Board Thread:Season 33 - Sichuan/@comment-27037064-20160530024945

Hello, it’s good to see you all again, and I want to thank you guys for making this season what it is, I had a great time with you all. And I use “with you all” loosely because I’m well aware that I haven’t talked with a couple of you, but I’ll address that later. Now you’ll all have to endure the paragraphs below where I more or less boast about my game, and I know how unfun it can be to read through it, so I apologize for that, please bear with me. I also want to thank the hosts for the hard work they put in this game and give us the best experience possible. Sorry for our lack of confessionals, btw :l

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First, I’d like to say, Jessy, it’s been great to work with you since we merged. I’m glad to be sitting next to you. I’ll be happy for you if you win (and I’ll be mad at myself as well).

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Here we are on day 39. I won immunities, didn’t talk to many people and didn’t seem to have much of an impact on the tribe politics. That’s the exact image I was trying to portray to the tribe. Please don’t mistake this as me not caring about the game and not putting in effort. It may not appear like it, but I was fully dedicated to this game, put my heart and soul into it. I searched for idols even without clues, and I kept rethinking everyone’s strategies and plans to make sure I talked to the right people and positioned myself correctly, to avoid setting myself up for elimination in the future. I just didn’t show my fighting spirit to anyone (Having a target on my back for being a challenge beast was bad enough for me). So now I want to show you my fighting spirit with the final tribal performance, and tell you why I think I deserve the title of sole survivor.

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Time to go into my frenzy of thoughts again, but now you guys get to witness it!

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I’ll start by my physical game. I think 6 individual immunity wins is one hell of an accomplishment. However, I feel that people often overlook this component because winning immunity doesn’t really influence the vote or demonstrate any kind of control. Also, it guarantees you no future after that tribal. That’s fair, but I think immunity is a valid method of advancing yourself another round, just like counting on your social bonds to hold. This is especially true around the endgame, where the focus shifts on taking out whoever’s a jury threat. If you’re a threat, you better be able to win challenges. Immunities are a part of the game. And, I believe that if you let the physical threat make it to the end, you messed up, unless you were sure they would take you & that they are unlikely to win the jury vote.

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<span style="font-size:14.666666666666666px;font-family:Arial;color:#000000;font-weight:400;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap;">My social game… oh dear. It wasn’t good, I know. I basically have “nice guy” going for me, I’m not bubbly or outgoing. I failed in building connections with people, which is often deemed as a crucial part of playing a good survivor game. Does it mean I had no social game? I would say that I did have one, and I only used it on a few key players to get them on my side. Specifically, Jessy and Erin. I tried as hard as I could to have them fully trust me and want me to stick around until the endgame. And that’s where I think my idol proved most useful, since I told them about it in an attempt to gain their trust. These two players were influential, and they wanted me around long enough, so I’d say it worked, and that’s all the social game I needed. I was set. I could have built social bonds with other players as well, but I’d rather not give people the impression that I’m playing the game. Of course, I’m neglecting the idea of “relationship with jury members”, and if that gets me the loss, then it will be so. I play the way I know how to, giving myself the best odds of making it to the end, then it’s up to you guys to decide whether my game is worthy of winning or not.

<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt;">---

<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="font-size:14.666666666666666px;font-family:Arial;color:#000000;font-weight:400;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap;">Finally, we have the strategic aspect. Everyday I would consider all scenarios that would play out with the different things I could do and say, especially with an idol in hand. If you think there’s any move I did wrong or any missed opportunity, I’ll explain why I did or didn’t do whatever you’re bringing up. I’d like to think my strategic game was on point, with only the final 3 vote as a potential mistake (If you guys want Jessy to win then lol I messed up). It just felt right to take Jessy. I’m really bad at predicting jury motivations so like… :l

<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt;">---

<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="font-size:14.666666666666666px;font-family:Arial;color:#000000;font-weight:400;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap;">I know that I wasn’t the driving force behind most of the eliminations. Is that a bad thing? Not in this season. Anyone that was considered to be a leader or setting themselves up well, would be promptly eliminated. Anyone that appeared to have a strategic mind would be eliminated. And the ones that seemed to have no game would stay. This is not to be mistaken with "well you didn't control your own fate". I did that at final 10/11, and my safety in the next few tribals are a result of it. So in that sense, I didn’t play hard, but I played smart. My game was much more geared towards keeping allies in rather than taking people out, and planting a couple of seeds against people I wasn’t interested in seeing near endgame, most of which didn’t come to fruition, but that’s ok. It’s a no risk, potential reward type of thing.

<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt;">---

<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="font-size:14.666666666666666px;font-family:Arial;color:#000000;font-weight:400;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap;">In short, around mid-merge, I was a trustworthy individual to the girls, and the guys at the bottom figured I was not in a good position so they would come to me with hopes of another blindside. Later on, I was in the final 4 with two people that wanted to take me to the end - And the one person that didn’t want me in (?) lacked the challenge abilities to get rid of me. Which leads me to my philosophy with survivor strategy: You can make all the moves you want in the world and connect with as many people as you want, but what really matters is your position once there’s a few players left. That’s how you play a good survivor game.

<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt;">---

<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="font-size:14.666666666666666px;font-family:Arial;color:#000000;font-weight:400;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap;">Everything that I did or didn’t do was carefully calculated. I was confident in my alliances, my understanding of people’s motivations & what their game was, along with my position in the game. I was aware of the tribe dynamics, both the obvious and most of the hidden. Being able to keep both of my items until their expiry date should show that. I never gave in to paranoia and trusted my reads.

<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt;">---

<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="font-size:14.666666666666666px;font-family:Arial;color:#000000;font-weight:400;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap;">What I’ve said above is very general, so I’ll be happy to go into detail for anything if you ask! Sorry if I sounded arrogant btw, I'm just trying to show that I knew what I was doing.

<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt;">---

<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="font-size:14.666666666666666px;font-family:Arial;color:#000000;font-weight:400;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap;">That’s all folks. I hope you can appreciate the game I played and the way I positioned myself after being in the minority alliance & being a target early in the merge. I had fun. It’s been a great survivor experience, and I’m glad you were all a part of it. I’ll remember each and every one of you, no matter our relationship. The game wouldn’t have been the same for me without you all. <ac_metadata title="Vote for Emile!"> </ac_metadata>