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Post by Supervisor Silverclaw on Feb 28, 2021 6:50:09 GMT
Opening Statements will be posted in this thread in a random order.
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Post by OperatorMeme on Mar 2, 2021 1:01:10 GMT
Opening Statements will be posted in the following order:
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Post by OperatorMeme on Mar 2, 2021 1:02:11 GMT
Hi, this is the hare speaking! Let's start by talking about how we played as a hydra. After we got through the first round of tribes, we realized that tortoise had a very busy life, and didn't have as much time as me to send messages. We arranged ourselves in a face/manager relationship, where I did the PMing, and every night, Tortoise and I would get on discord and plan out our strategy for the next 24 hours, then I would go and execute it. Playing as a hydra allowed tortoise to experience survivor with me even though he would normally be too busy IRL to make it on his own in this game. So even though you didn't see very much of tortoise, he was pulling my strings from behind the scenes And while this speech was written by me, I was up with tortoise last night brainstorming the main points! Don't count him out, okay?! He puts in the work!! Hi, this is the tortoise speaking!
I'm going to let Hare talk about the game next, but as part of the hydra, I think you it's important to realize how much we actually talked to each other. Because of limitations IRL, I didn't have the ability to be online during the day. The fact that, as a hydra, I was able to experience this game to its full extent, I am so grateful for it. I hope the hydra option is going to be around for future games, because I think we've proven that it's possible to play a very strong game with 2 heads where opinions don't collide. As Hare said, we agreed Hare would be the face of our Hydra, while I would play more in the background. At crucial times, I came in and put in some extra effort to make sure the game progressed the way we wanted to. At some point, it even involved writing up a huge PM on discord so Hare could forward it to one of the players. Thank you all for a really enjoyable game. I've had a blast and I consider this a victory regardless of how the vote turns out. Special shout out to my partner, Hare, who has been the most amazing partner I could've wished for.
Back to the Hare: Based on our results, I think it would be fair to call us the most effective hydra in mafiascum history. Our premerge game was a standard game where we built as many connections as we could. Our strongest connections came from the maroon tribe, which was a tribe that bonded very closely during the Grogu vote. These connections paid off when we appeared to be in danger on the red tribe, but we were saved by our connections with Bonobo and Bees, and we were able to take out Lindsay instead of going down ourselves or losing an ally. When Grogu/Ranger returned to the game, we got very close to Grogu very quickly and agreed to work with him and protect him in the future. In the early merge and shipwreck, our main allies were the maroon 4 (Droids/avo/bard/T&H + ranger), our close ally Grogu, in addition to some weaker side alliances/good relationships with Bees and Bonobo. Tortoise and I thought about who we wanted to endgame with, and we thought droids would be a good option, so we offered them an F2. Avocado also approached us for an F2. But our F2 with droids went bad quickly when they blew up their game by trying to pull off a blindside on bees, so we had to adapt. With ranger voted out to take a shot at the maroon 4, we tried to make ourselves the most approachable remaining member of the maroon 4. We tried to make it seem like we were an outsider to the group, despite the fact that we had two final 2 deals internally. This was a successful effort, because when Dave made his public posts calling out the big threats in the game, we were never mentioned. This effort also paid off, because after Dave went home and all eyes were on the maroon 4, we were not being strongly considered as a target on the round droids went home. We tried to make a move using Bard's idol which we learned about in the last 10 minutes, but unfortunately we came up just a couple minutes short on that one and earned ourselves a rival named Maggie Smith After droids was gone, we knew wanted a strong relationship with Bees because we knew he was in a very good position, and he would be key in a lot of votes coming up. we put in a lot of work to try to convince him we were with him and that we would work with him to take out the returnees. When the game took us to space tribes, we made our first big move. Bees and Avocado, two of our allies, wanted each other gone, but we had other ideas. Bonobo was someone we saw as a major threat to our game, because we didn't see a good opportunity to get rid of him later. He was doing an excellent job keeping his connections hidden and staying under the radar. His main enemies were in the collapsing maroon 4 alliance and due to his low profile, and he was close with our rival maggie. We recognized that people would likely want to endgame with him. So we told Avocado to throw the challenge, and co-ordinated with him to get the prime idol. We convinced enemies Bees and Avocado to stop targeting each other for one round and we made the play that was best for us by voting out Bonobo. (I know what you're thinking... T&H, you threw the challenge by scoring 3/6?! Yes! I thought everyone was going to score perfect on that challenge because I found it easy! I thought it would at worst go to a tiebreaker at time, so I even wasted an hour before submitting.) As things were approaching endgame, we were openly targeting the returnees alliance, and trying to warn people they still had a lot of advantages and wanted to endgame with each other. So despite being the main person to openly target the returnees, our close relationship with grogu, and the idol shards/items/high perceived threat levels of bard/maggie kept us safe when the returnees controlled the game with their items during the F8 and F7 rounds. At F7 when I drafted my plan to split votes on cleric and rey, I fully expected it to fail because it had grogu in it. However, I also trusted in my knowledge of grogu that he both liked me, and had been targeting maggie since even before the space tribes. I correctly assumed that even in the case that my plan failed, maggie would be the one to take the fall for it instead of myself. And considering how maggie and I were both selling each other out behind our backs... I considered this an acceptable risk. F6 was supposed to be the round we dealt with the problem of the returnees using the item Bees had, but the tension between Avocado and Bees grew to be too much and unfortunately we had to send Bees home early. This would have been a game losing scenario if it wasn't for Bees giving us his javelin-syringe item <3 At F5, we knew grogu had a vote nullifier, and that he wanted to target avocado next. He said quite plainly to us that we would be the standout target in F4 after avocado left, but that it would give us the best odds of immunity. At this point the returnees had become complacent, with Dark Rey saying that the next rounds "might become boring". The returnees were co-ordinating for the idol, so there was no hope that avocado and I could have gotten it. Fortunately, I came up with what I consider to be the play of the game. Grogu told us that if Avocado and I guessed low numbers, then he would get the idol. I came up with a plan to guess low numbers with avocado, give grogu the idol, then force him out of the TC with our item and force firemaking against cleric or rey to ensure I didn't become the obvious F4 target if neither of us won immunity. Avocado didn't want to go with this plan at first, because he was confident in his chances of winning immunity and strongly wanted grogu gone immediately, but I convinced him it would give us the best odds of survival, and it paid off. Once we got Avocado on board, grogu won immunity, got the idol, and I immediately took him out. From this point, Avocado and I practiced hive together, and I went from someone who never heard of the game to someone who could consistently stomp beginners in a matter of days, thanks to some helpful youtube videos I found, and plenty of practice. We targeted cleric, expecting her to be weaker at challenges, and the play paid off. Neither of them had the idol, and Avocado won firemaking. Having learned the game of hive and put in our practice, we knew we couldn't go to the end with Grogu after the huge amount of control he had over the game. Fortunately, we were the last person in the game that Avocado felt respected by, so it was easy to vote with him and win firemaking against Grogu in F4. Avocado winning immunity here was a best case scenario, since I ended up becoming a stronger hive player than Avocado, so this gave us the best chances of making it to the end together. Overall, I believe we played a winning game for a bastard game like this one. When the twists and items worked out in our favor, we capitalized on them and made the highest value play we could (bonobo & cleric & grogu + a missed shot on maggie). When the twists and items didn't work out in our favor, we had a low threat level and strong allies to keep us safe. I'm proud of the way we made big moves while at the same time keeping a low profile and maintaining strong relationships that kept us safe. Oh, and also it's a beautiful narrative arc that we were able to take down the most dominant alliance in the game without even having a majority over them after calling them out all game, we should totally win for that alone I know this is a bit of a shorter speech but I wanted to respect your time: so if you have any questions feel free to ask!
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Post by OperatorMeme on Mar 2, 2021 1:03:07 GMT
hi. i'm dark rey, but you can just call me rey if you like. fun fact about me: i am a returnee. some people[who?] believe that that is a disadvantage. i disagree. it is in fact an advantage! or at least, it is for the way it happened with me. i was eliminated at the start of the game. this sounds bad, but this game was unique with its 4 player initial tribes. i didn't have a wolf like t&h, or a beef jerky like avocado. i was in a tribe where all of us were active. where my status as a returnee becomes an advantage lies in the shipwreck. because of having been in the hole for ages, i hardly knew anyone. all of you had your pre-existing relationships that i knew very little about. that combined with the fact that we had used up almost ait was very easy for you all to just let one of us be the vote. that is in fact what happened. yet, i was able to build relationships and find safety. i even eventually worked my way into a position where i was able to seize control of the game for three rounds. unfortunately, i did not arrive here with the endgame i was hoping with, but still, i made it here even after having made such moves.
ok. time to go into more detail. Shipwreck
Here, I made such an effort to reach out and connect with people that, even though everyone was settling on taking out a someone from the Hole, it was between Cleric and Monk and not me. Here, I formed an alliance with Maggie and Grogu. merge
at the first round of the merge, it came into focus that there were two “sides”. at this point, my intended approach to the game would be to play these sides off of each other trying to ensure there were always other targets that loomed larger than i. there was an idea developing of taking avocado out, but i did not want that. he would make for a perfect target in the future. that was my opinion even though i had heard that he wanted to take me out. so, when avocado mentioned that ranger was an idea out there, i ran with that and tried to make sure that happened instead. ranger was a nice consensus vote that left all targets intact. F10
Before the auction, Avocado came to me trying to repair our relationship which I was happy to do. I had never intended to be his enemy (yet). He then pushed the idea that as returnees, Grogu and I needed each other, and he pitched himself as the best option to go to the end with. I didn't buy that argument, but I thought it would be convenient to go along with this for now as he was someone i still wanted in the game. He ended up with the Prime Idol, so there wasn't much I could have done against him anyway. In the previous round, I had also made an alliance with Maggie and Dave Thomas, Founder of Wendy's, so I hoped to utilize these alliances to continue to stay safe, and avoid being a target. Then, something happened that changed EVERYTHING. actually, it's f11
cleric came back! thank you for that, avocado <3
with this, my whole strategy shifted. i knew i could rely on cleric. using the concept of 'us returnees need to stick together; we can only win with each other' me/cleric/grogu formed our group. i didn't agree with that idea, but it was an useful basis to form this new group, and i especially did want to ensure i made it to the end with cleric. another new development was all these new items. i now had pieces of two idols, and cleric had brought two vote nullifiers out of flatland. additionally, grogu got an extra vote. furthermore, i knew where the other pieces of the idols were. dave thomas, founder of wendy's had revealed his piece of the indiana jones idol to me, and had even temporarily passed it to me as a sign of trust and so we could see if there were still pieces out there. i had handed it back, and also had handed one to maggie (i also had the one from the rip snow leopard tribe (rip snow leopard)). and, bard came forward to tell me that he had the last piece. he also told me about his piece of the OTHER idol. the bts one. (and, cleric had the third piece of that from flatland). this meant that if bard was gone, then i (theoretically) could gain access to both idols.
now, to the actual vote. i wanted to turn it onto bard so that i could have idols, and dave thomas, founder of wendy's was my friend. but, it was more important to me to work with cleric, and so while i told cleric that i felt like bard was the better option, i let them make the decision to give up on dave thomas, founder of wendy's. next round i could get rid of bard. right? The Real F10
This is where Bard was SUPPOSED to go. The tide was shifting, people were getting very nervous about the group of four that was the droids, Bard, Avocado, and T&H. I was initially annoyed by the fact that it seemed like people wanted to get the droids out, but that was revealed to be an exaggeration when I talked to Bees. The numbers were there for finally getting Bard out. I also preferred Bard going out because I felt like the droids were more trustworthy, and I was worried about Maggie and Bard working together. I was also concerned about the fact that T&H always seemed to be unmentioned in all of this. I was worried about them slipping by UTR. But, I had something up my sleeve for that! Unfortunately, that was dependent on Bard going out here, but there was that idol...space horror
this was me. i split the tribes. if i had known that bard wasn't going to be voted out, i would have saved my merge splitter. but, i had to use it within the first half of the tribal council. the intention was to be in a tribe with cleric, grogu, and t&h so as to throw the challenge, and take out t&h. it seemed like it would be difficult to take them out otherwise. and, they were the player i had the least connection to. but with it locked it, we got what we got instead. i put maggie in exile because i wanted to keep her away from other players with less opportunity to work with them. F8
Here's where I made my move. I still wanted Bard gone, but it seemed like everyone wanted to keep them as a shield. But, I had an idea. I proposed to Cleric and Grogu that we vote for Bard the three of us. An outline for the next rounds came into my mind. use a vote nullifier and extra vote to get out Bard here. Use idols the next round. And then, at F6, we break the tie with the remaining vote nullifier. At this point, Maggie still trusted me, and gave me back her piece of the Indiana Jones idol. f7
i still liked maggie, and didn't want to take her out, but it was necessary to deal with her extra vote. at this point, people had caught on to what was going on. this became obvious when they coordinated for the prime idol. i believed that i wasn't the target because they knew i had an idol, so i had them played on the other two. i figured that avocado would play the prime idol on himself. grogu wanted to give up on cleric here, but i really really very much wanted cleric still in, so i insisted on staying the course. F6
Bees was because both him and Avocado had been good at challenges, and I considered Bees to have played a very good UTR game, and so he was the player I least wanted to go up against here. the rest
but, of course, bees has passed on that javelin thing to t&h, and everything came undone. i decided to tie things up in the last round because i had stuck with grogu for so long, and because i believed i could contrast my game with grogu's with how i had been the main driver of our strategic decisions.
that's it. while i didn't get the ending i wanted, i made my mark on those three rounds where we controlled the game. in a game distinguished by its impactful returnees, maybe you should vote for one! just a little idea for your consideration.
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Post by OperatorMeme on Mar 2, 2021 1:04:18 GMT
The Opening HEY. to preface this whole shit, it's five in the morning where i am about thirteen hours from ftc beginning and because i have insomnia i've decided to just crank this out in one go. i have never made it even CLOSE to a final tribal council before, i have no experience how to write a jury speech, and i'm treading entirely new waters in an unfamiliar territory, so you guys will probably have to bear with me throughout this. maybe i won't have a chance to improve, because in a couple weeks, i'm about to start up a full time job in order to help bring in money for rent and pay for my college tuition. there's a very high chance that i won't be able to play this game again for a long time if at all when this is all through, so i've been playing with the intent to make the most of every opportunity that i've been given
geez. i dont even know where to start this off. when i first applied for this game, i never thought i would make it past the pre-merge, let alone make it to the jury, let alone take a spot in the final three of all things. this has been one hell of a ride from start to finish, and for fifty days straight leading up to this point this game has been living absolutely rent free in my head and taking up most of my thought process. whether it was during college classes or my part time job, i've always been thinkin of how to approach this shit and work my way around the difficult scenarios that i found myself placed in. i cant tell yall how much sleep i lost just picturing different scenarios in my head and figuring out how different situations were going to work, and the best way to overcome my immense threat level and use everything at my disposal to claw myself to the end.
i've had to balance so many aspects of my school life, work life, the real life shit i was going through, and all of the constant doubts and uncertainties in my mind about my performance and how i would be perceived by people. for a long time, i've always been thinking and wondering to myself about how i would handle anything that came my way, and i spent each round playing like it was my last (which there was a very real possibility of it being). still, there's always been one question (or doubt) thats been burned into in my mind from thinking about it so much.
do i deserve this?
that question has been driving me mad for a long, long time now. do i deserve to make it to the next round over people who i've been helping out and looking out for, who may have played better games than me? do i deserve to make it deep into this game when i've been fighting tooth and nail to stay only to be met with backlash from people who clearly didnt approve? do i deserve to sit in front of the jury and make my case to the eight people who are going to decide my fate over the course of the next half a week?
the answer that i've come up with is that i think i deserve to be here to make my case. i've spent fifty long days stressing out about this whole game. fifty days worrying about if each round would be the one where i finally get sent out or my reputation catches up with me. and even when i was at my lowest, even when i was down and out, i always convinced myself to keep fighting day after day and to never get up. so if i didnt believe in myself or my ability to make a case to win this, then that would be pretty disheartening. so its all i can do to fight through this thing no matter what people throw at me and what obstacles come my way, and i hope that i can prove that i have the qualities of a winner to you guys throughout my performance here at this ftc
The Grindit's not really a secret that i've had the hardest road to get to the end out of any of us three, and you guys have seen the lengths i've needed to go to in order to keep my butt in this game. even from the premerge alone, i started off in a doomed tribe filled with inactive people who i couldn't count on to witness my game, stick up for me, and keep me safe. there's a reason that my tribe has an average of 20th place without me, and no representatives on the jury OR in the flattened people. from the very beginning, i've been almost completely on my own, and i've had to pave my way for myself without anyone that i started out with backing me up.
of course, that's not really a commendable thing when we're already at the end, but the fact that i was able to cast aside the weights of my original tribe that had been bound to me and find some great, loyal people to ally with and take control of the premerge with is remarkable in and of itself. for the entire premerge, i hit the grind HARD. there wasn't a single tribal i attended that i wasn't a crucial part of, and there isnt a single tribal that i attended (and i attended every single tribal in this game except for two) where i didnt get my way. from the alliance with bard and ranger to the maroon three where droids, bard and i led the shipwreck and the ensuing round that followed, i was always able to take out those who didnt benefit me and keep the people i had chances at making better connections with while simultaneously never receiving a vote up until the f12.
granted, given the average activity level around these parts, that isn't exactly the greatest achievement i have under my belt either. my biggest accomplishment in this game is the fact that i was able to make it to the end despite having one of the biggest targets in the game on my back ever since the merge vote where dave thomas rightfully called me out as someone who had a lot of influence, and from then on i spent every single round with my name near (if not at) the top of the most wanted list. with several people wanting me dead in each and every round that passed, i managed to pull out every trick in the book to keep myself alive and flat out scrape my way to the end through sheer force of mental willpower, trickery, and underhanded plays put together in one chaotic and fun blend. maybe i didnt have the most control, or the advantages necessary to turn things in my favor. but i played a villainous and sinister game that i am 100% proud of, and the fact that i was able to be instrumental in every single vote i attended this game while still having that enormous target on my back is downright insane. there are very few people who would have the conviction and willpower to throw as many things at the wall and keep fighting through as much crap as i did, but i made it here on my own merits and my own terms, and i was the one who 'survived'.
if you're looking for someone who played perfectly, that person is not me. if you want someone who played clean and honest, that isn't me. if you're looking for someone who had total control at every point, then that person is also not me.
if you're looking for a person who has outlasted every single twist and turn this game has had to throw at him, being targeted by nearly every single person within this merge at one point, and made it here of his own volition using every tool and strategy he had at his disposal, then that person is me. if you're looking for a person who owns up to their villainous game and the fact that he put out everything he could there to survive, then that person is me. if you're looking for a person who invested everything into this game and put tons of heart and soul into every move he made, that person is me. if at the end of the day, you're looking for a survivor who would best represent the game 'barely survivor', then i hope that i can prove to you that that person is none other than me
The Attachmentok so that was probably a good place to finish off a standard speech. and if you dont want to hear something else id like to address, then that's fine too. but recently someone mentioned to me that people in this game heavily and completely disliked me because i totally forgot this was social, and that i was robotic and treated people like shit and had no emotions.
i learned a long time ago in this game that this is something that's really hard to do. committing so much time to a game in general and putting as much into it as i-- or anyone has is an achievement in and of itself, and something that should be respected. but on the other side, being so attached to the game means that it's hard to split apart the game from real life, and you might often say stuff that you didn't mean or that could understandably hurt people. not everyone is able to handle criticism or being put in a stressful situation the same as you might be able to, and i think that that's totally okay. still, i think that the very core philosophy of my game has always been to be considerate and open minded when it comes to other players and how they might feel, and i've made it a point to just do my best to have fun and get as far as i can no matter what, and if i lose? then i lose. no hard feelings about it, and there's no use in being bitter over something not going my way. this also means that i've always made an effort to treat my fellow contestants with respect and dignity no matter the situation, and i never made things personal or went beyond the game even when i was at my most devious and devilish. i always keep it real chill with people, because at the end of the day? this is just an online game loosely based off of a reality tv show, and we're all here to have fun
maybe that's wrong for people. maybe that's not what you want out of a finalist. but to me, i've always done my best to connect and try to get to know people and extend that olive branch to them, whether it's me fighting for pineapple to stay back when she was still active way back on the original food tribe, me fighting for droids to stay because i genuinely connected with and liked them, or me fighting for maggie to stay over someone who was a proven ally in plagueis simply because i liked talking with her and really did get along with her. throughout this entire game, i've made it a point to keep my doors open no matter what had happened the round before, and the only way i would go back on that is if i had no other option (such as the final eight vote where i wanted to help myself and bard out first and foremost), or when everything seemed to be unanimously on droids. i've consistently tried to look out for the people who have looked out for me, and that's part of why i took someone like t/h to the end in the first place; not cause i'm most confident in my chances against them, but because they've been my friend since day three and have helped cover my ass even in the most dire of situations
over the course of these fifty days, i've gotten to interact and mingle with every juror individually and gotten an insight into their games, regardless of whether it's been social or strategic in front of me. to say things individually about each and every one of you guys to prove that i HAVE vibed and connected with you and that i didnt just coast my way through and backstab everyone just for the hell of it is something that id be glad to do. i think that this might be the lazy option, but i'm personally going to paste my torchwalks and how i felt about everyone here just in case you do want to read what i have to say about you and what i think about you at the end of the day
Dave Thomas, Founder of Wendy's
WOW my dude you were an absolute force to be reckoned with. maybe you didnt see it that way cos of how you were distracted by irl shit, maybe we never really had the closest connection. but the truth is that you were a really cool dude whose motivations were an enigma, and the unknown factor you brought to the game after we never met before the shipwreck as well as the fact that we were on other sides of the fence intimidated me hardcore, and i think that if i hadnt planted the seeds of doubt in your game and painted you as an enormous threat challenge and social-wise that you could have honestly made a deep run. you said that you werent that big of a threat (and i definitely inflated that perception a bit), but i definitely respected the game you played and we were always destined to target each other eventually. you had great reads on the game and were the first to call me out as a threat, but your own reputation caught up with you and you were the first to bite the dust cos of it. mad props to you for the cajones to make that tribal a lot more exciting than it woulda been otherwise
C3P0 and R2-D2
ohh f*** my dudes. you got a RAW deal within the context a the merge and the hand before it, and i remember you bein an integral part of our four man quartet and just two bros in general that i could hang with as part a the maroon three. after i defended and helped you out (which turned out to not be needed cos of the immunity), we grew really close and formed a powerhouse three with bard that had the potential to set up the entire game in our favor. ill always remember your prowess at maneuvering your way around the various twists and challenges this game had to offer. your judge challenge creativity ones in particular were hilarious, and i kinda regret stealin immunity away from you in the f10 cos i basically inadvertently sealed your fate there. to the end though i had the same 'bro' vibes with you that i did with bard, and if you had lasted any longer you woulda been a huge threat to be reckoned with. maybe voting for maggie to try to save you was a dent in my game, but i dont regret lookin out for you even if you had turned on our group. you are super chill and you should be proud a the game you played
Bonobo
BONOBO you are my absolute homeslice (even if we didnt entirely see eye to eye following the second swap). i think you are easily the most chill and laid back dude in this entire cast, and i remember immediately hittin it off with you as soon as we met with the avocado lotion and business discussion. i think you share the exact same absurdist sense of humor i do, have the same lighthearted spirit and casual nature regardin the game that i do, and the same avant garde devil may care nature when approaching this that i dont see that often. were basically two sides a the same coin as far as how social game goes, and you were honestly the player i was genuinely the most scared of leading up to the merge and whatnot specifically cos you were so well connected and nobody had anything bad to say about you. still i was struck by your devilish ape-esque charm even when we werent really on the same side, and the banana dress that you came out with in that fashion challenge is the hardest i think ive laughed in the whole game. i regret the fact that i had to target dave the shield to dismantle the alliance that you had, but you TOTALLY had the drive and will to continue beyond that. finally i feel like you got the worst hand in the demerge outta anyone but maybe bard, and i really did wanna work with you. unfortunately you didnt trust me and recognized that i was a big player and came after me. overall i feel like youre chill and without that demerge you couldve easily been sittin here instead a me
Bard
holy shit where do i even begin with this one my dude. ive been staring at this wondering what to write for a solid 10 minutes or so now cos i have no idea how to express how much your game and friendship meant to me throughout this whole thing. from the absolute MOMENT we met each other i knew that i was going to love you and want to go deep with you into this mf game and we were attached from the hip not even a day or two into that chocolate tribe. we stayed together for the longest outta anyone in this entire game for so long, shared six tribes together, shared all of our choices and decisions that we would make together, shared our interests, ideas, and personal lives with each other, and were together for so long and made so many memories of how much bs we went through in this entire game that i felt like a piece a me was missing when you got blindsided and taken out. your boot hurt me the most outta anyone in this entire game specifically cos a how close we were together, and i think that in the right scenario without my presence makin you into a bigger threat you coulda gone on a lot longer without bein singled out and i apologize for makin you stand out like that. you are the coolest person in this entire game and your messages were my absolute favorite to respond to to the point where i would always make an effort to answer em first outta all of em (partially to avoid burnout and partially cos you are just the most awesome mf ive met in an lsg to date). we share the same music taste, the same strategy and thoughts for how to continue and shit, and on the opposite side a things we totally complete each other like a yin and a yang. youre the laid back social gamer to balance my strategy and reassure me when the going gets rough, and i absolutely could not have made it to the final four (or maybe even the end depending on when you see this) without you. you are my favorite ally and friend i have ever met in one of these games and i will always treasure the time we spent together. tysm for helping guide me throughout uncharted waters and i really hope that we can keep in touch and shit after this game is over. you're amazing. <3
Maggie Smith
aaaaah i still feel guilty for the way your boot went down. even if it was the objectively safest move for me to use the idol on myself after how much my name was thrown out i still REALLY regret not playin it on you and saving you after you had been lookin after me for so long leadin up to it. i feel really responsible for the way that tribal panned out even if it was almost impossible for it to go our way considering that they had two idols, and i think if your key allies hadnt been taken out beforehand then you genuinely coulda slid under the radar and made it to the end. beyond that final 7 tribal council though i think that youre a wonderful and compassionate person in general, and even if i did plagueis dirty in the tribal where he went i dont regret going out on a limb to help you out (even if it turned out that you didnt need it). you are the kind of person who is very straight up, forgiving, and a treat to talk to no matter what and you definitely gave me forgiveness that i didnt deserve after i almost blindsided you with t/h in the droids tribal. your social game was absolutely off the charts, and theres a reason you were the biggest threat to win after bard happened to go home. unfortunately your game was cut short by people who recognized the game you were playing and eventually your own kindness worked against you. i really cant wait to find out who you are cos you are an excellent person.
Bees
ohhh geez i really dont have any idea a what to say here either. we got off to a great start and really connected on the maroon tribe, and i defended you when people considered you kinda a passive non threat who wouldnt really anger people, but after we swapped away from each other and that messy merge tribe happened we REALLY drifted apart and never were able to level with each other beyond that since we were never willing to give each other the opportunity to work together (which is partially my fault in general, especially when i needed to take that idol in order to protect myself). i consider you my biggest rival throughout the postmerge and someone who was incredibly tough and well connected to the point where you were never targeted until the f6 tribal council where you went home in itself, and i had to pull out every stop to get you targeted over me when there was no chance a gettin out someone like grogu who still had that nullifier on his side. you were never gonna let me get to the end no matter what cos of the incredibly visible game i played and you were completely right to butt heads with me the same way i saw you as a threat in general as well. plagueis said that you were the best all around player when it comes to social, strategic, and challenge game and i would honestly have to agree with him cos you are a FORCE to be reckoned with. if you had won that challenge there i have no doubt that youd be sittin here instead of me. i also really admire the classy way you went out and the insight you gave into my game, and i hope i can show off the same resilience and tenacity that you respected when you were eliminated. big appreciation to you for playing such a strong game my dude
Cleric
shiiit dude. where did we end up goin wrong? we never met each other prior to the shipwreck, and since that was a mess in and of its own right what with the dnd members ending up bein the biggest targets i think that we were never truly able to connect and form a bond (that and snow leopard kinda gave a bad first impression a me that was outta my control). i ended up voting for you to go to save bard's friend even if i didnt really have a preference on who was eliminated, and we met up again in the flatlands where i targeted and voted out ranger. i wanted to bring you or plagueis back to life and only had the slightest preference, and when we actually ended up with you comin back i think that my own indecision there caused you to never really trust me (that and you identified me and bard as power players that you shouldnt go to the end with right off a the bat, which made our job a lot harder). you might have suffered a lotta issues with personal life and work and whatnot, but i still respect the game you played and going from voted out first after missing the marooning all the way to having to be taken out at the final five in firemaking and making it the furthest out of your entire tribe is a really commendable achievement, and you should definitely be happy with how you did. i hope i can see you improve and learn from your mistakes in the future cos you are the type a person i really wanna learn more about when it comes down to it. mad credit to you for fighting round after round to make it this far.
and then there's the last juror, grogu.
Grogu. You made the issues that you've had with me pretty public already (and I assume that you've been saying the same things over on the jury), so it's obvious that it's always been an uphill battle for me no matter how you look at it. And an uphill battle is what I've always been prepared for, regardless of whether it's someone like you, Maggie, Bard, T/H, Bees, etc. And one of the things that you mentioned to me was that I was an idiot for trying to take T/H to the end, and that I didn't really want to win. And after I tried explaining things reasonable to you, you snapped and said that you had hated me for this entire game, and that most conversations that you've had with other people were specifically about how much you hated me and what a trash, mopey player I was, and to enjoy second place because I didn't make the right decision and take you to the end. And maybe it's like I said earlier. Maybe you just have thicker skin than me. Maybe you can't process how your words might make that living, breathing person behind the screen feel about how much time and effort they put into one of their favorite hobbies.
So here's my personal take on things at the end of the day. I think that it's embarrassing how, despite all of your claims of having a lot of experience, you can't seem to wrap your head around the fact that some people don't treat this game like it's life or death, and are just looking to have fun. How some people would rather take someone who actually shows them common civility and basic human decency over a person who explicitly treats them like trash and has made it an entire point in their argument how much they have treated them like trash and don't respect them. Would you have been easier to go up against? Maybe, I don't claim to know what the jury is thinking. Do I regret taking T/H to the end with me when they can claim credit for the same moves that I've made and might prove to be a more difficult opponent? The answer is no, I don't regret taking my friend to the end with me, and I would rather lose to a player who treated me like a person rather than even sit next to someone who has made it clear that he doesn't care about me or how I feel. What I do regret is opening up to you about my anxieties and insecurities about my own chances to make it further in this game, and my own fears on how people perceive me at the end of the day-- fears and insecurities that you took advantage of by hurling insults at me and flat out saying that you had been having conversations with them about how much I suck. What I regret is ever looking up to you as an example of how to handle a bad situation and someone who had a good mix of strategic, social, and structural gameplay who could maneuver his way out from a mid pre-merge boot to a serious threat to win. And I hope that after this game is over, you can look back at the experience and consider the effects that your words might have on other people's psyche, and that maybe they AREN'T lying to you about feeling like shit or like people don't respect them.
The (First) Closer so maybe i do have a lot of flaws in my game. maybe the jury hates me and thinks that i'm total shit, and maybe they're willing to be open and consider my argument. i've never been good at reading that sort of thing, and with no experience on the other end of it, i'm definitely not able to tell right now. all i can ask is that you guys come in and give me a fair shake, and examine my game from any angle you see fit. and after fifty long days, all i ask is that if you're not willing to give me a chance, then at least treat my fellow finalists with the same respect and dignity you would treat any other person, and we can leave a good mark on LSG history instead of one that's only a bitter taste in people's mouths, because this has been one hell of a game.
if you're to ask me now? i don't have any regrets about the game that i've played, and i have full confidence in my ability to make it through this one last hurdle and pull out a win. and i hope to prove to you guys that i really do deserve to come out on top
thanks for reading if you got this far, and i cant wait to see how yall analyze and dissect my game. lets make this ftc a good one my dudes
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Post by OperatorMeme on Mar 2, 2021 1:07:49 GMT
FTC is now open for jury questions for 48 hours!
We would like to remind everyone to try to avoid being too toxic. If we see something that we think is starting to cross the line, we'll shoot you a message on discord asking you to reign it in a bit. But outside of that, gogogo with the questions!
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Post by OperatorMeme on Mar 2, 2021 1:17:29 GMT
Quick aside - spectators no longer have access to Jury confessionals.
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Post by OperatorMeme on Mar 2, 2021 1:21:23 GMT
Oh - and the Final 3 should only make posts in their own threads. You can refer to things said in the other finalists' threads, but please don't post in them.
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