Don't Forget About Nay

[Na'Onka]

Hey everyone, super thankful and excited to be here! Before I get into the game, big thanks goes out to Probsty for hosting this fun game. I have been excited for AS since Brazil ended a year or so ago and the game definitely didn’t disappoint. Shout out to Jaclyn and Peih-Gee too! Idk if there’s other active PWs, but those two are the only ones whoever liked my posts<3.

Coming into the game I had no one. Zero pregame allies, not even any friends in the game. To my knowledge the only person I had any sort of preexisting relationship with (besides JT because of Brazil) was Cochran from a PM game, but we hadn’t kept up after the game. I think in any AS game a lack of relationships can make you an easy early target and makes it incredibly difficult to make it far. So I came in with low expectations for myself, but surprised myself and made it here. I think the game that brought me here was a strong, balanced one and I’m looking forward to explaining it/answering questions.

One big move I made was all the way back at the first tribal council. I believe it was ’96 then. The vote was split 5 (Fabs, Brandon, Cochran, Alec, and I) – 5 (Sierra, Matty, Joaq, Karter, and Rey). The side I was voting with was pretty content to let it tie and then try to switch Matty and/or Joaq in the revote. I really did not like that plan because I would be one of the 3 peeps (Alec, Joaq, and I) vulnerable. So about an hour and a half before the vote I propose we approach Rey and get him to switch to Joaq. Once my allies agreed to it I did the leg work (convincing Rey 1-1, starting the group chat with Rey) and made the plan happen. This was a huge move that controlled the outcome of that tribal (5-4-1 vote), but more importantly, positioned me as a reliable, solid ally among an established group that would now help protect me in return.

After that, I knew I couldn’t continue playing a CP-style gameplay and expect to make it far. So I let myself slip into the background a bit, but at no point did I stop playing the game. I spent the next couple rounds really shoring up my relationships, both within my new alliance and outside of it. I wanted to have plenty of options as the game progressed. I think I did this successfully because to my knowledge, besides the final 7, my name never came up to the point that I was in significant danger. I know it came up (via JT and/or Coach) during the blind tribes/tribal council round, but the people I was close with and directly aligned with shot it down and I don’t believe the other side expressed interest in voting me out at that point either.

When it came to the merge, the game I’d been playing up to that point left me in somewhat of a middle position. I had been loyal towards the Warriors Clan up until that point so they trusted me, but the Twisted crew also thought (maybe hoped is a more appropriate word) they could pull me to their side. Obviously I stuck completely with the Warriors side of things post-merge, but that was largely due to the twists (e.g. – Alec being life saver’d out, double tribal at final 10 & the trove prizes) making that the smarter move for me.

Once we got down to the final 8 things looked pretty bleak for ya girl Nay and it didn’t seem like there was much (if any) room to finagle my way to the end. But I worked my ass off and won myself that key final 8 immunity, so that I could guarantee myself a final 7 spot (one place in any Survivor game where a flip/blindside is most likely in my opinion). Winning that challenge also allowed me to make the strategic move of taking Joaq with me to the trove. That risky decision helped keep me stay safe the next round when Joaq voted for Sierra Dawn instead of me.

Going to rocks at the final 6 was another huge point in this game and I hope people will respect me for doing that. It would have been SO easy for me to flip my vote to Steph because she’d done nothing to help my game and I really had no trust for her anyway. But I put that to the side and risked a 33% chance at being sent home with no votes against me so that we could break up an obvious trio and give both Fabs and I a chance at surviving the next vote.

I used my challenge abilities (something I can't normally rely on tbh) to guarantee my safety these last two rounds and my spot here. Winning those last two immunities, and 3 overall immunities, was a great feeling and is another aspect of my game that I hope you all will respect.

There's definitely other aspects to my game that I think will come out while answering your questions. I'm happy to clarify or go into more depth about any of the things mentioned above too. But hopefully this has given you a nice overview as to who Nay was in this game.

Best of luck to Steph and Sierra, as well!