Board Thread:Battle Of The ORGs 2: Mount Yasur/@comment-4600940-20160526224207

Hi everyone! Before we get started, I'd just like to thank the hosts, viewing audience, and of course, my fellow castmates for making this season what it was. I had a lot of fun playing this game and even though it could be overwhelming at times, I'm honestly so glad I got to experience such an amazing season with such a strong group of players.

Coming into the game, my primary focus was building strong relationships. In my opinion, a strong social game is the key to helping you get to the end. Making moves is a lot easier when everyone is already on your side and wants to work with you and I knew that above all else, I had to be well-liked. Early on, I focused on forming a connection with everyone on my tribe so that at the very least, I would be a name that came up when people were suggesting who they'd like to align with. My goal was to be seen as a potential number, an ally that could be game for anyone's plans, rather than a target because if you think someone could be on your side then that's someone who you're going to keep around. I wanted to keep as many potential avenues open for long-term plans so that I would be able to pick the perfect alliances that would give me the best chance at getting to the end of the game.

After the Perry blindside I still continued to keep my relationships open but I also began to form more permanent allies - Charley and Jake in particular. Charley became one of my closest allies and together with Jake, we formed a strong trio that I put complete faith in. I also needed to have an ally on the other side and Aren was the perfect person to help keep me from being a target. He gave me an insight as to what the opposing alliance was planning while simultaneously keeping me safe, allowing me to sit in a very powerful position because I had so much information on everyone in the game but was still off of everyone's radars. Thanks to my alliance with Aren, I was able to make choices that would help carry me far, knowing that every move I made would ultimately be beneficial in getting me to the end of the game. These relationships are what allowed me to make the moves I did and they are how I was able to stay so in-tune with the game. If it was not for my social abilities, I would not have been able to be nearly as powerful as I was.

One of the first votes I controlled was the Jaylen vote off. I turned the vote onto Jaylen in order to save Aren while also eliminating someone who was not on my side. My initial goal was to keep my alliance with Aren for as long as I could but unfortunately, the expiration on that relationship came a little earlier than I had anticipated. People began to grow suspicious that I continued to deflect the target from Aren and I was faced with a test. Should I continue to fight to keep my ally at great personal risk to my game? Or should I adapt, go with the flow, and vote him out? I weighed the risks and decided the cost of keeping Aren was too detrimental to my long-term safety and I let him go. I then took on a swing vote position the round Will was voted out, a position that has great risks but even greater rewards. Thanks to my allies on both sides, I was able to know Charley was becoming a target and I was able to counter these plans and switch the vote to someone else. I got Jake to help switch the target to Domonique, forcing her to either vote with us or go home. Following Will's vote out, I orchestrated the blindside on Seth by convincing everyone we would be voting unanimously for him to leave while also pushing for votes to go on Domonique in order to flush her idol. I knew this had to be done because the longer Domonique had her idol in the game, the more powerful she would become and the less control I would have. I did lose an ally in Jake shortly afterwards but quickly rebounded by blindsiding Alex due to my distrust in our alliance. I knew I could not longer count on him to take me to the end and I did everything in my power to get him out of the game.

Charley leaving threw a huge wrench in my end game plans. She had been my ride-or-die ally and I lost someone who I could trust and who I knew I wanted to sit next to in the end. Thankfully, I was able to use my relationships with others to sneak back in and find new paths to FTC. Grace let me know she wanted to target Zach and I saw the potential chance to switch the game around. Liam mistakenly believed Grace and Zach had a F2 and I knew this was the key to getting to the end. I continued to push the idea that Grace/Zach were tight to further drive mistrust between Grace and Liam so that it would be more difficult for them to connect at the F4 and go against me. After Zach left, both Liam and Grace were shocked - Liam believed the vote would have been 2-2-1 and did not understand why Grace had voted with us and Grace initially believed it was Jamie who had voted for Zach, not Liam. Although we did not have a vote at F4, I believe that this confusion and mistrust I created between Grace and Liam would have been enough to allow me to navigate that vote and still end up here.

I believe a good player is defined by their ability to adapt, their talent at avoiding becoming a target, and the amount of control they have over the game. By these attributes, I am the most qualified player sitting here at FTC: I was adaptable, I was never afraid to take risks and make a move to gain control of the game, and I used my strong relationships with everyone to continually put me in a good position. I never relied on luck or immunities to get me where I am - every single thing I did in this game was with the intent and purpose of moving me further towards my goal of winning. I gave this game my all, I fought hard, and I deserve to win.

Once again, thank you everyone! 