Board Thread:Season 46 - Kariba/@comment-20483335-20180413231154/@comment-33060993-20180416000322

Ahh! I love following up dsjkfh. I'll start by rebutting Ms. Roisin's points, which are more focused on her game and its flaws than my own, then reiterating some of my own, because all of the analysis today has helped me really fine tune the exact moments that advanced me!

"I underestimated Hals’ social game and the hold she had on Roisin and Vincent” - I blindsided Hals multiple times, most notably when I voted Becky and Matthias without telling her, so that’s a lack of awareness on Jake's part I think. 

Wait?! You blindsided... Hals on the Matthias and Becky/Jordan votes?! I had no idea. Thank you so much for this enlightenment! Is that what you expected me to say?

You've stated multiple times that you wanted to go far into the season with Hals, as did several people, including all the people I've listed. I think she did a stellar job of roping people in, and you directly said, after results:

"Don’t come for my ally and next time u won’t go home x"

and you legit just admitted you went with Hals' plan for the round, so yes I'd say she had a relatively solid hold on you. In my experience, voting history doesn't tell all. Louise and I were v tight, but we did vote opposite at F9. Vincent and I were too, but we did at F7. ​​​​

"Even though I was Jake's target and he wanted me gone, he couldn’t manage to vote me out."

Well, is so blatantly inaccurate it's unreal. Roisin, I received you as a target and messaged you, saying not to worry and that I wouldn't pursue it, which was exactly the case. They lasted from F7-F5 and I didn't want you out in that range. Aside from mentioning one idea of MANY to Vincent at F5, I never tried to accomplish that at all, especially because you were playing your idol regardless (at F5). My plan for you after F6 was to win FIC and cut you at F4, but my show schedule got in the way of winning FIC. That's an okay priority to have, quite frankly, and if you want to call it a weakness, I'll take it because real life is more important.

"I ultimately didn’t need mine, whereas she relied on hers to survive rounds where her target management, the trust she built with others, and other factors, failed her.”- Again, my target management did actually work out! Trust was why people believed I was playing it, and no one was ever able to betray my trust if they wanted to, and they always voted the way they said they were going to!

Hals and I didn't think you were, oops. I even strategized with Vincent on how to ensure you would actually play it since it was a bluff, but he flopped as I described in my Dovile response and didn't follow the direction I suggested. And the reference to trust here is not the direction of votes, but rather others' trust of you, which dwindled.

Not even going to bother with the F6 vote since that gets Roisin worked up and we've discussed it too many times. She's gone from saying any of my involvement was "untrue" to admitting I played a significant role in securing votes. We still disagree on whose initiative it was and perhaps it was both of ours, but that's the truth of the situation.

"contrary to what she believes, Roisin lacked the trust / bond with others to make it work herself." - "this may be true" Enough said, really. She can talk about linkage when we were all communicating with each other, but ultimately it was me convincing Vincent and then having him plant a lie that brought myself and the straights back together for one final vote!!

Overall, I hope I can earn your vote for the adaptive strategic and social game I played. More than anything else, I spent every round doing the most for an ideal outcome, making an impact on the direction of the votes and dynamic that you won't find in the other finalists' games. There were downsides, specifically the blindsides, but when the Hwadze relationship network didn't cloud my judgement, I was able to navigate the game by securing outcomes and working dynamics; such was the case with overall moves, such as:

1) turning OG Hwadze on itself by prompting the alliance leak, forcing contestants into a threat bloc that would plague them across the merge.

2) winning the most challenges this season, with nine overall and three individual immunities, which I used for multiple functions across the season

3) a solid strategic use of my idol that sent a threat home in the most strategically secure way possible, while also using it as backup

4) surviving despite what was an eradication of OG Zambezi and navigating new relationships with Hwadze members to survive

5) aligning in some capacity with augusto, elizabeth, dan, becky/jordan, hals, matthias, roisin, vincent, louise, drew, and yourself. all were to different degrees and some were very brief or fake, but it evidences the extent to which i worked a relationship network and my social game!

6) as for the votes themselves, i think i played an overall a significant role in the F13, F12, F11, F10, F8, F6, F5, and F4 votes that helped secure outcomes that were best for my game:

F13 - being vocal about Ben leaving instead of Liz, which secured me an advantage that would shape aspects of my merge game

F12 - allowing Liz to leave and maintaining a perception that i was a loyal ally, while using the vote to build trust with you that would be important to route OG Hwadze

F11 - setting the dynamic that would cause OG Hwadze to fracture upon itself, changing 8-3 into 7-4 and opening up several different allied options (e.g. you/vincent/drew/roisin)

F10 - using my close relationship to dovile to understand her cards and sabotage her attempts at the last minute alliance, as well as contributing to the idol misplay

F8 - being the name that fractured the majority, resulting in two different plans to save me. (becky/jordan response has details for how perceptions were worked)

F6 - being the glue that held the straights together by campaigning and planting lies, sending a huge risk factor out and covering my own duplicity

F5 - utilizing my understanding of advantages and winning immunity to send a threat out of the game, regardless of what others would do

F4 - surviving despite difficult odds by securing vince's vote despite our own tensions, resulting in a chance to fight hard for ftc, which i successfully did.

I think each of these roles in votes are admittedly the best of my game, and there are mistakes too, but they really can be attributed to the swapped situation and the disadvantage it threw me into, as well as perhaps some inflexibility for my own desired outcomes. They were flukes, but we ALL had non-ideal voting outcomes and I think the merits of my strategic game outweigh them, especially because as demonstrated above, my understanding of how things went tragically wrong for me allowed me to develop! I was a lot more in tune to conversing with EVERYONE after Drew's elimination and a lot less direct after Louise's, because I knew that those traits, coupled with the Hwadze network, caused me to have messy rounds. It allowed me to fine tune my strategy for the next ones.

I think most importantly, these votes demonstrate how I utilized adaptation. I was aggressive when I needed to be (F6-F4), as well as covert when I needed to be (F11-F10), as well as something in between at times (F9-F7) and navigated my relationships to ensure success at the majority of votes in an impactful, decisive, and v thought out way that propelled me to the end! I think the five reasons listed above, as well as the role I played in those votes, evidences the idea that I played a game worth winning - one that was more impactful, tenacious, and understanding than my fellow finalists - but most importantly, I used those impacts and understanding to get myself to where I am!

Thank you so much if you've read this far faves and I really hope you can see that everything I've said here is backed by receipts and play-by-plays dispersed across a variety of speeches!! I know there was initial skepticism, but I've done a lot to verify what I've said and demonstrate my awareness (e.g. Jack's "Juror Flaw question and Dan's "Compare" question) of what was going on!! So yeah - ttyl xoxo.