Board Thread:Season 48 - Sinai/@comment-35779793-20180808151635

Introduction
Aside from my introduction and closing thoughts, I've broken my game down chronologically and by attribute (physical, social, strategic) so if this is too long you can just pick one of those ways to read about my game in!

Wow, I can’t believe I am here about to give this final tribal speech to you all, that seems CRAZY to me. Before anything I want to thank the hosts for casting me and putting up with me all season! I also want to thank Marc and Morena. I’m sure that most of you have worked it out by now, but we’ve literally been together since day 1, and have always been determined to get to final three together. I feel this benefitted me the most as it allowed me to have secure and loyal allies, while giving me a solid base to get out the biggest threats to my game. I think it’s a testament to all three of us, however, that we’re sitting here today, so go us!

I would like to start my speech by copy and pasting an excerpt from the application I sent to the hosts for this season:

''“Under the radar is not my style, and I would endeavour to control every single vote as far as possible. However, I am also a very loyal person, and I would love to get to the end having been devoted to my closest allies throughout. This doesn't mean I won't lie - I'll always use deceit in an instant to protect those nearest to me - but I hope that this loyal approach, whilst being sketchy if needed, would get me jury support at the end! ''

''I would also try and keep my physical game under wraps - I've tried quite a few of the challenges from previous seasons for myself, and I really think I could have a great physical game. Therefore I would hope to go on an immunity streak at final 7. But failing this, hopefully putting myself on the line for my allies in previous rounds will guarantee me their support!''

''In summary then, my strategy would be to play a friendly and open game pre-merge, deciding who I would like to align with, before solidifying an alliance of passive strategists heading into merge. By protecting them at all costs (e.g. I would take the risk of going to rocks for them if need be), hopefully I'll nullify the target on my back by making them unwaveringly loyal to me, thus stopping them turn against me.” ''

I think I have stayed true to this throughout the season, showing that I had a clear game plan from the start which I executed well. I believe I have controlled every vote as far as possible, even Jack’s vote out (I’ll explain later). I have got to the end having been devoted to my closest allies throughout, and have only lied to protect them and myself. I did keep my physical game under wraps enough that no one targeted me for it early on, allowing me to win 4 immunities in a row, starting at, like I planned, final 7. I also think I did play a friendly and open game pre-merge, before I solidified an alliance of passive strategists (Marc and Morena) which secured me in-game support to the end. Especially given Morena’s speech, I do genuinely think if I had lost final immunity I could still be sitting here right now due to their support.

Pre-Merge
In general, the strategy here was to make a name stick that suited me. Morena, who I clicked with instantly, was already being targeted early on, so I subtly made sure that she was kept out of the firing line. For example, this is my conversation with Spencer back on Sesibi 1.0, before Elizabeth’s vote out:

19 JUNE 14:36

Spencer Liapakis

I have to go to bed so where should I vote you think?

Will

Hmmm I’m not sure tbh, I’ve heard Liz now

Spencer Liapakis

Where have you heard it from?

Will

Morena

Spencer Liapakis

Hmm

Morena was the other one that was potentially on the chopping block

Will

I think that Morena is gonna try hard though

Like Elizabeth said she doesn’t even have flash

Spencer Liapakis

Elizabeth doesn’t?

Will

I don’t think so

Spencer Liapakis

I think that’s the way to go then

Actions such as these evidence my loyalty to Morena from the start, and I think defending her like this was ultimately worth it, as I am sitting with her here today, with her having voted with me on every vote.

Another thing that dominated the pre-merge story was the temple. I chose give instead of receive, which meant I found out the breakdowns of tribals that didn’t happen because of the curse, and could also weaken the curse itself. I used the temple to secure meet ups with my ally on the other tribe, Spencer. At our meeting after the Kailyn vote out, he told me that he thought Benji was getting sent home, but I discovered that in fact Byron would have been voted out 4-3, which I told him. I do believe that this was a key moment, as it allowed me to gain Spencer’s trust which would become useful later on at Jack’s vote out which, again I will explain later.

The final big event of the pre-merge was Byron’s vote out. Byron decided to target Morena, which as I expect you can guess, I wasn’t having :P By this time I had been with Jack for like 2 weeks so we had become quite close. I had been probing where Jack stood on him for a while just by asking him what he thought of him, and he definitely showed he didn’t really trust Byron. And of course, I always had Marc and Morena:

Will

I think we should probs vote him (Byron) out

Marc Oriol

vote him this round?

Will

yes we have to vote him out now premerge if we're gonna

Marc Oriol

yes

Will

okay well I gotta sleep because I have to wake up early again for work but let's talk tomorrow!!

Marc Oriol

good night bro

Will

Vote Byron!

He tried to blindside you in a 3-2-1 vote and not tell me and Marc

So he needs to go

Morena Coloso

morning will!!

when is thay happened?

ok, thats sure !!!

Will

It’s legit

He wanted to blindside you

So he has to go because you can’t go 💜

Morena Coloso

ok thanks will!!!

il vote

Early Merge
Going into the merge I did kind of feel like I was a bit of a target, which was obvious when Jared threw out my name straight away. I had a big argument with Julia, so I know it sounds stupid but I did sort of try and exaggerate that to people so people didn’t think I was super friendly with everyone. I guess maybe this worked, since Jared ultimately chose to target Morena not me? I also told people “I don’t talk to AJ or Julia Or Marc barely lmao” to not only not emphasise how I wasn’t friends with everyone, but also to hide my alliance with Marc.

Jack's Vote Out
Now, I’m going to break Jack’s vote out down step by step, because I know it may seem like I was totally unaware what was happening - this was the only time I did not vote correctly the whole game. But in fact, I am partly behind this too. Spencer may have told Nicole (I’m not sure) but I was the only one Spencer told about his idol, despite the fact I had lied to him and kept him out of the loop for the previous two rounds - this shows the level of trust I managed to get from him, despite my shady actions. I think this is due in part to our temple meet ups. Since I knew he had an idol, I wanted it gone ASAP, and I also wanted Jack gone, because he was now too big a threat, was close with Julia and Nicole (I know you three had an alliance chat), and AJ was in the middle - one more vote and that could become a majority. Therefore, I worked to get votes on Spencer, so that he could waste his idol and we could get out Jack - I voted Spencer to go along with the illusion, to allow me to still appear in the majority. Morena wanted to vote out Jack, but  she had enough trust in me to not:

23 JULY 00:55

Will

Let’s do Spencer

Morena

ok

why

?

23 JULY 04:03

Morena

I voted Spencer,even i dont know why

I think the way she doesn’t even question my judgement shows the trust I was able to get from her. The same happened with Marc, and I also spoke about it with AJ and told him I was voting Spencer, pointing out that Jack was more likely to have an idol. I knew Spencer and Nicole were voting Spencer, and I had the votes (me, Marc and Morena) to vote out Jack normally. But by telling Spencer to play his idol (he thought in the game I was on his side because I told him that he had to play it) to get out Jack, I was able to take control of the vote even when voting incorrectly, take out a threat, and use up someone else’s idol. I think my strategy in this round exemplifies how useful the social bonds I had created up to this point were, as I knew where every single person was voting, how the idol was being played, and who was going home.

Late Merge
Talking about idols and social bonds, it was thanks to these social bonds that every person who found out a merge idol clue told me about it. Morena told me hers straight away, which meant I knew it was in row S in plain ground from I think final 10? And then Jack and Nicole told me the same information later in the game but obviously I pretended oblivious (though Nicole suspected Jack may have only told me half a clue?!) This allowed me to find the merge idol, which took out one more hurdle in my path to final tribal council. The other idol was the half idols from the auction. I had already asked Nicole to try and get Julia to give me her part, and if I’m really honest I don’t know why she did give her half to me - I think maybe she was trying to create a relationship with me after our argument because she was in a tight spot? Or maybe she was trying to paint a target on my back? Anyway I got that one too. I think the fact that I got two idols in my possession, which were found exclusively through social means (I never won a clue, I only got given them by people who trusted me) but never had to use them, shows the very strong position I was in in the game throughout. They were my back-up, but I wasn’t targeted once, which is why I managed to get here with zero votes against me.

From final 7 onwards, with two idols in my possession, winning every immunity and two of the most loyal allies anyone could want (effectively giving me two extra votes) I felt secure. Every person who was voted out was because that was who I wanted voted out. Even after I had blindsided Nicole on the Jack vote out by “voting Spencer” she still told me about her clues for other special advantages she won from rewards, allowing me to to stay in the loop about everything. From final 5, me, Marc and Morena had majority and I knew where the idols were. My idols and immunity win guaranteed us safety into the final 4, and then, even though I only had a day to do final immunity because of vacation, I won 4 out of the 5 sections of that challenge. I voted out AJ because I believed he was closer with people like Julia and Jared (and Aleks but we didn't know he wasn’t on the jury then) and because, at the end of the day, I wanted to stay true to the game I had set out to execute from the start.

Physical
I think I had a very strong physical game, which allowed me to keep my targets off the block more than anything else. With 5 individual immunity wins I think I really did give my all to the physical aspect of the game! Right from the start with my contribution to the first immunity challenge with the tribe chant, I showed myself to be a useful tribe member, which I think was part of the reason Byron wanted to work with me, which proved to be a secure alliance up to the last pre-merge tribal council.

Social
I believe I created real and genuine personal bonds with many people in this game, which in turn fed into my ability to use them strategically. Even after I told Julia I was voting her out, she ended up giving me an idol half. Even after I lied to Spencer two rounds straight, he ended up trusting me to tell about his idol. Even after I lied to Nicole, our social bond was great enough that she continued to trust me and tell me her clues to advantages. And of course, the origin of the Marc Morena Will alliance was a social connection, which is a good example of not just my social game but theirs too! Jack trusted me up to the last minute, told me about his clues, and had no idea about what had gone on before his vote out. In hindsight, I could have developed a relationship with AJ more, but as I said, in a way it was useful to “not talk at all to AJ” like I “don’t talk to Marc at all lmfao” to hide my real relationships with people, and not make me seem like such a social butterfly haha.

Strategic
I voted in the majority on every vote except Jack’s vote out, but I still knew what was going on then which the other two people here did not. I was able to hide behind big threats, gaining their trust, before voting them out when it was best for my game. I made sure that I would be against the weakest physical players for my final immunity challenge. I got two idols that I didn’t even need to use because I was able to keep myself out of the firing line throughout the game. Although I was not in any alliance bigger than 3 people throughout the merge, I shifted myself between alliances - [me, Marc and Morena], [me, Jack and Marc], [me, Jack and Nicole] [me and Nicole], [me and Spencer], [me, Marc and AJ] - to always make sure I got the majority on who I wanted. By giving myself effectively three votes, thanks to Marc and Morena’s unwavering loyalty, this task was made much easier.

Closing Thoughts
Therefore I think I deserve to be your Sole Survivor because I successfully kept myself out of the firing line at all times and controlled every tribal council I was at. Yes, I have the most individual immunity wins of the season with five, but failing that I was still one of the last two people to not have votes against them before my immunity streak, showing I could cope without a physical game, or the idols I retrieved. By winning immunity and finding idols, I ensured that nothing could stop me voting out who I wanted when I wanted. I constantly knew what was happening, who was aligned with who and what the clues were, demonstrating the extent of the network of information I had created thanks to the social bonds I had with people. Ultimately, what I did was survive, but not by laying low - I went out and systematically removed those who threatened me when it was required, which I think is why I have zero votes against me at final tribal council; I never gave people the chance they wanted to take me out.

Thank you for reading this far if you have!! I’ve had so much fun playing this game it’s been so insane omg and I genuinely GENUINELY love this entire cast and I’ve literally been dying to speak to you all when I can. I’m sorry if anyone feels bitter and if you do then that’s the game and it’s on me for not taking that into account when thinking about the jury. But what I will say is this: remember that all three of us voted you out (except Jack), not just me.

Thank you! 