Ok first off sorry it's been a really busy weekend and so I haven't gotten to post my write-up for last round yet. It is almost done and I think it's still worth posting because it details my long-term plans a bit as well as last round so that will be up when it's finished.



I want to move onto this round for the time being because I have a plan in order to guarantee my longevity. It is very risky but if I don't do it I'll be screwed very soon anyway and I'd rather take the gamble at 8 than play it safe and seal my own fate at 5 or 6. I knew coming into this round that the potential was very high for rocks. Rachel was excluded from the vote last round and did a lot of last minute running around to try and save Hunter so she has to now recognize that she is on the outs. Rita did a great job exiting last round to console Rachel and to explain the situation that her and I would love to save Hunter but that the votes aren't there due to Woo and Hope having something going on with Neal and Liz. Rachel was very open with Rita following tribal about getting the immunity necklace from the chest (which I already knew from Hunter) and about needing to force rocks this round if we all wanted any chance of success.



Coming into this round, my hope was for as many of us as possible to be immune if it did go to rocks and Rachel's necklace would be a huge help with that. In addition, Liz had told Rita that her scroll said it was a dragon's challenge and that she would get to pick the dragons. This was comforting because if 2 of the 3 of me, Rita, and Natalie were in a group together, we could hopefully get that group the win. Following our planning, I was actually pretty open with Rita about everything. I told her about my relationship with Hunter and about what I knew. I withheld my closeness to Hope and a few other things but I think I told her enough that I earned 100% of her trust for as Lóng as I need it. We ended up calling it a night and I pretty much spent the rest of the night talking to Hope. I've noticed that Hunter going has almost strengthened our personal bond which is a little odd. We talk a lot more and about a lot more interesting stuff than we used to. I feel like we are both being 100% open with each other on a personal level which I do really like game aside. Putting the game back into things, it's good that Hope is doing what she is doing with me because it basically means she either will truly be on my side above everybody else or that she is going to burn me HARD when she votes me out. I don't plan on accounting for her in my long-term plans anymore after last round but it's good to know that she could be a potential fail safe if everything goes up in flames.



Last night is where I may have either made the move that's going to win me this game or I made the biggest mistake I've ever made. I was mobile when the challenge was about to be posted and I was on the board before it was. I noticed that I had lost access to general, announcements, and other threads on the top that I normally can see. But I still had access to challenges. I knew instantly from past games that a memory challenge was coming and quickly went through all of the challenge threads on my phone and screenshotted results. I lost access before I was finished but I had gotten through most of them. I then saw the challenge and realized I was correct. I ALSO saw the dragon combinations. Rita and Natalie were together with nobody else. Bingo. This was my chance to leave my mark on this game. As I knew from early on in the round, if they were both immune and Rachel used her neckalce, only one of us (me) would be vulnerable. The other 4 would pile their votes on me and we would pile on one of them, for example, Neal (I don't know our actual target yet). The vote would come out 4-4 and Hope/Woo/Liz would have a choice. They could either cut Neal loose or, if they all feel like they need him for their individual games, they could save him and have to draw rocks among themselves. Either way, it guarantees one from their side go. We can then pagong the remaining 3 and I could cut Rita loose at 4 (sorry love you but I know I can't beat you), getting myself to the end with 2 people who have really not done much all game and potentially securing a win. I now had a way to guarantee Rita and Natalie would be immune.



I knew it was a lot to gamble but I also knew that, if I didn't do it and used my information for my own advantage then Rita would be screwed this round and I would follow soon after. I copied everything I could find in my screenshots into a doc and gave it to Rita. We also brainstormed over AIM about tribals and other things that I hadn't been able to get to before the board was closed. Her and Natalie did the challenge last night and I can only hope that they won.



At this point, my entire game basically hinges on Rachel. She will use her necklace this round but then she has a huge decision to make. She can vote with the other side for me, sending me home. She would continue to play the game she's been playing by being nothing more than a vote slave for Hope and Woo. She would fade back into the shadows of those 5 and either suffer her fate at 5 or get dragged to the end as a goat they could parade around because they completely controlled her. Or Rachel can take a stand this round for Hunter and for herself and she can vote with myself, Natalie, and Rita. She can force the tie, put herself in literally no danger whatsoever, and send somebody from the 4-person majority running this game home. This round is going to define Rachel's game and I hope that she makes the right choice. I don't really trust Rachel and, if I had a choice, I wouldn't be putting my fate into her hands but I also know that if I don't do this we are all fucked and nothing will change in this game. Do or die, this is my time to strike. All I can do is have faith that Rachel is smart enough to recognize her position in this game and is willing to do something about it.



I do have a backup plan in case Rachel does decide to try to fuck us over. As I said, I have been connecting A LOT with Hope on a personal level and I really feel like it's mutual. She is putting way too much into our relationship for her to just cut me loose and not expect a very pissed off jury member. The past two nights have been pretty in-depth conversations and she has made it clear that she is in it for the Lóng haul with Woo and I. There is the potential that she is being genuine and I'm about to burn her a lot with my move this round. But I saw the cold-hearted, manipulative player who cut Hunter without a second thought and I do not think that is the case. She has to know that Woo and I would be at least challenging competitors at FTC and that she would have a very easy time against Liz and Neal. So I'm confident I'm not in her long-term plans (hence why I want to do something about it this round). However, she doesn't know that and she also thinks that we are very, very close (which on a personal level, we are). My fail-safe in case Rachel goes back on the plan might be to just plead with Hope once Rita and Natalie are immune to vote out Neal with me. Basically play the victim up quite a bit and make her feel really guilty for being so willing to cut me when I was SO invested in our relationship. And subtly make it clear that I would be a VERY burned juror. If I can ensure that Hope and Woo don't vote for me, then even if Rachel is an idiot, we can piggyback onto their votes and get rid of Neal 5-3. It's a backup plan but, if that does happen, it would be a sign that Hope is somewhat trustworthy which would actually put me in a good spot either way.



So one of 3 things is going to happen this round if Rita and Natalie win immunity and my plan works.

1. I am a genius and may have just guaranteed myself a huge shot at the win by pulling off a huge blindside on half the game while also ensuring that one of them has to go no matter what they do and that I am in a solid 4 going forward.

2. Rachel is a moron but I am able to effectively use my relationship with Hope to trick her and Woo into booting Neal. I can then position myself well on both sides of the game and pick off the remaining threats as I deem necessary. Although this would admittedly burn them a bit more than if they do force the tie on my this round.

3. I made a stupid mistake because Rachel has no sort of intelligence whatsoever. Hope takes advantage of the round and they vote me out 5-3.



As much as that would suck, I would be content because I know I would be fucked if Rita went this round. May as well speed up the process this way. I've put so much into this game and this move is what is going to separate me from the rest. It just has to work out. I have no regrets because the way I was going, I was waiting in line for Hope to slaughter me on her path to the end. Now Rachel just has to realize she is doing the same and be on board for this. Do or die, my friends. This is the deciding round and I must come out on top.

Kinda pissed right now. No idea what I'm going to do. No amount of information could have helped in that challenge except for literally having the threads open while we were doing it. Not really gonna go to rocks when the only possibilities to go home are me, Natalie, and one of Hope/Woo so I guess Rita is toast? I wish just one thing in this game would go right tbh.

Ok new plan. If I can fake a conversation with Rita where she tells me she got the idol this round, I may be able to scare Hope enough to split it because she believes that she has the numbers to do so. Then Rachel and I both flip and it becomes a 4-3-1 or 4-2-2 blindside on Woo or Hope. It's a lot more complicated than my original plan but I think with the right kind of talent it might work. And this one has potentially less dangerous side effects because, if Hope does see through it, she might just blame Rita for bluffing an idol than me for lying to her because I am just showing her a convo I had. Idk it's my best idea at this point. Gonna give it a shot probably.

I told Rita my plan last night and she was on board. If we could bluff that she had an idol and force a vote split, then Rachel and I could flip and blindside either Hope or Woo. Next I talked to Rachel (who Rita had become more confident in) about where we stood in this game. I emphasized how clear last round made everything. Hope and Woo do not value us as much as they value Neal and Liz. Those four are tighter than we are with any of them and she was even excluded from the vote. If we allow them to do what they want this round, then we are fucked going forward and easily outnumbered. She completely agreed with what I was saying and even pointed out that they probably chose Neal and Liz because they are easier to beat than her or I (which is 100% the reason). I then filled Rachel in on my vote split plan and she was down for that too. I do recognize the possibility of Rachel being a double agent but, if she is, then she loses the game for herself this round and I just go home a round or two (or three) sooner than I would have. I know that I have to at least try this or I will be fucked going forward.



I updated Natalie on the plan today and talked to Rita some more. Rita no longer wanted to attempt the idol bluff, or at least not me outright sending a conversation of her saying she had it. She thought that was too obvious and apparently there are clues on the Hunt board that indicate where the idol is (which I had no idea about) so if someone found a clue and knew the idol was nowhere near her, she would be exposed. I agreed enough about all of that but I feared it would now be harder to convince Hope to split. Rita also told me that Liz had promised that she wouldn't vote for her which bothered me a bit. There's no reason to lie there and outright burn a jury vote so Liz wants to vote for Natalie instead or has a plan to try and blindside me. I know that it shouldn't gain much traction but I was worried enough to talk to Hope (and I also thought that telling her might make her paranoid which would be good).



Hope was a little worried about it too but later talked to Liz who swore she would vote for Rita. Hope was sure that she had Liz and Neal for this vote which was what I was anticipating and obviously them and Woo were locked. Hope wanted me to keep her updated on when Rita talked to me about a target which I had to do so as to not appear shady. We also talked about whether or not we can trust Rachel and both agreed that we should be able to for now. Eventually I did message Rita to ask about any updates (of which there were none) and used that as my excuse to tell Hope that Rita was saying her name which I had to do in order to stir up her paranoia and to stay blended in with what I would normally do. Hope did what I expected and immediately got paranoid but what I did not expect was for her to immediately talk about splitting. Of course it works for me and I start feeding the paranoia a bit. I talk about how Rita hasn't really talked to me a ton this round and how I don't think she has an idol but don't want that incorrect guess to send her or Woo home. Corny stuff like that.



She gets more worried. Now is my chance to unveil my plan. Hope had already suggested a split. I was debating with her to show that I wasn't pushing too hard and even made sure she trusted Neal and Liz enough. Then I suggested that we split 3 on Rita and 3 on Natalie. We make sure Rachel is voting for Rita because she was the only one who we were concerned about flipping. (Being sure to account for this shows that I'm being very cautious and really investing into this split plan to make sure it goes through. This means she'll think I'm loyal when I'm not). I explain to her how if nothing happens, Rita goes. If Rita idols, Natalie goes. If Rachel flips or if Rita idols AND Rachel flips, Natalie goes on the revote. It's foolproof and allows Hope to feel secure.



She agrees after some indecisiveness. Woo talked to me and was a lot easier to convince. I updated him and he was already nervous and suggested a split. We then created a group chat with Hope because Woo's main concern was that Neal and Liz wouldn't believe me. If they tried to vouch for me, Neal and Liz would think I was too close to Hope/Woo. So we had to find the sweet spot of "he's with us out of desperation and we trust him for now but we're obviously not close to him." Fine whatever convinces them. Rachel was updated on all of this and Hope believes that Rita campaigned to her but that she was still on board with Mushu. Hope and Woo are now talking to Neal and Liz to get them on board with the split and as soon as they do, we'll be good to go.



This is the round where I come out of the shadows and show that I'm a player to be reckoned with. I'm sacrificing a lot here. If Hope idols or they wise up and don't allow me to trick them, I'm screwed. If I sat there and did nothing, I'd probably be guaranteed F5 but as a lamb being led to the slaughter. Now each round will become a struggle for me but at least I have a fighting chance. This could be a huge mistake but I don't think that it is and now I'm going to be here and ready to fight it out. This game changes for me now. And this is the vote that's going to do it. This round is the most important one for me because it's the round where I make myself a contender. I may fall off the list for a bit with the target I'm going to get but I'll do my best to avoid any shots and guarantee myself the end like I want to do. Nothing is going to stop Iceman anymore and I'm going to do it for Jaison, Jeremiah, Jenna, Hunter, and all of the other awesome people who put so much into this game and fell short(avoiding the word filter lol) of their goal. Time to play. Game on.

I did what I knew had to be done. Let's hope I'm right.

Nick Maiorano @ 20/6/2016 22:39

I did what I knew had to be done. Let's hope I'm right.

pun