Board Thread:Season 51 - The Caribbean/@comment-31256783-20190226002251/@comment-30289320-20190226041146

Hey Bradley! I was honestly shook a bit watching your video because I expected you to be meaner to me LOL. I think it's safe to say we didn't really end the game on good terms, but I'm glad it seems to be all in the past. I do want to explain that the argument we had was a small part game because I thought if I kept pushing you for answers you might let me know something important before you or I were to leave, but I also honestly just also felt a bit betrayed and upset about the Hunter stuff, and not mentioning it for so long and acting like there wasn't an issue got to me, I guess. Like one round I thought we were somewhat close in being the only 2 Chang in our alliance with the Boobrosas, and then we were targeting each other within the next round, and it felt like you kind of ditched Ethan and I to work with Elmo and Su. I do apologize for that, though, it was a mistake that I felt bad about afterward.

To reply a bit to your statement, you definitely were someone keeping me in the loop early on in the merge. The thing about my game, though, was that I had a lot of people keeping me in the loop, and I was actively trying to downplay this. I wanted you, for instance, to feel exactly like you spoke about in your statement, that I wasn't doing much myself and that I was reliant on your for the tea. This is not to say that I undervalued you as an ally in this game, but rather that I was making sure to cast a wide net. I think that at the start of merge, the best thing you can do is just sit back and collect information. It's a lot like what you mentioned in Andrea's statement, gathering information without putting much back out. But this only works if people think I'm under THEIR wing, not a bunch of wings. Otherwise you're quickly perceived as either untrustworthy or aligned with everyone, much like Elmo was seen as before he left.

Alright, let's get into these questions!

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When did you have the most agency in the game, when did you have the least agency?

I'd say the most agency I've had in this game was during the endgame. After getting through the Final 6, I felt pretty confident that I'd be at Final Tribal Council, even if things were to go to shit completely. This is not because I was self-voting or not talking to people or something, but because I'd been working towards my endgame for several rounds. My plan was always to  have at least two of the smaller targets with me, and at least two of the larger threats with me. Because of this, the larger threats would target each other to go for the "easy" win, and the smaller threats would have no choice but to keep me around because what the only other choice they'd have is to throw the game. This actually almost backfired because of Andrea deciding she wanted to lose to Yousef, but luckily my strategy was working with Karsten, and Ethan of course wanted Yousef out. At 4, when things went to shit for me, Karsten left in part because Andrea and Ethan thought he'd have a better shot at the end, and also in part due to loyalty that I'd been building with Ethan for several rounds. I would never say that I controlled the endgame at all, but I had just about full control of my fate after 6, and maybe even at 6 if you include the work I put in to make sure I wasn't the one leaving during IdolGeddon.

Least Agency, definitely when I was left out of the Hunter vote for a while. At that point I was fully reliant on someone to bring me into the fold. I knew something was fishy, but I didn't know what it was. Even when Yousef brought me in, I felt I had just about no control and all I could really do is vote Hunter and hope I didn't screw up and annoy people by forcing myself into the majority. This kind of lit a fire under me because it was around here that I realized I needed to step it up more socially and began trying hard to build connections with people I hadn't spoken to much yet, Andrea and Natalia. And honestly this probably accidentally played a huge role in saving my ass when the next round evolved into Me vs You, because if I waited any longer would they want to save the guy they barely have a relationship with?

'''Where did your loyalties lie in the pre-merge tribes, and the early merge. When did you switch from allying with me to voting me, etc?'''

Thank god I still have my confessionals from way back, LOL. On Chang 1, I was closest with you and Elmo, and wanted to keep Su around if we ended up making an alliance. It's funny that you said you thought I was closest to Katie because I actually wanted her out LOL. I made an official alliance with Elmo here, but he ended up on a different tribe at swap.

On Chang 2, I actually grew to like Katie more but my loyalty was with the alliance, as far as my confessionals say, I'd been pushing for of you, myself, Hunter, and Ethan. After the vote changed to Katie last minute, though? I remember feeling very sketched out by that, but probably would have wanted Liam next still, anyway.

Chang 3, I had literally none of my allies with me but didn't let it get me down. Instead, I looked at it as an opportunity to try making more relationships before merge. I succeeded in that because I was included in the majority alliance of myself, Sofianita, Yousef, and Lex. Su, Yousef, and I were then also aligned within that. And then Yousef and I within THAT. Yousef may have also been aligned Su in the same way outside of that stuff, but I wasn't going to let him be the only one lool. The dynamics got muddied a bit here when Sofianita went a bit nuts, and people started voting for me, but I was probably closest with Yousef on this tribe.

I think our own game relationship slipped when you weren't the first person to tell me about the Hunter vote, and I had to pretty much force you into doing it. Like I wrote before, I felt pretty betrayed by that and also that you might have even gone as far as to leak the alliance, which is why people wouldn't tell me or Ethan about the move. I was genuine in what I told you about Hunter seeming sketchy lately, but it was being left out that I think put a stop to us being able to work together. At this point I saw you as closer to Elmo/Su, so I'd have been low on your priorities, and I was offered a place in a new group where I'd be close with almost every member. I did still put a lot of consideration into which option I really wanted to go with here, and I came to my decision. -

Ayyy let's goooo Apex Legends! What level are you now? I've only unlocked 7/8 because Caustic is kind of trash, but I think he'll make a really good character for comparison here. Some of these may be stretches, but that's kind of a given since it's 1:1 lol.

YOUSEF = LIFELINE Lifeline is the character where its ability allows them to shoot ziplines around so they can move quickly from one point to another. I think this is a good person to compare with Yousef, who was constantly zipping around to people and trying to make different things happen each round. I think Yousef was probably in more ears than anyone in the game, and he'd be zipping from one person to the next quicker than most others could.

KARSTEN = GIBRALTAR Gibraltar is a majority defensive character, and for most of the merge Karsten was hustling trying to defend himself. Even if he was only the decoy vote a lot of the time, he constantly had his shields up while trying to take aim at a bigger threat with an idol.

LEX = BLOODHOUND Bloodhound is the most mysterious Legend - you don't know too much about her, but her abilities are valuable. This is a lot like Lex, who I feel I didn't get to know as much as I'd like and seemed a bit mysterious in the way you wouldn't get too much info out of him lol.

HUNTER = BANGALORE Bangalore is the most balanced Legend, but is best for an all out offensive playstyle. Bangalore has a skill where she can weave very quickly if you take a shot at her, so you need to hit the first time and hit hard. I think this was the same with Hunter, who was taking a lot of control in the game. I think if he hadn't gone in a massive blindside he'd have bounced back really well if he'd lived a little longer.

NATALIA = CAUSTIC Caustic's ability is setting traps that damage the other players. Kind of useless in Apex, but very effective in Survivor. Natalia was similar to me in that she had relationships with others that were very on the down low. These social traps would have been a potentially huge issue later on if she didn't go when she did because it makes her motivations and goals very unpredictable.

ELMO = MIRAGE My main. Mirage can create a double or even multiple versions of himself with holograms. I feel that this would be good to compare you Elmo with since he seemed to have a close relationship with almost everyone lol. It's only when we started to compare notes that we realized how everyone thought they were tight with the guy, like we each had one Elmo as our Final 2.

BRADLEY = WRAITH Wraith can disappear for a short time and re-appear elsewhere. I felt like this is kind of like you disappearing from the alliance and reappearing aligned with Elmo instead LOOL. These are getting hard ok. But yeah, I think it's a good comparison because you did sort of teleport over to a new group.

SU = LIFELINE Lifeline is a player who is meant to help their squad. I feel like this is similar to Su, who seemed very loyal and just like a pretty nice dude all around. Instead of shooting people he'd be chilling healing some guy's leg after he got shot with a Mozambique. So, like, almost as bad as a bee sting.

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Ask you a question, hmm. I know the Hunter vote was in part to try freeing up Ethan's commitments, but what role do I play in your game moving forward? Was I right to flip against you, or would it be me and you here with Ethan instead of me and Andrea?

My knowledge of the pronunciation of this word comes from "Pirates of the Caribbean", which always goes 'Care-Uh-Be-In" instead of "Curr-ibbian"

Thanks for the questions, Bradley! I wasn't expecting someone to drop an Apex Legends comparison on me, but I'm honestly here for it. I was kind of psyched when I heard you start bringing it up, honestly. I really like when jurors give fun questions. Hope I answered everything to well enough!