Opening Statement
Jun 17, 2022 19:32:01 GMT -5
Post by Dolphin on Jun 17, 2022 19:32:01 GMT -5
Welcome jurors! Thank you all for committing a month and change to sharing this experience together. I feel grateful that I was given the opportunity to replace in and play with you all. Fennec, Ermine, you're both stars, and whatever happens during this Final Tribal Council, I'm satisfied that this game will have a worthy winner.
This game has been a ridiculously wild ride for me. From replacing in two days late, to the insanity that was being on the Terrarium tribe, to getting ill right as the joint TC and the merge dropped, to sorting out the mess we all made of the last few TCs. The game has not been kind to me! But I feel like going through all of that has allowed me to express my skill multiple times, to show that me surviving all the way to the end is not an accident by any means and that I've earned my place here.
Let's... dive right in, shall we? (*boos from the crowd*)
Aviary
From the start and throughout, it was clear that this game had many strong, very active players. I knew my IRL schedule would not allow me to compete on the activity front. That and the late arrival meant I needed to find clever ways to gain an edge despite my relatively low availability. I decided very early on that I was likely to try and align most closely with critters I met during a swap or the merge, instead of those I met on Aviary. I quickly became close with Harp Seal, and I had good working relationships particularly with Jerboa, Sugar Glider and Rabbit that could have developed into something more, but I was happy to leave my options open and allow myself the opportunity to play largely with players I hadn't met yet.
Terrarium
And then Terrarium happened, and the real game began for me... gosh this tribe was nuts. Pika, Lorry and Elephant Shrew were an alliance of three before this tribe even started, with a group chat and everything!! Giant Panda and I didn't get along, and it became obvious that Rabbit was allied with Giant Panda and was prepared to spin all sorts of nonsense to keep him in. This was a horrible swap for me on paper, one that I shouldn't have survived three votes in.
But I turned a hopeless situation into a big win. I put a ton of effort into making strong alliances with Pika and Lorry. With Pika, this meant giving her my all essentially, showing her that I had game sense that matched hers and would be a strong, genuine, fun person to play with and bounce ideas off of. With Lorry, my approach was different. Lorry was sly, and I thought she probably saw both Pika and Shrew as big threats who would steal the show from her. I didn't want her to feel that way about me - I wanted Lorry to see me as someone she could take to the end. So with Lorry, I tried to pitch myself just right as someone she could secretly be tight with, someone who wasn't so threatening and could be a partner. Ultimately, my work paid off. When we reached the nightmare scenario of a third Terrarium TC, Pika and Lorry could have taken the easy Dolphin vote with their ready-made alliance. Instead, they decided to make a move with me against Elephant Shrew, their ally, and one of the game's biggest players. We agreed we would tell the rest of the game that I played an idol to get Shrew out, to disguise how close we had gotten through Terrarium.
Joint TC and Early Merge
So Pika, Lorry and myself celebrate, hype each other up, form an alliance together and commit to making the merge fun and chaotic just like Terrarium was. We were living our best lives. We hit the Joint TC, and I immediately start hitting it off with Sand Cat that night before going to bed. And then... I wake up that morning feeling super ill. :/ I won't go into details, but I was just completely out of it for about 4-5 days at a time when I really wanted to be meeting the rest of the game. It was crushing, and I still heavily regret that I wasn't able to be around properly during such a crucial time in the game. I want to especially apologise to Capybara, who was heavily influenced by my actions at such a pivotal point in the game while I wasn't able to really form a relationship with him.
But that didn't stop me from having an important choice to make at the Joint TC. I had my new allies in Pika and Lorry on one side of the vote, and my old ally Harp Seal on the other side. Harp Seal/Meerkat/Capybara all came in with very similar pitches for me to side with them, and it was clear that they were doing this as a unit. I wasn't prepared to abandon the alliance I had just gotten really deep with to work with a group that could easily have been just as close. So I decided to vote out another big player in Harp Seal. I've gone back and forth wondering if this was the correct decision ever since then, but in the end, I believe it was a good choice. I loved playing with Harp Seal, but I think it was really important to build rapport with Sand Cat when I did and keep my alliance with Pika and Lorry as strong as it could be.
So merge starts, and I take a significant chunk of time off to stop being ill. I come back... and once again, just like at the start of the game, the lines are drawn in the sand without me. What was a strong alliance with Pika and Lorry is now them wondering if I'll still be a reliable ally when I'm back in action. Red Panda, Fennec Fox and Ermine are all new to me, and I have just spent the first few days of merge not speaking with them. On top of this, Jerboa starts making things up about me for lols. I have a lot of work to do, and not much time to do it in!
I decide I need to make myself relevant again. What I wanted to do was come back into merge and make something exciting happen to shake up the game, enough that I could reclaim my footing. I started chatting with those who seemed to be on the outs, with Owl, with Meerkat. I desperately searched for the right move to shake things up. I tried to get momentum going to save Owl at Final 10, but it seemed like there was no interest in making a move at 10 for Owl's sake.
So I made a proper shot at shaking up the status quo at Final 9 instead. I started by pitching the idea that Pika, Red Panda, Sand Cat and Fennec Fox were all strong social players who were controlling the game together, and that the rest of the game needed to unite against them right then and there if they wanted some agency in the game. Meerkat was on the bottom and on board for any play, and Lorry and I were on the same page about wanting to shake things up for a long time. But Jerboa wasn't as willing to move on Aquarium as he let on, and Ermine said she was not viewing the game from the perspective of who would be an endgame threat. For a little while, Pika and Lorry entertained the possibility of making a move on Ermine, but they backed out on this at the last minute.
Endgame
I was not content with playing a game that just skated by until Final 7, when all the biggest players would want to make a move. I told Pika this outright, that I didn't want to see merge go Capy->Owl->Meerkat->Jerboa, because that was the most boring outcome and we said we'd make the game exciting and chaotic.
But with the Ermine vote not going through, I switched tactics. With how the Meerkat TC played out, it was abundantly clear that Red Panda and Pika were the two most influential players left in the game. I started being really straightforward with Fennec Fox and Ermine about why I kept wanting to make a move and why that move wound up being on Ermine. They sympathised, and Fennec expressed similar feelings of powerlessness at the hands of those who had controlled the Meerkat vote.
I'd like to think that I laid the groundwork for the Pika vote at Final 8. It's not a move I'm prepared to claim as my own, but I at least had a big hand in shaping the narrative of Pika being a threat who needed to be voted out. And contrary to what I discussed with Pika at the time, I think I was the player who most benefitted from Pika going when she did. Because I was working on gaining the trust of Fennec and Ermine, slowly but surely.
I knew once Lorry took out Pika, all eyes would be on her. I was not informed about her getting blindsided at 7, but it wasn't a move I was particularly against at that point. Lorry was a clear threat, and as much as I enjoyed our Stealthy Rats alliance, we weren't so stealthy anymore, and I wanted to go for the win.
I made my final move at 6. I laid things out straight to Fennec and Ermine: Red Panda was a massive threat, Sand Cat had just made two game-changing moves in a row, and Jerboa had so much fight and charisma in him that he was going to be tough to beat. The three of us needed each other, and now was the time to solidify the three of us going to the end together. In an endgame full of twists and turns, the three of us came to a mutual agreement that we would have the best chance of winning against each other.
Conclusion
I feel as though I have played a much more active game than the other two finalists. Despite the game and life throwing challenge after challenge at me, I kept finding a way to ensure I would survive as a contender here at the end. I wanted to make this game exciting and fun despite the obstacles in my way, and I feel like I have accomplished that.
I am looking forward to your questions, jurors!
This game has been a ridiculously wild ride for me. From replacing in two days late, to the insanity that was being on the Terrarium tribe, to getting ill right as the joint TC and the merge dropped, to sorting out the mess we all made of the last few TCs. The game has not been kind to me! But I feel like going through all of that has allowed me to express my skill multiple times, to show that me surviving all the way to the end is not an accident by any means and that I've earned my place here.
Let's... dive right in, shall we? (*boos from the crowd*)
Aviary
From the start and throughout, it was clear that this game had many strong, very active players. I knew my IRL schedule would not allow me to compete on the activity front. That and the late arrival meant I needed to find clever ways to gain an edge despite my relatively low availability. I decided very early on that I was likely to try and align most closely with critters I met during a swap or the merge, instead of those I met on Aviary. I quickly became close with Harp Seal, and I had good working relationships particularly with Jerboa, Sugar Glider and Rabbit that could have developed into something more, but I was happy to leave my options open and allow myself the opportunity to play largely with players I hadn't met yet.
Terrarium
And then Terrarium happened, and the real game began for me... gosh this tribe was nuts. Pika, Lorry and Elephant Shrew were an alliance of three before this tribe even started, with a group chat and everything!! Giant Panda and I didn't get along, and it became obvious that Rabbit was allied with Giant Panda and was prepared to spin all sorts of nonsense to keep him in. This was a horrible swap for me on paper, one that I shouldn't have survived three votes in.
But I turned a hopeless situation into a big win. I put a ton of effort into making strong alliances with Pika and Lorry. With Pika, this meant giving her my all essentially, showing her that I had game sense that matched hers and would be a strong, genuine, fun person to play with and bounce ideas off of. With Lorry, my approach was different. Lorry was sly, and I thought she probably saw both Pika and Shrew as big threats who would steal the show from her. I didn't want her to feel that way about me - I wanted Lorry to see me as someone she could take to the end. So with Lorry, I tried to pitch myself just right as someone she could secretly be tight with, someone who wasn't so threatening and could be a partner. Ultimately, my work paid off. When we reached the nightmare scenario of a third Terrarium TC, Pika and Lorry could have taken the easy Dolphin vote with their ready-made alliance. Instead, they decided to make a move with me against Elephant Shrew, their ally, and one of the game's biggest players. We agreed we would tell the rest of the game that I played an idol to get Shrew out, to disguise how close we had gotten through Terrarium.
Joint TC and Early Merge
So Pika, Lorry and myself celebrate, hype each other up, form an alliance together and commit to making the merge fun and chaotic just like Terrarium was. We were living our best lives. We hit the Joint TC, and I immediately start hitting it off with Sand Cat that night before going to bed. And then... I wake up that morning feeling super ill. :/ I won't go into details, but I was just completely out of it for about 4-5 days at a time when I really wanted to be meeting the rest of the game. It was crushing, and I still heavily regret that I wasn't able to be around properly during such a crucial time in the game. I want to especially apologise to Capybara, who was heavily influenced by my actions at such a pivotal point in the game while I wasn't able to really form a relationship with him.
But that didn't stop me from having an important choice to make at the Joint TC. I had my new allies in Pika and Lorry on one side of the vote, and my old ally Harp Seal on the other side. Harp Seal/Meerkat/Capybara all came in with very similar pitches for me to side with them, and it was clear that they were doing this as a unit. I wasn't prepared to abandon the alliance I had just gotten really deep with to work with a group that could easily have been just as close. So I decided to vote out another big player in Harp Seal. I've gone back and forth wondering if this was the correct decision ever since then, but in the end, I believe it was a good choice. I loved playing with Harp Seal, but I think it was really important to build rapport with Sand Cat when I did and keep my alliance with Pika and Lorry as strong as it could be.
So merge starts, and I take a significant chunk of time off to stop being ill. I come back... and once again, just like at the start of the game, the lines are drawn in the sand without me. What was a strong alliance with Pika and Lorry is now them wondering if I'll still be a reliable ally when I'm back in action. Red Panda, Fennec Fox and Ermine are all new to me, and I have just spent the first few days of merge not speaking with them. On top of this, Jerboa starts making things up about me for lols. I have a lot of work to do, and not much time to do it in!
I decide I need to make myself relevant again. What I wanted to do was come back into merge and make something exciting happen to shake up the game, enough that I could reclaim my footing. I started chatting with those who seemed to be on the outs, with Owl, with Meerkat. I desperately searched for the right move to shake things up. I tried to get momentum going to save Owl at Final 10, but it seemed like there was no interest in making a move at 10 for Owl's sake.
So I made a proper shot at shaking up the status quo at Final 9 instead. I started by pitching the idea that Pika, Red Panda, Sand Cat and Fennec Fox were all strong social players who were controlling the game together, and that the rest of the game needed to unite against them right then and there if they wanted some agency in the game. Meerkat was on the bottom and on board for any play, and Lorry and I were on the same page about wanting to shake things up for a long time. But Jerboa wasn't as willing to move on Aquarium as he let on, and Ermine said she was not viewing the game from the perspective of who would be an endgame threat. For a little while, Pika and Lorry entertained the possibility of making a move on Ermine, but they backed out on this at the last minute.
Endgame
I was not content with playing a game that just skated by until Final 7, when all the biggest players would want to make a move. I told Pika this outright, that I didn't want to see merge go Capy->Owl->Meerkat->Jerboa, because that was the most boring outcome and we said we'd make the game exciting and chaotic.
But with the Ermine vote not going through, I switched tactics. With how the Meerkat TC played out, it was abundantly clear that Red Panda and Pika were the two most influential players left in the game. I started being really straightforward with Fennec Fox and Ermine about why I kept wanting to make a move and why that move wound up being on Ermine. They sympathised, and Fennec expressed similar feelings of powerlessness at the hands of those who had controlled the Meerkat vote.
I'd like to think that I laid the groundwork for the Pika vote at Final 8. It's not a move I'm prepared to claim as my own, but I at least had a big hand in shaping the narrative of Pika being a threat who needed to be voted out. And contrary to what I discussed with Pika at the time, I think I was the player who most benefitted from Pika going when she did. Because I was working on gaining the trust of Fennec and Ermine, slowly but surely.
I knew once Lorry took out Pika, all eyes would be on her. I was not informed about her getting blindsided at 7, but it wasn't a move I was particularly against at that point. Lorry was a clear threat, and as much as I enjoyed our Stealthy Rats alliance, we weren't so stealthy anymore, and I wanted to go for the win.
I made my final move at 6. I laid things out straight to Fennec and Ermine: Red Panda was a massive threat, Sand Cat had just made two game-changing moves in a row, and Jerboa had so much fight and charisma in him that he was going to be tough to beat. The three of us needed each other, and now was the time to solidify the three of us going to the end together. In an endgame full of twists and turns, the three of us came to a mutual agreement that we would have the best chance of winning against each other.
Conclusion
I feel as though I have played a much more active game than the other two finalists. Despite the game and life throwing challenge after challenge at me, I kept finding a way to ensure I would survive as a contender here at the end. I wanted to make this game exciting and fun despite the obstacles in my way, and I feel like I have accomplished that.
I am looking forward to your questions, jurors!