Silas' Thoughts

[silas]

Well, I guess this is a good place as any for me to keep my thoughts

THOUGHTS ON FIRST NIGHT

Well the tribe divisions have been made. I'm still waiting to learn more. So many potential twists. With 6 tribes, how many will go to TC each time? Half? All but 1? All but the winner and the tribe chosen by the winner? Who knows?? Of course there is also the matter of the HII. I want it and must learn how to get it.

I'd say the tribe selections worked out as well as i could possibly hope. With tribes of 7 people, 4 is the magic number to be safe. So far there are already 3 others I could see myself working with.

Ralph is the one who got me to apply to this game. It is sheer luck that we winded up on the same tribe. Ralph is the perfect kind of partner to have. He is crazy, draws a LOT of attention to himself, a challenge beast, unpredictable, etc. He's the kind of person i'd MUCH rather have working with me than against me. Added bonus is that he's more likely to draw the wrath of other players before I do so he is a good shield as well. Our alliance will be a secret one.

Ralph and I have an interesting relationship. The first time we met was in a BB game where the 2 of us wound up as the final 2 and boy did we hate each other. I ended up winning that game but I thought i had made a permanent enemy with how vicious a final 2 jury performance we had. When we were both casted for all stars i approached him about wanting to burry the hatchet and a secret alliance was formed. I've loved the guy ever since, he's hysterical and keeps games unpredictable and exciting.

Andrea had already sent me a few messages before the game started randomly, and she seemed so familiar. Then i realized about 4-5 years ago we played in my first ever ORG. How crazy is that?! We got to talking and seems having some familiarity with each other helps and we want to work together.

Then Ethan approaches me. He basically opened up with "Hi. I'm ethan. WANNA MAKE AN ALLIANCE!?!?!" It was very forward but i understand the eagerness, early alliances can make all the differnce. Apparently Andrea was turned off by it but who am i to say no to someone who won't write my name down.

So i guess that's me+3 if all works out, good enough to survivie the first portion, you know, until the twists hit

[Rob Mariano]

Nice confessional! What about the rest of your tribe?

[silas]

Morgan seems very nice, as does Chase. Both are people I could see myself working with. James is the only one left I haven't talked to. Ralph, in his classic way, has decided to pair us up together with James because apparently James is related to Bubba on another tribe, and Bubba and Ralph are good friends. Alliance #1 I wasn't asked to be added to. Then apparently Ethan agreed to put me in an alliance with Chase without asking me. Alliance #2 I wasn't asked to be added to.

I'm more annoyed at Ethan since he doesn't know me. At least with Ralph, it's something I don't like but I know him and his motives better. Funny thing is after talking to Chase I think I have more potential to work long term with him than I do with Evan. So as things stand now, unless I'm completely oblivious or being lied to:
I've been put into a group of me-ralph-james
I've been put into a group of me-evan-chase
I'm supposed to be reallied with Andrea
Morgan has sought me out to be friends with.

What I think will happen is if our tribe goes to tribal the weakest challenge performer will go and things will settle from there. In the long term i'd like to work with a combination of Me-Ralph-Chase-Morgan/Andrea. In this scenario Ralph and Chase would be tied to more more than James or Ethan respectively, and i think Andrea or Morgan would work with me as well. Something to thing about

[silas]

Just had an amusing conversation with Ralph. It's really clear that our tribe feels like bottom performer on our tribe gets voted out first, and our bottom performer right now is James. Personally I'm happy to see James leave. He's inactive, and it ties into my post above about splitting Ralph away from other plans and working more with me.

Anyway, seeing the writing on the wall, Ralph started trying to "subtly" campaign to me to get rid of Morgan instead of James because she's apparently annoying him, or messaging members of other tribes which might make her dangerous later on. In all honestly it doesn't bother me and it's a weak attempt to try and save James. I mean, i'm still in this with Ralph, but I'm looking out for myself here. Getting James out is a good first step. Next step will be to try and solidify myself with Chase. Chase doesn't strike me as someone to want to just jump right into an alliance but wait and see so i gotta take it slow.

Also, let it be known how committed i am to this game. I HATE these types of challenges, the long endurance posting, those with more expendable time, access to a computer 24/7, or fast internet speed type challenges. I mean, i understand why they happen, they're easy, show dedication and you can only do so much online, but i still hate it hahahaha. Anyway, at least in Big Brother games you knew if you're not first you're last so you can just blow it off, but in survivor you gotta put up a good effort for your tribe to see. So that's what i'm doing here in this challenge. Let no one say i'm anything if not committed. hahaha

[Rob Mariano]

You have definitely looked super active and we appreciate the effort. Tbh most of our first challenges are like that but we will try not do too many of them when there are so many people left!

So how are discussions going with regard to TC?

[silas]

I think Ralph has finally realized that James is going to go. James is trying to make a play to rally the guys together against the girls. I just don't see it happening.

Apparently Ethan was approached by Ralph into us having a 3 person alliance. First Ethan approached me with the idea saying it would be me-ethan-chase with ralph as a 4th and not knowing about chase or being in 4th. Then ralph told me the idea as me-ethan-ralph. Personally I'm still not sure who i want to wind up with and i agree with Ralph that a merge or swap will occur after 3 or 4 tribals so no point gettin too comfortable, but if it keeps me safe for now, great!

[silas]

hehehe i'm not used to being a schemer but i'm trying. I'm trying to do the classic 5-3-2 alliance. The reason is 2 fold

If you find a partner, add a 3rd. Then find 2 more to make 5. Your alliance of 5 sticks together. If the time comes, the 3 can vote out the 2, then the 2 votes out the 1. So it helps keep you safe forever.

Now i'm not dumb. With this many tribes and players, no way there is not a shuffle or swap or crazy twists. Still, even if the group gets split up, you create those bonds of trust and alliance that will pay off down the road should you be reunited. So if anything you can make 2 different deals of 3 within the 5 and never get called on it if you split up before you have to choose, and yet both groups are tight with you. Something to consider trying......

[Natalie White]

Great updates Silas and thank you for your dedication to the game

[silas]

I think my plans are working out pretty well. James will most likely be gone first for his horrible challenge performance, followed by Morgan who seems to rub people the wrong way and has been talking up too many people on other tribes which seems to concern people. At that point i'm left with the 5 and can figure out a group of 3 from there to work with pending how long the tribe stays together. From that 5 i'd probably want Ethan gone first. That guy has like 3 or 4 other games going on at the same time one of which he is hosting and has an aditude of "if it works it works, if not so what" with his time so i'm not sure how good he'd be to have around pre-merge. Post merge keep him of course, hahaha

[silas]

Ummm way to leave me with the crazy nutso tribe, hahaha.

So things had looked set that James, as the lowest challenge performer would be set to go. But apparently Morgan had to go screw things up. She messaged Jerri on Galum that there was an alliance of me-ralph-andrea-ethan (half true, but not really) working together trying to target Galum (completely and totally untrue). She said she wanted to hear my side first before she told her tribe. WOW! What is Morgan trying to play at, how is that going to benefit her THIS year in the game playing games like that??

Anyway so now Morgan is exposed as a rat and now no one is quite sure of if Morgan or James should go first. James is pushing hard for Morgan and is trying to get me ralph and andrea to vote with him. I can see he already has Ralph, me and Andrea aren't so sure. Andrea really wants Morgan gone but i want to protect Andrea and if there is an all guys alliance forming i told her leaving her as the only girl is a bad idea. Get James out now and THEN Morgan.

To make things fun, I told James he should call Morgan out on the tribal council board to make her look bad and to try and get a unified tribal vote to support him rather than an uncertain fractured vote. Still, so much craziness

I wish Chase would be on AIM more so i could talk with him. It's quickly looking like Chase and Andrea are the most level headed, calm, normal players i'd want to work with in this game (besides ralph of course. He's the opposite of all of that but i'd still work with him hahaha) Should be an interesting first tribal

[silas]

God i hope Morgan is cackling in her journal talking about how she's outsmarted me and i'm buying into her bullcrap. I'm just playing dumb and stringing her along but I don't believe a word she is selling. I really really hope she thinks i'm buying it

[Rob Mariano]

So has the drama affected much?

[silas]

Well thankfully the first vote seems to have been unanimous, and as for the next vote i think everyone is on board to boot out Morgan so that shouldn't really be a problem. There is a lot to be curious over. Why would Morgan be THAT over the top about defending herself, the harder she tries the worse she looks. Why would Jerri claim to have evidence and then not provide it? Was it actually a set up? Is it possible James (or his brother Bubba) tried to protect James through contacts and previous friends by framing someone else on the tribe? It certainly is a stretch but possible.

I think I have successfully strengthened my ties with Chase. He shared to me all the info he got from going to Ubirr about the HII, secret words and how it works and such. We'll be working together on this in the future and hope that one of us will go next time from this tribe.

At this point my plan seems to be on target: Morgan will be out next. In the group of 5 i can see some of the guys targeting Andrea but i'd try and flip the vote against Ethan at that point. As for the upcoming challenge, let's see what we got

[silas]

Alright so we lost immunity. You can't *really* blame it on anyone since it's all luck. If we were allowed to talk to other people and other tribes then you have an element of social game play and game theory and what not but there's not reason anyone should take the blame for today's challenge.

Now, that doesn't mean we can't PRETEND to blame someone, right? We all want Morgan out, but we can't let her know that. So we'll tell her we're voting out Ethan since he took the lead on the challenge and let us down. It's plausible and gets her off our backs until after the vote is revealed.

The big issue will be the next tribal. Ralph and Ethan are going to want to target Andrea. I want her to stay. Andrea and I would want to target Ethan to get him out. I'll need to convince Chase that getting rid of Ethan is best. It's dangerous for me. If i get rid of Andrea i stay in the majority and i have no target on my back. If i try and keep her, then if i can't get a majority after she leaves I do. I'll also probably piss off Ralph but guess what i'm playing this game for myself and while i won't backstab ralph, i also won't just go along with whatever he wants. If anything, he's gonna have to come along with me/andrea/chase. I dont' want to vote andrea, chase, or ralph out at any point so i'm hoping some sort of tribal swap would occur after the Ethan vote.

[Rob Mariano]

You think knowing what people will think is luck? So much for psychology degrees

Interesting you bring up game theory... last season we had the prisoners dilemma as a challenge which I am sure you have heard of.