Oh man, my confidence is wayyyy too high right now. Like, I feel like I'm in a fantastic spot here to run things for a while which is fucking TERRIFYING, either i'm playing out of my mind right now or about to get blindsided good. either way is fun though
1. Were you expecting that chaotic vote breakdown?
Hrm, sort of but not quite. I wasn't expecting the Russ votes, but everything else went the way I wanted, and Cristina ended up leaving which was great for my game. I wasn't in her end game plans, and being that she was not a "huge threat" she needed to go. The fact that she kept on going after Russ didn't help either.
After all the sleuthing I've done (aka people just coughing up info to me left and right), it's turned out that that the four Russ votes were Cristina (obviously), Yve, and Melinda with Melinda using a vote double. And I think it was done because Melinda did NOT want to lose Loveita in the case of an idol and needed a secondary target with more than two votes once she heard that Me and Catalie were putting votes on Loveita as corollary. Honestly, I expect it to get to Loveita that I was part of splitting the votes, and whatever. You need to get over people voting for you or you will be fucked.
Honestly, poor move by Melinda, TWICE now she's voting against what she said and been caught saying she "didn't vote". This is great since it will make Melinda untrustworthy to my big threat alliance and we can boot her the fuck out at some point. She plays the game thinking she's got the best bonds with everyone, but every dumb choice she makes gets back to me.
2. Are you worried about potentially hidden friendships waiting to come out and strike when you least expect it?
Of course, but that's why I am being constantly proactive so that way ME AND MY ALLIES are the ones that surprise everyone. I am gonna bust some ass here to make this Joaq/Penner/Cass/Catalie "Big Threats Alliance" the surprise one of the game. I told all of them about my vote steal to build trust and to show that this is all real. I've got Tammy, Russ, and now Kim in another group, and in theory Steph likes that Munin core with Catalie and Russ but I'm sure she's off making her own plans.
For me to get voted out this next vote, it would probably require one group of either Penner/Cass/Catalie or Russ/Tammy/Kim to turn on me this vote. Which, if they recognize that, props, I probably wasn't winning anyway if they were able to recognize it. But I've spent so much effort into building trust with these six (admittedly a little less with Kim but today was a good start) that I do think it would take a serious fuck up on my part for them to turn on me here at 11.
3. Do idols and advantages factor into your plans going forward or are you just hoping to luck out?
Lolol
I do have one idol, and one steal a vote. And I'd like to use that steal a vote to make a move at some point, probably at 9 or 8, and really shift things forward. I would prefer NOT to use my idol if at all possible, all it will do is raise my threat level, and it would be great if I could just whip it out at FTC. But I will if necessary, obviously.
The NuMunin idol is still out there probably, and tonight was a great move in eliminating one person who could possibly have it, Cristina. But I do think based on Melinda organizing the Russ votes, that he would have told her to play it if she had it. So it's still in the hands of Cass/Penner/Melinda/Kim/Loveita.
4. Are there any players remaining that you don't view as a threat?
No. Everyone is either a jury threat or a threat to my spot in the finals.
5. Ideally, who's in your final 5?
If I had to pick right now, Joaq/Penner/Cass/Catalie/someone else. I don't know who that someone else is yet, I'll have to think about it. The plan would be to turn against Penner/Cass at that point and go to F3 with Catalie and whoever, although at this point I do think my argument would be good against anyone if I made it there, but making it there will be the tough part. It always is. And not that Catalie wouldn't get any votes, she would, I just have confidence in my own game right now and I trust her not to flip on me more than Penner.
