Board Thread:Season 29 - Azerbaijan/@comment-26867786-20151130204715

So first off, a big thank you to all of you. I loved playing with all of you and this is probably the most fun game I've played online. I didn't have a set strategy coming into this game because you never know what its gonna be like but right away I got into majority with Ella and Jessica, with Hannah and Joseph also coming to me asking to work with them. At that point I went with Jessica and Ella because I had a stronger bond with them while I felt like Joseph/Hannah just wanted me for a vote. With the first tribe swap right away I made connections and bonds with some of the original Sheki tribe and that got me and Jessica into an easy majority for the next couple tribals. With the tribe swap after that I was the swing vote again between Minke/Jake and Felix/Bryce. I knew Felix/Bryce were a duo but since I already got my idol at that point I decided to go with them since a. they were better at challenges b. I trusted them more and c. they would vote Jake off before me. So I had part in getting Minke/Jake out who I felt like would just ditch me later on in the game and then I got to use my idol to get out Bryce, who I decided to vote out over Felix since I had a stronger bond with Felix and even though he was more of a threat to me, I would be able to work with him better which was the right move since he ended up idoling me later on in the game.

At the merge I talked to mostly everybody but I lost connections with some after the sides were basically confirmed. This was because unlike Ella, I didn't want to lie for no reason. I was on the opposite sides so everything I'd be saying would just be plain lying which wouldn't even help me further in the game. It was also because it was a clear that the other side was just taking mine out one by one so by me talking to only a few people, it would make me valuable to them when it became deeper in the game rather than just me talking to everybody and no one trusting me. There was nothing super important for me to do for the first few merge tribals, I did try to talk a little bit to some about flipping but I didn't try too hard because I wanted people to think that I was playing for myself rather than my whole "team" so they would be able to "use" me later on. I also tried to make a few statements with my votes since I knew they wouldn't matter. For example, I voted Jessica out to prove my loyalty to Felix specifically and try to get on that sides "good-side" and I voted out Cliff for a couple tribals because at that point, it was obvious we weren't going to work together so I didn't want to ruin the possibility of working with the other contestants. While doing this I also tried to make me look sort of "weak." In challenges I knew I wasn't the target in I tried to make my scores look like the scores of someone you might want to pick for your team, but you know you can beat them if it came down to it. This worked out the way I wanted to since I was able to be the last one from my side and I was able to show my true challenge skills by winning some of the last immunities against big threats. But, I didn't rely on them since when I did lose I had a good social game to the point where I was able to make me look trustworthy enough to get idoled and for the other rounds it wasn't exactly a "do-or-die" situation if I lost because there was still a chance I could've fought hard enough to safe myself. I knew about the Nifty plan before I even won the challenge, I could've had the argument that Felix was a bigger threat, I could've worked on my relationship with Ella, etc.

I think the three most important parts of the game are your challenge skills, social skills, and strategy skills. For challenge skills, I showed it by winning the three challenges I did while Ella only won one and I usually performed better than she did on the others so I definitely beat her in that category. For social skills, I talked to the people I needed to that would help my game and for the most part I think for majority of the time when people got voted out, I left on a good term with them. While with Ella, she left on bad-terms with all of my side and majority of her own side. I think a part of this is because I tried to be nice to everyone and tried my hardest not to be cause chaos. I also only lied when I really needed to for my own game. Ella on the other hand would lie for absolutely no reason and when she talked to people she always had an attitude that she was kinda better than them which I don't think is good for a social game. She may have only gotten one vote, but I think a big part of that was because majority of people wanted to go against her in the end and I think it shows a lot that she brings up the part that I'm "more likable to the jury" or such since she could've easily changed that before the end of the game. For strategy, I planned myself in a perfect spot for all of pre-merge. The only risky spot was on the second tribe-swap but this was because I knew I had my idol to play. For the merge, I was on the "wrong" side where I didn't have a lot of power or say in things but that didn't stop me. I was able to make myself look not very threatening so I would be the last person of my alliance which is what happened and I also planned my votes out so I wouldn't ruin any relationships I had just to vote with my alliance which helped me a lot especially in final 5 of the game.

So, I think I played a strong social game, a strong physical game, and a strong strategic game. I fought my heart out and never gave up even though a lot of the time it looked like I had no shot. And I truly believe I deserve the title of sole survivor. Ask those questions away, I'll try to answer

P.S. I think I told a few but a fun fact is that the fake idol Jake N. played was planted by me :~) 