Board Thread:Survivor: Mongolia (Season 5)/@comment-9488611-20150201025706

Hey guys! First off, I would like to thank the hosts for accepting my season application, for I wouldn’t be here if they hadn’t. I would also like to thank all of the players in this season for allowing me to have a lot of fun and make many more friends. My speech is a rather long one, but I would appreciate it if you read all of it. I will be open to any questions you may have, and I will be honest with my answers. Just don’t expect me to kiss your ass for your vote.

Coming into this game, I knew close to none of you. Right out of the gate I knew that the social aspect of the game would have to be my main strategy or else I would be taken out early. I wanted to be the guy people could turn to for their next move, the guy everybody could trust. That way I could have a wider selection of which alliances I wanted to go with, and which people I wanted to work with.

I also considered all of my strengths and weaknesses, and worked out ways I could overcome those weaknesses and how to play on my strengths. A clear example of this that I can give you is how I formed the relationships that I did, and how I approached the ‘alliance’ part of the game. People often think that having a gigantic and powerful majority alliance is necessary. In my eyes, they are unnecessary. Rather than making one giant alliance, I made personal bonds with several people. Early on I bonded with everybody on my tribe, and a few people on other tribes just in case of a switch and/or dissolve. My social game was seemingly good, until Jace came to me and warned me that Tom declared that I was the outsider of the tribe. So then and there, I knew Jace would be my best bud and closest ally.

As the game progressed, I had Jace spying on Tom for me. I now knew all of Tom’s plans. Right before Immunity Challenge #2, my closest and allies and myself came together to form an Anti-Tom Alliance. When we lost the challenge, the plan was clear, and Tom was sent home. Our little rivalry was over and I could finally relax. I made sure not to get too comfortable though, since I received 2 votes at that tribal, meaning another person was gunning for me. After we lost Immunity Challenge #3, I found out Andrew was the one targeting me, so we sent him home in a 4-1 vote. It was now clear that Josh, Ziggy, and Jace were my best allies that I would stick with for the remainder of the game.

Then there was the dissolve. Jace and I were split up from Josh and Ziggy, putting Gechii in the minority on both tribes. My plan to make relationships with people on other tribes at the beginning of the game worked, because I now had Jake with me. Because of this, we also had Martynas with us, since Saihan and Gechii both wanted to stay strong and team up on Bayartai. Unfortunately for our 4 person alliance, Jake quit due to computer issues, making it 3-3. This is where I started to perform better in challenges, because I knew I was a target if we didn’t win the next one. We did pull out the win which made me very happy, but the con of the situation was that Josh was sent home on the other tribe. Another one of my closest allies was gone. This was where I started to play the social game much harder than I did before.

Then the merge happened, and I needed to step up my game. Since I was busy with exams, I was unable to submit for the immunity challenge which made me ineligible to vote at Tribal Council. My ally Jace won the Immunity Necklace, so I was happy about that. I may not have been able to vote, but because of that I had time to build relationships with just about everyone on the merged tribe. Jace and I had told the Saihan’s to vote for Danny (which ultimately did not happen), but our plan to get the Bayartai’s to vote for Ahad worked. When I saw it was a 5-5 tie between Ziggy and Ahad I was truly shocked. I now had a weird feeling that somebody would flip on Ziggy making Jace and I the last remaining members of Gechii, which did end up happening.

Before the next immunity challenge Bailey approached Jace and I with a Gechii & Saihan alliance offer. We gladly took this offer, due to Bayartai having the numbers. At tribal council, we voted George out thinking that he was too big of a threat to keep in the game. We now had 6-4 numbers, and I used this to my advantage to get one step further in the game. I believed that if Craig found the idol, Mikey would be the least likely person he would play it on. So we took the safe vote and took Mikey out.

It was now Final 9, and I started talking to Jace about flipping and voting out the Saihan’s. This was the point in the game where I started playing a better strategic game, rather than relying on my social skills all the time. At the auction, my plan was to buy the double vote and/or scraps so my chances of flipping on Saihan and successfully blindsiding one of them (preferably Bailey who I had believed to be the leader) were better. But there was a wrinkle in the plan, Craig quit. Although I did have quite enough of his whiny and bitchy attitude, I needed him in order to make this move. Craig quitting didn’t stop me from wanting to blindside Bailey, so I did bid on scraps and the double vote but ended up getting none of it. I was upset that Nikola, Bailey, Ahad and Martynas (all of my targets) got good items, but my plan was still in action. At the immunity challenge Nikola won, which was completely fine with me since Bailey didn’t win. I talked to Danny about voting Bailey off and he said he was in on the plan, which was awesome since he had the double vote. I told Jace about the plan, and Danny told Bryce. At that tribal council, Saihan attempted to betray us but my plan worked and Bailey was sent home.

Next on my boot order list was Martynas. The reasoning behind it was because if Ahad’s clues he purchased at the auction were good enough and he had found the idol, he would have either played it on himself or Nikola. But Martynas won immunity, so my plan changed. Jace and I talked about it for a while, and we had come to our decision. We were going to vote Nikola. My reasoning for wanting to do this was because she played the social game better than anyone else left, and she was just too damn lovable. The plan worked and she was sent to the jury. At this point Ahad was my biggest threat so I wanted him gone, but after the immunity challenge he made a very good argument that Danny was playing a very good game, and that he hadn’t burned many bridges. I took this deeply into consideration but I ultimately decided that Ahad posed a bigger threat so we voted him out. At this pointI looked at the Final 5 like so: I was the main strategic player, Danny was the main social player, Martynas and Jace were the main physical players, and Bryce was that one guy everybody wanted to take to the Final Tribal Council.

At the immunity challenge Martynas won again, so it was time to decide how we played Jace’s idol. We talked for a very long time and decided to play it on Bryce, and decided that the 2 of us were going to vote for Danny. My reasoning for voting Danny off was because of his social game and because of the fact that he hadn’t burned too many bridges or backstabbed a lot of people. It was now Final 4 and I really wanted to win this challenge. I ended up trying my ass off but I only got 3rd. Martynas won once again, and my decision was clear. I couldn’t take Martynas AND Jace to the end, because I just wouldn’t stand a chance. Martynas was already threatening enough, but taking the person that people said I was a goat of would have just been dumb. I wanted to prove I was nobody’s goat and that I was a good player that wasn’t afraid to make big moves. But if I wanted to do that, I would have had to vote Jace out.

I did have to flip, I did have to backstab, I did have to lie, but I did it all to get here. Every person I voted for was sent home because I knew what was going on in the game. I didn’t have to rely on floating (Bryce) or immunity necklaces (Marty). Instead I actually made big game changing moves that ultimately got me here.

I appreciate you taking the time to read this. And I thank you for being part of this ORG, it was very fun and I hope we call all remain friends regardless of what happened in-game. I look forward to your questions! 