Well it has certainly been a long game with many twists and turns throughout but I am glad I got here despite everything I had to fight along the way. I think in this game I made several key moves at crucial times which changed the game for my alliance and I. Along with this I had a bit of luck to help me and this got me to the final 4 which I think is a huge accomplishment considering there were 49 people at the start and a lot of the players were of a very good quality, especially since the F20. As a warning, this is going to be a very long read.
At the start of the game I was the last person to join I believe and this made me off to a bad start instantly as this game had been recruiting for a while and alliances could of already had been forming. I was lucky in this aspect, Timbira was a fairly laid back tribe and no real alliances had formed. This meant I was able to form my own and control the tribe pretty much from the get go and was able to guarantee my safety. What helped was we had a few inactives.
The start of the game was plagued by Frosti and the drama which followed him and at times, it often got too much. I was dragged into this Anti-Frosti Alliance, which I directly blame on Marcus as I know he tells people of his alliances based on "who he knows" rather than asking him so I was instantly in the spotlight from that point onwards. I quickly found out who Yul was; unfortunately an enemy in previous games, however we managed to join forces along with Taj and merged our alliances effectively, forming AAA, with an aim of taking out Frosti who had the illusion of control. My first attempt to get him out - albeit I wasn’t in his tribe - didn’t go well as Coach betrayed me and voted with Frosti to get Paloma out. This caused Frosti to go on a warpath against me specifically and I was furthermore brought into the drama which made it harder for people to trust me in the game and that was a major problem I felt. I was able to overcome it however. Eventually I managed to get Frosti out with the aid of Cirie who was on his tribe by fixing his tribe so that Cirie would have the people to take Frosti out, convincing Cirie to pick Colby over Coach was important in this as well and then convincing Cirie to go after Frosti for the good of the game. This pretty much sums up the start of the game, it was often very dramatic and I was forced out of “hiding” and even looking back, I defiantly would of preferred to have stayed out of the drama and kept low down similar to how Yul did it. Telling Marcus who I was in this game was a mistake for sure. My main aim at the start was to just not respond to the drama threads, so not to make things worse however this strategy changed later in the game when I was brought into the drama more and more.
During this time, I had to build my alliance which turned out in the end to be strong enough to stick together at the merge. I was able to meet Rob and Nat, my two closest allies this game, I had a previous connection with Cirie from a game which was cancelled and naturally we were able to work together in the end. Ashley was on my tribe for a bit of the time however I would not say that connection had anything to do with how we aligned later in the game. Tom was similar however we were on fairly bad terms as Frosti turned him against me early on. I had also talked to Aras for most of the game in the hope he would be vital to my cause later on and it turned out he was however I certainly placed too much power in his hands. Corrine and Mick were also key parts of my alliance they were just unfortunate not to make the merge. Along with Colby and Sandra too who I was close to as well but they failed to make the 2 tribe phase.
The "middle game" was the time period where Frosti and his alliance were pretty much killed off and anyone who remained from his alliance was just hunted. This was also the time period when the cracks in AAA started to develop and I decided that it was time for me to make a move. I knew I was never going to get far with them and that was why I had been developing my own alliance, but this was the time when I felt I had the people on my side to go against Yul and Taj. The middle game was quite slow I must say. We had Rob’s fight with Yul which was really the beginning of the end for AAA and me. I had aligned with Rob originally on my second tribe, however it was nothing serious at the time; however the way AAA and specifically Yul went around trying to get Rob to vote with Taj instead of forcing a possible tie, which really annoyed me. So in ways, it eventually formed the thing with Rob. When he mutinied and joined out tribe, Nat and I could see that Mick was beginning to get a bit flaky and we were quick to form a F3 with Rob and this was why we didn't vote him off. This of course pissed off the rest of AAA but at least I had the cover of Coach who was a part of Frosti’s crew and also PG who just lost the plot. The next vote was when all four tribes went to tribal council and I won my first immunity at the auction and also helped others win prizes. Most importantly, Nat won the trip to Devils which changed the game as Yul recently told me he would have picked me for his tribe had she not won the puzzle and I would have left early. That was probably the luckiest moment of the game for me
. This was also the round I made a move against AAA and voted out James who was Taj’s Final 2. Why Taj told me this, I do not know, but it was the reason James went. I had to start to make damage on the Taj/Yul (TY) alliance so that they were not going to be TOO dominant at the merge. So I took James out in one of the biggest statements of the game and it really set up the merge to be what it was, which was terrific.
Next was when we had 2 tribes. I had a feeling this could go badly as I looked at their tribe and my own and knew that we needed a lot of challenges to suit us, as they were clearly the better tribe at challenges. We had Paloma on our tribe who was a member of AAA so when we lost our first challenge; it was pretty clear who was going. I was slightly worried at the time Tom and Cirie may leave me and with the prospect of Corrine self-voting, I played it safe and got Rob to use his double vote which was a mistake as Tom and Cirie stayed with us. That double vote could defiantly have been useful later in the game for sure but the game turned out as it did and it turned out I personally didn’t need it. Corrine who I had known from the start of the game, self voted as well and that was truly the beginning of the end for our alliance. We won the next challenge as Amanda took the prize, probably due to Yul asking her too and this was of a huge benefit for us as had we lost this challenge, we would have been hammered at the merge. They voted Kelly off which turned into a huge mistake as she was less likely to join us than Ash. After this point, we lost the next 3 challenges which took us to the merge. Corrine was the first to go after self-voting two times in a row and this was probably a benefit in the end looking at how important TBs have been at the merge, despite her complete loyalty to myself and our alliance. Todd went next due to his flakiness and the fact I couldn’t trust him at the merge with the fact I needed to bring the most loyal heading into the merge. Mick was given a second chance as we voted him at the Corrine vote and I think he would of been completely loyal however I trusted our 5 that went to the merge in Cirie, Tom, Rob and Nat the most so Mick was unlucky and voted out. I do think he would of stuck with us but he was the most risky to take to the merge IMO.
The next phase was the merge where it was truly going to be shown whether my work on Aras since almost week 1 would turn out for us. Pretty much about the time AAA was formed, it was clear to me he was going to be key to my alliances future. What was really the beginning of a very annoying phase of the game, he blindsided Cirie and she left 7-6 with us managing to flip Ash but not Aras who I thought would. Furthermore I wasted an idol that Nat had brilliantly found on Devils after only one clue; I suggest we look into past games though
. I think telling my alliance of the idol was very useful, at least at the time, however looking back it probably wasn’t too important as we stuck together in the end and all my hard work into keeping us solid and building relationships with everyone turned key to keeping us solid. I managed to convince Aras to vote Amanda... Tom had told me of Aras’ competitive nature and liking to keep the strong till the end so this vote was very key to getting Amanda out. Tom managed to beat Amanda in the TB as well. Next was my TB with Yul after the Aras situation where he had to use a bootlist, whether or not he intended that or not I look forward to seeing... I managed to beat Yul, going the full 24 hours which I thought would end in another tie. At the end of the TB with Yul, Nat had managed to find an HII. Next I saw Rob and Nat get blindsided by Aras after he continued to lie and backstab my people. This was a pretty hard time in the game as it looked like things were truly over as my two closest ally’s left the game however at F8 we managed to group Aras with us, targeting someone instead of Mookie who he seemed to constantly protect, and I went after Ethan who I had a feeling Aras wouldn’t like due to his nature. I had told Aras of the idol due to the fact the power of it may lure him with us, along with targeting Ethan, and this proved correct as Ethan got idoled out of the game. Next we had the point of the game where we had our third and final TB as Terry forgot to vote, once again doubt over whether it was true or not arose, and Mookie and Ash were forced into a TB and Ash went extremely quickly, quite incredible actually, and beat Mookie by quite a big margin. At this point we had managed to get full control from Aras and had the numbers. Without Yul their alliance seemed to implode and this was reinforced as we got Terry and Aras to flip to take out Taj knowing a TB wouldn’t serve them well. Next we voted Aras off, who tried to change the vote threatening a "black vote" prize however I managed to convince Terry and Tom that he was in fact lying, and when the votes were read this, was proven correct and Aras was sent home.
During the last five rounds, I have managed to win immunity 5 consecutive times! Although I don’t want to be remembered for that as I don’t think it has been the best part of my game, this game and I will not talk about it at the FTC as I don’t really care too much for it and don’t think it has been too important as I have fought to save my alliance and have still controlled my alliances voting and recently who has gone directly. A personal challenge related highlight for me was beating Ethan in the slider challenge which was truly awesome.
Now I have this challenge, one more win is all I need to get to the FTC and people have speculated I could win easily. I believe I have played the best game, this game. Strategically, socially and challenge-wise however managing to "play the numbers game" as Terry put it, and getting past a very tight and strong alliance led by Yul was truly a huge accomplishment I feel. I have also met many good people this game, developed good friendships which I will keep after this game for sure and with the length of this game, you defiantly get to know people haha. I think it’s been well hosted and despite disagreeing with you guys at times, I hope I am forgiven as I truly do appreciate the effort you guys have put into the game
Sorry for the long read, especially to Erik who probably wants to kill me now :/... I did warn you
), Hidden Immunity Idols, the constant rebuilding when an ally went. Maintaining control of my alliance. Adapting...
The start of the game was plagued by Frosti and the drama which followed him and at times, it often got too much. I was dragged into this Anti-Frosti Alliance, which I directly blame on Marcus as I know he tells people of his alliances based on "who he knows" rather than asking him so I was instantly in the spotlight from that point onwards. I quickly found out who Yul was; unfortunately an enemy in previous games, however we managed to join forces along with Taj and merged our alliances effectively, forming AAA, with an aim of taking out Frosti who had the illusion of control. My first attempt to get him out - albeit I wasn’t in his tribe - didn’t go well as Coach betrayed me and voted with Frosti to get Paloma out. This caused Frosti to go on a warpath against me specifically and I was furthermore brought into the drama which made it harder for people to trust me in the game and that was a major problem I felt. I was able to overcome it however. Eventually I managed to get Frosti out with the aid of Cirie who was on his tribe by fixing his tribe so that Cirie would have the people to take Frosti out, convincing Cirie to pick Colby over Coach was important in this as well and then convincing Cirie to go after Frosti for the good of the game. This pretty much sums up the start of the game, it was often very dramatic and I was forced out of “hiding” and even looking back, I defiantly would of preferred to have stayed out of the drama and kept low down similar to how Yul did it. Telling Marcus who I was in this game was a mistake for sure. My main aim at the start was to just not respond to the drama threads, so not to make things worse however this strategy changed later in the game when I was brought into the drama more and more. 
. I think telling my alliance of the idol was very useful, at least at the time, however looking back it probably wasn’t too important as we stuck together in the end and all my hard work into keeping us solid and building relationships with everyone turned key to keeping us solid. I managed to convince Aras to vote Amanda... Tom had told me of Aras’ competitive nature and liking to keep the strong till the end so this vote was very key to getting Amanda out. Tom managed to beat Amanda in the TB as well. Next was my TB with Yul after the Aras situation where he had to use a bootlist, whether or not he intended that or not I look forward to seeing... I managed to beat Yul, going the full 24 hours which I thought would end in another tie. At the end of the TB with Yul, Nat had managed to find an HII. Next I saw Rob and Nat get blindsided by Aras after he continued to lie and backstab my people. This was a pretty hard time in the game as it looked like things were truly over as my two closest ally’s left the game however at F8 we managed to group Aras with us, targeting someone instead of Mookie who he seemed to constantly protect, and I went after Ethan who I had a feeling Aras wouldn’t like due to his nature. I had told Aras of the idol due to the fact the power of it may lure him with us, along with targeting Ethan, and this proved correct as Ethan got idoled out of the game. Next we had the point of the game where we had our third and final TB as Terry forgot to vote, once again doubt over whether it was true or not arose, and Mookie and Ash were forced into a TB and Ash went extremely quickly, quite incredible actually, and beat Mookie by quite a big margin. At this point we had managed to get full control from Aras and had the numbers. Without Yul their alliance seemed to implode and this was reinforced as we got Terry and Aras to flip to take out Taj knowing a TB wouldn’t serve them well. Next we voted Aras off, who tried to change the vote threatening a "black vote" prize however I managed to convince Terry and Tom that he was in fact lying, and when the votes were read this, was proven correct and Aras was sent home.