Dear Jurors,

Welp, this statement is long, and arrogant, and probably makes me sound like a douchebag. I guess I’m just going to embrace that. I can’t help it. I’m going to put in a ton of effort, and be unapologetic about it, because I love games deep in my heart, and I can’t help but try very hard to try to win. This is my disease.

I’d like to thank you all for your service, and for putting in the time and effort required to make this decision and award $1 million from captainmeme’s personal fortune to one of us. This was an exceptionally well-run and well-played game, and it deserves a great jury discussion and a worthy champion. Considering this is the first game of survivor here, your decision today will set the precedent for what we value in a winner.

I considered that question before we began. How should we decide a winner? What does it mean to outwit, outplay, outlast in this game? And I hope you all think carefully about that question too.

I believe that the sole survivor should be the player who controlled the game. The player who survived to plead their case before you because they took their fate in their own hands, and sculpted the game themselves. The player who made active choices, for thoughtful reasons, and arrived here at the end by virtue of excellent game play, rather than excellent luck or the work of others.

I feel proud to make my case to you on those terms. I love the game of survivor because it tests one of my favorite challenges about the game of diplomacy: forming alliances. I believe the best way to form an alliance is to make my potential ally feel like my survival is critical to their own game. If you’ll indulge a bit of length and a lot of braggadocio, I’d like to walk you through the alliances that I built, the reasons I formed them, and the reasons I broke many of them. I agonized over many of these decisions. I made each one in an effort to give myself the best possible chance to make it to the end, no matter what external events (immunities, merges, etc.) occurred.

I formed alliances with everyone. Literally every player on every tribe I joined, including every juror. It was exhausting!

I started by reaching out to Demon and Vashta individually, before most people had logged on to start the game. I actually wrote Demon a full letter explaining how we would both make it to the final three if we worked closely together, and sent it to her within 10 seconds of the game starting. I initiated tight final 3 deals with both Demon and Vashta within the first couple of hours of the game, and I laid the foundation for information sharing and close working relationships that were critical later in the game. I made final 3 alliances with Oztra and Moscow as well!

I also formed larger alliances. At Entente, as you’ll notice in the QT, I focused heavily on building a loyal core, while also making strong individual alliances. I believe I was everyone’s closest ally at Entente. When Exile was announced, I lobbied my way to my tribe’s unanimous selection. I knew that building cross-tribe alliances would be critical, and so I wanted to go to Exile to set myself up to be safe after the first merge.

At Exile, I made final three deals with both uclabb and Ezio, I worked to ensure that I would be safe after the merge to two tribes, and I won tribal immunity for Entente by convincing Ezio to bring it to them. I did this by proposing and forming the “Mafia VIII” alliance of Ezio, Flum, Snowy, Demon, Moscow, Balki, Vashta, and Chaqa/Oztra. I wanted Ezio to feel like he had something to gain from making Entente safe at the next tribal, and he agreed.

After Exile I went to Anschluss, and again made alliances with everyone there. I also formed another post-merge alliance, “Enchiladas,” composed of the members of Entente and Anschluss. As we approached the first merge, I had established potential alliances with almost everyone in the game in order to ensure that no matter how the merged tribes were configured, I would have a ready-made majority alliance (Mafia VIII or Enchiladas) to ensure my survival. I was just trying to be absolutely guaranteed to be in a good position, and not to rely on good fortune in the assignment of tribes.

When I was assigned to Birsan, based on the tribe’s composition, it was clear that the Mafia VIII framework was my best bet. So while I continued to keep Bozo, uclabb, and Glen close, my main focus was to ingratiate myself to Snowy, Ezio, and Vashta, and build the group as a cohesive team.

My tribe, Birsan, took a lead during the auction. We won tribal immunity and the red box by devoting almost all of our resources to items that both tribes could bid on. And I managed to win the hidden immunity idol clue and earn my second hidden immunity idol, with a $1 bid, and without stepping on any toes.

From here on out, just about every person who was voted out was stabbed by me. That is because I worked hard to court relationships with everyone, and to ensure that nobody would plot against me because everyone thought that keeping me around was good for their own personal game. I stabbed Glen, I stabbed uclabb, and I stabbed Bozo, in quick succession. These stabs were so surgical, and produced such little fallout, that I went into final tribe being selected as “The player you trust with your life.” Ridiculous ;-)

When we formed the final tribe, the #fuckghug tribe, I thought I was in serious trouble. The survey revealed that I was playing all sides. I received zero penalty points, won immunity, was selected most trustworthy, tied for person most likely to win at final tribal, and the tribe voted to select the tribe name that I authored: “#fuckghug.” It was a very conspicuous result, and I was worried that I would have a huge target on my back.

So I went back to building my alliances. I worked harder to make everyone feel like it was important to their own game to keep me around. I had alliances with everyone, so all information flowed through me. Vashta told me about his vote steal advantage. Ezio and Snowy told me they were targeting ghug. ghug and Demon told me they were targeting Ezio. I worked to build up these rivalries, while trying to be everyone’s rock. My priority going into that first #fuckghug vote was to remain on everyone’s side. I didn’t really care who went home—I wanted everyone to continue to trust me no matter which way I voted. A very difficult goal. So I told ghug/Demon that Birsan was united, and that I wanted to vote with Birsan side once, and then switch over to work with ghug/Demon. I encouraged Vashta to use his vote steal. I told Flum that I heavily suspected that Vashta had a vote steal from the blue container, and that I would stick with Flum no matter what.

The result could not have been much better for me. I was able to vote with the Birsan bloc, while making ghug/Demon think that I was with them in the long run, while concealing my alliance with Vashta from Flum, but giving Flum the info he needed to preserve the Birsan bloc. After that first vote, despite all of the fractures on the final tribe, I remained everyone’s ally. That took a ton of work.

Next, I found the second hidden immunity clue (in about 4 minutes), lied about it to avoid being a target, and considered carefully how I could possibly make it to final 3 if I were to lose immunity at final 4. This was the most difficult question for me because I felt I was the biggest target, and I felt like it would be very unlikely that anyone would take me to final jury.

I started talking heavily about final 3 with everyone. I felt like Snowy was playing a mostly honest game, so I figured that if he would make a final 3 pact with me, he would abide by it. He didn’t agree. He told me he wasn’t sure, when, in fact, he offered a final 3 pact to Fluminator (with Ezio). I found out about that because all information was flowing through me, as everyone’s ally. Fine, I knew I had to vote out Snowy.

Ezio told me that I was in his final three, but he had also told me earlier that he’d prefer to make the final 3 Bozo, Balki, Ezio because he thought that he could beat Bozo in front of the jury. Well, that kind of thought process was extremely harmful to me. The same logic would lead one to vote out the hero of this story, one Balki Bartokomous. Ezio had to go too.

I knew Demon and ghug pretty well, and they were on the chopping block after Vashta went home. I figured that if I made a final 3 deal with them both at this stage, and turned on Birsan, that both ghug and Demon were much more likely to live up to the final three deal. At the same time, Flum and I had built a very solid undercover alliance. And Flum seemed more interested in ensuring that we had an interesting jury with worthy competitors. I felt pretty sure that Flum would take me to jury too.

The next two votes went as planned. We voted out Ezio and then Snowy. Both of them blindsided to ensure that they wouldn’t try to reshuffle the deck. I arrived at the final four in the best position I could be in to make final three no matter who won immunity. And I feel pretty confident that I would have been through to final three if either ghug or demon won immunity too, as I had a final three deal with them, in addition to my final three deal with Flum. (I had final three deals with most everyone).

So, there it is. If this is a truth-telling competition, I lose. I did not tell the truth. Instead, I built alliance after alliance. I had backup plans for my backup plans for my backup plans. I won both tribal immunities for my tribes. I found both hidden immunity idols. I won 2/3 individual immunities. I never had to play an idol and I never received a vote until the very last tribal when ghug had basically no other choice. I don’t even think there was a plot to vote me out all game because if there was, I would have heard about it, because I was allies with everyone!

But if I can submit just one reason, why I believe I should earn your vote, it is this. For every single one of my alliances -- my alliance with Flum, my alliance with Demon, my alliance with every member of the jury, the Mafia VIII Alliance, the Enchiladas Alliance, every one -- I initiated it. Every juror knows this first hand. Think back to when I allied with you. I came to you. I explained why I wanted you to stay in the game. I explained why I thought your game would be advantaged by keeping me around. And I initiated an alliance. That is how I took my own destiny in my hands, and ensured that I would survive to make this pitch to you. And that is why I believe I deserve one million dollars from captainmeme’s personal fortune and the title of sole survivor.

* * * * *

If you have taken the time to read this statement, then you are taking your position as a juror seriously. I think that’s awesome. Whether or not I’ve earned your vote, I’m thankful that you’re thinking through your choices and honoring the game we’ve all played by being thoughtful in this decision. I understand that there may be personal hard feelings about lies and stabs, just as there often are immediately afterwards in a game of Diplomacy. But I’m hopeful that this choice will be based on more than personal grudges or slights, and based on more than who is popular. I’m hoping that this decision is about who played the best game.

Thank you. I look forward to your questions.

Balki

Lol @me being "blindsided". The vote against me was about as hard to see coming as a 20 ton train.

Jurors, please hold on the commentary, two players haven't done their openers yet (mainly because I was late home today so the thread was still locked).

Whoops. Sorry.

Hi, so I didn’t actually get to play or interact with quite a few members of the jury and that really sucks I wish I could have talked and engaged with more of you :(((
I’m not really sure how I’m supposed to approach this as I’m no master of Survivor like Flum or master of charisma like Balki but I’ll try anyway

I think it might be extremely boring to go through every day of this game or w/e so I’m not going to do that and I’m happy to extrapolate on any concerns if there are questions. It’s probs also cliche af to give a list of reasons why I think I should win and I’m cringing hard but like I guess people I’ve never interacted with have no context as to why I even made the final 3 so I’ll just say a few words. Other than just being everyone’s favourite person ever in a game that is essentially a popularity contest, I’ve been able to hold pretty great alliances with everyone. And while I didn’t have to face much opposition during the game I actually did a lot of maneuvering to save my allies for as long as possible (Oztra, ghug, Vash etc). Tbh this kind of game with voting off my friends was really fucking hard and in the final 4 I actually just ended up voting for myself because I couldn’t pick between Balki or ghug but somehow I’m still here despite self voting so y’know it can’t be too bad

Frankly, in the final tribe I didn’t pull any devious or weird ass tricks to get to the end. I was always honest with who I was or was not voting for, and I think that has some value to it. I think I was the most widely trusted player in this backstabby game (which is why I can get away with self-voting in the final round and still be here) and I should win for it. It is easy to lie to get what you want and to have everyone like you, but it is a lot harder to do it when you’re telling the truth in a game like this. The fact that I made it pretty obvious who my enemy was in nearly every round and still managed to get here without needing immunity or winning any of those games is kind of great.

And to the best jury ever:

Dearest MoscowFleet, it has been a long time since we talked last but I just want to know that I’ll never forget the bond that sauga city gives us. Also I swear I love the Toronto Maple Leaves. I’m sorry I didn’t bring you to the end with me, that was one of the tougher things in this game. I blame ghug tbh but I’ll take some responsibility for not keeping you around.

My bestie Glen_Alex, I know we didn’t get to talk in this game due to being in different tribes but I can only envision the wonderful alliance me, you and ghug could have had in the right circumstances. Vote me so I can avenge you for the tribe that failed you, also you **know** I’m trustworthy :)

Knight-in-shining-armour Byron, I’m sorry that you’re gone fwiw I think you’re quite fun to have around but I didn't feel like I could have you vote alongside me for everything and I got a bit worried. I’m also still a little sad that you didn’t ##vote Circle for me but you can make that up to me with a vote for me now if you’d like <3 It would be cool if I could win this game with your help.

Mysterious uclabb, we didn’t get to engage either but I heard all the fantastic and scary stories about you from all the people you were in tribes with. Obviously we’ll never know how much you and I would have gotten along but I’m going to guess **~~really well~~** because we’re both really cool. If there’s a way for me to get your vote I’d really like that. Feel free to ask me anything

Churchie boi Oztra, I legit tried my hardest to get bo out before you but no one else was having it and they kept getting annoyed at me for saving you. I would have had you in that final tribe if it was feasible but there was only so much I could do. Sorry friend, I hope you’ll vote for me for my loyalty and persistence.

Great Bozotheclown, we didn’t get to ever talk either :( I also don’t think we’ve ever even communicated out of the game!! I’m pretty sure Yoyo liked you, so anyone who gets along with Yoyo is a friend to me. You did a great job on getting back into the game, that was impressive. I’m not sure why you were voted off again but I’m sure you would have been a real threat to win this. I wish we had a chance to interact, we should talk now so I can convince you that I’m great and you should vote for me ~~~~~

Sweet Bo_sox: I actually rather liked your weird fake screenshot stunt, your desire to continue on was admirable but if I couldn’t have Oztra in the final tribe then ghug wasn’t allowed to have you. I think you picked the wrong target at the end there (me), but it is completely understandable. I’m not sure how I can convince you to vote for me when I facilitated voting you off. But I don’t think the other two would have done it any differently, and when it comes down to it I think you should want me to win because being bested by the person who won isn’t so bad right? ;)

Vash the Stampede, :((((((((((( actually so pissed off by the way you were voted off. I did not fucking see that coming or we could have stopped it. Losing you was pretty bad, I thought ghug and I would be picked off next but somehow I made it. Sigh, I still regret not using my idol just to be safe and I regret you wasting your idol the round before that when I told you there was no need to use it. I really enjoyed our alliance and for a solid few rounds I felt that you were the only person I could trust in this game. Seriously just want to thank you for explaining the Survivor things to me that I didn’t pick up or pay attention to. You’re not only great but also more sneaky than I gave you credit for (that vote advantage…). Real shame it didn’t actually work. I would love to have your vote.

Etzeeoo: I think what happened in the last tribe was actually extremely regrettable and I’ve already expressed to you that it wasn’t the outcome that I wanted. A couple things I just want to say:
1. On the round where we voted you out I didn’t lie when I said my ideal final at the end there would be me, you and ghug. You and ghug fighting was actually the shittiest thing and I seriously still wish we got rid of Fluminator but here we are now with both of you out. Tbf, I think you would have beaten both of us but I don’t care it would have been a lot of fun to be in the final tribe with you.
2. I was very honest with you. I told you that I had to vote you, and I hope you’ll forgive me for it but the circumstances demanded it since it sounded like there was an alliance against me-Vash-ghug. This was only amplified after Vash got voted out and I was legitimately afraid that was the end of the game for me. It didn’t help that you told me I was a target because of my white rock. I just had to do what I could to stop it so that I wouldn’t be targeted after ghug. I hope you understand this and forgive me for it.
I would very much like your vote if you think my honesty begets it.

Snowy: I assume you’re voting for Floom and I kinda stand by my statement that I have no idea what you were doing in the final council. If you wanna vote me anyway I’d be okay with that :D

Ghuggles: I have no words :’( you should be here with me

TLDR; I’m really awesome and rly cute plz vote 4 me <3

Fluminator's Opening Statement (He is currently absent so I'll post for him):

Hey all. Thanks everyone for a great game, and regardless of the outcome I had a lot of fun and thanks to Meme for giving me a chance to play a game the closest to actual survivor I’ll ever get (since I’m Canadian I’ll never be able to sign up for the real one)
I believe I played the best game out of these three. I imagine some of you only want a short summary while others are more interested in a very detailed rundown of my game. I encourage the people short on time to just read the final paragraph.
I’ll cover every vote-off, where you will see how active I was in strategizing and ensuring I made it to the end. I hope the game will speak for itself in that it was the best one out of the final 3 players.
Tribe 1: Fluminator, Snowy, Ezio, Bozo, Glen, Jamiet, Yoyo
Jamiet vote off:
I knew going into it, it would be a bit of a crapshoot in terms of where alliances would end up since there wasn’t much to base it off, and my only goal was to get into a solid alliance where I wasn’t the perceived leader and thus not likely a target of idol recoil if it doesn’t work. In the end the alliance that formed consisted of me, snowy, Glen, and Ezio (with Ezio definitely being the guy who started it and the one in charge). I managed to convince Jamiet to target Yoyo which gave a nice distraction and decoy vote. Using the distraction, the vote swung to bozo (which was partly just unlucky on bozo’s part in my opinion) Ezio, despite being the main reason bozo was being voted, ended up tipping off bozo to play an idol to get Jamiet to go home.
The end result ended up being the alliance of me, snowy, glen, and Ezio being in charge of the tribe, with outsiders Yoyo and Bozo (one not having an idol anymore). I had my safety base and now ready to start playing the game.

Exile vote:
Now that the alliance was firmly established, we jumped at this twist/opportunity to start getting our alliance contacts from other tribes so when the tribe shuffle happens, the chances of ending on the right side of the numbers would be greater. Ezio wanted to go, and snowy and I were fine letting him go since we knew he was going to be a shield in the later game since he was going to develop a big target on his back because of how hard he was playing the game at this stage.

Yoyo vote:
The plan we agreed on before Ezio left was to blindside yoyo round 2, and then take out bozo in the final round so the alliance could all make it through. However, at this point, my relationship with Glen wasn’t ideal. Whether it was because he was super busy, or something else, he was never really opening up to me or talking strategy, and I knew both Ezio and snowy completely trusted and liked him a great amount. I knew that since I wasn’t getting much progress on talking to Glen, and the other alliance members felt close to him, that I had to make sure I was still higher in the hierarchy than him, so I convinced Yoyo and bozo to vote for Glen. Since I wasn’t willing to lose my alliance with snowy over it, I tipped snowy off that we were targeting Glen. I figured best case he goes home, worst case snowy tips him off to play an idol and it’s wasted. (Which makes me an objectively more useful alliance member). In then end snowy tipped off Glen and Yoyo went home, but my mission was still accomplished, and I felt much more comfortable about my position in the alliance.
Bozotheclown vote:
At this point uclabb joined the tribe, and I made sure to instantly link up with him since I knew he was the best contact I had with the other tribes and he gave me the best chance of being in a swap with allies. With him joining the party, the vote came down to the two people without the idols (bozo and Glen). I wanted Glen gone, snowy wanted bozo gone, and uclabb wanted bozo gone. I acquiesced and felt bad for bozo, but at this point of the game I figured it was still pre-jury and that voting against him twice would probably not affect me later in the endgame because he wouldn’t be able to vote against me on the jury. (But then he won the redemption island twist lol)

Tribe 2: Fluminator, ghug, demon overlord, bo sox, Moscowfleet, Commander Byron, Oztra

So after the last vote I figured I had a pretty good chance at ending in a swap with allies (and I had worked towards maximizing the chances of that happening), but lo and behold literally everyone I talked to ended up on the opposing tribe. Snowy, Ezio, Uclabb, Glen, Bozo, all of them ended on the other tribe and I had to start from scratch again.
At the auction, I pushed for mainly focusing on the tribal immunity since I recognized how important it would be to only have to drop to 4 players before the merge instead of 3. In the end though we lost, and I had to plan for getting into the final 3 of the tribe.
MoscowFleet vote:
I saw the tribe split into two main groups: ghug and bo sox were on one side. Moscow, Oztra, Demon, and Byron on the other side. Knowing I had to plan for being in the top 3, I knew I couldn’t afford to let ghug or bo get eliminated at this stage, so I tipped them off they were being targeted so they could use their idols. The plan was to take out someone on Moscow’s side (my hope was Oztra), and then to bounce back and forth between the sides until the final merge. Something that surprised me though was Demon’s betrayal of her side to join with me and ghug for that vote. The vote eventually swung to Moscow because Demon felt he was the biggest threat with an idol still (Moscow actually was probably my last choice in terms of who to target out of his group since I felt we were working well together at that point, but I still needed someone to go from his side, and him going home definitely still benefited my game).
CommanderByron vote:
The result ended up being and alliance of me, ghug, demon, and bo. Byron and Oztra were on the outs with no idol giving easy votes, and if the tribe went to 4, we agreed bo had no idol and would go in that situation if necessary. (Although at this point we assumed there would be a twist which would prevent that from being necessary).
I had managed to get back into the dominant alliance structure on this new tribe, despite coming in alone of previous allies or contacts. I was quite happy. We took out Byron because he had a blue container which we didn’t want to deal with another person getting.
Mutiny:
When Meme announced the mutiny twist, I knew right away that I was mutinying. Even though I was probably safe all the way to the merge with relative ease at this point, I wanted to ensure I was still on top of all the information of what was going on from both tribes. Ghug and I figured it would also potentially allow the entire 4 way alliance to make the merge and we wouldn’t have to vote bo (although rip bo later anyway). Also, when Glen was the one that went home, I knew something crazy happened over there and needed to figure it out.
Uclabb vote:
So when I left I thought I’d be joining up with the alliance of snowy/ezio/uclabb again, but when I get there they all splintered and broke up. To make things even more interesting, Ezio, snowy, and Balki all started messaging me saying uclabb was a huge threat and needed to go. (This was the first time I met Balki in the game and if you can’t guess, we ended up working together quite a bit). Bozo was also there and it hurt because I knew there was almost no way he’d want to work with me closely ever again.

Originally I thought it was great everyone was telling me the target was uclabb, because I’d just tip of uclabb to play an idol and I could get a lot of control over who went home next. But then next thing I knew uclabb had traded away his idol to Ezio for the red rock. Then Ezio did something that really sealed Uclabb’s fate and whether it was intention or not I’m not sure, but Ezio changed the secondary target to snowy. (originally it was bozo). Maybe he knew snowy and I were close and he was worried I wouldn’t go along with the uclabb vote. Whatever it was, it made me play along with the uclabb blindside because I couldn’t allow snowy to go home. (He helped get me immunity a couple rounds ago).
In the end, uclabb did go home, but I did manage to make a close alliance with Balki, and I reunited with snowy and ezio. Once again I was part of the main alliance structure of a tribe.
Bozo vote again:
Ezio and Balki originally decided to vote out snowy at this point and for most of the tribal he was the target. However, I knew bozo would never be close to me again, and I was still closely allied with snowy and didn’t want him going at this stage. I tipped off snowy that something fishy was going on, and I’m not entirely sure what snowy did but he convinced Ezio to change his mind. Ezio temporarily tried to target me next, but Balki and Snowy told him no, and the vote ended on bozo.
This round is probably more impressive on snowy’s part that he got people to change their mind, but it’s also another example of me being proactive to make sure the people I want to keep around, stick around.
Final merge: Flum, Balki, Demon, Ghug, Snowy, Ezio, Vash
Vash vote:
So, final merge I set myself in a really good position because I was in the dominant alliance structure from both tribes merging. I was with ghug and demon (rip bo), and I was with the Ezio/Snowy/Balki group
The only person in the merge who I had no alliance with was Vash. Another thing unique about Vash was I had no idea who his relations were. Everyone always spoke about Vash vaguely, and Vash was being very careful in the information he was giving me. Vash also had some mysterious advantage which scared me. I figured he would be the safest first target for me so I mentioned to pretty much everyone I wanted Vash gone. Absolutely no one seemed keen on taking Vash out at this point though. So I had a crazy idea to take him out.
Since Balki won immunity, Ezio and I were supposed to play our idols to brute force ghug’s idol and vote him out. Ghug was also playing an idol, and he was expecting me to play an idol to brute force Ezio’s idol and take him out. I didn’t play my idol so all votes wouldn’t count, and I could take out Vash with one vote. And it worked!
The move was not done to dodge the vote steal. I didn’t know Vash had it.
Ezio vote:
After Vash went home, ghug and demon still wanted to target Ezio. (Snowy and I were correct he was going to end up being a shield). Snowy and Ezio were still targeting ghug, and both sides thought that Balki and I were with them. Balki told me at this round, he would vote for whoever I did. Whether he said that because he wanted to make sure we stayed loyal together after I found out he was withholding very important information from me (Vash’s vote steal), or if it was because he was immune as heck from finding all the hidden immunity idols I’m not too sure, but once again I got the deciding vote.
I decided Ezio was more of a threat than ghug at this stage, and that Ezio was pretty much the only person in the game at that point who expressed any interest to target me. I knew he was the most likely person to recognize me as a threat and try to take me out. Another reason I targeted him was I wanted to be snowy’s main alliance partner, and I felt like Ezio might have been closer to snowy than I.
Even though I decided to take out Ezio pretty early, I pretended to be on the fence a little so I could get Demon’s white rock out of it. I told her I’d vote him out if I got the white rock. It actually worked and I managed to get it, which I knew would be huge in the final 4 vote.
Snowy vote:
This was the only vote in the merge where I temporarily lost a bit of control (although I was still never in danger of going home). I figured it would be a very bad idea to let both ghug and demon get into the final 4 since they are an obvious pair, and I figured Balki would have no issue taking out ghug at this stage with me and snowy. However, Balki wanted snowy gone because he thought it would increase his chances of being in the final 3. I think it was a huge mistake on Balki’s part to let one of ghug or demon make it to the end because they’re both huge threats to win. Anyway, snowy went home, but I was still in good shape and never in danger.
Ghug vote:
I won immunity, and had the white rock so I could decide who to take to the end. I decided on ghug and told him why I was voting him out. We had a long chat about why I felt he was the most likely person to beat me. In summary, he was the target every round and always managed to survive. He was much more honest and upfront while Balki was much more sneaky and played a game similar to me. I think I played a better sneaky game than Balki and can argue against him to win. Ghug would have been much harder to argue against since his game was so different. (And although demon might win too, I’m pretty sure the perception was that ghug was more of a threat than her because he was always the one being targeted) Finally ghug was sent home, and just in time too.
Summary:
I played a very proactive game to maximize my chances of being in the end. Whenever a twist came up I would plan around it to make the best use of it for my game as possible. After getting in the alliance on the first tribe, I quickly made progress towards getting cross tribal alliances. I was able to get into the alliance structure on the newly swapped tribe, but even then I wasn’t getting lazy. I mutinied away from safety to the unknown to make sure going into the merge I had as much information as possible. I got into the core alliance on that tribe as well and entered the merge with partners from every side.
This setup resulted in a merge where I was in complete control of 3 of the 4 votes which is pretty good I think. I was the reason Vash went home. I was the one who decided Ezio went home. I was the one who decided ghug went home. The only merge round that I temporarily lost the controlling vote was Snowy’s but I was still never in any danger and in good shape to survive future rounds.

I think I played a very good game. I wasn’t afraid to make moves that could endanger me, if it meant I could have a better chance at winning. As fun as I had, there were several votes that I didn’t enjoy making despite knowing it was necessary, and this really isn’t a game you feel good about while playing at all times, but I hope everyone else still had fun too.
I look forward to questions! Thanks

This thread is now open for discussion between the three survivors and the eleven Jurors. Full list of people allowed to post here:

Survivors:
Balki Bartokomous
DemonOverlord
Fluminator

Jury
1. MoscowFleet
2. Glen_Alexander
3. CommanderByron
4. Uclabb
5. Oztra
6. Bozotheclown
7. Bo_sox48
8. VashtaNeurotic
9. Ezio
10. Snowy801
11. Ghug

I think everyone is too busy playing mafia now :p

Hey Flum,
You voting Ezio directly cost me my game, for all that you promised me friendship and trust through the entire game.
Given this, why should I vote for you, who betrayed the pact and sent me packing?

Dear Demon,
I am strongly inclined to vote for you. If you have any particular reason why I in particular, and not merely the jury as a whole, should vote for you please let me know.

My dearest, Balki
Please drown in a boiling pool of dysentery and suffering.
With all my love,
Snowy

Balki, do you think you had any actual credibility once everyone could see what you were doing, or was it more a matter of people playing along because they understood your temporary usefulness to them?

Demon makes claims to honesty and loyalty, whereas Flum and Balki make no such claims. To them, do you agree with that assessment of her play as compared to yours? To her, I ask whether you think that playstyle made your path to the end easier or harder.

Flum, do you still not understand how math works?

As an aside, Balki, I didn't lie to you. I was not determined whether vote you or Ezio out in the slightest, especially as there seemed to be this strange impression that I was in his pocket for reasons beyond me.
Whatever information that flowed through you was a lie, but congratulations on throwing aside your chance to win, I guess.

"Sweet Bo_sox: I actually rather liked your weird fake screenshot stunt, your desire to continue on was admirable but if I couldn’t have Oztra in the final tribe then ghug wasn’t allowed to have you."

This is legitimately creepy.

@ghug,

Yes, I think I had a ton of credibility. I have a survey to prove it:

https://www.quicktopic.com/52/H/H3U9rNmBM2zA3

I think there are a few other good examples of the credibility I had: I never received a single vote, I was never the target of any plan to vote me out, and despite the suggestion from several that I would win if I made it to the final jury, I was able to enter the final four with a high likelihood of surviving to argue before the jury no matter who won immunity.

So you don't think it was obvious to everyone how consistently full of shit you were? I chose to work with you anyway, so joke's on me, but that just seems a little naive.

"As an aside, Balki, I didn't lie to you."

@Snowy:

I don't think you lied to me. I think you told me the truth. You would not agree to a final three deal with you. For that reason, it was in my interest to vote you out.

Also, I think it would be too bad if you cast your vote based on what you perceive as a personal slight. Just as people who were stabbed by other players shouldn't vote against folks just based on a stab. This is a vote for one million dollars! I hope everyone thinks carefully about who they think played the best game.

"So you don't think it was obvious to everyone how consistently full of shit you were? I chose to work with you anyway, so joke's on me, but that just seems a little naive."

I think I have a large body of evidence to support me on this, ghug. I was able to control most of the votes, and earn a lot of trust.

Snowy: well, I didn't betray you and I was upfront about what I was doing with you. I think that is a good reason to vote for me.

Ghug: For the final tribe, it was problematic when we were facing the Brisban alliance as pretending to be on their side, especially with Ezio, would probably have helped us out and maybe even saved Vash? Though I'm not too sure about that. But I actually think it ultimately managed to work in my favour (duh I'm here), because people bought that I would do what I say and I think it gets harder to stab someone who's been extremely honest to you. The last bit between you and Balki was extremely tough for my mental health however, as I promised not to vote him and I had my alliance with you. So I was stuck voting myself, which was risky af.

Bo: Why??? Sorry.

You were able to control votes because your interests aligned with others'. You're undoubtedly good at making your interests seem desirable to others. That doesn't mean I ever truly trusted you for a moment, with the possible exception of our first tribe, when the stakes were low, and I imagine that the rest of the jury will feel similarly.

Demon, I can't really put it into words, but it just seems like something the evil witch in a Disney movie would say in the midst of explaining her incredible plot to steal away the main character and somehow destroy their life forever.

Balki, I don't think this game was just about "who played best" - whatever that might be. The very reason there is a jury that was voted out rather than a bunch of judges who had no actual part of the game is because you need to be careful of what you say/do because these are the people who are going to vote for you to win. Stabbing and being overall slimey is a foolish way to play a game where the people you vote out are the ones who can make you win. That being said, I think the jury should ABSOLUTELY take into factor alliances and the content of the game as it impacts them.

@Balki-
1. When we made our deal, you were insistent on making me agree to a pact: if one of us betrayed the other, we would not vote for that person at final tribal. I know that you also pushed this deal going into the merge with Birsan (that's already 5 jurors), and I'm confident that you said something like that to others as well. Do you expect us to not honor a pact that you initiated? Why is it impressive that in order to make it to the end of the game you had to break your word with every single one of the jurors? Isn't that the exact opposite of the goal of a game where it is the people you vote out who choose the winner?

2. In what way was there no fall out from voting out Glen Alexander? Did you feel like the game was in control at that point?

The person who played best is the person who wins
Though the results of the final jury is not in, I do not for a moment suspect that Balki was the one who played best. The votes will tell, in the end
You threw away your long term prospects for temporary security, Balki, and that is why nobody will consider you for the victory

Also, for all my grumbling I'm really not mad or offended or anything like that at you. I really like you as a person and player, in these variety of games we play together.
I just think you made several missteps at the end which cost you the game

Demon, would you have voted for Balki with me if I'd had the white rock instead of him?

It especially makes no sense for you to claim that you didn't think I would take you to the end, as I told you that after Ezio was sent lynched that I would consider no other to stand by my side. In that sense, my understanding of your plans were truly shortsighted, and you burned bridges which should've been left hanging for reasons I cannot conceive

also Lol @flum thinking I didn't know I was on the chopping block.

yeah balki that was a beeeeet creepy
i dont feel safe...

shit not balki do
jeez rip me

Ghug, if you had any chance of survival I think I would have ultimately voted alongside you.

Bo, Oztra: you can call me Ursula