Coming into this game, I knew that there were a lot of smart players and people who I would have to watch out for. My strategy coming in was to play my social game up to a 100, and I think I accomplished that. I was able to navigate through the pre merge portion of this game pretty handily, receiving not votes against myself. Once I came into merge, it was a different story. I had to open up and become even more social than I already was to assure I was in a solid position moving forward to each tribal. There was an alliance of 5 orginal Lysice, plus Robin making 6. I was able to successfully infiltrate this alliance and form more cracks to further my position. I wasn’t immune at any tribals, but only received 4 votes throughout the course of merge. 2 of which were random votes that didn’t carry any impact on my position. I think it speaks volumes that as big of a threat that I was, I was able to mask that and still keep myself safe without having the immunity necklace. I made solid relationships with people and kept my head down so people wouldn’t notice me, and I accomplished what I came to do. I was able to make others believe that people in the game were bigger threats than I was, when in reality I knew I was one of, if not THE biggest threat. I definitely didn’t get my ideal scenario of who I would want to sit next to in the end, but I made it here and I think that speaks volumes to my gameplay and ability to navigate this game.

Sorry I know this is brief but I have home work to do as well tonight, but any questions you all wanna throw out at me, I will gladly answer! Make em brutal :P

Ryan why did u choose to sheep Sagar?

David you are getting my vote unless Ryan can successfully put to words why he put so much trust in someone that he knows he would have a REALLY hard to beating

This final 3 makes me cringe

Sorry but let's be real.

Riley I didn't sheep anyone lol Sagar made his own moves but I knew he had my back. If you're referring to me giving him immunity, I can easily explain that. Sagar was the obviously target that tribal, however, I knew if I allowed Sagar to go home that I would have to win out immunity because Bubba, Nolan, Alan would've stuck together to the end and I would've had no chance to be here. By keeping Sagar, I allowed myself to have more wiggle room because I had established trust with him. If I'm being completely honest, I feel confident enough with my game to where I didn't necessarily mind who I was sitting next to. I just have a hard time with you saying I sheeped Sagar, whenever I MADE THE MOVES. Sagar mightve casted his vote with me, but I was the one who made this targets each round that we voted together. Sagar honestly just voted wherever he thought the numbers may be, rather than actually making moves happen himself.

Sagar should get my vote but not completely decided yet. I'll ask questions when I get home later

I honestly thought I would be able to beat Sagar in one of the two immunities remaining, obviously that didn't happen but I think socially and strategically, I played a better game than Sagar. And I can say that with complete confidence.

And make no mistake, I wasn't blindly loyal to him. Had he lost either immunity challenge, he was toast

You can't say I would've gotten 5th because you don't know what Bubba would've done for sure lol just saying

Hey jury,
First of all, thanks NJ for another really fun season.

Bold statement: I feel strongly that I played the best game, not just out of this F3 but out of everyone in this season. I had a plan from very early on and I mostly stuck to that with only one major deviation that was out of my control that I will describe at the end of this speech.

My premerge game was EXTREMELY under the radar. But I made sure I was in the right side of the numbers, which I was able to accomplish as part of the Lyvotoky alliance (combination of original Lysice and original Zvotoky members on the post-swap Lysice tribe). I certainly wasn’t the one calling the shots on this tribe, and I would never try to claim that I was. However, this is exactly the spot that I wanted to be in pre-merge to avoid the spotlight.

My game really got into full gear with the 2nd swapped tribe where I survived 3 tribal councils and my tribe was whittled down to just 2 people, myself and Eric. There was quite a bit of drama with David on this tribe, as he was idoled out by Liam partially because of information that I gave to Liam. Once David returned to the game, I knew that there would be some bad blood between us.

At the 2nd merge vote, my prediction came true and David blew up at me during TC (https://prnt.sc/g9eq7c0 for context). I know it sounds early as hell, but that was truly when my endgame plans started coming together. I was still in the enviable position of a swing vote because I truly did have connections to both sides, and I knew that no matter how much David wanted me out, he most likely wouldn’t be able to do so. I also knew that voting out David, a RI returnee who would never vote for me on jury, was completely unnecessary and probably bad for my game. So, I instead thought it would be smarter to keep him around and maybe even get to the end with him whether he likes it or not. That ultimately came true.

I did become somewhat of a flip-flopper by the mid-merge, but I truly do feel that it was the only way to make sure I wasn’t the target in any given round. I stuck with my original merge majority alliance of Alan, Bubba, Nolan, Mud, and Robin to an extent but I also knew that I had to take my shot at people who I felt were probably targeting me (or were going to target me soon) while I had the chance (Mud, Robin, Alan) even though I was aligned with them and had trusted them at one point. No matter what happened, I always struck first and never once prematurely from my perspective. This was also the case with Riley. Although David was outwardly targeting me with that TC post, I had intel from multiple people that Riley was pushing for me to go on Zvotoky in the pre-merge. This is why I pushed the 2nd merge vote onto Riley instead of the original plan that people were arguing for (Brittany). I was able to subtly control votes like this that may not strike anyone as game-changing, but for me it was absolutely crucial to slowly inch my way towards finals.

My ability to create and maintain relationships on the other side with people like Eric, Ryan, Brittany, and even David is what kept every single door open to me and let me essentially map out my entire game round by round. I did not relish in voting Eric out, who I become close to during Zyvotoky, but the results of the Majority Rules challenge pretty much confirmed what I already knew—he was a massive threat (not just in challenges but in the end), and I knew that keeping him around was disastrous for my game.

The major themes of my game that I’ve tried to emphasize are self-control and keeping my name off the chopping block (until the very end). I dictated my fate in this game by making sure I was well-positioned every round and that my vote was needed by people every round. This made for some tough moments where people I genuinely liked were all asking for my vote, but it also helped me avoid the chopping block until much later in the game.

The only real “mistake” of my strategic game, in my opinion, was letting Ryan make it here to the end. My plan was always to make sure he came in 4th, and that would have happened if Bubba had shown up to the finale (well Ryan would have gotten 5th if Bubba had shown up, and that would have worked too). I knew that by F5 I had pretty much been identified by everyone as a major threat (whether that’s accurate or not is up to you all to decide, but perception is reality in this game) even though I had mostly avoided the chopping block for the entire game up until that point, so I knew I had to win both of the finale night immunities, which I did. The reason I voted Nolan out at F5 is because I knew he was my biggest threat in the final immunity which was a more pressing issue for me than the jury vote because obviously I have to actually reach finals to even be in contention for the win. That was in jeopardy if Nolan stayed, so I voted him out. My dream F3 for quite some time was myself/Bubba/David, and that would have come to fruition if not for the Bubba situation.

I feel that while Ryan’s move of giving me immunity at F6 was “flashy,” it ended up being the biggest strategic blunder of this game because he may have been able to get me out that round. I felt confident about performing well under pressure in endgame immunities but endurance is the one thing I will never be able to win. Don’t get me wrong, I appreciate the safety but that was his shot and he missed it.

Ultimately, I feel that I played a better and more thoughtful game overall than Ryan/David which is why I am happy with this F3 even though it’s not exactly what I planned, but again that’s up for you guys to decide. And I hope you decide it in my favor.

Either way no hard feelings, and good luck to the other finalists. Thanks for a fun season!

sorry reposted my speech with an edit

@Ryan no obviously I don't know what he would have done for sure but that's also the reason I pushed for him to be voted out at F4 rather than medevaced by a 2nd self-vote. So he can actually stay on jury and give his perspective on the whole situation. I believe David/Bubba/Nolan definitely would have made that move because it was the smart move for all 3 of them IMO

I also feel like the fact I was the only Zvotoky/minority member that wasn't considered to be voted at the Riley vote, speaks volumes to what I accomplished socially with virtually everyone in the game