In post 62, Shadoweh wrote:I still don't get how this game is anything but a popularity contest. Or how obvious scum like Simba got to MYLO.. There's a lot of the game that spectating just doesn't get to see.
I mean, it's Survivor... popularity and social manipulation is literally the point of the game.
TBH, I think this game in particular was really hard to see from a spectator perspective because the confessionals were lacking content.
I think my "obvious power" was exaggerated quite a bit by people in order to make it harder for me to win the game. Frenchie basically built that lie and people bought into it... the only people I thought I had control over were Doge & Star, and they both were working against me from basically the start of the merge. My only "power" at merge came from being persuasive and likable enough to the other players to make backstabbing me a harder thing to do, which is the only reason I came in 4th and not 8th.
To be honest, this game was super bizarre in that merge had a bit of "dead weight". I don't mean that they were bad players, but that there were several low-activity, low-impact players at merge, while a ton of high impact, big players were eliminated pre-merge (and I usually don't see that happen). I mean, god, every Nerds TC was a complete clusterfuck where the momentum shifted several times, and that NEVER happens. Val was a favorite to win the game and got completely blindsided WITH AN IDOL IN HER POSSESSION, which is just absolutely nuts. I think this game had a lot more turmoil than most games. There was no "dominant group" or anything. Almost every person was working both for and against the same people.
Drench played a masterful game, really, by being a huge social threat. He strategically used the right people to get information then turned when it was no longer valuable, and nobody caught on until it was too late.
xofelf also did a fantastic job with her UTR game, and I originally was voting Dave over Star. It was that close. In retrospect, I can appreciate how nonthreatening xofelf made Dave appear and how it was all an act to get as far as possible. Dave almost won the damn game, simply because xofelf had everyone convinced that Dave was the easiest person to beat in FTC, when in actuality, that strategy in and of itself was great.
Mist, I feel, made a huge mistake not taking out Drench in F4... and that was honestly the only shot at Star not winning. I don't think I would've been able to justify my post-merge play as anything other than reacting to shit and trying to survive. I made no "big plays". Star was a big threat, especially with how he was playing everyone, and the fact Doge didn't see the Dave/Star duo thing until it was too late was unfortunate. Had Doge gone to F3 with me/Dave, there's no situation in which he doesn't make FTC... and beating me or Dave is no harder than beating Star, PLUS Star was a proven challenge master.
TBH, looking at the jury now, there's no way I could've made it to FTC, I don't think. Had I stuck with Frenchie, maybe, but that would be a long shot, and no way would I win in FTC against Frenchie.
I never really had the motivation to play this thing properly, but it was a lot of fun. Congrats to Drench; from what I can tell, he played a really great game. And xof, you were so freaking close, and you also would have made a very deserving winner. 
