Ty's Questions to the Final 3

[ty]

The name of the game is "Can You Survive?"

Host, Brandon Clark did an amazing job hosting this game, so let's get that out of the way and then move on to what this game actually was.

It was a game where two people swapped tribes every single round (until merge) with three idols in play. What this does is force the players to act. It creates an environment of social encouragement where as a normal game could become stale and predictable. It opens up gameplay for those players who may be screwed from the very beginning by giving them an opportunity to "mutiny" or if they wish play both sides. It was a brilliant set up and forced myself and many others to reconsider how they played the game of survivor.


My first statement/question is for Dylan.

With all that being said, Dylan, you never once had to banish anyone, were banished yourself, or had to endure any kind of complicated tribal vote. I believe that it can be argued that you never had to actually play the game until merge, at least when compared to the other two in the final three with you. Convince me that this is not the case.

[dylan]

Feb 13, 2015 9:55:14 GMT -5 ty said:

My first statement/question is for Dylan.

With all that being said, Dylan, you never once had to banish anyone, were banished yourself, or had to endure any kind of complicated tribal vote. I believe that it can be argued that you never had to actually play the game until merge, at least when compared to the other two in the final three with you. Convince me that this is not the case.

Ty,

The fact that I didn't get banished was due to the fact that I was playing a social game. Everyone thought that I was loyal to them throughout the tribal phase. Every round, I talked to the new leader because I did not want to get banished. I told them important information so that they could trust me.

LEADERS:
Round 1 - Cody
Didn't have to do much because Lindsay and Joseph were both considered weak and I did not want to stand out. Cody, Patrick, Santiago, and I were a 4-some and we're created in the midst of round 1/round 2.

Round 2 - Tadeo
Our tribe played Epic Mafia every night and the only person not apart of that was Warren. We won the challenge and I assumed Warren would be the one to be banished since he was not close to the group.

Round 3 - Ty
You told a lot of information to Patrick and he told Santiago, Cody, and myself all of it. We let you believe that Cody/I were a pair and that Santiago/Patrick/Tadeo were close so that you could try to work off these groups and feel safe within two smaller groups.

Round 4 - Catie
She was close to Santiago. Santiago, her, and myself created a smaller chat and actually recorded your conversations with Santiago and Catie and shared them among ourselves. I was not in fear of being banished because of my alliance with Catie and Santiago.

Round 5 - Corey
This was the first round where I was TERRIFIED of being banished. We all knew that he was going to either banish, ME, CODY, PATRICK, or SANTIAGO. Catie told him to keep me and Santiago. Also, I told him in a conversation that I was voting him out and he didn't have the numbers to stay because I was afraid of him banishing me. I was hoping that by telling him the truth, he wouldn't banish me. I also feigned to try to save him but he didn't have the votes to stay because Jared was also lying to him. Luckily, he banished Patrick.

Round 6 - Joseph
This round kind of doesn't count because Joseph banished someone to the merge so it was a good thing.

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In conclusion, I was never banished BECAUSE of my social game. I was playing the game all throughout tribal. And I think it should be to my credit that I was never banished. I was never considered a super threat to get out NOR was I considered to not be apart of any group and needed to leave. I was always regarded as an integral member of whoever was the new tribe leader so they wanted to keep me around because they thought I was going to vote with them.

[ty]

Thank you Dylan.

Next up is Eric.

We are playing a game where most of us would like to be in your position and to be frank played a lot harder to try and make it to your position. Riding coat-tails (by your own admission) is largely considered a lazy or undesirable way to reward someone for playing in the ORG community. I was personally ready to reward you with my vote for simply being one of my only allies to make it to the end, however I was taken aback by your statements of using Igor and I as a shield "only to get rid of us later". In a game where you must convince the jury that you are the most deserving to win, I am curious as to why you decided to proclaim that you rode coattails and were using your only early allies simply as shields. It just doesn't seem like a good argument to make.

[Eric]

Thanks for your question, Ty.

I think that several people enter into the game of Survivor under the assumption that, to win, you have to make huge moves. You have to come into this game, be the leader, be a manipulator, be a schemer, and make big, showy moves to get you to the end. I think this game is much more complex than that. While big moves are great, it’s not the only valid strategy that is worthy of a win. For that reason, I think it’s unfair for you to say that I didn’t work as hard as others to get here. I adapted a different strategy than many, but that doesn’t mean that I didn’t work my ass off to get to Final Three. There are several points where I could have laid down and died and joined the jury, but I kept fighting, despite having the numbers CONSTANTLY against me, and I got myself here.
Sure, I admitted that I rode some coattails. But, to be frank, riding coattails is OKAY. Everyone sitting here in this finale rode someone’s coattails to get further in the game, but not everyone is going to be willing to admit that. Riding coattails at certain parts of this game certainly saved my ass, so I’m thankful that I chose to do so periodically throughout. Now, had my game been entirely one huge ride to the finale, then I wouldn’t deserve your vote, and I would be willing to admit that. But riding coattails when appropriate, and making independent, intentional, strategic moves when appropriate, falls into that key point of adaptability that I mentioned in my opening statement. Teaming up with Joseph and Dylan to take out Igor and Catie in back to back rounds was definitely just one important example to set myself apart.
Along those same lines, everyone sitting here had a shield, whether they realized it or not. Yes, I was super intentional about having a shield. I valued my allies, but I also know that there can only be one winner, and I wanted it to be me. So, in that vein, it would be silly of me to keep one of my allies in this game if I know that they could beat me in the end. What isn’t silly, though, is keeping these people in the game for a while to keep the target OFF of me. I would be lying to the jury and giving a dishonest plea if I sat here and said that I had the fullest intentions of going to the end with Igor. I knew that Igor was playing hard, and he set himself up as a threat. I’m not afraid to admit that I took full advantage of that. I knew that, ultimately, if our duo was ever targeted, Igor would leave before me, and I would have time to scramble and make something happen. It’s a part of the game. Like I said, I valued all of my allies. I didn’t view them as “simply” shields as you state. There was a lot more to my alliances than just having them as a shield, but I can’t comfortable and honestly say that I wanted to go to the end with many of my allies.

[ty]

Thank you Eric, and lastly for you Joseph.

During the game you were in possession of two idols. One of them you played at Himera's very first tribal council (which many players considered a waste) and the other you never even once told anyone you had. Explain to the jury why you decided to use your one idol early on but not your second one.

[josephmur]

Well Ty, my reasoning behind using the first idol was, when we all got on call to decide what to do it was kind of a Alex, Kevin, Igor, Eric VS Catie, Corey, Joseph kind of thing. Since the majority of everyone wanted to vote out Bailey thats what was going to be done. I saw this more as a foreshadowing of how the game would go, and wasn't comfortable with just voting Bailey. When others showed the same concern I pretty much decided (with some help from Catie) to use the idol. I overall don't think it was a waste, because I feel like after you got banished back over to the other tribe, if Bailey wasn't there I probably would've left that round. I chose not to use my second one because I really didn't feel the need to. I knew what was going on most tribal council and didn't feel in danger. My original plan was going to be to use it at final 6 because thats the last time possible. Once I talked to everyone, and learned that whoever had that last idol would be targeted and saw all the paranoia it was causing, thats when I decided to keep it a secret and wait to reveal it at the end. In the end, the use and/or non-use of my idols were to further myself in the game as a whole, rather then just a round.