Previously on… Survivor!
After the shocking blindside of Nin10mode, Raz and Emelia Kaylee found their backs against the wall. Raz, already in confrontation with the whole of Shadowsquid against his will, was first on the chopping block and at his breaking point.
In the immunity challenges, players were allowed to sit out if they didn’t want to compete, in exchange for an advantage in their next round. Emotionally exhausted, Raz risked elimination to sit out, followed by EmKay, BY, and Yurimaster, leaving it up to a duel between Venexis and Harmless. Harmless thought his renewed alliance with Venexis would let Venexis throw the challenge, but when that was against the rules, Venexis began to rethink the way he played this game, taking inspiration from Blackyoshi.
Offput by Harmless’ behavior the round prior, and suffering from guilt, Venexis made initial plans to use his game to propel Yurimaster, Blackyoshi, and Emelia Kaylee ahead. To do this, he gave Raz immunity after he won the duel, turning the focus onto Harmless.
Harmless had the opportunity to cause a tie when Blackyoshi and Yurimaster stuck by his side, BY even using the vote revealer to give Harmless information. However, inexplicably, Harmless did not send in a vote, self-voting his way out of the game in a 4-2 vote.
5 are left. Who will be eliminated next?
SPOILERS: Avoid the Breakdown if you don’t want spoilers!
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Breakdown:
Episode 11: “Less Than A’ight.”
Challenge: Potpurri Relay
Description: Players must PM the host when they wish to start. The host will give them a list of tasks taken from prior challenges to complete. They must complete it live and PM the host when they finish. The best time wins.
Immunity Winner: Raz
Voted Out: Emeila Kaylee (2-2-1)
Other Votes: Yurimaster, Blackyoshi
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This season has become a high-stakes match of Survivor Ping-Pong. Every round after the merge, the power has shifted from team Oerhaos to team Squid. The Squid leader, Nan, was first to fall, in 10th Place. This was followed by an unexpected blindside of Brandobrawl in 9th, then it was back to the grind with Magnen in 8th. The Squids turned it around to knock out Nin10mode in 7th Place, and then lost another one in Harmless, who placed 6th. One person has been at the center of every vote, for both Squid and Oer, and that’s Venexis.
Now, Venexis faces a dilemma. His intent is to help get Yurimaster, Blackyoshi, and Emelia Kaylee to the end. However, he is no longer intent on self-voting, especially knowing I flat-out won’t let him because I don’t want more people quitting the game when there’s only 15 to begin with. His options are either to make the ultimate betrayal of the biggest force of Team Oerhaos, or to pick between his favorite children to send one home. Even then, Venexis could also start playing his own game and actually going for the win.
Regardless, as trite as it is to say, Yurimaster and Blackyoshi have their backs against their wall after not only Harmless is voted out, but they were revealed to be voting against MK, who has definitely taken notice:
“Nice to know you're still stacked up against me, BY and Yuri :)”
As for BY’s reaction to being busted by his own revealer?
“I had no clue of this one being official.”
Now, it’s just a matter of figuring out what to do from here. At this point, just about everyone is vulnerable. Venexis could do a sacrificial move, Raz still has two Squids and potentially Ven against him, and Yuri and BY are in the minority this vote. The only one who seems safe for the time being is actually Emelia Kaylee.
Pre-Challenge Arrangements:
Yurimaster knows he’s in trouble this round, as he details in a confessional.
"Sigh... Looks like things turned way diferent of what I expected. I did my best to make Harmless last a little bit more, even if it wasn't much. Well. Being the last shadowsquid is kinda awkward. I dunno... before this, we had the thing of the shadowsquid alliance and stuff, but now it's just me... I have the feel that I'm going to be the next one being voted out.”
Therefore, he goes to Blackyoshi and Venexis to reaffirm his position.
“Are we still an alliance, or it's each one for their own?”
Blackyoshi, despite feeling vulnerable himself, reaffirms his commitment.
“I'm still siding with you. Same should go for Ven to some extend. I'm for my part going for MK again. I do expect myself to get voted out this round. So, this might be my last round. lawl.”
Venexis answers with blunt honesty.
“It's very hard to have any kind of alliance in a game with so few players, but I will say this: If anyone but Raz gets immunity, it almost certainly works in your favor this next elimination. I think he has more votes than anyone currently in the game, and should it come down to a tie, he is the best bet for an assured elimination. It would be a very good idea to prevent him winning, lol.”
With the communication concreted between them, we’ve learned two things: Raz is in big trouble if he loses now, and if he wins, then anything goes.
Immunity Challenge:
Now, it’s time for the already hinted-at F5 challenge, probably the hardest one in the game. It’s done almost entirely via PM. Players must clock in and redo different versions of five immunity challenges already done.
1) Look through the Survivor intros and get a shot of each season’s logo as it’s seen in the intro. Not its basic logo, but the conclusion of every intro.
This is a callback to last challenge. Find the logo as presented in each season’s intro. As the players progress they’ll notice that the logo is always at the end of the video, but there’s a chance they won’t and will waste a half-hour watching the videos.
2) Record yourself playing this level: Fort Omniquet by Nin10mode. Get yourself doing one straight take going through the level. Don’t use checkpoints.
A callback to the first Tribal challenge, players must speedrun a tricky puzzle level made by none other than our 7th Place Goddess. In his honor, I clarified not to use checkpoints.
3) Do this quiz: find a user that fits the topic or the work
This one came directly after the first Tribal Challenge. In it, the players must answer another sporcle challenge, which this time works properly.
4) Play Super Mario 63 and take screenshots of you getting 10 different shine sprites
A flashback to the flash game challenge, this time contestants take it to Runouw’s first big game, Super Mario 63, and must beat 10 missions.
5) Finally, revisit the Coconut Chop challenge and try and guess all of Magnen’s answers for the 12 questions.
I sent out the Coconut Chop questions in the Final 8 to make sure the challenge could be done quickly. Despite being eliminated, Magnen still gave her answers. To help with tiebreakers, each contestant was tasked with guessing the answer to each of the 12 questions.
For everyone who had the advantage, they were allowed to skip one of these tasks. For Yurimaster, if he uses the challenge advantage, he can skip two challenges. Venexis will skip none of the challenges after winning immunity last round.
It’s the most intense challenge yet, and some won’t even finish it. One won’t even try. Regardless, the stakes are high as the winner gets a pass straight into the finale.
Doing the Challenge
Raz was first to report back for the relay. He decides to skip the Speedrun, relying on the sure-thing of getting 10 shines more than the endless attempts of trying to speedrun an infamously tricky level. He does relatively well for himself, getting a time of 1 hour, 14 minutes. However, he accidentally does a quiz from the actual F13 challenge the quiz here was based upon, incurring him a 15 minute penalty. His new time is 1 hour, 29 minutes.
Yurimaster was next. He skipped the Coconut Chop challenge and gathering the intro shots. I was forced to give him a time reprieve because of the 30 minutes it took for him to upload the YouTube video of his speedrun, which I anticipated regardless. His final time, however, was still 1 hour, 47 minutes. Raz is in the lead.
Venexis PM’d me after that. He started getting a few down, but a few things kept him from finishing. One, was the knowledge that he had probably done so badly after a point that he wasn’t going to waste his time. The second was because he’d fallen sick with a common cold, which at least wasn’t a seizure. The third was that “Mario's sound effects are pretty damn irritating with a headache.” You be the judge of that one.
Blackyoshi attempted it afterwards. He allotted for 1 hour of time to complete it, and needless to say, an hour in, he was far from complete.
Either Raz or Emelia Kaylee will win immunity, so the true greens will be taking it home this round. It’s a matter of whether or not EmKay will be able to beat Raz’s apparently formidable time. However, remember when I said someone didn’t even attempt it?
Well, here’s MK’s submission.
“okay
forfeiting
that's a hell of a lot more shit than I expected and I have Geog to do :(“
Just like that, Raz wins, and Venexis is faced with a Sophie’s Choice of his own.
Tribal Council
For the Survivor fans out there, remember by day 39 of Survivor: The Australian Outback, where the four remaining contestants are so beaten down and tired that all they can do is stare at the fire and wait for instructions? This round is hard to write about because there isn’t much activity this round; everyone is either too distracted or too tired to participate in anything outside of what is necessary.
Raz starts off on an interesting note: he uses his secret item. I believe I’ve already given the details but what it does is that it gives Raz access to any post-game interview he wants to glean information out of it. Now that Harmless is out, he asks to read his. I don’t get a response from Raz this round but I do know he realizes his answer about Magnen getting a free ride in the Coconut Chop alienated Harmless big-time.
The new information also reaffirms his strategy of being quiet at Tribal Council. His answers:
“1) For the second time, you win immunity. For the third time, you wear it. This keeps you safe in a close vote. What do you plan to do with that power?”
Not get kicked out. Honestly don't know what to say. Anything I do can easily just be used against me in the next tribal council.
2) Do you think you can stay safe even without immunity?”
Maybe. I honestly don't know how to answer these questions.”
In other news, Yurimaster is resigned to his fate.
“1) You're the last Shadowsquid. You were one of two people last round to do so. How scared are you for your future? And what is your plan?
Sigh... I'm pretty sure of what is going to happen. If not, almost sure. Yup, I'm scared, and no, I have no plans.”
BY has this to say.
“2) What other information from the reveal can you use to get yourself ahead?
I'm for once seeing what's definitely going on behind the scenes. So, yeah. It's been neat to know, yet it's not useful for getting further.”
Emelia Kaylee gives an ironic answer.
“2) How predictable will this vote be? Do you think there are any alliances left?
a) Oh, definitely this vote is going to pan out one of two ways.”
Finally, always stealing the show is Venexis, who has this to say about the vote.
“I've been pretty accurate at figuring out who's going to be up for elimination each round since the merge, but the best I can do here is guess. I'll be very surprised if it's a 3-2 majority, though. Even with the odd number of survivors, there's so much that's dependant on the individuals left in the game, and so I'm expecting it'll be a 2-2-1 split, or perhaps even a 2-1-1-1 split. I think I know who will be going home tonight, though.”
Judging by past events, if Venexis knows who’s going home, that’s probably who’s going to go home. However, stranger things have happened.
The Vote
Not having Raz to vote for, Blackyoshi and Yurimaster go after the only available choice.
“Going for MK, this time.” ~Blackyoshi
Yurimaster, his belief in voting as soon as possible affirmed by Harmless, votes almost immediately after answering his questions.
“I vote for MK again. Again, he's the one I'm less close to, besides Raz.” ~Yurimaster
However, the tables have turned against the two of them because Venexis has made his choice to vote for Blackyoshi.
“I really want Yuri and MK to be finalists still. Guess that means I'm voting for BY
As much as I hate doing this, it's for the same reason BY refused to vote Yuri ever. I could just as easily eliminate MK this round (let's face it, it's going to be MK and BY up for elimination) but I do really want to see him make it as well.
They're both very overlooked players who deserve to win possibly more than anyone else, and I won't vote for either until necessary. Sorry for this, BY. But I'm definitely going to try as hard as possible to keep Yuri in for as long as possible, even if it means being voted off myself.”
It makes sense for Venexis, already on a mission to save two people, to vote off the other guardian angel who doesn’t care about his own game, probably less so than Venexis does, who will still actively try to win if need be. Too many angels to overcrowd heaven, I suppose.
Raz confirms the vote against Blackyoshi
“BY
sadly
:/” ~Raz
Emelia Kaylee also knows what’s up in this game, to a point. He breaks down the relationship between Yurimaster and Blackyoshi, why both of them are threats, and what the stake is in the rest of the game.
“So here's how I think it's panned out so far. Perhaps in some future storytelling, my naivete will be gloated upon, but for now -
Yuri and BY are allianced, and they have a specific hitlist. First is definite (tandem voting on an otherwise unsuspecting person), second is a hunch.
Ven is flip-flopping back and forth, but I'm hoping he's on our side for this. Raz has a hunch that Ven wants BY or I to win, so it's in the air.
I'm firmly allianced with Raz as far as I can tell, and willing to somewhat promote his victory should we make it to the F2 together.” ~Emelia Kaylee
However… then he goes off course.
“Votin’ Yuri.”
This vote isn’t what Raz and Venexis are voting, they’re voting for Blackyoshi. Currently, Emelia Kaylee has strayed off of course via a simple miscommunication. I waited the entire round for him to switch it to Blackyoshi.
He never switches it.
We’re at a 2-2-1 vote. What I’d normally do is have the person who voted the 1 vote break the tie. However, that person is Emelia Kaylee. But I can’t have a tie between two people with only three revotes amongst five people, that’s automatically slanted and makes no sense as far as I’m concerned.
So instead, I do the inverse, and have the other four revote. Obviously, Blackyoshi can’t revote because that’d mean self-voting. It’s a matter of the other three deciding to change or stay the course.
Yurimaster keeps his vote the same.
“I vote for MK again.”
Over chat, Raz confirms his vote for Blackyoshi.
It’s all up to Venexis, and whether or not he decides to change once again. To little surprise, he does not, but understands some of the irony of the situation.
“For fuck's sake, I'm laughing because I was so determined to not be the goddamn tiebreaker again, and clearly that's working out great, lmao.
I think I'll have to keep my vote the same, though, BY. Same reasoning and everything. I guess this kind of thing will get more and more common as the number of survivors decreases.”
As such, we have a tie. 2 for Blackyoshi, 2 for Emelia Kaylee, and past votes to break it. Emelia Kaylee has 4 past votes. 2 are from last round, 2 are from the 1018peter round.
However, Blackyoshi has never been voted against before.
Just like that, the player in the best position accidentally votes himself out of the game. His reaction is as succinct as ever.
“A'ight.”
Post-Mortem
Venexis describes the accident as such.
“Raz seems to think it was because MK accidentally submitted a wrong vote, and if that's the case, it's clearly a very unforgiving period in the game. To be eliminated simply because of a communication error, or worse, for just not thinking straight when you submit a vote is brutal.”
It’s a stroke of good luck for Blackyoshi and Yurimaster. There is no way they should have ever survived tonight’s vote, ever, but thanks to one unbelievable error, they did. They should still to this day be making prayers to their lucky stars.
Emelia Kaylee is a contestant that grew on me in time. I’m impressed that he was able to tone himself down to play Under the Radar. I think this game, while it has broken others down, actively made him stronger as a person. Instead of getting into fights, he shut them down. Instead of getting upset, he seemed calm and peaceful. Despite not being overly active after a momentary rough patch at the beginning of the game, he really got his shit together and withstood some pretty decent adversity without losing his confidence and his cool. Even after losing in a particularly embarrassing way in being voted out despite having majority, he handled it in his typical calm, carefree manner. During the game it took me awhile to see it, but hindsight is 20-20. Despite his blunder, EmKay’s passive play did wonders for him in many ways.
Predictions
We’re down to the finale, and I’m glad we made it with four people who, even in subtle ways, have become real power players. Raz is the dominant force of the Oerhaos, Venexis is the wild card thrown into the mix, Yurimaster is the social worker of the lost Shadowsquid tribe, and Blackyoshi is the soulful flip-flopper. There really is no telling where the game goes from here, but I’ll do my best.
I wouldn’t be surprised if Raz won immunity again. Apparently he’s on a roll. In the case that he doesn’t win, he doesn’t make the Final 2, but with the drive he has, I can see him doing well. If Raz wins, I think it goes back to a tie. Yuri and Blackyoshi will vote together, for Venexis, but in such a case Venexis has zero votes, and both Yuri and Blackyoshi have votes. I don’t think Venexis will vote for Yurimaster, and will probably eliminate Blackyoshi.
In the Final 3, if Raz wins, he takes Venexis. If Venexis wins, he takes Yurimaster, and if Yurimaster wins, he probably also takes Venexis.
In a Yurimaster/Ven jury, I see the vote going more towards Yuri than Ven, whereas in a Raz/Ven jury it will probably swing towards Venexis. Raz is playing a good game but no Shadowsquid will ever vote for him solely because of the conditioning against Raz that there is, led by NanTheDark even now. Even though Harmless despises Venexis for turning on him he still won’t vote Raz; crazy, yes, but that’s how it rolls in the Squid cult. I think a Raz/Yuri F2 will never happen, as much as I’d love to see the Oerhaos and Shadowsquid MVPs battle it out.
4. Blackyoshi
3. Raz
2. Venexis
1. Yurimaster
Next time, on the Season Finale of Survivor.
I’ll just let my final words after the F5TC say it for me.
“We're down to the Final 4, and unlike most Survivor seasons, there is no clear path to the end. There are no Survivor seasons left we can relate this story to. Now it's just time to focus on how this one will end.
Will it end with Raz, the formidable Oerhaos captain? From the beginning, even when it got tough, he was always at the forefront for his tribe, doing the work, taking the hits, and actively being in the field for their sake. More than any other Oerhaos, he has been about team spirit, and would live and die by his team, even if it's to his detriment. Yet, with the chaos being what it is, much like Yurimaster is the last Shadowsquid, Raz has become the last pure-blooded Oerhaos. Will his reputation get ahead of him, or can he power through to the end?
Perhaps it will be Blackyoshi, both the black sheep and the dark horse of Oerhaos. Openly admitting and being found to be working with the Squids, Blackyoshi was the first to recognize the possibilities of switching alliances. However, these decisions have brought him under fire from his former allies, despite his repentance. Regardless, BY has never lost his humility and honesty like most Survivor players would. Just how far will his independence take him, and can it win him the respect of the jury if he gets there?
The wild card of the game has undoubtedly been Venexis. No one truly knows what he's thinking, but the mystery has enabled him to escape the game all the way to the Final 4 vote-free. Through sickness and health, it has been him who seems to have the closest thing to control on this wild game. Coming in as the smartest one in the room he seems to understand where everyone is coming from. However, will that mystery work for or against him?
Will the crown be taken by Yurimaster, the last surviving Shadowsquid? Possibly the sanest and quietest of the dying Squids, his patience, quietness and calm, humble demeanor have done him favors even as the rest of his tribe imploded around him. The odds are against him now more than ever; can he make it out of this last phase alive or have his days of escaping the reaper finally come to an end?
No matter who wins this story, it will make sense, and it will be a fantastic one indeed. It's up to you four to tell it, like you have helped to do so far.”
At the end of the game, only one person will take the win and the $100 prize. Make your bets and stick it through, because the wildest events have yet to happen. Some step down, others step up, and a winner is crowned.
The Episode 11 Archive: Confessionals, TC Answers, etc etc
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