Sorry if that wasn't as serious an answer as you were hoping for. Admittedly I may have felt a little too secure seeing those initial percentages, but that second set was definitely a boot spur in my side. I'll try to list every "cutthroat" thing I can think of.
On original Bai Qi, Candice, Penner, and I immediately teamed up. We then formed two separate alliances, which we formed the core of--one with Ozzy and one with Sophie. At the same time, I couldn't fully trust them, seeing as both of them voted me out at F9 in Faroe for being too big a threat, and I knew I couldn't continue with both of them forever without being branded a serious threat. By the third round, Penner had grown wary of Candice's relationship to Sophie. I had made a duo with Cochran, and made no promises to Sarah, so it became clear that a Sophie boot may be the cleanest. When she threw out Penner's name, Ozzy and I both told him about it so that he would be the one to spearhead her boot (I didn't collaborate with Ozzy on this; I think we just both had the same idea). Meanwhile, I was affirming/baiting for more suspicions about Candice being closer to Sophie so that 1) neither of them would tell her about the vote, and 2) I could tell her about the vote myself, and that they were keeping her out of the vote but I trusted her too much to leave her in the dark. By the time of the actual vote, I had been both the instigator and the mediator, but only recognized as the latter, thus ensuring that I was both Penner's #2 and Candice's #2, and creating fractures that would either result in me being recruited by Penner or Candice to take out the other or would result in them taking each other out (as they did on Bai Qi 3.0). Either way, my threat level reduced dramatically, and there was no blood on my hands. Later, when I reconnected with Rory at the merge, he told me:
Rory wrote:I can't tell if it was purely Candice's idea.. but she told me Penner was acting strange with her because of some history between Candice and Sophie, that Candice failed to mention or some shit.
After the first tribe swap, Cochran was actually my closest ally, not Penner or Ozzy. I mentioned before having a duo with him, but the degree of it was much bigger than either of us let on. I actually pitched to him the idea to volunteer to be voted out so that he could gather intel. When we met back up, he was able to tell me that you and Kelly weren't actually as close as people were assuming, and that Kelly(? correct me if I'm not remembering correctly) was the alternate boot over on Shentu. Meanwhile, we were throwing out each other's names as backup boots and sending each other quotes so we'd know who was willing to vote whom. I can't say if he was 100% honest on that front, but as far as I know no one jumped at the idea to vote me out, and after finding out that every single person had reservations about him I lied to him repeatedly about people liking his essays (the most common complaint) so that he would send more and sink himself without realizing. At that point, I had already formed a sixsome with you/Penner/Ozzy/Courtney/Kelly (you pitched it to me right before the second swap, but Courtney actually pitched it to me the second day I met her), and formed a foursome (per Brenda's request; she picked me over Penner and Ozzy because I was fighting to save all three of us, while they were fighting to save themselves) of me/Brenda/Ashley/Cochran, leaving Sarah on the outs and myself allied with every single person besides her--without any fear of the two clashing because we were anticipating a swap at 18. This way I was on good terms with every person when we next swapped, and had a primary boot in Sarah and a backup boot in Cochran if we didn't actually swap at 18.
So when we swapped again and the only people I knew were Brenda and Wigles, that was still enough to keep me safe. Brenda and I discussed having the other four split the votes on me and Wigles so that we could do a 3-2-2 vote, but as time went on Wigles came to be a worse option to work with long-term than Andrea/Vytas/Mia. That was because I knew there was a 99% chance they wouldn't be willing to split the votes, so I was working with each of them to make sure Wigles was booted before me. While Brenda was assuring me I was making a better impression than her, I was sending Wigles those quotes and telling her I thought she was lying (I didn't) so that she'd think it was everyone vs. us two. Meanwhile I was giving her terrible advice. I told her to send a message to someone about voting them out and then send a follow-up damage control message as though she had sent it to the wrong person. She told me a plan about making a group chat on CometChat so that people see it and get paranoid. I encouraged her, knowing that she wouldn't be able to recruit anyone into it besides me. She also, as you said, came up with the theory that Vytas/Andrea/Brenda/Mia/Sarah/Ashley were in that pregame alliance. This one I actually shared with Vytas, who was the one of Vytas/Brenda/Mia/Andrea who was offering the least cracks (Andrea mentioned her annoyance with Vytas and Mia, Mia outright said she wanted a thing with me and Brenda, and Brenda and I were a duo by that point). I guess he didn't share that with anyone else, because by the time you were booted I was able to attribute it to you (didn't say you made it up, just said you believed in it, but Brenda/Mia/Andrea seemed to think I was implying you created the rumor, and I benefited from it so I wasn't about to correct them). My favorite saboteur technique, I didn't even get to use. I've mentioned that fake idol I made answering other jurors, but I actually made it specifically for Tianguan 3.0. Brenda told me that I was being considered to go because I was suspected of having an idol. So I was going to tell people that Wigles showed it to me and was going to play it on me, and that we needed to convince her someone else was going so she wouldn't play it and we could vote her out. By the time of Ozzygate, I had already integrated myself enough that I didn't need to take that risk, but I had been pushing my suspicion that Ozzy had gotten the idol--which apparently lasted for most of the merge, because Sarah told me at F8 that she was trying to flush his idol (then I went back to him with that information so he'd think she was lying, because as far as I know no one traced that rumor back to me). Also, because I was feeding her theory of the pregame alliance, she immediately pitched Ashley to Ozzy, which led to everyone being mad at her upon entering the merge. This is probably the longest paragraph, because I really fucked up Wigles' game. Nothing personal, just a matter of cramped tribes.
But during the merge she
still thought I was on her side. All while I was actively campaigning against her coup so that I wouldn't fuck up my relationships with Brenda/Vytas/Andrea/Mia. At one point she even told me that she had given up hope of the coup working, but that she was going to blow shit up at tribal so that she would be a shield to me and Ozzy. If I had known it'd result in personal attacks against Mia, I wouldn't have encouraged it, but I did and it was the nail in the coffin.
After that tribal, Andrea pitched your name to me, saying she didn't know where your loyalties lay. I agreed with her, and, even though I was pretty sure I was on your good side, was okay to vote you because you weren't talking to me as much as other people and it would be a clean boot. At that point I was talking to Brenda about voting Mia. Ozzy and I had started a group with Andrea/Brenda/Vytas, and I suggested that Mia going would make that group a lot cleaner, while also demonstrating a willingness to work with those on the outs. I figured if I could get you out without alienating Ozzy/Yul/Rudy, I would be set. Turns out Ozzy had no complaints with you going; Andrea had probably already pitched the idea to him. I egged you on to create that group chat by telling you I was down for the "coup" this round, but I never was. After you made that chat, I went to Rudy and Yul and talked about how you made it without talking to me at all, "and it's things like that that make me question her loyalty." They agreed that you were a bit impulsive in making that group, and were also confused in your decision to include Lil.
The next round, everyone I talked to except for Brenda told me they were down to vote Mia (side note: not sure if Vytas was actually down or was, like Brenda claimed, trying to demonstrate willingness without actually following through). I told Brenda that people were catching on that Mia wasn't actually as influential in the "Blue four" as everyone had assumed, and that if she waited another round she'd stop being a shield to her. But Brenda really wanted Lil out, because someone (I assume Rudy, because Lil threw him and Yul under the bus to Andrea the round before that they were considering voting Mia), had told Brenda that Lil said in the group chat she wanted Mia gone. I logged off about four hours before the vote and then a couple hours later logged in to Brenda having convinced everyone to change their vote to Lil somehow. I told her upfront that it wasn't a good move for her, and told her what had actually happened in that group chat (that Lil was dodging your question, while Rudy and Yul were considering voting Mia), but by then there was only a half hour before the vote and she thought it was too late. But my warning her probably led to her gifting me the idol later.
Around that time, Andrea also told me that Vytas backed out because "Big Cass fucking lied about Rudy and Yul being on board." I looked back in my PMs to him and saw that I had never even mentioned Rudy and Yul that whole round, so I knew he was either trying to create distrust between me and Andrea or was simply remembering wrong. It was probably the latter, but I told Andrea it was the former and raised a big stink about it to her. Andrea also told me about Vytas wanting to create an alliance between him/Andrea/Mia/Rory/Lil/Sarah, so clearly he had plans without me. I thought Andrea would be most willing to turn on Mia, and ever since the round before the merge I had been feeding Andrea negative quotes from Mia about her to fuel that fire. But because Vytas left her in the dark on the Brenda blindside until the last second, Andrea was pissed at him. That night we talked about blindsiding him (I actually told Ozzy that we might have to do Mia, then Vytas, thinking she wouldn't turn on him so readily, but she did), and that was even better for me because in the meantime I got to push a theory that Vytas proposed to Andrea about Mia inheriting Brenda's idol. And the longer Mia stayed in the game, the longer she was suspected of having it over me. So, after Andrea and I agreed that now was the time to blindside him, I told Ozzy to steer the conversation in that direction, and then they pulled in Rudy and Yul upon my suggestion. Because Vytas was Andrea's closest ally, and because I let she and Ozzy talk to Rudy and Yul before me, she immediately became a bigger threat than me and I was able to use her as a shield. Per Vytas' plan, he and Rory voted Sarah, Mia and Lil voted Rory, so we five could vote Vytas. And then Sarah voted Yul for some reason.
Next round, Sarah and Lil talk to me about creating a foursome with Ozzy, and neither Ozzy nor I really believe them. We think it could be a ploy for them to tip Mia off to play the idol. BUT if they're not trying something, we could gain the trust of two people on the outside. So this is the plan I come up with and tell Ozzy (source: my confessional):
Cassandra wrote:We tell Andrea/Yul/Rudy to vote Sarah, pitching it as a vote split. He, Rory, and I vote Mia. We tell Sarah and Lil after that they split the votes without telling us.
If(Sarah/Lil == truth && Mia != plays the idol)
then --> 5 Mia, 3 Sarah, 1 Rory (Mia goes home)
If(Sarah/Lil == truth && Mia == plays the idol)
then --> 5 Mia, 3 Sarah, 1 Rory (Sarah goes home)
If(Sarah/Lil != truth && Mia != plays the idol)
then --> 3 Mia, 3 Sarah, 3 whoever Sarah/Lil/Mia vote for --> 6 Mia/Sarah, 3 whoever Sarah/Lil/Mia vote for (Mia/Sarah goes home)
If(Sarah/Lil != truth && Mia == plays the idol)
then --> 3 Mia, 3 Sarah, 3 whoever Sarah/Lil/Mia vote for --> 6 Sarah, 3 whoever Sarah/Lil/Mia vote for (Sarah goes home)
Ultimately it didn't play out like that because Rory flipped, but I caught him in a lie right before tribal, and Andrea and I messaged Ozzy/Rudy/Yul "vote Lil" last minute. So we effectively Edgardo'd Lil while Ozzy and I still had the alibi that we were going to vote Mia, like we promised, until we figured out they were lying. From that vote on Sarah trusted me more than anyone else, and I was able to work with her to vote out Mia, Rudy, and Ozzy (her vote was inconsequential for the former two, but was
key for the latter one).
The next vote, I was still pushing the agenda that Mia had Brenda's idol, and I went to some great fucking lengths to work around an idol that I knew she didn't have just to convince people I didn't have it. I came up with a vote split where 3 voted Mia and 2 voted Sarah but we told Rory it was reversed so that if he "tipped Mia off to play her idol she'd play it on Sarah by mistake." Ozzy also had a fake idol that Wigles had given him (probably from a past season) and told me to play it on Mia so that she wouldn't play her own. I knew that he was probably asking me to do it instead of doing it himself so that my flashiness would be noted, but it also pretty definitively convinced people that I didn't have Brenda's idol so I went with it. Mia goes home 5-2-1, I secure Sarah's trust and we confirm Rory's.
Next round was a unanimous Rudy vote. It was easy to rally people behind that because he had won Most Likely to Win a couple rounds prior, I had hinted at him going to Rory and Sarah, and I had already talked to Ozzy about him going (and Ozzy said he could get Yul on board). The hardest vote was actually Andrea, because she was reluctant to vote for someone she liked so much, but luckily Rudy messaged me after the Mia tribal saying that he and I were the biggest threats and that we should stick together because Andrea and Yul would surely turn eventually. I gave Andrea that quote, and that made it a little easier for her to write his name down (to her credit, she would've done it anyway because she's a trooper, but I might as well mention it if we're talking "cutthroat" plays).
At F6 I immediately sparked discussion with Andrea about us not being in Ozzy's F3 plans, picking out a quote from him from a couple rounds ago in response to
me pointing out that we needed to get rid of Andrea eventually. In parallel, I was extending the conversation with Ozzy and Yul about whether we vote Sarah or Andrea out so that I'd have more quotes to feed Andrea and so that they'd be too distracted talking to me to talk strategy with her, making them seem more suspicious. At this point my intent was to go to F4 with Andrea, knowing that if I was at risk of going home she would fight for me to stay, and that if I wasn't at risk I could still use her as a shield even if the jury had actually soured on her. I knew I would be safe at F5 because of my idol, so I was aiming for Ozzy to go at F6. If he didn't, and he won immunity at F5, then Ozzy/Yul/Rory (Sarah wouldn't be there in this case) would probably vote out Andrea. Then at F4, my four options would be 1) I win immunity and we vote out Ozzy (or maybe he and Yul would even force a tie against Rory, I'm not sure), 2) I lose immunity and get voted out, 3) I lose immunity and Ozzy goes to rocks for me (already too risky, but if I survive then Ozzy could very easily win the game), or 4) I lose immunity and Ozzy and I convince Yul or Rory to vote for the other (very unlikely, and, again, I'd have to go to FTC with Ozzy). Unfortunately, Rory flipped and voted out Andrea for reasons I still don't really understand. But even so, we could have forced a tie with Sarah, but Andrea started talking about Sarah having locked jury votes at tribal and Sarah switched her vote (which I don't blame her for).
At F5, I was safe no matter what because of my idol. My immunity win was more so that Ozzy wouldn't win it. Even without my idol, though, the vote was going to be for Sarah. Which allowed me to ensure that Sarah would vote how I wanted her to. Rory was also let in on the plan, but again switched his vote because he genuinely thought Sarah was the biggest threat to win, which made my idol play necessary.
At F4, Sarah told me she was voting with me because she was indebted to me. She's saying differently now, but considering that there was no reason to lie at F4 I don't fully believe her that she wasn't considering it. Regardless, taking out Ozzy (and Mia, Vytas, Rudy before that) ensured that I was the strongest challenge competitor in the F4. I won the challenge with an over 15 minute lead, so clearly I positioned myself correctly.
That may have been more scatterbrained than I intended, because I was mostly just listing off shit as I remembered it and then retroactively trying to order it chronologically. So if you need clarification on something, or something seems counter-intuitive, lemme know and I'll be happy to explain.
Posted: Fri Aug 25, 2017 4:22:37 am
