Board Thread:Survivor 43: San Andrés/@comment-24659809-20200522023113/@comment-26156957-20200522053537

Hello, again Zee! Your video was definitely a fun watch and I hope my response satisfies your biggest questions about me.

“How much did you really rely on each other and how long were you intending to stick with Mackie?”

Certainly, a healthy portion of my game, especially at the early merge, relied on Mackie sticking with me and our Florencia 5. After learning nuSoacha would needlessly target me and Aaron alongside Abi, I needed Mackie and Jim to stick with post-swap tribal lines. Since I could only meet Jim and Mackie pre-merge while Izzy and Chieko were more likely to flip, having Jim and Mackie on my side solidified my safety for the first few rounds while we could vote off the nuSoacha people who didn’t have me in their best interests and those who weren’t in mine simultaneously.

Jim and Mackie would sooner or later make a move against our Florencia 5 at mid-merge and I wanted to strike against Mackie at the Final 8 and Final 7 due to his challenge prowess, confirmed and speculated idol(s), and his strong influence. I’m not sure just how necessarily clutch all my immunity wins were for my game, but I can confidently say Mackie won the immunities when he needed them most every single damn time. Since Mackie was immune for two subsequent rounds, I knew to continue talking up with him as if I were mutually beneficial for his game when I couldn’t oppose him directly. Since like you said, Mackie was essentially the Godfather and I needed to continue treating him as such especially when I couldn’t get him out. I was ready to idol him out at the Final 5 but since he won immunity yet again, he basically guaranteed himself a spot here at FTC.

“If I were able to get Mackie out, what would my plan have been?”

Hypothetically speaking, booting Mackie at the Final 8, my endgame plan would’ve consisted of going all the way with Aaron and Abi since they were my closest allies. I could see Jim and Izzy joining nuSoacha to save themselves, but I would’ve continued collaborating with the nuSoacha people who partook in the Mackie blindside. We didn’t know at the time that Jim and Izzy had joined forces, so I would’ve likely prioritized working with Izzy believing she would be on the bottom of nuSoacha. Of course, everyone was wary of an A/A/A threesome so I wanted to remain flexible with my connections if I was left on a sinking ship if Jim/Izzy/Jacob/Zee decided to team up against us.

Now looking at Final 7, if you and Jacob joined me and Abi in blindsiding Mackie, I would likely consider staying aligned with y’all for the next tribal, probably pushing for Izzy to leave. Then I would definitely consider you a jury threat and would have made a move against you with Jim if possible while having my idol on reserve, ready to be used to ensure I could vote you out. Then I could focus on navigating to the end with Abi and whoever I felt I could defeat in the end.

“How reliant was I on Mackie as a shield but to what extent, as it damages your game sitting next to Mackie?”

I completely agree that sitting here with Mackie has drastically decreased my chances of winning. I 100% relied on this facet for the first few votes of the merge until we got past the Final 10. The target kept flip-flopping between me and Mackie so there was easily the incentive of keeping him until the timing was correct to blindside him mid-merge. Honestly speaking, who knows if I could’ve gotten Mackie out at a reasonable time since he had a secret Final 3 alliance, two idols and there was never another chance at successfully eliminating him from the Final 8 and onward.

Contrarily, Mackie had the opportunity to eliminate me at the Final 8 and Final 7 but he never seized it, which allowed me to make a run for FTC. My reliance on Mackie as both my co-conspirator and shield enabled me to survive tribals where I was completely vulnerable. I continuously emphasized our combined status’ as threats so he valued my worth above the others in our Florencia 5. But I was always conspiring against Mackie during the latter half of the merge and knew to continue talking up with him as if I were mutually beneficial for his game when I couldn’t oppose him directly. I think that paid off considering that I’m here on Day 39 against all odds.

I hope this helps ya out Zee and I look forward to chatting with you again real soon!