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| Final Tribal Council | |
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| Tweet Topic Started: Jun 1 2014, 03:51 AM (79 Views) | |
| Gardenia | Jun 1 2014, 03:51 AM Post #1 |
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Master of Vivid Plant Pokémon
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Hi everyone! Before I try to explain why I think you should vote for me to win, I want to thank you all for making this game so exciting and memorable for me. It doesn’t escape me for one moment that the joy I feel at having made it to the end has come at some cost to each and every one of you. I only hope that your disappointment isn’t too great and that any anger or resentment you feel is left behind when the game is over. Now, I don’t want this opening statement to turn into a novel, so I’m going to highlight for you the cards that I played throughout the game that were most instrumental in my success. ![]() I came into the game knowing very little about the Arena format, never having played it before, but I used this fact pre-merge to shape the perception of me as naive and reliant upon others for guidance. Throughout the entire game I made a point of using guided questioning instead of giving my own opinions, as I never wanted to be perceived as the decision-maker. If a decision needed to be communicated to the rest of my alliance, I always made sure somebody else was the one sending out the message. Being non-threatening wasn't enough for me to sail through the pre-merge with ease, mind you! My secret group was with Winona, Liza, and Fantina, the first two of whom were eliminated in the first three rounds. This meant that there was quickly a target on my back, or rather, a price on my head - an Immunity Pokeball for Fantina. She got the tribe to send me into the Arena and when I returned I did the same to her, but the point is I was on my own from very early in the game. ![]() From the fourth round onwards, with Winona and Liza gone, I had no built-in allies and nobody on Hoenn I could talk to. Unlike Wallace and Dawn whose groups were still mostly intact, I had only myself to rely on. This was a theme that would last throughout the game for me. I lost my two closest allies, Lucas and Candice, right before the merge. Of the six Sinnoh tribe members who made the merge there was the trio of Roark/Maylene/Fantina, the duo of May/Wallace, and the solo of me! Later on (and I'll explain how this came to be shortly) I was on my own with the two pairs of Wattson/Dawn and May/Wallace. Don't get me wrong, I'm not complaining about this - I'm just illustrating that I played my own game and at no point did I have anybody else pulling me along or telling me what to do. |
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| Gardenia | Jun 1 2014, 03:53 AM Post #2 |
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Master of Vivid Plant Pokémon
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I have a fair bit more to say, but didn't want to lose what I've written so far. Also, I have to pick my partner up from the airport in an hour and then sleep and then hopefully find some time before 10pm tomorrow to make sure this is all finished! If not you'll just have to post what I manage to do in the next hour
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| Gardenia | Jun 1 2014, 04:41 AM Post #3 |
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Master of Vivid Plant Pokémon
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Okay, it's time to go into detail about the actual moves that I made. They had a big impact on the course of the post-merge game and are the reason I'm here pleading my case instead of deciding which of you I should give my vote to. It all started with...![]() As I just explained, I was on my own within the Sinnoh six. Everyone knew I was #6 in that group, but I knew better than to let them know that I knew it. I did everything I could to convince them that I was loyal to Sinnoh. I even raised pretend concerns about whether May/Wallace would stick with us or return to Hoenn. However, in reality, I flipped over to the Hoenn foursome the minute the merge arrived. This put the sides at 5-5, so there wasn't much I could do to affect the outcome of the vote at this point. What I was able to do though was have everybody believing I was on their side. I was able to get the Hoenn side to agree that I should vote for Norman with the Sinnoh side in order to keep up appearances, whilst I fed them information about Sinnoh's plans. This benefited me in multiple ways. 1) I gained the trust of Wattson, Volkner, Dawn, and Norman without needing to vote with them 2) I kept Sinnoh thinking I was with them so that option was available if I had needed it later on 3) I was nobody's target After Norman lost the battle, the Sinnoh group thought they had six people (Roark/Maylene/Fantina/May/Wallace/Gardenia) against the Hoenn three (Wattson/Volkner/Dawn) and hence wanted to cause a 3-3-3 tie and send two Hoenn’s into the Arena. Given that I was actually secretly with the Hoenn group I didn’t want this to happen. Now, the way the split vote was supposed to work was that Maylene, Wallace, and May would vote for Volkner, while Roark, Fantina, and I would vote for Wattson. I simply voted for Volkner instead of Wattson and caused the 4-3-2 result. In doing so I was able to protect Wattson, send Roark into battle, and maintain my undercover status within Sinnoh. I suspect there was some suspicion over what I had done, but it was mostly chalked up to a mistake due to miscommunication :lol: Ultimately this move didn't amount to anything as Volkner lost the battle, but it worked to further cement my position within the Hoenn grouping. Next came the big flip that everybody knows about already! [The biggest move of the game] I planted seeds about a potential flip to May and Wallace from the merge, but little did they know I had already flipped two rounds ago. For example, I told Wallace about what I did to cause the 4-3-2 vote because by entrusting him with that secret I wanted him to feel he could trust me enough to flip with me at the next vote. |
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| Gardenia | Jun 1 2014, 04:43 AM Post #4 |
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Master of Vivid Plant Pokémon
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Gotta run. Still need to explain the big flip and how I had both pairs thinking I was their #3. Other random points to make? - Outlasted every player who voted for me in round 4 - A lot depended on who would win the battles, so I maintained working relationships with all players. - There was nobody I wasn’t willing to work with. No option I wasn’t willing to entertain. - Dawn would not be here if I had not flipped. |
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| Gardenia | Jun 1 2014, 07:33 PM Post #5 |
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Master of Vivid Plant Pokémon
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Ultimately this move didn't amount to anything as Volkner lost the battle, but it worked to further cement my position within the Hoenn grouping. Next came the game-changing flip that everybody knows about already!![]() Flipping to Hoenn with May and Wallace was without doubt the biggest move in the game, and I deserve the majority of the credit for it. Roark/Fantina/Maylene were running the game and were set up perfectly to make it to the end together. I knew that final 8 would be the first chance we would get to send two of them into battle against each other, and we could only do so with the help of May and Wallace. That's why I planted seeds to May and Wallace about a potential flip from the merge, letting them know that I would do it if they did it. I became their #3. For example, I told Wallace about what I had done to cause the 4-3-2 vote because by entrusting him with that secret I wanted him to feel he could trust me enough to flip with me at the next vote. Credit needs to go to May who was the first to voice the possibility of the 3-2-2-1 split at final 8. Because I had successfully kept Sinnoh believing I was with them, Roark/Fantina/Maylene didn't think to make sure the Sinnoh voting split had the three of them all voting for the same person. This led to their votes being 2-1 while the new fivesome voted 3-2. Credit also needs to go to Wattson who both May and Wallace told me had made them feel secure enough to flip over to Hoenn. I was told by them that Dawn didn't talk to them much at that stage, so she's lucky Wattson and I put in the work to make sure the flip was a success. Something I got a kick out of hearing from Wattson was how May and Wallace were reporting to him how they thought I was on board for the flip, when in fact I had flipped two rounds earlier and was trying to make sure that they flipped! :lol: This was one of the most skillful and stressful votes I've ever been a part of, but I benefited from it greatly. I went from being #6 on Sinnoh to sitting nicely between two pairs, each thinking I was their #3. |
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| Gardenia | Jun 1 2014, 08:06 PM Post #6 |
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Master of Vivid Plant Pokémon
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![]() Because I was once again playing both sides, I had to be creative in managing the vote at final 6. This was when #armyofone Maylene accurately pointed out in public that I was sitting safe and sound on both sides as everyone's #3, and that she was going to vote for me. My first priority was to make sure that I wasn't voted out, and my second priority was to make sure that Maylene was voted out in a way that I could maintain my position in the middle by not being seen as picking a side. If I gotten everyone to vote for Maylene I would have had to face her in the Arena. If I had gotten BOTH pairs to vote for someone from the opposite pair I would have had to pick a side and Maylene would have advanced to the final 5. So what I needed to do was get one pair to vote with me for Maylene and the other pair to vote for someone from the opposite pair! This was tricky to pull off as it was like a prisoner's dilemma for each pair. If they voted for Maylene then they risked the other pair voting for one of them, but if both pairs voted for one of the other pair then Maylene would advance. I decided that Dawn would be the easiest person to convince to vote for Maylene over her own self-interests, and despite a bit of initial push-back about wanting to vote for May or Wallace instead, I was able to convince her that Maylene had to be dealt with now above all other considerations. Once Dawn was on board, Wattson was happy to vote for Maylene as he knew that May and Wallace would be voting for Dawn and not him. Thus the vote was 3-2-1, I was safe, and by voting for Maylene everybody still thought I was their #3. I guess I should address the final 5 vote. May and Wallace were still solid with me so voted for Dawn, but Wattson and Dawndecided to vote for me. I'll let Wattson explain why in his own words: "I figured that you were the only threat to me winning this game so I thought that May & Wallace would go for me, so I decided to try and knock you out myself in the Arena." |
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| Gardenia | Jun 1 2014, 08:11 PM Post #7 |
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Master of Vivid Plant Pokémon
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Add to non-threatening part: Roark even remarked to me before his departure that I had "certainly done a lot better than *anyone* thought you would "
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| Gardenia | Jun 1 2014, 08:25 PM Post #8 |
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Master of Vivid Plant Pokémon
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This opening statement has turned into a bit of a novel after all, so thank you for taking the time to read it. The card that best summarises my journey to the final three is this:![]() I won my duel against Flannery, returned to my old tribe, and outlasted everyone who had voted for me. I didn't settle for my sixth place position on Sinnoh, but instead played a big part in orchestrating the biggest move of the game - a move that set the tone for the remainder of the game and that got me to the end. I won my duel against Wattson - the only person besides Maylene to see me as a threat. I adapted quickly to the Arena format that was new to me, by maintaining working relationships with all players in the game as so much depended on who returned from the Arena each time. There was nobody I wasn’t willing to work with. No option I wasn’t willing to entertain. I fought hard to get here and I hope you can appreciate that. I look forward to reading your comments and questions and will do my best to help you see why I deserve your vote
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| Gardenia | Jun 1 2014, 08:26 PM Post #9 |
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Master of Vivid Plant Pokémon
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Okay I'm going to have some dinner then put this all together into one post and proof-read it. |
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| Gardenia | Jun 1 2014, 09:58 PM Post #10 |
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Master of Vivid Plant Pokémon
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Hi everyone! Before I try to explain why I think you should vote for me to win, I want to thank you all for making this game so exciting and memorable for me. It doesn’t escape me for one moment that the joy I feel at having made it to the end has come at some cost to each and every one of you. I only hope that your disappointment isn’t too great and that any anger or resentment you feel is left behind when the game is over. Now, I don’t want this opening statement to turn into a novel, so I’m going to highlight for you the cards that I played throughout the game that were most instrumental in my success. ![]() I came into the game knowing very little about the Arena format, never having played it before, but I used this fact pre-merge to shape the perception of me as naive and reliant upon others for guidance. Throughout the entire game I made a point of using guided questioning instead of giving my own opinions, as I never wanted to be perceived as the decision-maker. If a decision needed to be communicated to the rest of my alliance, I always made sure somebody else was the one sending out the message. Proof that I was seen as non-threatening comes from something Roark said to me just before his departure. He said "you've certainly done a lot better than *anyone* thought you would "Being perceived as non-threatening wasn't enough for me to sail through the pre-merge with ease. My secret group was with Winona, Liza, and Fantina - the first two of whom were eliminated in rounds two and three. This meant that there was suddenly a target on my back, or rather, a price on my head - an Immunity Pokeball for Fantina. From all accounts she was the one to convince my tribe to send me into the Arena, so when I came back I returned the favour. The point is, I was on my own from very early in the game. ![]() From the fourth round onwards, with Winona and Liza gone, I had no built-in allies and nobody on Hoenn I could talk to. Unlike Wallace and Dawn whose secret groups were still either fully or mostly intact, I had only myself to rely on. This was a theme that would last throughout the game for me. I lost my two closest allies, Lucas and Candice, right before the merge. Of the six Sinnoh tribe members who made the merge there was the trio of Roark/Maylene/Fantina, the duo of May/Wallace, and the solo of me! Later on (and I'll explain how this came to be shortly) I was on my own with the two pairs of Wattson/Dawn and May/Wallace. Don't get me wrong, this was a good thing for me - I'm just illustrating that I played my own game and at no point did I have anybody else pulling me along or telling me what to do. Okay, now I'd like to go into detail about the specific moves that I made. These moves had a big impact on the course of the post-merge game and are the reason I'm here pleading my case instead of deciding which of you wonderful people I should give my vote to. It all started with... ![]() As I just explained, I was on my own within the Sinnoh six. Everyone knew I was #6 in that group, but I knew better than to let them know that I knew it. I did everything I could to convince them that I was loyal to Sinnoh. I even raised pretend concerns about whether May and Wallace would stick with us or return to Hoenn. However, in reality, I flipped over to the Hoenn foursome the minute the merge arrived :ph43r: This put the sides at 5-5, so there wasn't anything I could do to affect the outcome of the votes at this point. What I was able to do was have everybody believing I was on their side. I was able to get the Hoenn side to agree that I should vote for Norman with the Sinnoh side (in order to keep up appearances), whilst I fed them information about Sinnoh's plans. This benefited me in multiple ways. 1) I gained the trust of Wattson, Volkner, Dawn, and Norman without needing to vote with them and alienate myself from Sinnoh. 2) I kept Sinnoh thinking I was with them so that the option of staying with them was available if I needed it later on 3) I was nobody's target After Norman lost the battle against Maylene, the Sinnoh group thought they had six people (Roark/Maylene/Fantina/May/Wallace/Gardenia) against the Hoenn three (Wattson/Volkner/Dawn) and hence wanted to cause a 3-3-3 tie and send two Hoenn’s into the Arena. Given that I was actually secretly with the Hoenn group, I didn’t want this to happen. Now, the way the split vote was supposed to work was that Maylene, Wallace, and May would vote for Volkner, while Roark, Fantina, and I would vote for Wattson. I simply voted for Volkner instead of Wattson and caused the 4-3-2 result. In doing so I was able to protect Wattson, send Roark into battle giving Hoenn a chance at keeping their numbers, and maintain my undercover status within Sinnoh (since I still voted for a Hoenn). I suspect there was some suspicion over what I had done, but it ended up being mostly chalked up to a mistake due to miscommunication :lol: Ultimately this move didn't amount to anything concrete as Volkner lost the battle, but it worked to further cement my position within the Hoenn group. After this came the big flip that is no secret to anybody! ![]() Flipping to Hoenn with May and Wallace was without a doubt the biggest move in the game, and I deserve the majority of the credit for it. Coming into the merge, Roark/Maylene/Fantina were running the game and were set up perfectly to make it to the end together. I knew that F8 would be the first chance we would get to send two of them into battle against each other, and we could only do it with the help of May and Wallace. This is why I discussed with May and Wallace the possibility of a potential flip ever since we merged. I let them know that I would flip if they flipped, putting the ball in their court. I became their #3. An example of how I got May and Wallace to make the big flip with me is this: I told them about what I had done to cause the previous 4-3-2 vote, because by entrusting them with that secret they would feel they could trust me enough to take the risk. Credit needs to go to May who was the first to voice the possibility of the 3-2-2-1 split at F8. Because I had successfully kept Sinnoh believing I was loyal to them, Roark/Maylene/Fantina didn't think to make sure the three of them were voting the same way in the Sinnoh vote split. This led to their votes being 2-1 while our new fivesome voted 3-2. Credit also needs to go to Wattson who both May and Wallace told me had helped to make them feel secure enough to flip. They told me that Dawn didn't talk to them much at that stage, so Wattson and I were the ones who put in the work to make sure the flip was a success. Something I got a kick out of hearing from Wattson was how May and Wallace were reporting to him how they had gotten me on board for the flip, when in fact I had already flipped two rounds earlier and was trying to make sure that they flipped! ![]() This was one of the most skillful and stressful votes I've ever been a part of, but I benefited from it greatly. I went from being #6 on Sinnoh to sitting nicely between two pairs, each thinking I was their #3. ![]() Because I was once again playing both sides, I had to be creative in managing the vote at F6. This was when #armyofone Maylene accurately pointed out in a public thread that I was sitting safely on both sides as everybody's #3 and stated that she was going to vote for me. My first priority was to make sure that I wasn't voted out and my second priority was to get Maylene voted out in a way that I could maintain my position in the middle by not picking a side. If I had gotten everyone to vote for Maylene I would have had to face her in the Arena. If I had gotten BOTH pairs to vote for someone from the opposite pair I would have had to pick a side and Maylene would have advanced to the final 5. So what I needed to do was get one pair to vote with me for Maylene and the other pair to vote for someone from the opposite pair! This was tricky to pull off as it was like a prisoner's dilemma for each pair. If they voted for Maylene then they risked the other pair voting for one of them, but if both pairs voted for one of the other pair then Maylene would make the F5. I decided that Dawn would be the easiest person to convince to vote for Maylene over her own self-interests, and despite a bit of initial push-back about wanting to vote for May or Wallace instead, I was able to convince her that Maylene had to be dealt with now above all other considerations. Once Dawn was on board, Wattson was happy to vote for Maylene too as he knew that May and Wallace would be voting for Dawn and not for him. Thus the vote was 3-2-1. I was safe and by voting for Maylene everybody still thought I was their #3. I guess I should address the F5 vote. May and Wallace were still solid with me so they voted for Dawn, but Wattson and Dawn decided to vote for me. I'll let Wattson explain why in his own words: "I figured that you were the only threat to me winning this game so I thought that May & Wallace would go for me, so I decided to try and knock you out myself in the Arena."This opening statement has turned into a bit of a novel after all, so thank you for taking the time to read it. The card that best summarises my journey to the final three is this: ![]() I won my duel against Flannery, returned to my old tribe, and outlasted everyone who had voted for me. I didn't settle for my sixth place position on Sinnoh, but instead played a big part in orchestrating the biggest move of the game - a move that set the tone for the remainder of the game and that got me to the end. I won my duel against Wattson - the only person besides Maylene to see me as a threat. I adapted quickly to the Arena format that was new to me, by maintaining working relationships with all players in the game. This was necessary as so much depended on who returned from the Arena each time. There was nobody I wasn’t willing to work with. No option I wasn’t willing to entertain. I fought hard to get here and I hope you can appreciate that. I look forward to reading your comments and questions and will do my best to help you see why I deserve your vote
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| Gardenia | Jun 3 2014, 12:06 AM Post #11 |
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Master of Vivid Plant Pokémon
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Once again it turns out I suck at FTC apparently ![]() Maybe I need some experience as a juror instead of a finalist to figure out what works! Thanks again for hosting. I feel crappy right now, but will look back on this game very fondly. It will probably be my last game to be honest. The timing of it coincided with my partner being overseas which freed me up enough to give it a go. |
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| Blue | Jun 3 2014, 12:09 AM Post #12 |
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King of Kanto
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![]() Losing in the finals is always hard, but you really did play a strong game and should be proud. Thanks so much for playing and putting your heart in to this Hopefully the sting of loss wears off quickly.
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"

"you've certainly done a lot better than *anyone* thought you would 
"I figured that you were the only threat to me winning this game so I thought that May & Wallace would go for me, so I decided to try and knock you out myself in the Arena."


Hopefully the sting of loss wears off quickly.
5:04 AM Jul 12