COBALION'S JURY VOTE

Well, after 38 days of hard work, effort, and fun, we’ve all made it to the end of Survivor: Legendary. Personally, it’s kind of hard to believe that we’ve spent so long out here-- the game flew by in seconds, and it’s been a very, very wild ride for everyone involved. I don’t think that’s a statement contested by anyone, and whether you did well or not, you can’t disagree that it was a memorable experience. In all honesty, I didn’t expect to get as far as I did in the first place. I came in wanting to have fun and meme around a little, but eventually, that turned into a serious game that I was putting genuine effort into winning. Every day, I thought there was a danger of me going home and having that rug of security pulled out from under me, and having the paranoia that comes with two idols under my belt isn’t exactly a big help.

But I did it, and I did it to the best of my ability. By sheer luck, I managed to use both idols correctly, and even defied my expectations when it came to the challenges-- but then again, Tetris was the easiest victory I’ve ever received (I only had to play twice in order to get about 865,000), so maybe it wasn’t that impressive. But still, I’m proud of myself. This is the highest I’ve ever placed in an LSG, and I think my lack of experience near the middle of the game is always what gets me. But I’ve learned a lot about myself, and who I am as a person along the way. I learned that I still have to work on some things, like my social game or not alienating people by being a ‘robot’ or whatever, but nobody is perfect. I’ll just come back better than ever. For now, though, I’m happy with 8th place, and I’m happy to have participated in such an awesome season.

But this little essay isn’t about me, or the experiences I’ve gone through over the course of the game. It’s about all of the finalists, and the trials and tribulations they may have faced along the way. Making it to the end of the game is no joke, especially one as competitive as this, and even though there may be some disagreements, I commend and respect the Final Three for the dedication and thought put into this carefully crafted anonymous game of Survivor. Even when it comes to strangers on the internet, I feel like almost everyone in the merge shared some sort of common bond and camaraderie with each other, and I truly do believe that once this whole thing is over, we can put all of our conflicts behind us and keep in touch, like some people have already said.

That being said-- Deoxys, Tapu Lele, Regigigas, you all have made it to the end. And although I’ve congratulated you three, that doesn’t make you exempt from my scrutiny and careful analyzation. There’s a reason I was so invested in my Jury questioning thread; because I want to make the best decision possible, and award the person who, in my opinion, deserves the win. Since my closest friends in the game had been voted out just beforehand, this is the only FTC so far I’ve entered without any real bias, and I think my greater willingness to ask questions shows that it really was a difficult decision to make. With that in mind, I think I’ll address the three of you, as well as all of your positives and negatives.

Regigigas - First of all, I’d like to say that you’re probably the Valor I wanted to connect with most throughout this game. Despite us coming from two different tribes and what’s essentially two different worlds, you and I are basically two sides of the same coin-- I think we can both see a bit of ourselves in each other, and it shows throughout our actions and interactions with each other. When we first met in that codewords challenge, I knew that you and I would have some sort of bond with each other, and you were one of the most oddly charming people here. From that point on, it actually became some sort of rivalry, just like you said earlier. I took the first victory against you when we went up head to head, and there, I felt a sense of accomplishment and pride-- which was subsequently crushed when the random chance from the Wheel of Fortune literally lost me the challenge that I was otherwise guaranteed to win. By sheer chance, though, that allowed me to stumble upon the Valor idol that I used to save myself, so I have to thank you for that. As we reached the merge, we definitely did connect with each other, even if we did have a rocky start, and I only have you to thank for helping me survive that round in the final nine. You had a cunning, clever strategic game that allowed you to advance even with the unorthodox strategy that came along with it, and the fact that you managed to fool most of the people in the game with it is seriously impressive. Our final interaction together, especially when we rid ourselves of any potential bitterness or hurt feelings, really left a positive impact on me. You put a lot of yourself into your game, and it showed.

That being said, you don’t come without your fair share of negatives. You may have played a game that allowed you to get to the end, and one that was definitely strategic-- but you crashed and burned in this tribal council worse than anyone I’ve ever seen. There’s doing poorly when you have a low chance of winning, and then there’s acting like a jerk in public, obnoxiously defying and antagonizing the jurors, and alienating the person who felt closest to you to such an extent that their ‘slam-dunk vote for you’ turned into a ‘please get away from me’. When that happens, it’s really, really hard to ignore. If I only considered Final Tribal Council, you would be absolutely dead in the water, and there is literally nothing that could change that. However, I’m not only counting that, and as your honorary rival, I do feel greatly obligated to give you a second chance. Even though you might not have done well at the end due to stress taking its toll, the game you played speaks volumes, especially as a newbie-- so don’t think I’ve written you off just yet.

Tapu Lele - Unlike Regigigas choking terribly, I think you had the best Final Tribal Council performance by a long shot. You didn’t need to resort to putting down other people, and you acted with humility and dignity that I wouldn’t have thought possible of someone new to the mafiascum community. Your social game far outclassed those of your competitors, and the fact that you were able to treat everyone with equal respect and honesty is something that has sincerely earned my respect. You showed a willingness to listen to others and act upon it instead of being a passive player, and addressing everyone to highlight their own strengths is just the cherry on top of an already great opening speech and performance. You answered each one of my probing questions concisely, efficiently, and enthusiastically, and you accepted your own shortcomings with grace and a resolve to do better. You were absolutely right when you stated that you played a strategically augmented social game, and I think you answered each one of my questions in a most satisfactory manner. I appreciate that you were the only one to actually answer the ‘Social vs. Strategic’ question correctly, with social taking a precedence over all else-- but even when you factor in your focus on social game leading to the answer that would benefit you, it’s still satisfying to see my suspicions confirmed.

However, your game has many, many flaws that are nearly impossible to overlook. First of all, I came into the Jury with nearly no intention to vote for you-- you barely showed any awareness of your situation at all, and you had played a very, very passive game as a follower more than anything else. You were mostly perceived as a goat to myself and other people, and even as you came in here, that perception remained to the Jurors. While your social game was the best of the three, your strategic game was admittedly… downright bad, to the point where it was the worst in this Final Tribal Council, if not the entire merge. When you only have a real impact on two votes, one of which was basically guaranteed to happen with Buzzwole’s elimination, that’s a red flag, no matter how good your social game was otherwise. You took my advice into effect and played for yourself near the end, but it cannot be emphasized enough that the final seven is way too late to start playing, especially considering that you were already surrounded by (No offense) much better players than yourself. You played what is by far the most lopsided game out here, and having barely any strategy can outweigh the benefits of playing well socially, as stated earlier. Despite that, though, you’re not down for the count yet, and like Regigigas, you still have a chance at my vote.

Deoxys - Last but not least, we have Deoxys, the final remaining Mystic member. I may be slightly salty about being outplayed, but you overcame the disadvantage you started out with at the bottom at the beginning of the game, and gradually worked your way to the top without much to hold against you. You came off as kind of robotic sometimes, but I view that as a lack of experience more than anything else, so you get a pass. You were my original closest ally, and the only person I trusted with knowledge of the idol clue-- which turned out to be a wise decision, since we worked well together to end up finding it for the both of us. You were a dependable, open-minded shoulder that I could lean on when things got rough, and even managed to play both sides while you were at it. I have to admit, I was outplayed in that regard, and you’re much better at the game than you and other people would like to admit. You had a great opening speech and a lot of statistics to back it up, as well as a pretty objectively good Final Tribal Council performance too. You may have had a slow start (No pun intended to Regigigas), but you managed to steal the show with flying colors at the end, and were able to argue for your game with much-needed logic and reasoning that was previously absent. I think you were vastly underestimated, and you capitalized on that to the best of your ability despite the initial hardships you faced. You had both a social and strategic game to speak of, and are probably the most well-rounded player out there considering the circumstances. To top it all off, you made it to the end, and even with a bit of slip-ups, you handled yourself very well. I think I can safely say that you played the best game out of anyone here.

Unfortunately, that doesn’t mean that you get a free pass from my scrutiny. You made your own fair share of mistakes, and one that’s most notably brought up is your lack of emotion when it came to important conversations. You shut Meltan out when he was struggling for help, and you needlessly lied to me when I knew I was most likely going home anyway. Your game is built on a foundation of deceit and an unwillingness to be loyal to those who have put their trust in you, no matter who it may be. I don’t care if you’re the best strategic player in the world. When you unnecessarily burn bridges like that, it’s a bad look for you, even when it comes to valued allies who have utmost respect and trust in you. You failed to account for how other people might feel about your game and the way your played, and that may just cost you in the end, especially with your unwarranted confidence in Celebi’s thread, as well as the cockiness that has been mentioned multiple times over. There’s a phrase ‘don’t count your chickens before they’re hatched’, and I think you’d do very well to learn from it. You don’t have the charm and compassion of Tapu Lele, and you certainly aren’t my rival like Regigigas was. Unlike them, honesty is alien to you, and that really hurts my opinion of you. That being said, though, you’re not out of the running for my vote just yet. You still did play the best game, and I haven’t forgotten the positive interactions we’ve had between each other.

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Anyway, that was a mouthful. I’m glad I went out of my way to type all that, because I don’t know how much space one is limited to when it comes to a Jury vote (I probably should have checked that earlier). And with that, I think each one of you knows each other’s strengths and weaknesses, as well as your own. My vote is the hardest to decide that it’s ever been, but I think now, there’s only one clear-cut answer.


And with all that said, my vote is for: