Post by peihgeelaw on Oct 9, 2015 1:29:43 GMT
Holy crap, where do I begin? Despite being stressed out almost every day, I genuinely had a ton of fun in this game. We started this game all the way back in September and when I logged into AIM on that first day, I did not expect to be sitting here and awaiting your votes.
I came into this game with one goal; to win. My main strategy throughout this game was to build genuine relationships with as many people as possible to not only make friends, but improve my social and strategic game. Early on, I put together a majority alliance called the Mount Olympus Squad, consisting of myself, Ami, and Max. No matter what happened on Athena, I was pretty safe. To fully cover my bases, I tried aligning myself with Kass and Matty as well, with Matty being my closest ally of the two. Athena started off pretty strong by winning that first challenge, but we did eventually visit tribal. Matty had visited Exile Island during that first round and he opened Pandora's Box. Inside of the box was an advantage; a vote changer. Knowing this information, I used it to my advantage and shifted the votes from Matty to Kass. My main argument for Kass leaving to Ami and Max was that she could potentially flip due to not knowing most of the information in our tribe, which could've been true... but I made it up. I felt like that was a big move that later paid off.
When swapped happened, I still had my main alliance but I also got Zoe, Jeff, and Andrea, who I had built relationships with previously. Overall, the first swap was a pretty minimal stage of the game for me as the two votes were easy. Michelle asked to be voted out and Kelley was a no-brainer due to her inactivity. Now, most of my troubles happened because of the second swap. I went from Athena to Aphrodite and only had Matty as my right-hand man. I had just lost my greatest ally in the game (Max) the vote before the swap, so my head was in a very... dark place. Andrea, who I thought was one of my closest allies, had sent Matty to Exile instead of me and that put me in a terrible position as I was with Katie, Alexis, and Jon. I did what I could by trying to flip Alexis and Jon to vote for Katie, as she seemed like the leader of that alliance. Thankfully, Jay came to the rescue by providing the only immunity I really had in the game; the hidden immunity idol. That night, I played Jay's idol on myself and Katie would've been out of the game had it not been for the twist. NuBeauty lost once again, but Ami/Zoe/Jay and myself had come up with a plan to send Jon to Exile that vote and get rid of Katie, but once again... Andrea foiled our plans and sent Jay to Exile and stripped away my only chance at staying in the game.... had it not been for Matty sacrificing himself for me. I'm still incredibly grateful for him and what he did because I would've been out for sure.
When we merged, I was reunited with my group of Outsiders, as I liked to call them/us. When Dan won the Outcasts twist, I had mixed emotions as Max was also competing and lost... but I'm glad Dan came into the game. He was a new light for me as he was the Outsiders only real hope. Now, I had been talking to Andrea on the off chance that someone possibly flipped. I tried convincing her that she was the low man on the totem pole that consisted of herself, Alexis, Jon, and Katie. I mean, I'm not too sure if my pitch to her really worked... but it seemed effective at the time. However, Ami wanted to shift the votes from Jon (who I wanted out) to Andrea. That vote showed me that I was way too trusting of those around me, causing me to try and change my game a bit. I tried to play both sides by making an alliance with Alexis, Jon, and Katie to try and cover my bases. Now, they had their own plans that vote and I did go along with voting Ami, but only because I knew about Zoe's advantage. In the revote, I self-voted to not draw any lines in the sand and balance in the middle.
This final seven vote made me realize that I can sometimes be too paranoid and somewhat emotional. You see, I was convinced Ami/Zoe/Jeff had a final three going based on that round's challenge (Majority Says) so I tried shifting the votes with the other side. While I did vote with them, a conversation with Ami helped me realize another thing. I created that alliance (Zoe/Ami/Jeff/myself), so why should I feel like an outsider? It was really only Zoe/Jeff's connection that was scary due to their history on Ares. Many people are confused by my decision to flip and then flip back, but it makes perfect sense to me. I needed to shift my game from emotional to effective, so I looked at the bigger picture. Even though Ami, Zoe, and Jeff could've had a thing going, I had a better shot at cracking that than the other three. Jon would've been a goat to the end and Alexis/Katie were both huge contenders to win this whole thing, so I put matters into my own hands and shifted the power.
Since I knew Katie and Jon were on the outside, I tried to pull them in with me to again keep my bases covered and try something different. I tried to lead a vote against Zoe that round but Ami and Jeff told me it wasn't the right time, although... I felt like it was the best move at that point. Once Katie was on board with voting Jon, I did try to talk to Jon and get a little fight out of him that hadn't been seen the whole game so that he could somehow try to stay and shift the votes somehow. Now, I had told Ami and Jeff to promise me that we'd take out Zoe the next vote... and I think they agreed. Katie and I have grown close over the past few days, so I tried to put my two closest allies into a final three alliance with me. Thank goodness Ami beasted and won that immunity or else it would've probably resulted in Zoe staying. I had gotten out Alexis, a major threat, two tribals before and was once again effective in getting out another threat in the game.
At final four, I was stuck between a rock and a hard place as I had a deal with everyone left in the game. When Jeff won immunity, I essentially won immunity with him as we had secured something. I wasn't going home that tribal, but I still was nervous... as I had to pick between Katie and Ami. Now, Jeff and I originally planned on voting out Ami due to her challenge skills and amazing social game, but there was a change of plans. Katie and Ami did a tiebreaker and Katie went home. The vote really affected me considering it was between my 2 allies, but I held my head high and put my focus into overdrive. While I may not have won immunity to secure my spot, I still fought.
Now, I'm left fighting here tonight. This game is called Survivor, so I think you should reward the person who did all they could to survive. While Jeff is a good person, I had it harder out here than him and practically everyone out here. I had my back against the wall so many times, I've lost count. I survived the eliminations of my allies by "aligning" myself with the opposition, I had other people trying me to stay here as shown my Matty's sacrifice and Jay's idol, and lastly... I never once had individual immunity or any other form of immunity in this game. While Jeff relied on his immunities, I had to rely on my bonds, my strategic gameplay every single vote, and sometimes even sheer luck. While I was scared of what my moves could do to someone emotionally, I wasn't afraid to make them if I absolutely needed too. Using my social game, I deflected votes from myself and others and onto other people. I managed to have a very upfront and explosive game yet remain under the radar and not even receive a ton on votes until the final five.
This is ultimately your decision, but I hope you can recognize all my hard work and dedication to make it this far. I look forward to all your questions and thanks again for making this an awesome season.
I came into this game with one goal; to win. My main strategy throughout this game was to build genuine relationships with as many people as possible to not only make friends, but improve my social and strategic game. Early on, I put together a majority alliance called the Mount Olympus Squad, consisting of myself, Ami, and Max. No matter what happened on Athena, I was pretty safe. To fully cover my bases, I tried aligning myself with Kass and Matty as well, with Matty being my closest ally of the two. Athena started off pretty strong by winning that first challenge, but we did eventually visit tribal. Matty had visited Exile Island during that first round and he opened Pandora's Box. Inside of the box was an advantage; a vote changer. Knowing this information, I used it to my advantage and shifted the votes from Matty to Kass. My main argument for Kass leaving to Ami and Max was that she could potentially flip due to not knowing most of the information in our tribe, which could've been true... but I made it up. I felt like that was a big move that later paid off.
When swapped happened, I still had my main alliance but I also got Zoe, Jeff, and Andrea, who I had built relationships with previously. Overall, the first swap was a pretty minimal stage of the game for me as the two votes were easy. Michelle asked to be voted out and Kelley was a no-brainer due to her inactivity. Now, most of my troubles happened because of the second swap. I went from Athena to Aphrodite and only had Matty as my right-hand man. I had just lost my greatest ally in the game (Max) the vote before the swap, so my head was in a very... dark place. Andrea, who I thought was one of my closest allies, had sent Matty to Exile instead of me and that put me in a terrible position as I was with Katie, Alexis, and Jon. I did what I could by trying to flip Alexis and Jon to vote for Katie, as she seemed like the leader of that alliance. Thankfully, Jay came to the rescue by providing the only immunity I really had in the game; the hidden immunity idol. That night, I played Jay's idol on myself and Katie would've been out of the game had it not been for the twist. NuBeauty lost once again, but Ami/Zoe/Jay and myself had come up with a plan to send Jon to Exile that vote and get rid of Katie, but once again... Andrea foiled our plans and sent Jay to Exile and stripped away my only chance at staying in the game.... had it not been for Matty sacrificing himself for me. I'm still incredibly grateful for him and what he did because I would've been out for sure.
When we merged, I was reunited with my group of Outsiders, as I liked to call them/us. When Dan won the Outcasts twist, I had mixed emotions as Max was also competing and lost... but I'm glad Dan came into the game. He was a new light for me as he was the Outsiders only real hope. Now, I had been talking to Andrea on the off chance that someone possibly flipped. I tried convincing her that she was the low man on the totem pole that consisted of herself, Alexis, Jon, and Katie. I mean, I'm not too sure if my pitch to her really worked... but it seemed effective at the time. However, Ami wanted to shift the votes from Jon (who I wanted out) to Andrea. That vote showed me that I was way too trusting of those around me, causing me to try and change my game a bit. I tried to play both sides by making an alliance with Alexis, Jon, and Katie to try and cover my bases. Now, they had their own plans that vote and I did go along with voting Ami, but only because I knew about Zoe's advantage. In the revote, I self-voted to not draw any lines in the sand and balance in the middle.
This final seven vote made me realize that I can sometimes be too paranoid and somewhat emotional. You see, I was convinced Ami/Zoe/Jeff had a final three going based on that round's challenge (Majority Says) so I tried shifting the votes with the other side. While I did vote with them, a conversation with Ami helped me realize another thing. I created that alliance (Zoe/Ami/Jeff/myself), so why should I feel like an outsider? It was really only Zoe/Jeff's connection that was scary due to their history on Ares. Many people are confused by my decision to flip and then flip back, but it makes perfect sense to me. I needed to shift my game from emotional to effective, so I looked at the bigger picture. Even though Ami, Zoe, and Jeff could've had a thing going, I had a better shot at cracking that than the other three. Jon would've been a goat to the end and Alexis/Katie were both huge contenders to win this whole thing, so I put matters into my own hands and shifted the power.
Since I knew Katie and Jon were on the outside, I tried to pull them in with me to again keep my bases covered and try something different. I tried to lead a vote against Zoe that round but Ami and Jeff told me it wasn't the right time, although... I felt like it was the best move at that point. Once Katie was on board with voting Jon, I did try to talk to Jon and get a little fight out of him that hadn't been seen the whole game so that he could somehow try to stay and shift the votes somehow. Now, I had told Ami and Jeff to promise me that we'd take out Zoe the next vote... and I think they agreed. Katie and I have grown close over the past few days, so I tried to put my two closest allies into a final three alliance with me. Thank goodness Ami beasted and won that immunity or else it would've probably resulted in Zoe staying. I had gotten out Alexis, a major threat, two tribals before and was once again effective in getting out another threat in the game.
At final four, I was stuck between a rock and a hard place as I had a deal with everyone left in the game. When Jeff won immunity, I essentially won immunity with him as we had secured something. I wasn't going home that tribal, but I still was nervous... as I had to pick between Katie and Ami. Now, Jeff and I originally planned on voting out Ami due to her challenge skills and amazing social game, but there was a change of plans. Katie and Ami did a tiebreaker and Katie went home. The vote really affected me considering it was between my 2 allies, but I held my head high and put my focus into overdrive. While I may not have won immunity to secure my spot, I still fought.
Now, I'm left fighting here tonight. This game is called Survivor, so I think you should reward the person who did all they could to survive. While Jeff is a good person, I had it harder out here than him and practically everyone out here. I had my back against the wall so many times, I've lost count. I survived the eliminations of my allies by "aligning" myself with the opposition, I had other people trying me to stay here as shown my Matty's sacrifice and Jay's idol, and lastly... I never once had individual immunity or any other form of immunity in this game. While Jeff relied on his immunities, I had to rely on my bonds, my strategic gameplay every single vote, and sometimes even sheer luck. While I was scared of what my moves could do to someone emotionally, I wasn't afraid to make them if I absolutely needed too. Using my social game, I deflected votes from myself and others and onto other people. I managed to have a very upfront and explosive game yet remain under the radar and not even receive a ton on votes until the final five.
This is ultimately your decision, but I hope you can recognize all my hard work and dedication to make it this far. I look forward to all your questions and thanks again for making this an awesome season.