#15: Cursed Hand (Season 16, July 2014)
Winner: Alex C./01Gohan (4-3-0)
Wiki page: http://bit.ly/1xskrGW
I previously said that the next position would be a sixteen-person season... HOWEVER, I changed my mind last minute, as I regard this season and the next in the ranking as very similar in quality. The first of the 2014 seasons has hit the rankings.
The set up was simple. Eighteen new castaways were divided into three tribes by color level, in a new social experiment. The lower levels... didn't fair too well to be fair. Four out of six of their members were booted pre-merge. The middle levels faired slightly better with three out of six merging. But it was the higher levels who came out on top at merge, having lost only one member, with five out of the ten remaining castaways from that tribe. A big problem this season had was that a lot of the votes stemmed from failures due to self-votes or miss-votes due to lack of communication, and the fact that the guy everyone wanted to win lost by a single vote.
Pre-swap was nothing extraordinary. After the swap, there was a tie between Mickle and Josh, as the higher and middle levels protested against the lower level majority on the tribe, leading to Mickle's exit, and then a second tie occurred just before merge, as Kamani played an idol on Josh in an attempt to get FireDragon out and reduce the higher level majority. This backfired however, when Josh voted for Francesca, causing a tie. Kamani voted for Francesca to avoid rocks, however Josh and Alex did not vote and therefore he could have taken FireDragon out anyway. A decision he’d live to regret, as FireDragon went on to make it to the Final Three.
The merge got off to an exciting start when the vote tied between Josh and Newz, when the middle and lower levels joined forces to try and take out the higher levels. However, middle level Natasha decided to side with the higher level majority in an alliance with old friend Coldan. The tie was resolved however when two people failed to vote, and caused Newz to exit the game, seemingly putting the higher levels in full control. However everything was about to change again. Natasha realized that the higher levels needed to be taken down a peg or two, and teamed up with fellow middle level castaway Alex, and the two remaining lower levels, Kamani and Dra. FireDragon’s self-vote and Josh’s mis-vote casued the vote to go through, and Nick exited the game. The four remaining higher levels - Coldan, FireDragon, Michonne and Josh – finally got themselves together against the lower/middle level alliance, and prepared for a 4-4 tie. However let another mis-vote, this time by Kamani, lead to the higher levels getting their way, and Natasha the flipper got thrown onto the jury. At this point, seeing the higher levels’ control, Alex made the game-changing decision to join the higher levels in taking out the last two lower levels, Kamani and Dra, in order to remain in the game. He then went on a four-vote immunity streak, forcing Coldan to re-think his end strategy, and vote out his own higher level allies Josh and Michonne, leaving himself in an undesirable Final Three with Alex and FireDragon, where he lost out to Alex by one vote.
As you can see, a number of big votes were decided by people not voting accidently or ‘doing a whoops’ and voting someone else. However, that does not negate the fact that the first three votes of the merge were very interesting as the higher levels fought the lower and middle levels for control of the game. The disappointing point was that it then went to just pure domination from the hugher levels and Coldan, until they reached the Final Three against Alex, whose Immunity streak lost them the win.
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LEVEL OF STRATEGY: 3 out of 5.
Coldan, Natasha, Kamani and Alex were the main people here who made strategic moves. Natasha betraying Coldan is one of the most notable strategic moves this season, as well as the teaming up of the lower and middle levels, which, with more organization, could have been more successful. Props also to Newz, Michonne, and even FireDragon (for all he is worth :P).
ENTERTAINING/LIKEABLE PLAYERS: 3 out of 5
Coldan was a hugely rootable player, and it made people actually glad that he was dominating. Former Gen One Natasha was also very compelling, so it was good to see her and Coldan team up, and even more interesting when Natasha turned on him. It was a pity that Natasha didn’t last longer in the merge.
BLINDSIDES/DRAMA/SHOCKS: 3 out of 5
It led to a reasonably compelling season with some interesting votes, ties, and missed opportunities for all. It would have been better if some votes were not decided by people not voting, or miss-voting accidently. Then the domination by the higher levels through the later half of the game made it predictable, despite a likeable leader at the helm.
SATISFYING CONCLUSION: 2 out of 5
The conclusion is a bit of a mixed bag. Despite Alex being a rootable enough underdog immunity streak winner, you can’t help feeling sorry for Coldan. He’s a hugely likeable and successful strategic player, who worked to manipulate a majority of four higher levels to the end of the game, and lost by one vote to a guy who went on a winning streak. Yet that my friends is the game of Survivor.
VIEWER RECEPTION: 3 out of 5
This season got a mixed to good reception from the viewers. I think the general consensus was that they liked it, but were disappointed by the main twist being a let down, and that Alex prevailed over Coldan.
TOTAL SCORE: 15 out of 25 (Grade: Such a cool name for a season)
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SEASON HIGHLIGHT(S):
- Kamani panics and voted out his own lower level member, saving FireDragon who then makes Final Three… lol.
- Natasha flipping on Coldan to get a higher level out, then immediately getting booted because of a miss-vote… lol.
- Alex immunity streaking it and beating all four of the remaining higher levels… lol.
STANDOUT PLAYER:
Coldan. It’s very rare you get an interesting gamebot who you actually want to see win after dominating. Like Kim in a sense. Accept that he didn’t win and it was someone else who won all the challenges. Oops.
SUM-UP:
A decent season with a streak of good votes from late to early merge, which was unfortunately driven by self-votes and miss-votes, with a decent winner who went on an immunity streak to reach the end, but was let down by the fact everyone wanted the other guy to win.
“Wait, so what was Cursed Hand then?”, I hear you ask.
It’s not even relevant, so don’t worry.
HINT FOR NEXT POSITION:
NOW it’s a season with sixteen castaways. I promise… maybe.
STILL IN THE RUNNING:
Saint Lucia
Brazil
Jordan
All-Stars
Caicos Islands
Brunei
Vietnam
Occultus Island
Moral vs. Merciless
Reclamation
Second Chances
Jan Mayen
Bingo vs. Suitman
Allies vs. Adversaries
Yay I've been waiting for this seasons wrap up because I missed this season. Jut by reading he summery it seems more interesting that BvS (sorry not sorry)
THE MISS VOTE WHEN NATASHA WENT HOME WAS ACTUALLY BECAUSE I CONVINCED THE OTHER ALLIANCE TO SPLIT THE VOTES AND THEN MY FOUR PERSON ALLIANCE (HEADED BY ME BTW) BLINDSIDED NATASHA.
#15: Cursed Hand (Season 16, July 2014)
Jk but ye it needs to be high xx