By Jeff Probst
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#186
Bit of a reset here.

What are your thoughts on the game becoming 20 players? What are your thoughts on playing with the returning veterans now that you are vulnerable?

With mostly all of the inactive players gone, do you foresee the gameplay ramping up? Will the returning players elevate the way the strategy of the game is played?

Who do you think will be the immediate target on the tribe? How will your game evolve with this new stage of the game?
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Jeff Probst

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By Brian
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#205
Hello hello! I have been meaning to post a confessional in a long long time, but just never got around to it since I have been hosting my own game and what not. But, I still have thoughts and feelings that I deem necessary to share since my game has been building up from the very beginning.

So, original Lucayan was great because I had my Guatemala groupies with me, specifically Danni and Lydia were standouts. Us three were beginning to form something great, and I was so happy that I got to know Danni that opening weekend since we really clicked well. Same situation with Lydia, although Danni definitely busted through more towards the later end of all that. Gary and Amy were also solid, while Blake was just a mess. He's lucky to be honest that there were barely any inactives on Lucayan originally, since now he's probably going to be a target just because of how he plays. He just rushes into making deals from the getgo, which really isn't the best strategy because it just makes him an overplaying fool. Regardless, he's here.

As for my time on Refuge? It actually went perfectly. I found that I was able to establish some really great relationships with the veteran players rather than feel "at odds" with them for being a new player in their terrain. Plus, I also stood out in comparison to the likes of Figgy/Jim/Amy for being a talkative guy. So really, I was able to really able to connect with Caryn/Dale/Joaquin and feel confident with them going forward.

Part 2 forthcoming.
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Brian

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#213
So beyond just the relationships at Refuge, I spent that Round 2 really building up strong connections with those on Taino in the case of a swap. I knew that if I had some sort of bond with them here, that I could really set myself up incase of a weird switching situation or even the merge. It looks to be a bit ironic because only Mari is here with me, but I do believe that it will help Gary. I know that they might try to stick together, or Lucy flips on them for, in her opinion, being idiots and then we lose a bunch of them. I really liked her from the getgo, along with Adam and Zeke actually, and so she was 1000% my pick had Taino picked themselves for the Refuge Ritual that round. They really should have because they now have literally no connection to the Vets, whereas Lucayan really does with at least myself and Gary, not including Jim or Amy. Figgy does not count by the way, literally they thought they were voting her out so that one chance to put someone on Refuge that might be useful was wasted.

I don't hate Taino though, since in reality they let Lucayan be this well set up. They're probably going to want to target the vets whereas the vets will probably feel more comfortable going for Taino players, while hopefully we can ride the middle. I used my time on Refuge specifically hyping up my allies from Lucayan so I would be able to just combine everything rather than having to decide between warring sides. Since in reality, I really don't know where I stand with everyone. I think I like Lucayan more, but also I vibe well with Joaquin. Dale trusts me a lot from what I can tell (He outright told me he trusts me the most) and then Caryn and Chrissy are both nice and trustworthy at the moment.

As for this position here, I do think it's weird. Jim isn't really that active in comparison to the rest of everyone, so it looks like he'd be going first actually. This does help me here even if he's active because he's the only Refuge newbie who I think could easily spill dirt of how well connected I was there, but also he's just not really present right now and I don't think it's fair to keep him in over someone dedicated. I hate when that happens from a host's perspective and what would he even do if he was just inactive and sitting there? Get removed eventually? Like that's a waste of time in my eyes when we could all unite under an easy vote to just boot him. But also, I think the people on this tribe are perfect for me. Did I do a little happy dance in my mind? Yes. icon_mml Like I mentioned prior, the vets who landed here are perfect and them being in the game now puts me back in too so I'm good with that. I've been itching to play in the game so I am ready to go at this point.

As for Lucayan, they slay me all day. icon_blush Lydia and Danni (interchangable order tbh) were my Top 2 on Lucayan, and I'm so so happy that we all want to unify and make it to the Final 3. Speaking of Danni, she's apparently drunk right now and eating pizza with her dog Piper? We stan that in the Haus of CorriDAYUMN. icon_wub But Lydia is sweet and on the ball. She has a really strong pulse on the game, and she is strong in challenges. Blake is an over strategizing guy who just forms a plan literally the moment things start and doesn't shake it. I want to help him and be like "This doesn't really work" but you never want to rock the boat or anything so I have just been nodding my head to it. I think he took the advice to suggest things so you seem in control because he just proposed plans so fast and then they always fall through. Literally he proposed a majority alliance Night 1 of us two/Amy/Gary/Lydia and then we formed one without him including Danni instead lol. Now he wants all the newbies to unite, which I mean isn't necessarily a bad idea, but he's just adamant about it while I definitely want to work with the vets a little bit.

It would be really hard to rank this tribe since I really like a lot of them, but my top 3 would be Danni/Joaquin/Lydia for sure. The order honestly depends on the day, so if we all could go to Final 4 I would be very very happy in some ways but also nervous as fuck since they'd all be huge threats. But after that, it would go Dale, Caryn, Chrissy, Mari, Blake, Jim. Is that the order I'd want to boot everyone though? Oh definitely not. I do think that a vet probably should go if the other tribe doesn't lose any, since all 6 of them still in could be really dangerous come the merge.

The positive about this situation is that I do feel like a lot of people are coming to me and discussing strategy where I feel equal stake at the table, which is really nice to feel. I also know that a lot of people trust me because of my honesty and socialness (is that a word? icon_confused) on Refuge and Lucayan. Building those connections was something I knew would be a crucial step and here I am, proving that the social game can really be the most crucial of them all.

Just a heads up that I have decided to hide that I've played in over 60-70 ORGs. I figured that it's not information they need to know, and that it would only put a target on my back. That does make me seem more impressive than I actually am though because I literally have won two games, with one being a week long game and the other being an eternity long art game that wasn't even really strategizing or anything.

I also made a playlist for this game that has a wide variety of songs that could capture my mood at any given time. I'll post some GIFs as clues to each period so far.

Round 1
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Rounds 2/3
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Round 4
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I know Round 4 sounds pretentious, but I do think that I have so many connections here that people view me as someone who is trustworthy and needs to make it far into the game. I see myself as the glue between Original Lucayan and the Refuge tribes, and I'm proud of that fact. I love people, so I think just me working it to my benefit is allowing others to also get the benefits. So basically, that's my life in this game so far. Does this answer all the questions? I don't know if it does, or even if it doesn't, but just know one thing.

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Brian

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