I’d like to begin by apologizing for the length of this speech… my hobby is writing novels after all. Please bear with me.
I was cautious when Matt asked me to play this season because I knew that my time would be limited. I agreed, however, because of my love of the game and because I still dream of that coveted 2-win record that so few have achieved. Those who have played with me know that I love playing mind games, testing allies, and controlling as many aspects of the game as I can. Frankly put, I love the strategic aspect of the game. Knowing my time was limited I questioned if I could play such a game, so I went into day one uncertain on how I would approach it.
As it turned out there were three previous winners (CC, Kal, and Byrd), one of them (Byrd) and I had a falling out in the previous game and I’ve had some challenging times with CC as well. I saw that SF had signed up to play and while he hasn’t won a season yet he’s definitely one of the best currently playing. Then I saw that there were quite a few newer players for the more experienced people to play with and I realized right away that I had no idea where I was going to fall.
So I made a call. As I’ve stated before in the thread, I’m a huge fan of the show Big Brother and my favorite player of all time is a guy named Dan. He won his challenge with a strategy that I never cared to try… but I adopted it this game: The Art of the Throw. Against so many talented players and knowing that my time would be more limited than usual my strategy was to appear as weak as possible, so I decided early on to throw every single challenge. I participated in every challenge and gave significant effort so that people would know that I wasn’t just floating by on someone else’s coat tails but I made sure I came up shy of winning each time. The only challenge I intended on winning was the last one, and I did just that.
This served for two purposes. First, I hoped that it would put a larger target on the players who were winning, and seeing Kal targeted so much after his 3 challenge win streak shows me that it was working. If I’m remembering correctly I was only voted against twice this whole game (and not in the same week), which is actually very good. That tells me that my plan worked and I was never the primary threat. My second purpose for throwing challenges was to appear as weak as possible so that others would take me to the finals for an “easy” victory. Fortunately, this was unnecessary as I got to the final 2 on my own.
So that was my strategy going into the game… now for the alliances aspect. I knew that if I was going to be displaying Dan’s “The Art of the Throw” I would need strong players to take the bullets along the way. So the first thing I did was agree to an alliance with SF and Kal. Once that was set up I contacted the two players who I feared and worried would target me, CC and Byrd. I worked out any differences we might have had and formed alliances with them as well. My goal was to merge SF, Kal, CC, Byrd, and I into one big alliance and to appear as the weakest link, lining up the biggest targets in one alliance. We’d either run the game or I’d make it a lot farther than the others and I’d be alone with the newer players, which I felt comfortable with. Sadly, Byrd wasn’t able to get into that alliance and when he targeted Kal I had to choose between alliances. I didn’t want to but it’s the name of the game, and I chose the stronger alliance for my own Survival. Sorry, Byrd.
Knowing that this was a Mod vs. Member game, I also had to build relationships with Members. I had Byrd but two people alone wasn’t going to go far, and as former champions I assumed we would be targeted. So I quickly made witty banter and built friendships with the members, specifically DACrowe and SML. (Do note: I always agreed to work with these two people but I never actually agreed to align with them or to take them to final 3 or anything of that nature. I knew that I was going to have to eventually cut them and I didn’t want to break my word… so I didn’t give it.) knew that SML was with CC so I felt pretty secure with her. Crowe didn’t seem to be with anyone but he proved to be a good ally and I decided early to take him as far as I possibly could. SML had been a stronger ally and I had every intention of trying to get her to final 5 so that she had a chance to make it further. She had been very loyal to CC and I and had played a fantastic game. I knew that she was closer to CC than I (I judged from an early conversation with CC) but that didn’t bother me. When she and CC were swayed away from us by Parker (according to CC… and kudos to Parker on that one by the way) I was polite and approached them both, breaking our connections. I wasn’t sneaky about it, it was face to face. It wasn’t anything personal and I hope it didn’t come across as such, but the line had been drawn and I chose to remain with the allies that had remained true, SF and Kal.
The last person who I had a connection with, I feel, came late in the game. Craig and I were paired together as sheep in the Wolf/Sheep challenge and he seemed like a good guy. I was glad that he was working with SF, and therefore, with us. When CC and SML turned I was actually pretty happy to substitute Craig in their place. For selfish purposes, I felt it would be easier getting by Craig in the final 4 than CC, but also because you seldom have the opportunity to reward side alliances in such a way as taking them to the final four with you. In this game, side alliances are often cut in the final 5-7. Sadly, SML’s winning the challenge broke our plan and we had to let him go during final 5. I was happy to see SML make it to final 4, as she really had been a good ally prior to the betrayal and I like her a great deal. She deserved the spot as much as Craig, but our intent at that time was to take Craig. His plan to let fate decide which of the four of us to send home by voting for CC and ourselves was a noble and respectful one, but one I couldn’t get behind. Do note: Of Kal, SF, and I… I was the only one who didn’t agree to do this and then go back on my word. (Sorry SF and Kal

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And so, that was pretty much the gist. I decided to give a false impression of weakness to keep the target on other people while allying with strong players to control the votes and keep myself safe. I attempted to win only one challenge, the final one, and succeeded, getting myself into the final 2. My core alliance was SF, Kal, and CC… and later Craig in CC’s place, and my side alliances were SML, DACrowe, and Byrd. Sadly, I had no connection to Parker and have little to say on his game play but I will admit to being impressed with his breaking up the core 4 alliance. It didn’t quite pan out for him but impressive nonetheless. With this only being his second game (I believe) I see some real potential there. The only other person in the jury is Showtime, who I also had little connection with. I will say though that I was greatly impressed with him during the first few rounds of the game. He was a big contributor during the first few competitions, so much that I actually mentioned to my allies at one point that we need to either ally with him or get rid of him quickly because he had the potential to be a big threat to us. So Show, take that as a compliment toward how impressed I was with you.
So that’s it. SF and I played together from day one, made all the calls alongside our allies, and ran the game as good players try to do. I played a more subtle game and he played a more traditional one, winning challenges and building a resume. Now it’s up to you, the jury, to decide which game play should be rewarded with the title of victor. Here’s hoping it’s me
Vote Jewhob final 2