Board Thread:Survivor 24: Caracol/@comment-27018217-20170606051247

Hello Jury Members, Fellow Castmates and Former Tribemates. Here we are, Final Tribal Council (freaking finally)!

So most people at Finals will talk about every single move they made. Really, I'll focus more on parts of my game, and how they helped me get to this point, but first I wanna talk about my really life situation first.

Before I begin, I just want to say that if I compliment you during this speech, I'm not trying to kiss ass. Anything I say about you guys is my honest opinion of you, and I'll address if it's gamewise or personally-wise. If I like you and respect your game, I will say it. So let's get down to this (probably long) opening statement.

 REAL LIFE SITUATION 

So, before this game started, when I got the request to play, I wasn't sure if I was going to or not. I was three quarters of the way through my last year in high school, so homework was going to start building up. I was part of my school's Spring Production, and my play was going to the local High School Drama Festival, so that was going to take some of my time away as well. On top of all that, I had a job one day a week, and I wasn't sure if I would be able to devote enough time to the game to make it to the end, and play a solid game.

But I agreed. I wanted to challenge myself: I wanted to see if I could play a game and win it during one of the most stressful and important times of my life. So how did I play up?

I managed to balance school and this game, and I think I've played a pretty good game (which I'll talk about here soon). I found time when it seemed like I didn't have any, and pulled out important parts of my game. Some examples are the Final 7 tribal, where we set up the Christine blindside, Final 6 tribal when the Outcasts talked and talked until we had a plan that made sure we'd end up with the majority, and Final 4 immunity.

That puzzle was taking forever, and you can check with Roodman and the hosts after the game on this, but I had actually asked for an extension because I didn't think I'd have time to do as well as I wanted. My graduation was the next day and I was going to get up super early to go to it, I didn't have much time to work on during the day. So I actually got up in the middle of the night, and lost sleep before my GRADUATION in order to win that challenge and ensure what I wanted to happen (which was Roodman, Anna and I in the Final 3) to happen.

So that's how I played with a busy life schedule! Imagine if I had more time on my plate to talk to people and work on challenges! Either way, enough about my real life, let's get to the game.

 MY SOCIAL GAME

So I know this should be an obvious one for a lot of people, as I heard and had people tell me that my social game was good. But this part of my game still needs to be talked about. This is one of the big reasons I'm sitting here.

Now let me be clear: in real life I am a nice guy. That wasn't a facade I put on, that is just me. However, I will admit that I did push myself a bit more. Usually I wait for people to come to me, and sometimes it takes me a bit longer after meeting someone to get to talking with them for an extended period of time. However, if I ever complimented you, whether it was on your personaliity or on your game, that was genuine.

As to how that helped me, pushing myself to talk to everyone, being the likable guy that people enjoy talking to, helped me immediately establish relationships. On original Cayo, Roodman offered a deal with me really quickly to be my ally because we had a mutal interest for the arts. Both Roodman and Zach came to me with information about what Forrest was saying about me, and that helped me ensure that I was safe if Cayo went to tribal. Later, during the swap, I talked to basically everyone in my tribe, and continued to build up relationships that carried into the merge. Even after being left out of the vote, some people were still willing to come talk to me.

One final advantage of having a good social game is my jury management. Hopefully, some of you guys went into the jury with good thoughts about me rather than bad. I worked to build some kind of relationship, some more than others, with each of you so we had a connection when you left.

The most crucial part of my social game was how I worked with The Outcasts, but we'll get to that in a second. There's not much to be said about my social game that many of you don't know, so right now, I want to focus on my moves and how I thought about making them.

 READING THE COMPETITION

<p style="font-weight:normal;">Another big factor that played into my game was my sense of the players. I needed to gather information to figure out who I could trust completely, who I could trust short term, and who I couldn't trust at all.

<p style="font-weight:normal;">There were cases where I'd use my readings to figure out who wasn't good for my game. I got a sense of what kind of person Forrest played as, when he over-exaggerated the Wake Up Incident to Roodman, claiming I "freaked out" on him. Shortly after, both Roodman and Zach said Forrest talked to them about finding the idol spot, and saying he thought I had it. From this info, I got that Forrest was a pretty good social player and liked to manipulate information: and that he was pretty freaking smart. Mainly this is why I was so turned off from you Forrest. I was very careful about what I told Forrest after that, and I only told him about the idol during the swap because I was afraid he'd try to get people to come for me due to his belief that I had the Cayo idol (which I did XD).

<p style="font-weight:normal;">Another case was Luis. I started off seeing Luis as a team player. Very kind, and willing to work with me...that reading soon went out the window. Right after Zach's vote, I found him to be someone who wanted to be in control, and wanted things his way (seeing as he wouldn't stop telling me how "not having an idol would be SO MUCH BETTER for my game...BTW love you Luis, please don't kill me). Clearly he was spilling things I said to others, and his loyalty was "conditional", as he had shown how he would flip on ANYONE. I'm glad I picked up on that quickly and made sure he only got information that I was okay with him passing around.

<p style="font-weight:normal;">Sometimes I used these readings to cause stuff I wanted to happen, like the Christine blindside. Now Luis, I want you to know that The Outcasts had been forming a plan to go Christine before you came to me. I already had planted seeds with Lori before you showed up. So...Roodman knew about the plan because he was a part of it before you were. You see, Lori was someone who I didn't take to be a typical "sheep". Right after Thiru left, it was clear she wasn't pleased. From what I saw during the swap and the start of the merge, she had some fight in her. I saw the chance to tip her to our side. So I told her that people saw her as "Forrest and Christine's sheep". I didn't say it like I saw her that way, I played it off like I wanted her to know that and I just left it at that. Told her I would talk later. Sometime later, Roodman says Lori wants to make a move on Forrest and Christine. Surprise: the seeds sprouted.

<p style="font-weight:normal;">I'll admit, it took Zach going out to open my eyes to many of you during the merge, but I acted quickly on my discoveries (like Christine and Forrest being so close, as well as that Roodman and Anna were actually loyal to me). Speaking of the two latter people, this brings me to one of the big reasons why I'm writing this plea.

<p style="font-weight:normal;"> THE "OUTCASTS"

<p style="font-weight:normal;">The Outcasts were probably the best thing that could have happened to me this game. Sure, I had allies and alliances in past games, but nothing like this! Brought together by a blindside, talking and debating for hours on what the best move was, and a strong loyalty to each other (that did waiver slightly, but what alliance doesn't have that?).

<p style="font-weight:normal;">Building the relationship with Roodman was the first step. Once Anna showed up and mentioned that Rood had told her about a code he and I had established (to let the other know if we should try to throw the challenge on our new tribe), that said Rood trusted her, so therefore I trusted Anna.

<p style="font-weight:normal;">Once we got into merge, I wanted to work with at least those two. I wasn't sure where my allegiance would fall, but one thing I knew was that I completely trusted Roodman, and Anna was not that far behind. Once we were left out of the Zach vote, I immediately put the three of us in a chat, and that was when we officially became the Outcasts. I made sure to maintain their trust by telling them everything I was telling the other players. Now, I'm not gonna take full credit for us forming. It was a mutual thing, we all built the relationships together, and us being isolated from the Zach vote also played a huge factor. But I will take a lot of credit for us staying together until Final 3

<p style="font-weight:normal;">After the Christine vote, Roodman (who I had a Final 2 with) shared his concerns about taking Anna to the Final 3. He wasn't sure if she was the best option, as he believed that "any of us three could easily beat the other three" (Lori, Forrest and Luis). Also, he believed that Anna would more likely pick me over him (which I wasn't so sure about). This view did worry me, mostly because I knew that my biggest chance at making it to the end was to ensure the Outcasts stuck together (that and personally I really liked the bond we had going on, and us being in the Final 3 together would have been amazing). I went to Anna (who I also had a Final 2 with) and told her she needed to try and gain Roodman's trust. I even suggested she offer him a Final 2 deal. Sure enough, Roodman comes to me and says Anna did just this and I took the chance to continue to pursuade him that Anna was the best option. At the same time, Anna was concerned about the bond between Roodman and I. I'd make to let Roodman know I was telling her this stuff, but I would express my frustration with Roodman, and how I wasn't sure if he'd be someone I want to sit in the Final 2 with. Also, I gave reasonings to both of them about how taking other people would be worse for their games, when actually it probably could have been better for them. Anna would have been better off taking Forrest to the Final 3, since Forrest was gun-ho for me and maybe didn't see how good Anna had played, while Roodman would have been better off taking Luis, since Luis would never take me to the end, and if I went out would never take Anna to the end. Personally, I really wanted us to be a Final 3, but gamewise, it was the best scenario I had going into Final Immunity. I had a Final 2 with someone who was strong in comps, and someone who if they did win, I'd have the most chance at possibly taking me (I don't know if Anna would have taken me or not, but a higher chance at her taking me over Luis, Forrest or Lori).

<p style="font-weight:normal;">In short, it was always in my best interest to keep the Outcasts together, and I did so by building relationships with both of them and making sure we didn't break apart. Who was I lying to about taking to the end? At this point, I'm not sure. Gamewise I wanted to take Roodman, because Anna had played such a strong game, but Personally-wise, I was leaning more towards Anna because Roodman had driving me crazy in parts of the game, while Anna and I never really had any problems.

<p style="font-weight:normal;">That was the major point of my game, but before I end this plea, I want to address some small points.

<p style="font-weight:normal;">PHYSICAL GAME - I threw quite a bit of comps to make myself appear less threatening, and only pushed hard when it was necessary (like the second challenge of the second swap, Final 6 and Final 4 (I tried Final 3, that didn't work out so well))

<p style="font-weight:normal;">PERSONAL MOMENTS - I want to address my anger after Thiru's vote. Some of that was exaggerated, but it did come from frustration at trying to do stuff and it not working. The threat towards Luis about lying to me...I honestly don't know where that came from. It was just a moment of anger that I wish I could take back. Also, that parchement I made during the Christine vote...Christine, if you want to ask about that, I'll gladly explain, but I don't really want to address it if no one cares. I don't like ORGs getting personal, so that round where things almost did was scary for me and something I'm not proud of

<p style="font-weight:normal;">HOW I TREATED YOU - This is not ass kissing, I just want to address this. I hope that if there are any bad feelings towards me, maybe about how I treated you, or how I used you in the game, I'm hoping you guys can look past it to see the reasons why I did what I did. I'm hoping people vote for Roodman because they think he played better than me, and not because they are mad at me, but if that's the case I do understand completely. This cast was great, and the merge was stack as shit! Any one of you in that jury could have been where I am, and could have won. Everyone on that jury had a strategy that could have won them the game, and if you want to tell you them I will gladly do so. You guys gave me a run for my money, and made me fight to get to this spot. So I do not take me being in the finale for granted at all.

<p style="font-weight:normal;">So that's basically it. I don't want to go into how I played better than Roodman because I don't want to be the guy that brings down their opponent unless someone wants to know. If you guys want to know how I did better than Roodman, I'll be sure to answer. If there's any parts in the game or any parts OF my game you wants me to clear up, I'll be sure to. I'll try to answer your questions as honest as I can, and I hope that you guys vote for me to win this season. I played my ass off in this game, and after this summer I'm going on a super long break from ORGs due to University, so going into that break after winning an ORG would make me feel amazing.

<p style="font-weight:normal;">Can't wait to see your speeches y'all! It's been one hell of a game! (also if you read all this, good job holy crap I just went off 0_0) <ac_metadata title="Hunter&#039;s Opening Statement"> </ac_metadata>