Episode 1

[Joaquin]

Joaq is back! That’s right! Your favorite INV king is back to provide minimal entertainment, vote out entertaining people, and float the end as the biggest goat in ORG history. Ok. Now that I’ve retained my title, we can talk about what I’ll actually be doing this season. I plan to be my usual cold-blooded, manipulative, arrogant but still enjoyable to watch, CPN self that shines in many other games. I plan to redeem my name in this series and even when I inevitably go out first, I hope to provide enough confessionals that you find yourself saying “Hey, maybe Joaq only sucks somewhat.”

With such an unpredictable twist, things really depend ultimately on who ends up having immunity and who will be vulnerable at tribal. The best way to remain safe is to just keep up healthy relationships with everyone in the game because if you only talk to five people, each round has an opportunity to swapfuck you if you end up with the people you don’t talk to. That having been said, I’d also like to play this game a bit Hatch-style in that I’d like to form a tight group that stays loyal for as long as we can to really control things. I think a solid group of four or five can basically ensure that at least one person has an influence on tribal results every round and if everyone in the group is honest and loyal, we should be able to ride it until about six or seven when I inevitable turn on them because they’re all threats to win, guaranteeing myself a bitter jury and no chance at the win.

I plan to start with a brief cast assessment. One of the luxuries of an all-stars season is that aliases are not a secret and I know about 80% of this cast just from other games. So I’ll be commenting on what I know about them.

Fabio (Zach)- I consider Zach to be a good friend outside of these games. He’s great to talk to and is just a really great guy. I’m not totally sure of his opinion of me tbh but on a personal level I really like him. That having been said, I’ve played with him twice and both games had the same two things in common. The first is that he managed to put himself in a great spot to win the game and almost did both times by pulling the wool over everyone’s eyes and hiding what a threat he really is. The second is that he was against me in both games as well for most of the game. I don’t know what his plan is this time. I think the first thing will stay true because it’s just how he plays. He plays in a very secretive and misleading way that makes him appear very nonthreatening. I’ll be keeping that in mind. I do hope the second thing changes though because I’d really love to work with him in this game. We could be dangerous if we ever teamed up and I’d like to see how it works here.

Carter (Daniel)- Ok so I’ve only really played with him once and he finished prejury without really getting a chance to do much or show what type of player he is. I know he’s made it far in quite a few games but aside from being an awesome host, I know very little about his style of play. I’m pretty sure he’s loyal and a little bit of an emotional player, both of which could help if I align with him. I’m not totally sure what will happen there but I’m going to test the waters.

Matty (Chris)- Lol I’m gonna limit this to a short paragraph. Chris and I are really good friends outside of the game and one way or another we seem to align in a lot of games. We’ve both betrayed the other if it was better for our games but we always understand that it is just the game. I’m not totally sure what will happen in this game. I think it would be cool if we could align again (like always) but I have no idea what he wants to do or how he wants to play. If he tries to play the same game he did as Matty, he could end up being a huge issue. But I think at least at the beginning, we should be able to help each other get on our feet.

Brandon/Brian- Never played with him but I’ve seen him a few times as a viewer. All I know is that he is really in love with edgic. Doesn’t help me too much for this game but hey at least this time maybe I won’t get INV1 every round. I plan on talking to him but unless it goes well I’ll probably just pick him off because his reaction to being voted out by the INV guy would be awesome.

Tom (Nav)- Yeahhhhhh this isn’t gonna last long. Every game we play, he either guns for me early or I gun for him and it results in us never working together. It’s actually really funny because if he just put it aside I would love to work with him. He’s smart and calculated like me but he just can’t put shit aside. As always, I won’t gun for him but I’ll find out he’s coming for me Round 1 for no reason and then I’ll just retaliate and it will lead to both of us going home. Sigh. He’s already pissed that I’m in the game because I took the spot away from “his Chelsea.” LOL great. Hopefully he just goes really early before he has the chance to come at me for no reason but it could also be entertaining to see who he picks as his random “girl” to obsess over without Chelsea here. Could be a fun time.

JT (Frank’s brother; sorry I don’t know your name lol)- I’ve never played with him but I’ve seen him play twice. Once he made it to FTC as a goat and the other he went inactive and got picked off prejury. I never hold that against someone because…well….you know. Anyways, I’m assuming he’ll be active this game and playing the same game that got him an AS spot in the first place. If he plays like Frank, I’d love to align with him but I just don’t know if that’s the case. My goal is probably to test the waters with him at first and see where it goes. Give it like a round or two and we’ll see where I stand on him.

Tyson- No idea who he is. Seemed like a bit of a dick in the VL from Luanda. I’ll probably pick him off early if given the opportunity. Shouldn’t be too hard considering he apparently placed poorly the first time (#burn). I’ll give him a fair chance but I sort of plan to Count of Monte Cristo this game and that involves taking revenge on a lot of people. He could be a good start from his comments about THE Joaq last season. Still, fair chance.

Alec (Grant)- Love this guy. I’m not totally sure how he feels about me but I’m pretty sure he sees me as a friend outside of these. Either way, I like him a lot and really have no intention at all of gunning for him until really late merge when he inevitably becomes the biggest threat walking. For now, I would really love to align with him and work closely with him if he doesn’t plan on gunning for me. We can be dangerous when we work together so it would be cool if it can happen. Either way, great guy and if/when I vote him out it certainly won’t be personal.

NaOnka- One of the like three people in this cast that I literally have no words for. No clue who she is. I don’t recall her being mean in the VL last season. At the moment, she’s just kinda here. Considering I really like a lot of this cast, she’ll probably be an early target just for that reason but if she’s even remotely cool, that’ll definitely change. Hoping for the best with her.

Courtney- (see NaOnka). No idea who she is, no mean memories from the VL, nothing to base anything off of. Great character choice though. I’m definitely leaving an open mind for her too so we’ll see where that goes. Could be an early target if I don’t get a great vibe.

Sierra- Again, gonna limit this one to a short paragraph. She is a very good friend outside of these games and I’d actually like to thank TSG Luanda for giving me the opportunity to actually get to know her. We got really close and I was so happy that she got the chance to know me too and that we got to be friends. Despite sucking so much, it really made TSG worth it for me. Now, all of this aside, that game worked really well because we were both working for her best interest. We’ve played a game since then and despite being a powerful alliance premerge, our interests diverged a bit and she abandoned me when I became too big of a threat. I’d love to be able to work with her again this game and even go really deep with her but I don’t know how she feels about working with me anymore. I really hope that at the very least we can help each other premerge but I could see us each trying to eliminate each other if we both become big threats during the merge. I’m hoping for the best but regardless of anything, our relationship outside the game won’t change.

Reynold- I think this is the third person I don’t know. Good character choice. Not much more to say. I’ll probably talk to all three of these people and just get a vibe. Hopefully I can target the one I like the least first because it will give me somewhere to start besides just sending everyone after Nav.

Jamie (Jakkbott?)- So I have two opinions. The first is that if this is actually Jakkbott, then 99% of the games he plays, he is a troll who just annoys the hosts and gets kicked in the first or second round. An overall unpleasant experience. The second is that if this isn’t him (or if it is and this is part of that 1%), Jamie is awesome. He’s a really nice and sweet guy and he’s cool to interact with. I haven’t had much experience because we were always on opposite tribes but I did have a convo with him earlier and I’ve heard good things from Matty. We’ll see but hopefully he stays cool.

Sierra Dawn (Marta)- Never played with her but she’s a bit infamous in the ORG community. I’ve always wanted to play with her tbh and now I have my chance. I think she’s really cool from the little I know about her and I know that she’s sort of OTT but that can be fun sometimes. She’s the one who sort of helped me get cast (or at least that’s what she said) so I at least owe her that. I’m really considering working with her to some extent.

Steph (Cameron I think it is)- I loved Steph both on a personal and game level. Great friend and really funny person. Awesome and loyal ally (though tbf she thought I was her goat). She’s entertaining as hell and while I thought she might be mad at me coming in, she seems to still really like me by joking around about me being cast. Tbh me sucking and then getting cast is a good icebreaker that’s worked well with people so that’s cool. I’d love to work with Steph again especially since I’ll be at the top of my game now. She’ll inevitably become a threat at some point but I think she’ll be awesome until that point.

Ian- MY BOY! Lol we were really tight at the beginning of Luanda but he ended up getting cut in his prime way too early. I’m glad he got an all star spot and I’m excited to work with him again. I don’t see him being mad at me for any reason so I think we should be able to work cohesively at the beginning which could be awesome if we do it right. I need allies in as many places as I can find them with all of these twists.

Cochran- Ups and downs tbh. He was J’Tia in Twisted 4 which everyone sort of hated. I liked talking to her at first and I still think she got a bit too much shit but she turned on the VL faves and sorta went a little nuts so I understand why. That was a good experience at least for me and then I watched him as Shirin in Pure so that’s good too. I lot of my negatives with him come from last season as a VL where he tore me apart quite a bit. I plan to take at least some kind of revenge for it and he and Tyson were the worst offenders. I don’t see myself being able to work with him just based on his age and his overall attitude especially last season. I guess we’ll see how it goes.

Coach (Frank)- Love this guy. I was happy when he got to play tbh though apparently a lot of others weren’t. He’s a great guy and an awesome ally if you can manage it right. I’d love to be able to work with him because this is the first game we’re playing together in a while where I know it’s him and actively want to work with him. He’s a cool guy and if I can make something work that’d be great. Plus, it pretty much takes up at least one prejury spot so I’m guaranteed not to get that one. The less prejury spots available, the better for me. #burn

Brenda- No clue who she is. Guess I’ll talk to her. Probably not tbh. We’ll see how it goes.

*sigh of relief* Ok awesome. Now that that’s out of the way, I’m looking to form a lot of alliances in a lot of different places to get me through these first few rounds. I’ve tried to be around as much as possible to ditch the inactive reputation. It’ll probably be there permanently and guarantee me no chance at the win but hey at least I tried. So aside from working on that, my goal is to just win this first challenge because I really fear that if I’m available as a target at the first tribal, I’ll go just based on past inactivity and Nav not liking me. So those are my goals. We’ll see what I can do. Beyond that, I’ll just leave a list so that my overall strategy will be clear.

Align with immediately: Fabio, Matty, Alec, Sierra
Side deal/loose alliance: Carter, Jamie, Sierra Dawn, Steph, Ian, Coach
Test waters and judge from there: Brandon, JT, NaOnka, Courtney, Reynold, Brenda
ANNIHILATE IMMEDIATELY: Tom, Tyson, Cochran

And there it is. My first TSG AS confessional. Just want to say that it is longer than all my Luanda confessional posts combined. Just saying. Anyway, there will definitely be more to come. I look forward to giving this game my all and we’ll see where it goes. Here’s to hopefully not being first boot.

[Joaquin]

The challenge was a bit of a bummer. My team certainly did what they could to try to win so there's no way I blame them. Proboards just has a really unpredictable clock and so a challenge like this is largely luck-based. Alec and Na'Onka were both here for a really long time and were making sure to get as many posts on time as possible. Reynold and I gave a huge effort and put in a lot of time even if it wasn't as much as Alec and Na'Onka. Brandon decided to contribute pretty much nothing to the challenge so yeah there's that. I would normally be nervous about going to tribal first but the team that we're going with makes me feel better. I have great relationships with Matty, Sierra, and Fabio and I should talk more to Carter but I don't see him voting for me at the first tribal. Along with Alec who I think I can trust at least for now, I should have a majority. Even if I don't have numbers, I don't see me being the one targeted because I don't think any of these people would necessarily target me specifically and I've also been talking a lot to Cochran and Na'Onka.

That pretty much leaves Brandon and Reynold as possible targets. My guess is that Alec and Fabio will lean Reynold and Matty told me that him, Sierra, and Carter would probably be inclined to vote for Brandon. If I have my way, Brandon will be the one to go for three reasons.

1. I promised Reynold that we would watch each other's backs and while he's barely talked to me, he did offer the deal when I was nervous at first and at least made an effort which Brandon has yet to do.

2. Brandon did nothing for the challenge and while voting out someone who is weak in challenge becomes a bit useless because of this twist that changes stuff every round, it's a matter of principle. *cue the hypocrisy* If you're going to be on an all-star season, I think inactivity shouldn't even be a question. He was around on AIM and just didn't participate so it's just about deserving to be here.

3. He was the author of my INV edit last season which I wasn't a fan of (regardless of how deserved it was).

So right now I'm definitely in favor of Brandon going but if the majority wants Reynold I'm totally fine with him going as well. I just have to make sure I have as many numbers as I think I do but I don't know why they would target me right away so I should be ok. Atm I'm talking to Na'Onka and Fabio but it's just a lot of small talk. Hopefully I can talk to Sierra and Carter later too and try to get something squared away.

[Joaquin]

Things are going well today. When I confessed last, it appeared to be between Reynold and Brandon. The vote was leaning towards Reynold because it didn’t look like Fabio, Na’Onka or Alec would really want to vote for Brandon. I was fine with it but much preferred Brandon to go. Well, apparently, when I told Reynold yesterday that Brandon would probably be a good target, he rolled with that and brought it to Sierra. She then pushed it with Carter, Matty, and Cochran because she isn’t the biggest fan of Brandon or his potential alliances either. Awesome. She even apparently talked to Alec and he would vote Brandon if the majority was there. So yeah things seemed to really be going perfectly. She came to me to confirm that I’d vote that way and I of course agreed. So it was looking like the easy vote. Reynold, Matty, Carter, Sierra, Cochran, and I were a guaranteed majority. My biggest issue is that I know Brandon and Fabio are close and the last thing I want to do right now is piss Fabio off unnecessarily and I was even willing to just vote Reynold. But after talking to him last night he almost seemed complacent about it and though he doesn’t want to vote out his friend, he doesn’t seem to want to stir stuff up if the majority is there anyway. I think he blames Sierra more than me and doesn’t even seem like he’ll be mad at me for voting Brandon which was my goal. If Fabio won’t be mad at me, then there is no reason at all for me at least to want to keep Brandon.

With six votes locked in, I decided to talk to Alec and Na’Onka as well just to make sure that this vote goes as well as possible and with no people being left out or mad at me. Alec seemed to have the same reaction as Fabio, not wanting to vote for Brandon if he didn’t have to but being willing to if that’s where the majority was going. He doesn’t want to, as I put it, “pull a Nav” and overplay the first round. So he’s willing to vote Brandon to go with the flow and not stir stuff up. Then I talked to Na’Onka and she was 100% ok with either going because neither talk to her. That was an easy flip and she appreciated me for updating her because apparently no one else does or cares about her. She could be lying but that’s awesome if it’s true because it means that I’m probably one of her closer allies. She’s honestly one of mine because of how much we talk which is why I told her (that and it doesn’t make sense to exclude people from such an easy vote). As I said, the more allies I have, the better. So the vote should be a nice, easy 8-2 (or 9-1 if Fabio votes Brandon with us). Either way, I don’t see Fabio being mad at me and the vote goes off without a hitch. I should talk to Fabio later just so I can make sure he’s ok with it.

Aaaaaaaaand disregard everything I just said. Because in the 30 minutes that it took me to take a break from writing this to get dinner, the vote fucking switched. Cochran flipped as did Nay who apparently was never as close to me as she let on. Alec is now voting for Reynold because he was only voting for Brandon in the first place if the majority was. Matty who was never totally set on Brandon now informs Sierra, Carter, and I and the vote is switching to Reynold. I’m very bummed tbqh because I thought I set this up beautifully. And like the target doesn’t even matter because neither talk to me but now I’m just throwing my vote in with the majority as opposed to causing something. Ugh. On top of that, Fabio apparently told Matty that Cochran (who I talk to a ton) was targeting me earlier and so was Nay (who specifically told me I was one of her closest allies. Ugh. And even Sierra Dawn may have been trying to influence the vote against me. I just don’t get why I’m a target. Like I was inactive so that’s an easy reason but I’ve made it very clear I’m around this time so I just don’t get it. And on top of that, Alec who I’m close to, didn’t tell me about the vote changing. The only good news is that Fabio was unwilling to vote for me which is the only reason I’m not getting votes. I really hate this. So now hopefully Reynold will be going and Fabio and Brandon will have my back going forward. Cochran and Nay targeting me pisses me off as does Alec not telling me but it’s just stuff I have to keep an eye on I guess.

With Reynold going and aside from the small issues I clearly have with all these people, I have one major issue that’s yet to solve itself. I want a solid alliance that I can rely on especially with so many people gunning for me already. I feel like I have a few potential allies and people who will keep me safe but I want a solid alliance. I consider myself to be the brains because like c’mon I’m a genius. So I’m looking for a challenge beast (meat shield), a social threat (someone who can keep an ear on the game and feed us info), and a blindly loyal #2 I can totally trust and beat at the end (goat). For the meat shield, my first thought is someone like Alec based on how he usually plays but tbh I’d even consider Tom because no one would expect it. For the social threat, I’m leaning Fabio because he seems to have a lot of friends in a lot of places and seems to be willing to work with me. If Sierra Dawn isn’t targeting me I’d be cool with going that route as well. The goat is ideally someone like Cochran but it’s hard to work with someone like him because he’s unpredictable and I can’t trust him. The person I can trust most is easily Matty but he isn’t exactly a goat. Maybe Carter if he’s not super active? We’ll see. My goal is to develop some kind of alliance over the next round or two.

Aaaaaaaaand sorry one more time because forget everything posted above. Sierra didn’t want to cave and neither did Carter so 3 votes were staying on Brandon and it came down to Matty and I. One of my biggest rules in ORGs (or really any game) is to never cede control because that’s the only way you can ensure a win is if you have control. Caving and voting out Reynold is ceding control to Brandon, Na’Onka, and Cochran who are all against me. I feel bad for doing this to Fabio and Alec (but less so because he lied to me about the vote) but I’m forcing the tie. Sierra, Carter, and Matty are immune. Reynold will be immune in the rock draw because he’s getting votes and so I’m the only one at risk. To be honest, I’m ready to take a risk and let myself go home in rocks rather than cede control. Now I don’t think it will come to that because I don’t think Na’Onka or Alec are that brave but this vote will either go to rocks or Brandon will go. If I go, I go but I’m not being told what to do every round. I’m taking my fate into my own hands. (side note: I wouldn’t do this in 90% of games but I applied for another game that I may be in soon anyway and more importantly after my depressing showing last time, I owe John some entertainment.) We’ll see how this goes but as of now, it will be a tie and we may go to rocks. I see Fabio being madder at Sierra and Matty than me and after lying to me Alec and Na’Onka really have no right to be mad at me. Only drawback is I could go but eh. LET’S DO THIS!!

(I decided to keep the top two parts in so you could see my thought process over the past two days and because I put too much effort into writing them to just delete them.)

Ok now, LET’S DO THIS!!!