Survivor (Big) Survivor: Starhome

[RIP Urshifu]

I played my heart out and to hear someone is voting not based on someone's gameplay, but their pregame and out of game reputation, is very soul destroying.

I didn't go into too much detail because I don't think its my job to pitch Eli's game, but I don't think its accurate to say his threat level was based purely on his pregame connections. His challenge performance, for example (which I will actively acknowledge was severely boosted by the decision to just do flash games for some reason, but it is what it is). In talking with several other jurors recently I just don't think portraying him as a goat was accurate, although I fully understand why that was the pitch and for all I know maybe I'm wrong and it really is true.

You say I lacked game/social awareness, this is a claim I got from Zach as well and tried to disprove. Are you saying this because I let Eli get to the end(something I can’t really elaborate on further) or are there other examples/janky lies that make you believe this?

Again, part of this is from what I've heard from jurors both in ponderosa and in vcs, so a lot isn't necessarily my place to "call you out" on. But I will say that one of the few game interactions we had was after the target shifted onto me in that rooster, and I was talking to you and you tried telling me I was the literal last person the s16 group wanted out. Either you weren't aware of what was happening or you were trying to convince me of something that we literally both knew wasn't true. Still, that's only one small example but its the only one I can personally provide.

 

[Duskfall98]

I didn't go into too much detail because I don't think its my job to pitch Eli's game, but I don't think its accurate to say his threat level was based purely on his pregame connections. His challenge performance, for example (which I will actively acknowledge was severely boosted by the decision to just do flash games for some reason, but it is what it is). In talking with several other jurors recently I just don't think portraying him as a goat was accurate, although I fully understand why that was the pitch and for all I know maybe I'm wrong and it really is true.

Can I get an apology in spec chat at least? :D

 

[madmaxfurytoad]

Question for you: would you prefer torin or clouds at over eli, if you were in my spot?

Oh hell nah LMAO I definitely don't envy your position from like f10 onwards. I just think that the FTC players at large let way too many gargantuan threats get deep into the game. Past a certain point there was no way anyone could snipe them all and you've gotta take the lesser of the evils. Eli is definitely a lesser evil than, say, Torin and Clouds. But even still, in an endgame with that many presences, I personally believe you have to put in a shitload of legwork to truly distinguish yourself from those big presences, to make up for letting them get too deep. That's just something I value as a juror. Not saying you have or have not done this successfully, just that it's something I value.

 

[RIP Urshifu]

First of all, I think you have to avoid getting in a situation where you have to pick between torin, clouds, and eli. I have incredibly limited survivor experience so take this for what it is, but in s16 we had a similar situation where Brandon, myself, and Dyo all felt like if we could just survive to the point where they couldn't elim all of us, we could then go after each other because one of us would win for sure. And it didn't play out exactly like that because brandon got elim'd a round too early (rip) but the underlying principle was true and applies here.

More to the point for rn though, you weren't even necessarily in a position where you had to pick one or the other. You just had to elim the guy who had been winning every single challenge first and then beat torin in f5 and get him out then.

 

[RyoDio]

I didn't go into too much detail because I don't think its my job to pitch Eli's game, but I don't think its accurate to say his threat level was based purely on his pregame connections. His challenge performance, for example (which I will actively acknowledge was severely boosted by the decision to just do flash games for some reason, but it is what it is). In talking with several other jurors recently I just don't think portraying him as a goat was accurate, although I fully understand why that was the pitch and for all I know maybe I'm wrong and it really is true.



Again, part of this is from what I've heard from jurors both in ponderosa and in vcs, so a lot isn't necessarily my place to "call you out" on. But I will say that one of the few game interactions we had was after the target shifted onto me in that rooster, and I was talking to you and you tried telling me I was the literal last person the s16 group wanted out. Either you weren't aware of what was happening or you were trying to convince me of something that we literally both knew wasn't true. Still, that's only one small example but its the only one I can personally provide.

For that one example I will say that some people actually did believe you were on the side of the alliance. Iirc I said that a little bit over/under 24 hours before tribal and in that time I did a lot of pitching to get you in a position to get voted out.

(Not saying I made people’s choices for them or whatever but that I was extremely proactive during that cycle and said in my statement that I take a lot of credit for that boot).

I of course did know the full intentions of the core alliance I was part of, what I told you was a lie but not *complete and utterly* also you told me you never lied to me which is also a very janky lie yet I know despite it that you were perfectly aware what was going on. It’s part of the reason I never tried to lie to you on your way out and was honest about my vote.

If that’s all you’ve got to say regarding awareness though thank you for giving me something to clarify

 

[Duskfall98]

Oh hell nah LMAO I definitely don't envy your position from like f10 onwards. I just think that the FTC players at large let way too many gargantuan threats get deep into the game. Past a certain point there was no way anyone could snipe them all and you've gotta take the lesser of the evils. Eli is definitely a lesser evil than, say, Torin and Clouds. But even still, in an endgame with that many presences, I personally believe you have to put in a shitload of legwork to truly distinguish yourself from those big presences, to make up for letting them get too deep. That's just something I value as a juror. Not saying you have or have not done this successfully, just that it's something I value.

Well I think it is weird that the eli stuff is being championed so hard. I am really worried that people just decided eli is winning before the break and have settled on it. That being said I was painted as a massive threat; people mentioned clouds and eli being painted as huge threats from the loayalist at merge but I was always in that trio. For people to say oops, you let eli through is so ?? to me. Why is no one worried about eli letting me in.

Idk I really feel like I played this game so well, picked the best vote nearly every time. I am glad you agree that I played well from f8 on but then I wonder do you think I was bad before then? A question for everyone.

If the answer is no: despite me picking up a threat to me just about every round (maybe excluding f12), with myself always as a deciding factor in the votes, it no longer is a question of if I played a good merge? Where was the flaw, because I really don't see it. I let the weakest player make it in with me, when I got to pick.

Genuinely if there was a choice I made in this game or a boot people disagree it I am very interested to hear. Because jurors seem to be agreeing that my picks over eli boot were good, but despite this he should still win for surviving?

If eli wins this, it really ties back into the survivor luck questions clouds asked me: elis only argument is being the worst player out of a group of big names.

 

[Duskfall98]

First of all, I think you have to avoid getting in a situation where you have to pick between torin, clouds, and eli. I have incredibly limited survivor experience so take this for what it is, but in s16 we had a similar situation where Brandon, myself, and Dyo all felt like if we could just survive to the point where they couldn't elim all of us, we could then go after each other because one of us would win for sure. And it didn't play out exactly like that because brandon got elim'd a round too early (rip) but the underlying principle was true and applies here.

More to the point for rn though, you weren't even necessarily in a position where you had to pick one or the other. You just had to elim the guy who had been winning every single challenge first and then beat torin in f5 and get him out then.

He won one real challenge, all the otheres were flash games. Are we really banking the game on eli being good at flashgames now? Is that what a challenge god is? The real challenge god was zoa.

 

[RyoDio]

I fully recognize the "Eli coasted too hard on pregames" argument, but I do feel like this is being blown too out of proportion. Everyone recognized Eli was in this threatening position, whether its for reasons beyond this game or not, and yet he was still allowed to land in FTC. I do believe this to be more a knock on other people's jury management than on Eli for (checks notes) "having friends". That's not really the point I want to make, though, because unlike some of the other people on the jury who didn't know Eli beforehand, I did actually get to play extensively with Eli, and I can definitely say he put in the work to make connections with people he hadn't met prior. His alliances to Ryo and I throughout a large portion of the game is strong evidence of this. This game was doomed to become the "EIMM vs s16" circlejerk from the moment the conversations began, and while I absolutely believe some players were never going to flip away from their pregame pals if they didn't have to, I think Eli is not one of those players. The connections certainly helped, but I adamantly disagree that he coasted to get here. Dude made connections and used them IMO

That said I will promptly be submitting my vote for TBZ, the one who clearly cares the most and is most deserving undoubtedly for sure

I also got to choose between Eli and Dyno during the influencer vote, I chose to eliminate Dyno Because he’s a better player

Yeah Eli certainly made connections, I agree that it’s not his fault he has friends prior to the game on the jury and happened to be friends with Tommy who is really strong player.

I do think that plays a part in-game though, I think Tommy is moreso upset that in survivor perception can become reality, Eli has multiple prior friends in the jury; and that makes him a threat off of metagame shenanigans which would suck for Eli if he got eliminated unfairly. But now that he got to the end it feels like the inverse happened where Eli’s metagame threat level became real beyond that of being a challenge beast (which I personally don’t respect that much in orgs now if it’s the difference between life and death ESPECIALLY for meta game reasons-if people fw it that’s fine though) and especially after hearing his subordinates preached hard for him in pondy I personally feel like with the one-week hiatus and people not caring as much anymore-that all of the Eli talk has settled in peoples brains despite what us finalists prove or say.

I will say though that without disrespecting Eli for this typical occasion (it’s not really his fault) that I think what everyone else did socially [especially me hehe] does hold more value due to it.

Regardless of whether Eli put effort in throughout the course of the whole game, he really didn’t need to for these opinions to form. After this FTC I will still claim the other finalists played and tried harder .And even though I love Eli’s personality and will happily shake his hand if he wins- I think it’s pretty demoralizing all things considered for reasons I’ve priorly laid out

 

[Duskfall98]

Yeah I know I probably sound salty rn, and I didn't realy wanted this. Eli just genuinely played abysmally bad and to know people who are oog friends with him, such as pisx probably have been pushing him without probably knowing anything about the game and he had probably settled as a winner before jury even knew what happened in the game is so sad.

I know for certain that eli win will result in spec chat being like "wtf" and all jurors being like "oh" in sepec chat but at that point its too late. He really didn't make any play to win, and I beleive that. I would be honestly way less salty over tbz or ryo getting hype because they at least played themselves.

This just feels so demoralising after a 2 mnoth long game where people actually made plays and had their own gameplay.

 

[RyoDio]

First of all, I think you have to avoid getting in a situation where you have to pick between torin, clouds, and eli. I have incredibly limited survivor experience so take this for what it is, but in s16 we had a similar situation where Brandon, myself, and Dyo all felt like if we could just survive to the point where they couldn't elim all of us, we could then go after each other because one of us would win for sure. And it didn't play out exactly like that because brandon got elim'd a round too early (rip) but the underlying principle was true and applies here.

More to the point for rn though, you weren't even necessarily in a position where you had to pick one or the other. You just had to elim the guy who had been winning every single challenge first and then beat torin in f5 and get him out then.

Btw I considered this heavily during f6 and thought there was a big change torin would win f5 as well. (Which is unfortunately sort of backed now after seeing how slow everyone was on that challenge)

I figured Ryo vs Torin was worse for me than Ryo vs Eli for reasons I outlined prior but yeah. I don’t think it was as simple as Eli -> Torin, Tommy also made a whack “move” at f6 where he stated he wouldn’t vote torin at f5 if I booted Eli at f6.

That quote had no bearing on my decision whatsoever and I kind of assumed it was a weird bluff that Tommy potentially coukd follow up on due to pride.

But overall yeah, limiting my “worst case scenario” helped set up an opportunity where I could boost myself with a good FTC

 

[RyoDio]

Btw I considered this heavily during f6 and thought there was a big change torin would win f5 as well. (Which is unfortunately sort of backed now after seeing how slow everyone was on that challenge)

I figured Ryo vs Torin was worse for me than Ryo vs Eli for reasons I outlined prior but yeah. I don’t think it was as simple as Eli -> Torin, Tommy also made a whack “move” at f6 where he stated he wouldn’t vote torin at f5 if I booted Eli at f6.

That quote had no bearing on my decision whatsoever and I kind of assumed it was a weird bluff that Tommy potentially coukd follow up on due to pride.

But overall yeah, limiting my “worst case scenario” helped set up an opportunity where I could boost myself with a good FTC

You can elaborate on that quote if you want Tommy btw, but yeah I understand the sheer disappointment that comes with hearing some of these responses and maybe breaks should be taken. I will continue to be annoying on the thread though because I live here now

 

[RyoDio]

I also got to choose between Eli and Dyno during the influencer vote, I chose to eliminate Dyno Because he’s a better player

Yeah Eli certainly made connections, I agree that it’s not his fault he has friends prior to the game on the jury and happened to be friends with Tommy who is really strong player.

I do think that plays a part in-game though, I think Tommy is moreso upset that in survivor perception can become reality, Eli has multiple prior friends in the jury; and that makes him a threat off of metagame shenanigans which would suck for Eli if he got eliminated unfairly. But now that he got to the end it feels like the inverse happened where Eli’s metagame threat level became real beyond that of being a challenge beast (which I personally don’t respect that much in orgs now if it’s the difference between life and death ESPECIALLY for meta game reasons-if people fw it that’s fine though) and especially after hearing his subordinates preached hard for him in pondy I personally feel like with the one-week hiatus and people not caring as much anymore-that all of the Eli talk has settled in peoples brains despite what us finalists prove or say.

I will say though that without disrespecting Eli for this typical occasion (it’s not really his fault) that I think what everyone else did socially [especially me hehe] does hold more value due to it.

Regardless of whether Eli put effort in throughout the course of the whole game, he really didn’t need to for these opinions to form. After this FTC I will still claim the other finalists played and tried harder .And even though I love Eli’s personality and will happily shake his hand if he wins- I think it’s pretty demoralizing all things considered for reasons I’ve priorly laid out

I just realized this opening segment doesn’t have a jk there (no disrespect to Dyno I just don’t have to jury manage him ez)

 

[Nuxl]

just finished my last lecture for the day and will respond immediately to any pending questions before my family finishes their work and we have dinner <3

i appreciate the kind words about my game from some of the jurors but this is my ftc so im completely comfortable fighting for my own game too!!

 

[Nuxl]

Just wanted to say congrats to all the finalists.

The fact that I'm currently on vacation and that I've been out of the game for basically a month now has sort of killed my enthusiasm here. Three of you all trying to claim credit for what basically feels like the same moves for 90% of merge is also making this a bit annoying, and I think this whole FTC being on this thread instead of discord is also making this FTC much dumber than it otherwise would be.

Anyway none of that is any of your faults, just me being annoyed. I've went ahead and read all your speeches and as many of your questions as I could because after playing for more than 2 months you all deserve that much, making it here is really an impressive achievement regardless of how the vote breaks down.

I'm hoping this hasn't been asked before but its not easy to search and find out so xd my only question is this:

Who in the merge did you have the most fun talking to? If it's somebody at FTC, point that out and then name a juror you had the most fun talking to after that. Thanks

thanks Matieu! hope you have a good vacation

in the merge exclusively - this one's hard in general, but i had the most fun talking to psy tbh, i think during separatists we hit it off well but i think we had a lot of fun and convenient early conversations because our positioning in early merge, we had a lot of talk figuring out WHEN to flip and what the timing is and exchanging information based on the various pitches we had obtained in the first few votes, and these game talks were exciting, a bit stressful but fun because we were able to just sit in really good available positions while knowing that we could make moves together

i also just think we were able to catch each other at really stupid times late in the morning before he went to work or when i was studying af by doing an all nighter, imo we had a similar way of typing where we would keysmash and be a bit hyper and eccentric and imo had similar humor so it was just nice to catch each other and talk about whatever WJLASDKL. also just even when our game distanced, i really appreciated the conversations we had after cuz it was nice to clear the air with someone who i had invested time into before (and wronged from my end) and it was refreshing being able to be on the same page for some cool stuff we were able to accomplish (before we distanced again and had to go for each other SAKLJDJADKLS)

(and one thing i will note is that i didnt vc very often for a few reasons that i won't get into in this vote, but much less than the rest of the finalists and so im sure i wouldve come off more enjoyable than i did over text, but psy never really talked on vc either (as far as i was aware, at least in group vcs) so it was nice to find solidarity in someone who didn't do that as much fmpov)

this sounds like a cop out but these games to me become special because of the people we meet so there are a lot of minor moments such as group/tribe vcs and playing other games with other people just to get to know them and i don't exactly equate JUST at merge as something i started picking up and having the most fun with other people in, but ill answer the question as it was written hahaha

 

[vooper]

this ftc is genuinely abysmal to read after having read all of it

i had a lot more respect for a lot of you going into this than i do now FGBJSHKDGF (mostly on game level, dw i love you all sm on a personal level still)

ill ask one question to all the finalists for now

You have the chance to take back one thing you have said this FTC. What is it? (alternatively: What do you think your worst answer to a question has been?)

 

[Duskfall98]

this ftc is genuinely abysmal to read after having read all of it

i had a lot more respect for a lot of you going into this than i do now FGBJSHKDGF (mostly on game level, dw i love you all sm on a personal level still)

ill ask one question to all the finalists for now

You have the chance to take back one thing you have said this FTC. What is it? (alternatively: What do you think your worst answer to a question has been?)

The last salty post because it's probably a bit unfair to Eli and I didnt intend to get salty to be honest. I know him picking up free votes isn't his fault really.

That being said I do stand by the fact that I think his play has been way over rated based on the fact that he has been good in other orgs.

 

[RyoDio]

this ftc is genuinely abysmal to read after having read all of it

i had a lot more respect for a lot of you going into this than i do now FGBJSHKDGF (mostly on game level, dw i love you all sm on a personal level still)

ill ask one question to all the finalists for now

You have the chance to take back one thing you have said this FTC. What is it? (alternatively: What do you think your worst answer to a question has been?)

hi Vooper and this is a good question, If I thought about this really hard I could probably come up with a REALLY good answer

Also by “a lot of you”-I mean there’s only 3 of us atm since TBZ hasn’t posted a statement yet

If I could take one thing back it probably would’ve been the wording I used when I said “Tommy babied Eli” because that was an overreaction in response to him discrediting my game (that’s what he’s supposed to do and it’s likewise so no hard feelings there) and the hype he’s continuously gotten despite some genuinely solid rebuttals

But yeah even though I do think his game was reliant on Tommy, saying tommy “babied” eli is unfair to him and I’d take it back if I could.

Apart from that I feel like I’ve been p respectful but who knows LOL

Look forward to talking to ya post game

 

[vooper]

hi Vooper and this is a good question, If I thought about this really hard I could probably come up with a REALLY good answer

Also by “a lot of you”-I mean there’s only 3 of us atm since TBZ hasn’t posted a statement yet

If I could take one thing back it probably would’ve been the wording I used when I said “Tommy babied Eli” because that was an overreaction in response to him discrediting my game (that’s what he’s supposed to do and it’s likewise so no hard feelings there) and the hype he’s continuously gotten despite some genuinely solid rebuttals

But yeah even though I do think his game was reliant on Tommy, saying tommy “babied” eli is unfair to him and I’d take it back if I could.

Apart from that I feel like I’ve been p respectful but who knows LOL

Look forward to talking to ya post game

"a lot of you" is referring to some jurors as well ftr

 

[RyoDio]

The last salty post because it's probably a bit unfair to Eli and I didnt intend to get salty to be honest. I know him picking up free votes isn't his fault really.

That being said I do stand by the fact that I think his play has been way over rated based on the fact that he has been good in other orgs.

I also kind of regret replying to so many things, it’s ofc my winning personality but I think my initial long FTC statement really communicates a lot of what I meant to say and feel like a lot of my elaborations have been rewordings of things I’ve said prior due to receiving very similar questions

 

[vooper]

Duskfall98 RyoDio

Changing the phrasing of my question:

You have the chance to take back something you said in this FTC about a strategic move you made. What is it?

edited in --- (eli respond to the original question if you want to do it in the same way of like "i shoulda said the exact same thing i meant but used nicer words :( but then respond to the strategic move one too <3)

 

[Thunder~BALLZ]

Should I write a speech or should I just be problematic

 

[RyoDio]

"a lot of you" is referring to some jurors as well ftr

The jurors have been perfect wym (shoutouts to pisx that was rlly funny)

 

[vooper]

ftr i am keeping the asshole bit mostly for fun atp, you all should know me well enough to know im not this much of a hardass FHGDSJHKFGHSD

 

[RyoDio]

Duskfall98 RyoDio

Changing the phrasing of my question:

You have the chance to take back something you said in this FTC about a strategic move you made. What is it?

hmm, holding F5 over Eli is fine but I can see holding it over Zach as being in poor taste because despite the irony of him targeting my game awareness, I do actually like Zach and know F5 was very mentally challenging for him

I have a lot of other examples to back up my game awareness which I’ve detailed prior.

I also called F7 “my ideal push” when I should have added a disclaimer that it was everyone’s ideal push. I don’t really take credit for clouds boot because it was straightforward and a collective effort

 

[Duskfall98]

Duskfall98 RyoDio

Changing the phrasing of my question:

You have the chance to take back something you said in this FTC about a strategic move you made. What is it?

Honestly viper, I think a lot of the jury probably came into this planning on voting Eli, with the break probably forming a sort of detachment.

I don't think it's right, but at the same time it was probably on me to prove them wrong. Whether I did that or not is on me I guess, but I tried my hardest because it means a lot to me and I felt I deserved it. I don't really regret any of how I discussed my game - even if I lose.

This is how I see the game played and some jurors might think I'm being delusional or disingenuous, but truly when everyone has full perms I think that will 180. Obviously too late. I really have not really lied about any strategic play I made. If you believe credit is deserving to someone else that's a matter of opinion I guess, but I think full spec would agree I was the main person in the driving seat.

Sorry, it probably loses me your vote but I have to be honest that there is nothing I regret saying because I feel like I have told my full truth. If I could change something else, it would probably be a would remain more concise, as some jurors probably don't want to read everything unfortunately.