Previously on… Survivor!
Shadowsquid recovers after voting out their first member, making attempts to rally their tribe together. However, it would be in vain, after Oerhaos gets a perfect score in their second challenge, a trivia marathon.
Oerhaos would win the right to send one of their members, Raz, to spy on the Shadowsquid camp. However, he would be welcomed with flagrant hostility and slurs, with members of the tribe calling him and his tribe faggots, further dividing the Squids and Oerhaos.
After the dust from the confrontation settled, it was Magnen who took over from NanTheDark the leadership role of Shadowsquid, getting together three people to vote out the volatile and inactive MegaR after he participated in the attacks but not the challenge.
12 are left. Who will be eliminated… next?
SPOILERS: Avoid the Breakdown if you don’t want spoilers!
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Breakdown:
Episode 4: “Catholic Guilt.”
Mutiny: Completely denied
Challenge: Curb Appeal
Description: Both tribes would create a camp and mini-level on one of Runouw’s two level designers for two judges to look over. The highest score wins the challenge.
Winner: Shadowsquid (Oerhaos found guilty of cheating/Oerhaos planning to give up immunity)
Exiled: Nin10mode (declined Tribal Swap)
Voted Out: 1018Peter (3-2-1)
Other Vote Recipients: Brando, EmKay (Raz gets a penalty vote/tiebreaker vote)
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The post-vote drama is muted on Shadowsquid’s end. It’s clear that they’re used to it by now, and have been very much left unfazed by it. There are no apologies, no clarifications, no responses to the voted out. Mega is sent out with virtually no fanfare. In fact, the entire forum is practically a ghost town between the vote and the challenge.
With that, it’s right on to another ORG staple twist.
The Mutiny
It’s funny that in Episode 3, my Tribal Council story for the losing tribe was about Andrew Savage’s storyline, including Drake throwing the challenge. Andrew Savage had a potentially game-breaking moment that wasn’t shown on TV. In the F12, a mutiny was offered to the remaining contestants. Whereas the Drake Tribe was welcoming to any curious on Savage’s tribe, the Morgans, Savage stepped up and said “anyone who crosses over to this tribe will be immediately voted out.” With that, his tribe pride reared its head and prevented him from getting any numerical advantage in the game from the two people on the outs in Drake.
This happens again in this episode. I offered both tribes a mutiny offer for anyone tempted to. Magnen considers letting the Squids be openminded: “On the other hand, I wouldn't mind some members on our team, as we seem to be, ah, short. This is just my personal opinion though, I can't speak for the rest of the team.” However, she is followed up with Bomberman’s boorish “Bah if anyone switches tribes then the new tribe will vote off the new members. Its a trap.”
Oerhaos is similar, not even wanting to entertain new members or losing old ones. While Venexis asks them to be open to it: “We should at least consider the mutiny option, though. Everyone here is pretty confident in their odds, right? It would be a valuable chance to gather knowledge on their members for when the game becomes a free for all, and that could certainly benefit alliances with long term goals in mind, especially now that our spy period is almost up,” Raz decides publicly to say “Everyone in my alliance I'd like to ask if you stay where you are.” However, that’s just it; Raz has an alliance of four. It’s pretty well-known that he has an alliance of four. Peter and EmKay specifically are clearly on the outs in Oerhaos, and Peter doesn’t really care for them at all. However, Bomberman straight up telling them they’d be getting voted out is the same folly Savage made. Any possibility of Shadowsquid getting numbers is immediately gone.
Just like that, the mutiny is ineffective, and it seals the deal for the likely fate of the Squids, and some of Oerhaos.
Challenge: Curb Appeal
The SOS challenge is a classic in old-school Survivor. Get both tribes to create a signal that a rescue chopper could logistically see from his perch in the skies. The most effective one wins immunity. While this has often been accused of being a way to give a struggling tribe immunity, it just so happens with the two games Runouw has released, there have been level designers. One for the Mario flash game, one for his original game. Both designers are exceedingly, ridiculously intricate, enough to not only create an SOS sign, but an entire camp and then some. That’s what I decided this challenge would be.
And, just to reassure I wasn’t full of BS nor was I rigging it, I invited a close friend on the site and a master level designer to judge the level. Along the way when we faced delays I also got a backup in another underrated designer. They decided the results, I did not.
We get two very different dynamics, almost as if the roles had switched. Oerhaos slowly throws the level together bit by bit, reacting entirely on instinct and impulse to create their level. Someone’d add a bit, someone’d add a bit to that, like a conveyor belt or The Neverending Story threads. Unfortunately, that’d lead to a very pivotal mistake as people started miscommunicating or jumping each other in line.
Here’s what, ideally, their level would have been: http://runouwsurvivorgames.freeforums.org/challenge-4-discussion-t63-30.html#p949 It’s a pretty fun jaunt through the island helping in daily camp life. They chose the more advanced Last Legacy designer and it paid off in that it was much more polished.
Shadowsquid was even further forced into the underdog role. Bomberman had given up, Nan was still on vacation, and Harmless was also occupied. This left Magnen and Yurimaster with some contributions from Harmless. However, Magnen was not a regular designer, and Yurimaster is currently an up-and-coming level designer whose career is only now taking off. He was going to have to bear the brunt of the work for designing the level.
However, he and Magnen split the work well. He scrambles a pretty damn good level together, and Magnen adds the story and the plot that the construction focuses on. Harmless helps pull it together when he can, and they have a level that was pretty well done and leaves them all buzzing about future projects post-game. This is the happiest they’ve been in days.
Here’s their level, A Fallen Tribe. http://www.runouw.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=80&t=46028 It’s a good representation of the Shadowsquid tribe. Heartfelt, simplistic, with plenty of team effort within it as they solemnly face their empty tribe on their way home. It’s not extraordinary, but it’s pretty good and for a small level is still fun.
Unfortunately, yet again… Oerhaos pulls off the better level. Somehow, their piggybacking off of each other produced a pretty damn great LL level. It gets the higher marks from the judges, a 16.5/20 to the Squids’ 16/20. It looks like despite the bonding, the Squids are once again going to Tribal Council…
...except…
for a few things.
Twists and Turns
For one, the twist was announced, with a twist-inside-the-twist.
While I like the basic idea of Survivor, it’s clear that the tribes were evolving faster than I expected. So, to help keep it fun, I decided to do small twists as rewards to keep them on their toes. For the first round, it was the Oerhaos spy. For this round, the winning tribe would win the right to exile one member of the opposing tribe from the vote. They would be banned from the forums and prohibited from communicating game to anyone until after the vote was over.
However…
...the catch is that whoever they exile will have the choice to trigger a tribal swap. Again, this episode is all about trust. Can you trust the players to make decisions that are good for the tribe? This catch was announced after the tribe claimed their prize.
Needless to say that was trust Oerhaos did not have in Shadowsquid. Logistically, they had better odds than not in a tribal swap: 7 over 4 likely leads to dual majority on both tribes, or something that is still a beneficial mix barring freak chance. Plus, it was unlikely that the Squids would want to split with each other and walk into that. However, Oerhaos didn’t want to take any chances.
“Call me crazy but on second thought, we should have purposely lost this round. Now our team is likely to get shuffled. Now, who should we choose to do this? I'm thinking Magnen. She has faith in her team and will likely not want it shuffled. Is it possible to forfeit our win, MoY? We'll do the tribal council and they'll have to choose one of us.” ~Raz
I am not against throwing challenges at all, but deliberately giving up tribal immunity is a risky move. It was only done in Survivor twice, once to get rid of a violent Brandon, and once to get rid of the black guy that the bitchy Republican didn’t like. Two of the ugliest situations in Survivor history came from immunity giveaways, and that alone taints that already crazy idea. But its’ official. Venexis, Brando, Raz, and EmKay decide to give away immunity, with Nin giving approval later and poor Peter just being dragged along for the ride.
So, by that alone, immunity goes to Shadowsquid and they get to choose who to exile. However, it gets better. I mentioned in the challenge that Oerhaos made a fatal error in the challenge. I had said I’d be taking the last presented copy and sending it over to the judges. Blackyoshi made the mistake of, at the very last second, eclipsing Raz’s copy of the level, making it the submitted one. Unfortunately, it was extremely bug-ridden because of an inexplicable error. However, it was an unfortunate mistake that the rules allowed, whether they liked it or not.
Raz did not.
Therefore, Raz smuggled a better copy of the level to the judges under my nose. This was reported to me by Raz, where he said someone else did it and he didn’t know who. I wanted to flush the perpetrator out, but in a 16 person game you don’t have the freedom to just eliminate people willy-nilly, even over some pretty big offenses.
So I called their bluff by saying that if the perp didn’t come forward, Oerhaos would be going to two tribal councils and eliminating two people. I had no intentions of actually going forward with this, even as mad as I was, but I made the act as convincing as possible. (I guess Probst is somewhat right in saying even the host is a player.) Eventually, Raz himself would step forward as the perpetrator.
“So yeah guys, I almost costed us losing two of our members instead of one. I feel really bad for it, and then right after that I outright said that we cheated, and lied to MoY, Ven, and brando (the ones there at the time I said it) and said it wasn't me. Lying is hard for me and eventually I always confess. In short, I'm sorry I lied and especially sorry to the ones above to lying to you guys more. I'm gonna have 2 votes against me, one normally and one for a tiebreaker.In the end the cheating was pointless because we ended up wanting to forfeit. I may be sounding like I'm putting you all on a guilt trip but I'm really not, I only did it for the team to win.” ~Raz
As a result of his cheating, I gave him a vote against his name for this Tribal Council, and added an additional one to a tiebreaker in the case that he should be in a tie. This, combined with Nan’s throwaway vote, gives him a total of 3 votes in backup, one active that night.
Oerhaos was gracious about it, because they didn’t want to go to Tribal to begin with.
“I really had no idea about the cheating incident. I did play through the level, both of them in fact, and was aware of the glitch that prompted the action, but assumed from the atmosphere of the topic that we were confident of getting a good mark despite it. It was as much a surprise to me as it was to you, or probably anyone else on our team.
I don't blame either Raz or BY though in the slightest. Survivor is a competitive game, and competition often brings out the worst in people. To be honest, the fact that Raz confessed to it (first in private chat, and then on the topic) went a long way toward my decision to not vote him off. Similarly, I don't hold anything against BY for what was likely an honest mistake, made in a rush to meet the challenge deadline.” ~Venexis
So, at the end of the day, who wins? Well, I say Shadowsquid earned their win. In a proper world the glitch in the final copy would probably reduce the score dramatically enough to give the Squids the win. So, in the end, it works out just as expected.
Speaking of working out just as suspected…
Tribal Council
Shadowsquid, at least the three actively participating, decided to exile Nin10mode from the vote. He, of course, decided against the tribal swap. Now it was time for the vote. Six Oerhaos enter, one with a vote against him, and only five will leave.
This is Oerhaos’ first time even considering the vote. But before we even get there, it’s time to discuss alliances. A solid alliance has finally been made between Ven, Nin, Brando, and Raz, spearheaded by Raz. Everyone knows it, because Raz is open about it. Raz is also open about this:
<Raz>: Ven I'm going to be honest
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<Raz>: I don't trust you
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<Raz>: in our alliance
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<Raz>: if you, me, brando, and nin aren't the final four (yes, i just said our alliance, screw it)
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<Raz>: I blame you
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<Raz>: jk
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<brandobrawl>: The Elite Four.
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<Venexis>: I also recognize the importance of knowing when to dissolve one
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<brandobrawl>: The Four Devas.
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<Venexis>: No but really it would be a pretty stupid move to break an alliance before it was necessary, so I guess it depends on whether or not you think I'm the type of person to make a stupid choice
Part of this can be immediately attributed to Raz’s open honesty that is often to a fault. However, it’s unusual to be immediately open about how much you don’t trust an alliance member. It clearly says “hey, you’re number 4” which is not something you tell people, damnit. That’s not to say Raz isn’t on the right track, as you’ll see later. We’ll see how this comes into play down the road, but it’s interesting to have an alliance of four where the fourth is clearly outlined. If anything goes wrong, here’s why.
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That doesn’t matter this episode, however. Raz, Nin10mode, Brando, and Venexis aren’t going anywhere tonight despite Raz’s mistake. Regardless, most of Oerhaos seems to be very confident in what will happen that night, although Raz is still defending himself against his mistake. That aside, everyone seems to be confident in some way or another.
“I doubt Nin will activate the swap. He has confident in our team.” ~Raz
“I think it's normal to be a bit hesitant to eliminate someone, especially on a team composed almost entirely from people you've got to know over the last few years. It sucks, yeah, but we were all aware of the consequences- it's just our turn to face them. No push was really necessary.” ~Venexis
“When it comes time to get serious, I will.” ~Brando
“Seeing as we're calling the shots mainly, however, I'm quite confident [the immunity giveaway will] work out to our advantage.” ~Emelia Kaylee
“An outsider, huh. I don't really feel that way.” ~Peter
“We should be able to survive without a leader for a while, because everyone in our tribe knows each other to some extend and we are a good team after all, imo.”
All six people are confident. I’m sure even during exile Nin was confident as well. However, one of these people aren’t as comfortable as they think.
“I'll vote for Peter as I don't feel any greater connection to him. May seem like a bad reason, but that's how I think about it.” ~BY
“brandobrawl. No grudge whatsoever - the thread was a joke - but he hasn't contributed much and doesn't seem to be too serious about it.” ~Emelia Kaylee
“Vote: Emelia Kaylee
Reason:Since there's a chance of Brando going on MK,I figured that by voting for MK will guarantee me a safer position. And besides,that means MK might go for Brando,that's 2 votes that aren't on me.” ~Peter
Peter actually tries to pull off a brilliant last-ditch save, trying to target the other target. It’s basic Survivor play, but in a world where people are still getting adjusted to Survivor, it’s actually smarter and hasn’t been done yet. However, it is just too late for him to recover, and odds are he never really had a chance to begin with. With three votes on Peter, two on EmKay, one on Brando, and the Raz penalty floating around, Peter is sent home.
However, as much as I hate to marginalize a passing player, the biggest tidbit from this round is, again, from Venexis. He’s the first one in the game to really get that utilizing a cross-tribal alliance might actually be a good idea. It’s a small confessional with the potential to revolutionize the game.
“If there's one good thing about this, though, it's that teams are on a more equal footing now. Ideally, that would mean less negative feelings toward opposing team members for when the merge takes place (damn, it's only two challenges away), and that opens the chance for a secondary alliance significantly. I wonder how easy it would be to use my reputation and secretly be a part of two alliances post-merge, only openly declaring one over the other when it became clear which was more beneficial? Perhaps instead of choosing the alliance with best chance of success, it would be easier to side with the underdog, convincing them to pick off the stronger group one by one before eventually overpowering them myself?” ~Venexis
With that teaser… hopefully the future looks exciting to you as it does to me.
Power Rankings
I was very sad to see Peter go. Perhaps it’s just that I root for the underdog story, but the poor guy never stood a chance because he didn’t fit in the same social circles. Nevertheless, for nin10mode and the rest of Raz’s alliance, he has served his job well, and they all remain safe for another day.
On Shadowsquid, it’s clear that Bomberman101 has given up. His tribe is behind, and he’s seen the worst of himself in this game. Even if he doesn’t officially resign I don’t see him having the same heart as he did before. At the very least this means Nan/Magnen will likely make merge. It’s just a matter of whether or not they’ll work with an Oerhaos. They very well might have to.
Venexis is the one who can change this game and dictates how it goes. He thinks far ahead, but still knows how to play the first third of the game and not just the last two-thirds (™David Samson). I can see him pulling aside not just two of the last Squids, but EmKay and BY from his own tribe, who are clearly outsiders. He can also kill a lot of people without them really hating him because he’s the closest thing to a “good guy” that Oerhaos has. I think they’re the one person left from there besides maybe Blackyoshi that Shadowsquid respects.
Hopefully this vote will show EmKay he’s at the bottom of the power chain on Oerhaos, and this will get him moving. As for winning challenges, the odds are against the Squids, and it might not even matter if Bomberman quits on them. It’s just a matter of whether Oerhaos’ cockiness will be so blinding they won’t even see their own members walk out on them.
11. Bomberman101
10. Harmless
9. nin10mode
8. Raz
7. Yurimaster
6. brandobrawl
5. Magnen
4. NanTheDark
3. Blackyoshi
2. Emelia Kaylee
1. Venexis
Next Time on… Survivor:
One member has had enough, and quits the game.
A shocking end to a challenge leads to something no one will expect.
Archive: Find Confessionals, Voting Reasons, Tribal Council Answers and Post-Game Interviews Here
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