Alec is a Juror?

[Alec]

Heyo people, “Just Barely Made the Jury” Alec here. Grats on getting to the Finals, job well done, yada yada yada you get the gist of it. I’m incredibly bummed Fabio got trolled out in fourth, we all know he’s my boy, but this is still a good Final 2 3. So, gonna open this up to a few general statements, all that good stuff.

STEPH: You’re a good player, generally speaking, and a funny guy, but you said it yourself - you had no chance at winning this game come like, F7. We also only talked once, so we both know I’m not voting for you. I’m not gonna waste yo’ time, but for what it's worth, I’m sorry you didn’t seem to enjoy your time in the game.

SIERRA: Soooo we had an interesting relationship in this game, in my opinion. I was firmly with the Warriors Clan (also when did Warriors “Clan” become a thing because that sounds cool) and you were with the Twisted Crew, and that was a bridge neither of us seemed willing to cross. Which is kinda a shame, because I reiterated time and time again in my confessional that even though I knew it probably wouldn’t happen, I enjoyed talking to you so I wanted to work with you. I feel like I said pretty consistently that I wanted to work with you (and Matty, for the record) and was open to working together. I like to pride myself on being flexible, but apparently I’ve been pigeonhole as the “leader” of the Warriors Clan. So, in that vein, I’m just curious, why do you think that couldn’t be bridged, why did y’all want me out when you get your hands on an idol?

NAONKA: I think you’ve displayed a lot of self-awareness about where you were in this game, and I think your observations are incredible given that you had little to no pregame relations. During this game I could never really get a read on where you ultimately were, and I think that speaks to a shrewdness I didn’t see while I was in the game. I don’t think you’ve oversold the importance of that Reynold vote - it got you solid allies, but ones you’d have justification to flip on if it came down to it.
So of this Final 3, I think you did the best job of outright positioning yourself, in a strategic sense - the only thing I can fault you own is social game. We were aligned and didn’t talk much (and evidently some of the other jurors have a similar story) - Sierra talked to me a bunch more, and we were directly opposed apparently. So, do you think that’s the cost of playing an utr-positioning esque game? If I’m voting based on outright likability, why should I vote for you?

Finally, a question to Sierra and Naonka. Since my fellow jurors have all the cool comparison and ranking questions covered, I’m just gonna ask both of you to evaluate the game I played in more depth here. God knows half the jury just wants to control-f their names because we’re all a bunch of egotistical shitlords (especially that Alec dude fuck him) so I figured I’ll try and get all that shiz done in my thread. I wanna see the general perception of how I played, even if it’s probs gonna be slanted here. This exercise also gives me an idea on how y’all read the game, but lbr it’s more to hear my name over and over again.

Fun game guys, I had a good time. No hard feelings on my end or anything, looking forward to seeing one of y’all win!

[Steph]

thanks for not wasting my time I appreciate it <3

[Na'Onka]

Thanks man, appreciate the things you had to say. I definitely did try to play my cards close to my chest at certain points. This will sound nerdy, but I think I was able to have an accurate perception of myself and others because I’ve been prepping for this game since Brazil. I actively PWed because I knew I wasn’t going to have any allies coming in, so I PWed to not only identify game threats, but make note of who was close to who and seemed to interact beyond a TSG level.


I expected coming in here that my social game is an area that would be scrutinized and receive criticism. I’m not going to try and propose that an UTR-positioning game has to be accompanied by an UTR social game. But it was the style I consciously played because I thought it would take me here. I’ve come to learn and accept that playing a top tier social game is an easy way to get blindsided or cut at the end. Both outcomes have happened to me and I wanted to avoid it here, so I consciously roped things in. I used the classic strategy of making rounds at first and then letting what grows grow and not pushing other connections.

Maybe it was an inaccurate perception on my part, but I felt like most people here really weren’t looking for new super close friends or anything like that. It’s an AS game and most people have general background knowledge of who the other peeps are, so I think there’s less motivation to put on bff fronts. It seemed like people, myself included, were more-so looking for someone who could hold a conversation and be reliable, so I didn’t try and push myself as super more than that typically.


I’m not attempting to make excuses, but I would also like people to consider whether we simply lacked interactions or I was ignoring their messages and always letting conversations die. I would say in almost all, if not all, cases it’s the former. I think that illuminates the difference between my UTR-esque social gameplay and a ‘bad’ social game. I also wasn’t simultaneously using my AIM for reasons outside of this game (hosting, general chatting with peeps outside TSG), which I think partially accounted as to why I was, at times, around less often than others.


I mean, I definitely would like to think that I’m a likeable person in my everyday life and that I was here in the game too. Even if we didn’t have the best or most frequent conversations, I think if people looked back in our chat logs that they would see a likeable person. I tried to enjoy myself in this game, not complain about miniscule things. I love Sierra and had some of the best convos with her. But saying things in the group chat like ‘good job team’ after Brandon is voted out or ‘I squealed from sadness’ after Joaq’s name came up in the rock draw I think displays an unlikeable or negative side that I did not exhibit.

I think that’s all I wanted to cover there and I’ll do the in depth analysis of you when I’ve got some more time either tonight or tomorrow while I’m working (whoops).

[Brandon]

Interrupting here too but why is Twisted a crew and Wario a clan like how did we each get those monikers

[Na'Onka]

How does any moniker come about?

[Alec]

Oct 28, 2015 23:27:24 GMT Brandon said:

Interrupting here too but why is Twisted a crew and Wario a clan like how did we each get those monikers

I remember I always said crew for Twisted, but I don't think I started it. And idk about Wario but clan is cooler so I'm fine with it.

[Sierra]

hi b. I really enjoyed you in this game and I too always thought it was a massive shame that we seemed to be on either sides of a rift that we simply couldn't seem to traverse.

I’m just curious, why do you think that couldn’t be bridged, why did y’all want me out when you get your hands on an idol?
Imo the gap couldn't be bridged between us because it would have required a monumental leap of faith from one or both of us, and committing to making a jump like that in game where the momentum was swinging so wildly between the "sides" seemed like way too huge a risk for me. It honestly seemed like whenever one side caught a break, it'd last barely a single round before something inevitably went wrong and the game swung back the other way. Case in point: Carter and Joaq went one round, only for JT and Cochran to follow them out and give "us" an ostensible numbers advantage against the odds, ONLY to then have Courtney go out despite the edge we thought we'd gained. Playing in an environment like this made taking risks like heavily fraternizing with the "enemy" not worth the price I'd have to pay if it had gone wrong. I WANTED to trust you, but putting my fate in your hands when I knew your main loyalties lay with people who were against me seemed like a bad idea at best and a death sentence at worst. I honestly thought about it a lot and kept talking to you not only because I liked you, but also because I hoped there would come a time where we could join forces. Unfortunately, that never happened.

I honestly would have preferred someone else leaving over you in your boot round simply because I liked you so much, but we made the call to idol someone out 8 minutes before deadline, which didn't leave us a lot of time to weigh pros and cons. As I think has been mentioned at least a couple of times at this FTC already, you were perceived as one of the figureheads of the Warriors Clan, and everyone knows how strong a player you are, so you seemed like a viable target, given the limited time we had to think about it.

I'll answer the other question soon. Finals fkn suck

[Sierra]

also can I just mention

Oct 28, 2015 22:49:12 GMT Na'Onka said:

I love Sierra and had some of the best convos with her. But saying things in the group chat like ‘good job team’ after Brandon is voted out or ‘I squealed from sadness’ after Joaq’s name came up in the rock draw I think displays an unlikeable or negative side that I did not exhibit.

like out of context this probably makes me sound bad but I'm pretty sure everyone who knows me is aware that I'm not a malicious person and that I wouldn't say things like that in an exhibit of negativity or to try and make anyone feel bad. I wasn't sad about Joaq leaving because I wanted one of Nay or Fabio to leave instead, that round just became super personal for myself/Matty/Joaq in particular and it was a pretty tragic ending to the whole thing haha. I'm not sure if this was like an attempted takedown on my social game, but I just wanted to say something. In my every day life I'm generally very forthright and impassioned and tend to be my complete self without any inhibitions, and this (unfortunately?) carries over to ORGs, which means the less shiny parts of my personality will sometimes show too. I'm sorry if I said anything to upset anyone in this game or came off as obnoxious at any point. Was not ever my intention

[Na'Onka]

Analysis of a Meat Collector 

I've said several times that I thought you were a great player, even the biggest threat at the merge. Early on you were nestled nicely in the Warriors Clan, but it also seemed to me that you had a strong bond with Matty which presumably provided you with an in with the Twisted Crew. We were tribed together for the first two tribal councils and I didn't hear your name come up at all during that time despite the small number of vulnerable peeps. Side note, I was pretty surprised when Tom voted you and he lived up to his shady Naveet hashtag. Anyway, I think you were playing an especially good social game in those first few rounds because even Brenda trusted you again after you called her a sociopath in Tuvalu lmao. So that's some impressive charm. I think you went to every tribal until like the final 12 or something and always came out in the majority. Like I said you were well positioned in the WC (even up until your boot), but from my conversations with people on the outer end of the alliance or not directly in it, you were seen as someone more willing to play apart from that group compared to others. I think that meant you would always be safe in at least the premerge rounds. I think that's an improvement from your Tuvalu game, too. Whereas in that season I think you served as a shield for others, you in theory had shields of your own in this game (conscious or not).


Your downfall in the game was seemingly similar to your downfall in Tuvalu; others recognized you as a threat (I think I remember Brandon sharing a chat log immediately after results where Matty stated it was Joaq who proposed your name, presumably because he also saw you as a threat to win). However, the number of people who recognized how big of a threat you were was significantly less here, so it was still an improved area. Given especially that this was an All Star game, as well as the set-up of the premerge, I don't think there was anything you could have really done differently to ensure no one saw you as a threat.


Since I'm analyzing your game play, I think it's worth mentioning a point in the game where I lost a lot of trust for you and maybe you didn't play things so well. It was during the round Cochran went home; just after the challenge had started. The throwing showdown was on, but when I asked you if you were throwing it, I feel like you gave me a a runaround, vague answer. It just seemed to me that you were keeping me on a need to know basis and it made me cautious. It was part of the reason why I went so HAM on defense. It was also strange because almost right after I approached you Coach started talking to me about potentially throwing the challenge. It just seemed weirdly coincidental to me and I thought you were possibly funneling some of our conversation to Coach, but that may have been too high of inferential thinking on my part.

[Sierra]

I honestly think you played the best game you possibly could have given the hand you were dealt. You were a pretty prominent figurehead for not only the Warriors Clan, but also any kind of Pure alliance that might have existed (something Matty and I discussed at reasonable length). You're well known by most players in this game as a strategic threat, as well as a strong challenge competitor and a pretty formidable social threat, thanks mostly to your performances in your past games. More than pretty much anyone else in your alliance (with the possible exception of Fabs), you were known to be a very competent and even scary player. Our "side" always recognized you as much more of a threat than say, Coach or Brandon. Despite this, it was never you we tried to target with our plans, and that speaks to the quality of your social game. More than anyone else from your "side", you attempted to bridge the gap with us, and that outreach was so appreciated that your overall threat status was ignored in favour of how much I (and others) genuinely liked you and enjoyed having you around.

Until we got the lifesaver, that is.

Given the circumstances and the lack of time we had to make the decision as to who we wanted to go home that round, the buck kind of fell on you because of your aforementioned status as a known powerful player. It clicked to me at that point when your name was brought up and I felt compelled to resist it and divert it to someone else that the effect of your social game had blinded me to the threat you posed to myself and my allies in the long run. That realization kind of sealed your fate for me.

In short, I think your pre-existing relationships and the fact that you were very obviously aligned with players who were perceived as being much less threatening than you toppled you in the end. That's not much against you. It's just how the chips fell this season.

[Alec]

Thank you both Sierra and Naonka so so much for your awesome answers, you're absolute gems. (Matty get on that photoshop.) I thought I had my mind made up going in here, and I think I have it made up now, but you both played awesome games and would both make great winners. (No shade at Steph, obviously, sorry about the whole "getting shit on in two FTC's" in a row thing.) Best of luck to all of y'all!

[Sierra Dawn]

Nov 1, 2015 9:28:31 GMT Alec said:

Thank you both Sierra and Naonka so so much for your awesome answers, you're absolute gems. (Matty get on that photoshop.) I thought I had my mind made up going in here, and I think I have it made up now, but you both played awesome games and would both make great winners. (No shade at Steph, obviously, sorry about the whole "getting shit on in two FTC's" in a row thing.) Best of luck to all of y'all!

Yay I made finale