Board Thread:Season 35 - Sri Lanka/@comment-28812102-20160919223215/@comment-29019827-20160920041454

Cosmo, our relationship was a variable throughout this game. I know you're probably going to get absolutely shit on by everyone else, but I do think you played a good game. You kept your options open when others weren't able to, and you were part of many plans that I consider to have changed the course of the game. I have one question for you, however. What was the one move that you thought of yourself, one move that had a DIRECT IMPACT on you landing here tonight.

So while I'd love to say that the move at final seven, where I used the idol to get Andy out was the one that had a direct impact on my making final tribal council, it wasn't. Although it was the move that allowed for the final three to consist of myself, Forrest, and Michael- the act itself of using the idol for anybody other than myself before final 5 tribal is one that logically hurt my chances of making the ftc in case I failed to win an individual immunity. By the time I used that idol, I was in a position where I thought I had to sweep the remaining challenges regardless in order to get to the end, so while it definitely helped dictate who made the final tribal council alongside with me- it wasn't what got me to the end.

So with that in mind, although you asked for one move, I'd like to discuss two moves if possible. The tribal where Luis left before merge, and the tribal where you left. Because I truly believe those were the moves that set the pace for the rest of the game and had a direct impact on my getting to the end.

It's no secret that I strongly relied on my physical game to get to the end. Out of eight individual immunity challenges, I won five of them, four of which I won back to back to back to back in order to guarantee myself a spot at FTC. I'd like to draw attention to the fact that I did not win every single immunity, and was in fact vulnerable for three tribals- Three tribals that had major ramifications for how the rest of the game would play out: Final 11 where Liam left, Final 9 where Ari left, and Final 8 where Asa left. The rest of the players had every opportunity to get me out at these junctions in time, but were unable to because of how I was positioned in the game at those points.

If you're getting to what I'm implying, I'd like to posit that the final 12 tribal where Luis left and the final 10 tribal where you left, the tribals where I actively campaigned and lead the charge were what set me up to get to the end. So I'd like to spend some time to discuss my thought process behind both tribals.

Beginning with Luis, the timing of when to get him out had been weighing on me since the tribal where Dusk left. He gave me a final two offer when the season, which I hesitantly accepted, and almost immediately after was part of what may have been the first final four alliance of the season: Adamas (containing myself, Michael, Asa, and Luis). What troubled me about Luis was that he consistently was able to bring in information from the other side of the tribe, including the hidden immunity idol clues from exile, which were not meant to be shared. These concerns were elevated when he became the vote for the other side of the tribe during the Dusk tribal, because he got caught trying to play multiple sides. I realized he was truly playing a solo game, and was completely fine leaking or exposing information here and there to further himself in the game. Also he showed me a screenshot, and since early on in the game I took cheating as a sign of a messy player who would do anything to win.

Although I realized this, I still elected to keep him in the game, because I thought his gung-ho manner of leading would come in useful down the line. This proved to be true, where after the first tribe swap, the tribe he was then on consistently threw to keep me safe.

Sometime during this first tribe swap, I went to exile with Luis, where we wound up having a huge argument for hours. Although things got patched up near the end of exile, deep down, I knew that Luis was an emotional player and that this had irreparably damaged my relationship with him in the game. Despite Luis leading the throw on the following tribal immunity challenge, I was extremely surprised to see that Miles left when I expected it to be you.

Intensely curious as to what happened, luckily there was a brief intermission after that tribal where "tribe leaders" were picked and new tribes were drafted by player pick. During that brief period where all the players were in the same chat room or location so to speak, I quickly spoke to Asa to find out what happened, and it seemed to confirm that Luis was actively developing his relations outside of the Adamas alliance, beginning with you and Liam.

As I'm sure you know Luis wanted desperately for Allison to leave that first tribal, but I came to the silent realization that if Luis didn't leave then, he'd enter the merge with a tremendous amount of power, with a majority of votes off the bat (Luis, myself, Michael, Asa, Connor, and Liam) with himself as the lynchpin. Although he loved to proclaim loyalty to the Adamas alliance, I had the feeling that if Luis got further in the game, he'd begin to selectively pick and choose who he wanted to get to the end with. I wasn't comfortable with giving him this much power. I also knew that Luis was probably not that opposed to cheating, given his periodic use of screenshots, and that the longer I waited the harder it would get for me to get him out.

So with this in mind, once Luis approached me and by extension Conor to vote Allison out, I went straight to Allison and Chris to come up with the plan of "splitting votes" on you and Luis, knowing full well that I would secretly vote Luis instead of you. Luis had a way with words and I didn't want the tribal to go to a revote. I assumed I had one and only one shot of taking him out and that's how I did it.

Not only did I take out a huge potential threat to run the game, but that tribal also did wonders in developing my relationship with Chris and Allison, which kept me in relative good standing with many players in the following merge. I'll note that this also didn't hurt my relationship with Michael very much, because I knew that this was a move I would eventually have to do, so since the Dusk tribal, I did a considerable amount of prep work with Michael- slowly throwing Luis under the bus every now and then in order to condition him to be ok with the idea of Luis leaving and that this move was the best for the Adamas alliance.

This being said, Luis considered me a vote, let alone a player, that he thought was extremely loyal to him. Which is why I think he was so caustic and bitter after the tribal results and his removal from the game. As many know, this is what lead to the creation of the revenge bus alliance at the start of merge, with myself as the primary target. Despite entering the merge as the first publicly mentioned target, consider that the votes were cleanly 9-2 in a season that was riddled with hinky votes. As much as my social game has been blasted by the majority of the jury, I was still clearly on good terms with most of the players at that point in the game. Otherwise, I'm pretty sure I would've left that tribal without a single complaint.

The second tribal that I believe had a crucial impact in my getting to the end was the tribal where you left. I need to apologize because I felt like I lead you on by talking to you and joining the, briefly lived, Connor's Saviors alliance. I am pretty sure I was the most vocal proponent for wanting you to leave during that tribal voting period and here is why.

After Liam left the game, I was almost in a prime position to pick which side I wanted to go with, with the potential for possibly playing both sides. I was in a final four with Chris, Andy, and Michael (who was shortly going to be replaced by Conor, because I made Chris and Andy mistrust Michael) I had a final three with Michael and Asa. And by this point I knew that Ari, Andy, and Forrest had a great working relationship and that Asa and Allison were very close. I also had a final two with Conor at the time, so I thought I was almost ready to go in terms of playing the game as I saw fit. The only person that stood in the way was you, which is why I campaigned so hard for you to leave that week. I called Chris greedy for wanting to keep you, but the fact of the matter is- it was my greedy move to get you out of the game. Not only had we not voted with each other the entire game, but you were the sole variable that I saw that could potentially mess with the balance of the two sides that I tried to create.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="font-weight:normal;">But it went further than this, from what Asa told me, you were possibly on the bottom after the first tribe swap, but your clever words and deft campaigning quickly put you in the majority with Luis and Liam, supplanting Asa's position on Luis' totem pole. When Liam left, you were the only other person to vote with him in writing my name down. Despite the large number of players on the tribe just looking to safely get further in the game by writing down an easy name that was excluded. You quickly turned the tables by reaching out to players on a one on one basis and really selling them the dream of you being their ace in the hole vote that they could control. When you reached out to me, because of your eloquence and the manner in which you presented your case as someone who would potentially be useful for my game, I realized that you were perhaps the most underrated player in the entire tribe. You have a gift for pulling yourself out of unsavory positions quickly, and this became evident to me when both Michael and Chris spoke to me about saving you, both of them saying that you would be a loyal vote they could control.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="font-weight:normal;">Urgently wanting you out, I campaigned rather hard to get you out. While Michael yielded and voted you out, my desperation in wanting you out lead to the falling out I had with Chris. The relationship I had with Chris never really recovered after that tribal, which lead to me picking the other side of Michael Asa and Allison, in the following tribal. But I might not have had the opportunity or the power to pick that side, if I failed to get you out that tribal.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="font-weight:normal;">I hope you can see why I wanted to talk about two tribals, because I consider them to be the cornerstone of how this merge played out. Also, I hope that you can see that my pushing to vote you out was never a personal or tit for tat move for voting me, I truly did and still do believe that it was the move that best positioned me to take advantage in the critical final nine tribal. I think it's because you left, that I managed to stay safe for the following two tribals where I didn't win immunity.

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