Post by Malcolm on Oct 18, 2015 22:15:06 GMT
It is very surreal to be sitting in the Finale after everything that has transpired over the course of the season. I went to hell and back to make it here and I can honestly say that I am proud of the game I have played. I wasn’t sure what to expect when I was first invited to play an AIM Survivor for the first time, let alone did I even have a clue what AIM was. I; however, was up for the challenge and went into this thing with the intention of playing big or going home. And that is exactly what I did – I embraced the strategic and social elements of this game and took it by storm.
I took risks to better my position while also looking to keep the people I valued as allies safe. Sometimes those risks failed miserably such as when I gave immunity to Fairplay to encourage him to let me carry out my plan to threaten rocks and intimidate someone into flipping at Final 6, while other times they paid off miraculously like the time I manipulated Greg into screwing up the plan to split the votes between Alex and I with my fake double vote scheme, back on the Backsteet Boys tribe. Not only did I find both hidden immunity idols available to me in this game, I utilized them both to take out players that I saw as threats to me. Both plays succeeded and I also wasn't targeted immediately after either of them because I played it cool and controlled the perception that I wasn't the biggest threat. Through success and minimal failure, I played this game with balls – I did everything I could to navigate my way to the end, the way I wanted to get there.
Take away the flashy moves I pulled off though and I still had a raw social game that I put a lot of focus into. I made it a point to not just talk strategy with you guys, but to also try and get to know you on a personal basis. It’s those deep conversations I’ve had with LJ about the toll school can have on us or with Penner about dealing with the shitty parts of life in general are what prevents this game from becoming shallow. This is a social game, and without investing into that, there is absolutely no reason as to why someone should be rewarded when Final Tribal Council comes rolling by. I was open to people and that got me places. It is why I was positioned so well on the Letterman tribe with connections to every single member of it. I had a tight connection with Taj before he went AWOL and the pairings of Penner/Alexis and Danielle/Dolly wanted to target each other. I played center stage and built my connections up with both parties in preparation for a tribe-swap, without isolating myself from anyone. And those connections I made early on with Fairplay, Steph, and Lindsey; three players not even on my first two tribes helped contribute a ton to the amount of power I had once the merge hit. That was all a huge stepping stone in getting me to where I am today and it's because I put effort into establishing relationships with as many people across the board as possible.
Now, I can sit here and go all in-depth about my game, but I decided that it would just make sense to go over the kind of nitty-gritty stuff during the jury questions. Whether I think I played a great game or not doesn’t matter -- ultimately the only thing that matters is how you perceive it as the jury. Like Kenny said, don’t take it easy on us. Now is your time to really assess who you want to win this game and I truly hope by the end of this FTC, you will be able to identify with certainty that it is me.
Bring on the questions.
