIN. This made his road there 10x harder and as such made him 20x more interesting. I would have LOVED him being the first two-time (legitimate) winner in Stranded history. He clawed and scratched his way from where he was and very nearly made it to the final. I loved Tammy and Heidi tag-teaming him and I loved watching people get the best of him, finally. Not since Cassandra/Candice/Penner in Faroe has there been such a fun cat and mouse game. I loved it. I think he has reached Legend status for sure and his performance here added so much to this season. Kudos to him <3. He's gone from likable winner to one of our greatest winners this season.
OZZY
Oh I was so hoping Ozzy would win here. He for sure reached legend status this season. I think he's gone from a strategic threat UTR pre-merge boot to an absolute Stranded Legend™. From finding idols on new Pohnpei to shifting the way the politics of the game went to finally his greatest move in teaming up with Heidi/Tammy. I think his mistake was not riding them out to the end. He would have easily won had he done that. Still, what a great character. I loved seeing him play it was an absolute joy. I think he will be remembered as one of the all time great strategists and players in the game. I loved when the merge first happened he kind of bounced between alliances with Val and dictated how the game would go. His friendship and idol hunts with Nate were amazing. I love Ozzy and I'm so thrilled he was a break out star in this season finally making the merge and the final 5 at that. Within an earshot of the final.
SUGAR
Adorable and cool as always. It's great to have you back in the Stranded family. I don't think this was your most exciting performance, certainly not as great as Suriname was for you. I feel like you shied away from a lot of the drama that was handed to you and in the past you would have gone toe to toe with the best of them. In a sense, that shows a lot of maturity and knowing yourself to be able to brush off haters... in the other sense I miss that feisty kick ass attitude. Beyond that though you proved yourself to bea s likable as ever and were ultimately fun to watch. I think the shining moment for me was when you stood up to Dan during the tie breaking council where you refused to promise him that you would throw the challenge. That was a great moment.
SIERRA
We finally saw you come alive when Dan was voted out, as suspected. I wish I had seen more of you before then, but then again that's what got you voted out premerge last time. I think you were on a strong path to winning, but then again a lot of players saw you as a big threat and we have a lot of great players. So it's hard to say for sure that you would win if you weren't rocked out, but you certainly had a decent shot at it. You played a really strong game after the Dan vote. We saw you really step up and begin to shift the game in a big way. In any other season you would be the mastermind controlling how everything goes, in this season you were one of a handful that were really going at it and it was so fun to watch. I hope you had as much fun trying to navigate all the mayhem as well. Kudos.
NATE
You came into the game and started it with a bang. You controlled early Pohnpei and found the original idol. Then when the swap happened you found the second idol and maintained control. When the third swap happened you made one of the biggest moves in stranded history by playing two idols and voting out Rachel. It was amazing. Then in the merge you found your third idol. And in another great Stranded moment, you were blindsided by playing the idol on Penner and being voted out. It was amazing. I think you have nothing to be ashamed of, you played the game hard came out swinging and went out with a bang. Well done.
VAL
You came into this game after having a pretty rough and maybe unfair wrap as a winner last season. You showed massive potential and I took a risk on you here and I'm so glad I did. You elevated your game and became hated! As they say, if you're hated then you've reached distinction. I actually applaud your gameplay, I feel like you didn't go far enough. You shoulda just gone full Valhalla and continued to flip back and forth and cause as much shit as you could. Your biggest fault is not owning your personality. We saw you own it a lot more this season and you were much more memorable. I loved you here and you were definitely a compelling character.
ROCKY
Rocky is a gem of a character. It's unfortunately taht we didn't get to see a lot of him up until his boot council, which was glorious by the way. I think he had some activity/timing issues which he has since admitted. I still believe in him as a huge character, I just hope the next time he gets a chance he shows up and lets us see all of it a little earlier. Still, he was fun here.
DAN
Dan came into this game as one of the most popular players coming off of Indonesia so I had high hopes that he would do well here. He did not disappoint. Dan is the same Dan though, he will never change. His inability to be flexible in the game is why he will always end up early jury. Still, I LOVE having him here. He's always entertaining, he's always adding a lot of drama to the game and pushing people to their limits. I think the obvious move for him would have been to team up with the other large threats, but he instead went to war with them resulting in his undoubted early execution. I love having him here even if he does dip into hypocricy often, he's so entertaining. He's definitely a Stranded Legend and one of the largest characters we've had in 28 seasons, and this just reinforced that.
DREW
I was most looking forward to Drew this seaosn, I think he was my winners pick. I had high hopes for him, but I think he got too caught up in being with Dan. That really hurt his game. Not the loyalty, but the fact that he didn't play WITH Dan so much as FOR Dan. I really think he was waiting for Dan to be voted out and then would break out on his own, but that's the risk with hiding behind a "shield." You are collateral damage in the event of an idol play or immunity win. So we never got to see Drew's full potential and that's on Drew. He came out of Nauru playing VERY strong and continued to do so in the swap. The merge he just got lazy and played the UTR game a little too much.
RICHARD
I was rooting for Richard hard in this game and I'm really glad he got to get a full experience this season. I think he got his hands dirty this time and was actually doing really well... until the Dale incident. I think of everyone it affected his game the most. That said, he recovered from the whole thing really well, but Val snuffed him out and pushed hard for his vote in fear he would have a sympathetic underdog story at the end. So really, without that incident, I think Richard would make it further in the game for sure. That said, I think he proved himself as a good player and definitely helped his reputation from Nepal. I hope he's back into the Stranded fold for good and won't be scared to play again because he's got nothing to be ashamed of.
- Pre-Merge Assessment -
