Post by Matt Elrod on Feb 21, 2013 22:14:30 GMT -5
Hey, everyone. I'm happy to be here in the finals, and I want to thanks Carlos and all of you for making this game incredibly active and fun. Now it's time for me to give all of you the explanation about my game you deserve since I haven't been 100% open with any one person until now.
My strategy in this game was relatively simple. I wanted to establish myself as a reliable competitor in the challenges and work on building strong social relationships. I devoted time each evening to getting to know the rest of Menba. In order to come off as more genuine, I rarely if ever approach people about alliances. I wait for people to come to me. This strategy worked extremely well, maybe too well. By the 3rd round, I had a complicated web of alliances with the rest of Menba Tribe including everyone except for Ashley along with the Menba hidden immunity idol after my first jungle visit.
Here's an illustration of this web of alliances: i.imgur.com/Je1BmNM.png
Having too many alliances can be a problem because you can get exposed and your position becomes more vulnerable. In order to break down this web of alliances, my first big move of the game was "enlightening" Danni after the swap. One of my looser alliances was with Brandon, JT, and Lisa. I didn't feel comfortably in the core of this alliance. I wanted to see it broken up. So I told Danni about how she was targeted by Brandon during Menba's first tribal council and took advantage of something negative about Danni that Brandon and JT said to Jay and I to incriminate them to her.
This helped set up the JT and Brandon boots and led to Danni recruiting Tijuana and Tina into an alliance which was fueled by Danni's desire to get back at Menba for almost voting her out. It eventually split the remaining players in the game into two different groups. You had Jay trying to hold original Menba together with Jonas joining that group, and you had Danni trying to protect her relationships with Tijuana and Tina and bring along me and Alexis. While I originally planned to play this game as a hero, I was a part of too many alliances and would have to backstab many of them. So I decided to just fully transition into a villain and make moves regardless of morals and the relationships I had established. I did feel extremely bad and sorry about some boots on a personal level, but strategically I didn't let that affect me. I played a cruel, but focused game.
Managing the merge was complicated. My main goal was trying to balance the power between Danni and Jay so that neither of them would get too powerful. I wanted to go to the end under my own terms and not as a part of a group alliance. So I made sure that Danni had the votes for Abi to go the first vote and then voted for Tijuana so I could still play both sides. I told Danni how I had the idol to maintain her trust since I had voted with Jay. RC leaving the next round was the simplest vote since she was recognized as a threat to both Danni and Jay, and I fully supported this because I hadn't met her.
I was going to let Danni vote out Lisa next with Alexis and Rory to keep Jay weaker. When she warned Jay, Jay convinced Rory to come back. So rather than directly fight Jay, I gave in and said to Alexis we should just vote for Tijuana in order to appease Jay. Then, in order for my game not to explode with Danni turning, I promised Danni that I'd use the idol to get rid of Jay the next round to calm Danni. What I actually did was just warn Tina that she should play her idol that I knew she had while I kept mine. So Jay was idoled out, I wasn't a part of it, and I continued to play both sides.
My plan was to idol out Danni next so people didn't view me as a Danni follower and the two strategic leaders would be gone. I was going to give Lisa my idol for her to play it so I could again feign ignorance and maintain my connections with both sides. When the target came down to Lisa versus Tina, I decided it wasn't worth losing the idol to get rid of one of them and chose Lisa as the boot so I could get Danni's confidence up before making a stronger effort to send her out the next round. I told Jonas and Rory I had the idol and was going to use it on Rory to idol out Danni, but Rory and I were able to convince Alexis to work with us so we didn't have to.
At the final five, my original plan was to get Jonas targeted, play the idol on him, and vote for either Alexis or Rory to split that possible duo. When Tina warned me that Rory was actually going after me in order to pay me back for warning her the round she idoled out Jay, I changed my approach and intentionally ignored Alexis who I knew wanted to vote Jonas so that she'd vote for me. And then I gave Rory more dirt that he could use to turn Jonas against me. I wanted to make sure I got the votes so I could use the idol and get Rory out, who I viewed as a stronger strategic threat to me than Jonas. So Rory left, and at a final four, I chose to vote for Tina along with Alexis and Jonas. I had tried setting her up as the target in case I didn't win immunity, but after I won it, I still chose to vote for her because she had done so much better than anyone at the challenges and may have that in her favor.
I believe I deserve to win because I played the social game well which helped me connect to most of you and give me options, demonstrated lots of challenge strength in both speed and endurance prior to the merge and then during the merge when I wasn't throwing to avoid being a target, and picked a strategy to go to the end under my own terms where I could pick who left each round and go to the end with who I wanted to. I was able to play both sides without it catching up to me until it was too late to get me out - since I had an idol at final 5 and then made sure to win final immunity. My moves led to the elimination of Menba Tribe and really shaped the way the game played out. I expect a bitter jury because I feel like I backstabbed all of you either directly or indirectly except for maybe RC, but I just hope you approach this final tribal council with an open mind and give me a chance to prove how much I want this and why I deserve it.
Thank you; I'm ready to answer anything you have to ask.
My strategy in this game was relatively simple. I wanted to establish myself as a reliable competitor in the challenges and work on building strong social relationships. I devoted time each evening to getting to know the rest of Menba. In order to come off as more genuine, I rarely if ever approach people about alliances. I wait for people to come to me. This strategy worked extremely well, maybe too well. By the 3rd round, I had a complicated web of alliances with the rest of Menba Tribe including everyone except for Ashley along with the Menba hidden immunity idol after my first jungle visit.
Here's an illustration of this web of alliances: i.imgur.com/Je1BmNM.png
Having too many alliances can be a problem because you can get exposed and your position becomes more vulnerable. In order to break down this web of alliances, my first big move of the game was "enlightening" Danni after the swap. One of my looser alliances was with Brandon, JT, and Lisa. I didn't feel comfortably in the core of this alliance. I wanted to see it broken up. So I told Danni about how she was targeted by Brandon during Menba's first tribal council and took advantage of something negative about Danni that Brandon and JT said to Jay and I to incriminate them to her.
This helped set up the JT and Brandon boots and led to Danni recruiting Tijuana and Tina into an alliance which was fueled by Danni's desire to get back at Menba for almost voting her out. It eventually split the remaining players in the game into two different groups. You had Jay trying to hold original Menba together with Jonas joining that group, and you had Danni trying to protect her relationships with Tijuana and Tina and bring along me and Alexis. While I originally planned to play this game as a hero, I was a part of too many alliances and would have to backstab many of them. So I decided to just fully transition into a villain and make moves regardless of morals and the relationships I had established. I did feel extremely bad and sorry about some boots on a personal level, but strategically I didn't let that affect me. I played a cruel, but focused game.
Managing the merge was complicated. My main goal was trying to balance the power between Danni and Jay so that neither of them would get too powerful. I wanted to go to the end under my own terms and not as a part of a group alliance. So I made sure that Danni had the votes for Abi to go the first vote and then voted for Tijuana so I could still play both sides. I told Danni how I had the idol to maintain her trust since I had voted with Jay. RC leaving the next round was the simplest vote since she was recognized as a threat to both Danni and Jay, and I fully supported this because I hadn't met her.
I was going to let Danni vote out Lisa next with Alexis and Rory to keep Jay weaker. When she warned Jay, Jay convinced Rory to come back. So rather than directly fight Jay, I gave in and said to Alexis we should just vote for Tijuana in order to appease Jay. Then, in order for my game not to explode with Danni turning, I promised Danni that I'd use the idol to get rid of Jay the next round to calm Danni. What I actually did was just warn Tina that she should play her idol that I knew she had while I kept mine. So Jay was idoled out, I wasn't a part of it, and I continued to play both sides.
My plan was to idol out Danni next so people didn't view me as a Danni follower and the two strategic leaders would be gone. I was going to give Lisa my idol for her to play it so I could again feign ignorance and maintain my connections with both sides. When the target came down to Lisa versus Tina, I decided it wasn't worth losing the idol to get rid of one of them and chose Lisa as the boot so I could get Danni's confidence up before making a stronger effort to send her out the next round. I told Jonas and Rory I had the idol and was going to use it on Rory to idol out Danni, but Rory and I were able to convince Alexis to work with us so we didn't have to.
At the final five, my original plan was to get Jonas targeted, play the idol on him, and vote for either Alexis or Rory to split that possible duo. When Tina warned me that Rory was actually going after me in order to pay me back for warning her the round she idoled out Jay, I changed my approach and intentionally ignored Alexis who I knew wanted to vote Jonas so that she'd vote for me. And then I gave Rory more dirt that he could use to turn Jonas against me. I wanted to make sure I got the votes so I could use the idol and get Rory out, who I viewed as a stronger strategic threat to me than Jonas. So Rory left, and at a final four, I chose to vote for Tina along with Alexis and Jonas. I had tried setting her up as the target in case I didn't win immunity, but after I won it, I still chose to vote for her because she had done so much better than anyone at the challenges and may have that in her favor.
I believe I deserve to win because I played the social game well which helped me connect to most of you and give me options, demonstrated lots of challenge strength in both speed and endurance prior to the merge and then during the merge when I wasn't throwing to avoid being a target, and picked a strategy to go to the end under my own terms where I could pick who left each round and go to the end with who I wanted to. I was able to play both sides without it catching up to me until it was too late to get me out - since I had an idol at final 5 and then made sure to win final immunity. My moves led to the elimination of Menba Tribe and really shaped the way the game played out. I expect a bitter jury because I feel like I backstabbed all of you either directly or indirectly except for maybe RC, but I just hope you approach this final tribal council with an open mind and give me a chance to prove how much I want this and why I deserve it.
Thank you; I'm ready to answer anything you have to ask.