Board Thread:Season 34 - Cyprus/@comment-27995903-20160726042833

Hey everyone! This has been one hell of a journey and it's nice to finally see you all again. First off, I want to start this speech by saying thank you to all the hosts for setting up such an enjoyable season. You guys did an amazing job in planning as well as hosting it and without you, this experience wouldn never be the same. To the players, I had so much fun playing the game with you. This season will definitely go down as one of the best and we all contributed to it in our own ways.

So now let's begin with the gameplay! For this part I'll be explaining my every move and what I did throughout the season. I know going into details usually gets really boring but I'm super awkward when it comes to writing about how proud I am of myself and all that crap so it'd be great if you could read it all ;-{.

I came into this season super nervous. Despite being labeled as a favorite, I believe I was one of the players who had the least experience in orgs. I was totally new to this community and Sichuan was my very first game. I didn't play tumblr games, I didn't play tengaged games, I only played Sichuan. It scared the living hell out of me because I was certain all the favorites knew each other before the game (heck, even some fans did too), while I only knew Priscilla and Ci'ere (also Rhi because she was my Sichuan host but we have never talked before). So I just had that thought if the favorites tribe had had to go to tribal, I would most likely have become the easy target. So I knew my premerge journey this season was going to be a lot harder than in my first one. Luckily for me, the tribe division made it a lot easier. I was placed in a tribe of 5 with Ci'ere and I wanted to work with him immediately!! We also pulled in Eva and had a three-person alliance called RED. I really loved to have Eva on my tribe because she was close friends with Pris and Rhi so if us four were put together on a same swapped tribe, I knew we would have become a really solid four. For the first time this season I felt like I was in a good spot because all my tribemates and I were getting along very well. I had good conversations with Rob and Alex and we also kicked ass in challenges. Everything was going pretty well, until I found out Ci'ere also had a deal with Rob and Alex. To be honest it genuinely hurt me because he was the first person I truly wanted to work with but then again, I couldn't do anything. I don't really remember how it all happened but the four of us (me, Rob, Alex and Eva) came into an agreement to vote out Ci'ere if we ended up going to tribal for being untrustworthy. Nontheless, we continued to win a ton of challenges and even got a few idol clues. I found an idol in Day 7 with the help of Alex. I truly believed I was doing a lot better than I expected. It was a great start because I was in good terms with everyone (atleast as far as I was aware of). I always tried to be as much helpful in challenges as possible, was able to lay low and even secured an idol in my pocket without anyone suspecting. I knew that I was doing pretty great. Until the first swap happened.

Come swap, I was excited to meet new people and actually feel the game. Although Alex and I didn't really trust Ci'ere back in Troodos, we still decided to stick with him for the sake of the numbers. I was also happy to meet Priscilla again but at the same time, it actually hurt both of our games because we were deemed as a duo immediately. So I knew we couldn't be in a same alliance and had to protect each other from afar. She was with Jimmy, I was with Ci'ere and Alex. It was fine just the way it was. We were all planning to take out a fan in case we ended up going to tribal but then I was dragged into an alliance with Ally & Adrian. It actually pissed me off even though I had no rights to because that alliance thing happened within a few hours after the swap when I had only spoken a few words to them both I think, and you can't just decline an alliance so I had to stick to that. It actually put me in a good spot but I knew I was just a NUMBER to them instead of an ally and I just did not feel like I fitted in that group as well as Alex and Ci'ere did. I did not see a future in that alliance at all and was even planning on taking one of them out if we had to go to tribal. On the bright side, I actually did develope a bond with Jimmy and he was someone I truly felt like wanting to work with. We won the first challenge after the swap and it was great. But our streak didn't last long and up next is when everything falls apart. We lost Scavenger Hunt and had to go to tribal. Alex and Ci'ere wanted Priscilla out and honestly it took everything in me to hold back and not defend her. Priscilla I'm sorry for being such a coward back then but I knew if I defended you they'd come for me next. So I told them I agreed to vote her out. I understand if y'all think all of this sounds wishy-washy but she was my CLOSEST ally ever and I wasn't going to risk losing her that easily. So I decided to confront Jimmy about the plan to save Pris and he said we had enough numbers to do so as long as I agreed to vote out Ci'ere. I was actually considering about it for a second. But then again I wasn't really sure of where Ally & Adrian stood back then because even though they acted like they were with me, Alex and Ci'ere, Jimmy also said they were willing to vote Ci'ere too and that was shady as hell. As much as I trusted Jimmy, I honestly did not know what and who to believe so I decided to make the riskiest move I've done in all season, which was giving Priscilla the idol I found in Day 7 and wroting her name down. Unfortunately, Ci'ere was one step faster than me. Priscilla went home and I ended up making a fool of myself as always. That tribal was honestly the darkest time in my entire game because not only I lost my closest ally, I knew that Ci'ere knew that I knew that I also lost his trust forever. And I worded it that way because altho Ci'ere and I never actually spoke one-on-one about that incident, I knew it sort of drifted us away from each other because Ci'ere would have known that the idol Priscilla played was the fake one he made right?! It also backed me away from Alex a little bit because I was afraid Ci'ere might have told him about it. Now you might be wondering why the heck would I did something like that and why couldn't I just simply write Ci'ere's name down if I wanted to keep Priscilla? In my defense, that move made perfect sense for me because if I had voted against Ci'ere with Brandon, Shannon and Jimmy, yes I could have totally saved Pris but then the other side WOULD have gun for me. It was too early in the game to make a move against strong players and Alex, and like what I've said before, people were suspecting a Sichuan pre-made, I couldn't be in the same alliance with Priscilla. On the other hand, giving Priscilla my idol and voting against her would not only make sure to keep her safe, but also to PROVE my loyalty to the alliance I was in. I thought it was an okay move on my part but then Ci'ere outplayed me and I accepted defeat. Even though in the end that move didn't work, I believe it still showed that I was someone who had the ability to control my own fate, not the type of players who jonly sits in one place and does what she's told. It was the second swap that I realized how much of impact Alex was on my game. We were together ever since the beginning and even though he might have known about the idol incident, I wasn't given any other reasons not to trust him and I loved him so much for that. We shared everything with each other, from our idol guesses, advantage guesses to information we got from others. He was the person I trusted the most out of anyone even though not exactly fullly. We were put on the bottom again because other than toby, everyone in the swapped Troodos tribe was from Malama. We were really in some deep trouble but it wasn't the death of us. Somehow us two (mostly Alex im ngl) managed to get Shannon and Jimmy to vote with us and take out Drew. The four of us became the majority alliance in Troodos. We were planning on taking Toby out next but then we kept on winning challenges, which wasn't too bad because we received an idol clue and together, Alex and I found the rehidden Troodos idol RIGHT before the merge hit.

Merging at 12 was definitely a surprise to some of us, including me. But I was actually happy to get to PLAY the game to the fullest because I've only gone to tribal 2 times premerge. I met some new people, got to reunite with the original Troodos. We formed a Troobros 5 alliance and everything was going pretty great. It seemed like nobody on the tribe really trusted Toby either and he was most likely going to be the easy vote. But when Eva informed us about what happened back in Kyrenia, we knew Rob, Brittany, Craig and Stef were a tight group and we needed to break them as soon as possible. That lightened up the idea of voting out Craig. But in all honestly the Craig vote wasn't even me at all, it was Alex's idea and even though I had struggles writing Craig's name down at first, I ended up doing it anyway because deep inside I knew he was a good player in every aspect.

The next vote was utterly hell and it was without a doubt the worst 24 hours of my entire life. Because that was when I decided to make a move against Alex. As much as I adored him as a person, Alex was one hell of a player and also people were starting to look at us as a strong duo and I knew it was really easy for one of us to get blindsided if the other was immune. That terrified me a lot so I decided to go talk to Jimmy again. Coincidentally, Stef and Shannon also wanted to get rid of Alex and a few hours later the four of formed a secret alliance together. The vote was supposed to be Alex, but everything got really really messed up and somehow Jimmy ended up voting with Alex and Ally, causing Ci'ere to leave the game with an idol in his pocket.

As much as I would have rather for Ally to go, Ci'ere going wasn't too bad because Alex and Ally never really suspected Jimmy and I working together at all. From that tribal, Jimmy became our secret spy. The Toby vote was also an easy one because almost everybody on the tribal was agreeing with that except for Alex and Ally. In the end, Jimmy voted Brittany with Alex and Ally but I wasn't really worried because he told me about that before the results. Also I believed the

Up next is the Eva vote. Almost everyone on the tribe was on the same page about that vote again because there was a rumour about her playing both side. Again, this wasn't my idea but I knew it benefited The Jimmy tribal was the only vote I believe I wasn't aware of most things going on because I was gone for half of the day and had to send in my vote 8 hours before the deadline. I was extremely lucky that time, there's no disagreement on that. But after all I knew I still did something right because when I checked my messages, some people were telling me to play my idol. I wished I had the time to be online that day though, things would have been much different. Nevertheless, I made it to the final 7 and I truly believe I controlled everything that happened on the tribe from then. I won individual immunity to make sure Alex was going home. And eventually he was voted out in a 5-2 vote, just how I (well also everyone except for alex and ally of course) planned it to be.

With Ally being immune in the final 6, I was forced to turn against Rob. It was tough at first but then I found out he was going to vote for me anyways. With that, I convinced Ally to vote Shannon, Shannon to vote Rob with me and used my idol on myself, causing a 3-2-1 vote and sent Rob packing.

I lost the the final 5 and 4 immunity despite being so close. Even though I was always the number 1 target, I managed to get out of the mess everytime and I hope that says something about my social game. Stef, I knew it, the only reason I made final 4 was because you flipped on Brittany. It was a great move on your part and thats why I couldn't let you make the final. You were going to get Craig's vote, Rob's vote, Britt's vote, my vote and maybe Toby's vote even. But I believe I wasn't lucky like you said. The only vote I truly admit I was extremely lucky in, was the F8 vote. You could've voted me out easily Stef but you didn't. And no that didn't make me lucky, nor undeserving.

Overall, I think I did a pretty awesome job and was good, at least decent in every aspect of the game. I won 2 individual immunities, was close to 5 other challenges. My physical game, I believe, was one of the best this season. My social game, sure doesn't look very impressive because I wasn't especially close to anybody in the jury but I hope the fact that I was able to make it all the way here despite being a threat and not being immune all the time says something about it. My strategic game was also good in my opinion, I was one of the votes to take out 7/9 jurors, was one of the reasons behind many of you sitting there. From losing my closet ally to almost getting voted out in 4/9 tribals post-merge, I've overcome it all and that's why I think I deserve the title of Sole Survivor. And no matter how it all turns out to be, I'm super proud of myself for becoming the second youngest finalist on this wiki and making it as far as I did.

That's all I got for now. Again, sorry for the long read and possibly a lot of grammar mistakes too. I'm looking forward to hear from you all. If you feel like something I said in this speech was untrue, just point out and correct me. I will try my best to answer all of your questions as fast as possible. Hopefully this speech gave you a better view of my game.

Thanks for baring with me, love you all!

- Mai. 