Episode 08

[Mia Galeotalanza]

Welcoem to ~tha merge~

Okay. Real talk. This is where the real game begins. Season after season, we see players squander a chance to win it all by playing safe and assuming they can follow their "surefire" path to the end all while playing quietly in the shadows. This is where the game is either won or lost, all while some realize and some don't.

While we aren't telling you to go batshit crazy, we're here to ask you: What have you done, or what can you do to leave your mark on this game in a way that you would expect a jury to award you with the win?

Next, let's talk numbers. We merged 5/4/3, therefore, if tribe unity runs deep, no single tribe can get a majority. On top of this, there are partnerships and secret partnerships. How do you plan to work through this complex web to make it through the next vote?

Let's talk allies. Who do you think you have on your side?

Enemies. Who is against you, and who do you want gone?

That's all for now. Talk to us and we will keep picking your brain for more!

Good luck players! Play smart, but don't forget to play hard! We're all rooting for you!

[Coby]

Damn, I wish I had copied my whole large speech earlier from limici, because that would've been perfect for this and I can't rewrite something like that! Look at Limici and my last two confessions. That.

[Brenda Lowe]

Congrats on making merge mister!

[Mia Galeotalanza]

COBY YOUR FIRST STRANDED MERGE <3

[Coby]

I know there's a lot of game left to play, but while we're still in this first merge night limbo.....YAY I'M SO EXCITED FOR MY FIRST STRANDED MERGE! It's like a dream come true! I may not end up interacting with the lurker board until after this season's over. That's so weird, but so lovely at the same time. I have a feeling this tribe is going to be an absolute mess. Three different groups derived from two original tribes with lots of public/secret relationships thrown in is just a recipe for chaos and anarchy. And that's why I say fuck it! There's no real reason for me to be loyal to any one person, tribe, or group and I have a few general targets in mind, it's just all about being able to manipulate the vote in my favor. My first general four targets are, Marissa, Ibrehem, Vytas and Katie. Vytas is immune and I need Katie right now. So it's down to Ibrehem or Marissa. I know Marissa's name has been thrown out and I need Ibrehem and Caryn on my side to eliminate Vytas, so yeah it'll probably be her, that I'll be campaigning to leave.

Important people that I want to connect with: Ibrehem (so I can cut him), Cochran (to reaffirm our alliance), Vytas(to feel him out), Rachel(potential ally?) and possibly Caryn.

[Coby]

I just saw the State of Portugal Address and my golly am I glad that I wanted to dump Katie as soon as possible because I'm scared she's just going to drag me down with her. But besides that, just game-wise she is a very smart player and clearly has a lot of connections in this tribe and that's not something I want to keep around. Especially if people start to associate me with her and feel like I'm her lackey or something. Not to mention she has the idol and as much as I want to believe she would have my back if we're in trouble, I honestly don't think she would unless it benefited her, which right now, if she were to still be in the game after this, I don't think she'd give it up for an-y-thing. If she left today, I would be extremely lucky that I didn't have to betray her or anything and I could just keep going after my targets. So although I don't want to see her go, I wouldn't mind if she did.

[Coby]

http://yourlisten.com/cuckooburra/s22e8d16

Sorry this is just one big giant rant, take what you can.

[Ashley Underwood]

Great.

So intense. I'm gonna listen to this again every round.

[Brenda Lowe]

Sounds like you are antsy to make some moves. It's hard to even ask while the Katie situation is up in the air, but by the sounds of it you almost want this boy's club to come together just to set it up for a fall?

So targets of;
-Coch
-Vytas
-Ibe
-Marissa

but of course two of those are immune right now and you say you might need Ibe later. So does that mean Marissa as the target to weaken the NuBracari core? How are her connections? Who would be down for that?

Also at being able to hear you snapping your fingers.

[Ashley Underwood]

*snap snap* mhmmmm!

[Coby]

My avatar is oooooh! I love it.

[Frank the Tank]

That Creepy Coby avatar tho! Perrfect!

[Ashley Underwood]

[Brenda Lowe]

With both Hayden and Katie now out, do you feel isolated at all?

[Jeff Probst]

We've never seen a merged Coby before!!! Congrats!

Are we going to see someone who is more confident and actively making alliances/targets or is it a bit too early for that?

[Coby]

Katie leaving I know was probably the best decision to make just given that awkward situation. She kind of reminded me of Jayne from Big Brother 7 UK talking about the outside world and screwing everyone over. However this leaves me in a very weird position. I don't really have any partners in this game and I would basically just like to tear down all of the other partnerships so I don't have a chance of being left out and voted out. However, I cannot just play this game blindly. I'll keep you updated on what's happened today but from my point of view, it looks like the target could be Rachel? Apparently she was crazy. Originally she was someone I considered taking to the end but I really just want to go along with the flow for this vote and not make any waves. But again this is very awkward because we're at f11 not F12. I know Cochran/Vytas are tight. If they have Ralph and Shawn, all they need is one person to cause a tie and the game completely goes to them. That's why I want to target Ralph and prevent that stuff from happening. Gah, this is going to be a lot that I have to do, but we'll see if it can happen, and if I can stay up at night, my goodness. I feel like an old person once midnight hits.

Clarification question: I know you can't explicitly tell me whether Katie actually had an idol or not, but if anyone was ever voted out with an idol in their pocket, would it return to the game or be lost to the archives of time and space?

[Brenda Lowe]

If that happened, that idol would leave the game with that person. Whether a new one would be introduced to replace it?

[Coby]

[Brenda Lowe]

Quiet weekend for you here so far Coby. Map out the merge dynamic for me if you can. Who is in which groups and what is each group pushing for?

[Coby]

Yeah, I must admit I have not had much of a presence here since the merge happened but honestly I feel that's for the best. Given what's happened and the fact that now we're about to be down to 10 people after tonight, I really just want to get through this vote. As much as I would love to make a splash right now, that's not going to get me anywhere if I'm noticed too early. Now that I have no partners in the game, I'm technically a "free agent" since I'm not bound to anyone but it also leaves me exposed to be tossed aside by the pairs that remain in the game. I've updated my little tracking chart and here's where things stand.

Recent developments that I had been wrong about Caryn/Brad and Shawn/Peter being pairs when it was actually Brad/Peter and Caryn/Shawn. That's huge because it changes my perspective on how this group looks.

Partner wise, at the start of the merge things looks like this:

Coby ---(friends)---> Katie ---(partners)---> Cochran ---(friends)---> Vytas ---(partners)---> Caryn ---(friends)---> Shawn ---(partners)---> Ralph

Rachel ---(friends)---> Ibrehem ---(partners)---> Marissa

and Becky and Semhar have no connections anymore.

Now with Katie gone that cuts me from that top group and now it's:

Cochran ---(friends)---> Vytas ---(partners)---> Caryn ---(friends)---> Shawn ---(partners)---> Ralph

Rachel ---(friends)---> Ibrehem ---(partners)---> Marissa

Becky, Semhar and Coby (myself) have no connections anymore. Semhar and I did share Hayden as a friend/partner so we share a similar pain in that regard. I don't believe the groups here are all connected with each other like that, however I do see three groups derived from that, that make up this tribe.

Group 1: Cochran/Vytas + Shawn/Ralph (Ralph is preaching Limici strong, bring in the Bracaris and Caryn links them together and she's been included in the numbers and seeing as she wants to continue with Shawn replacing Cochran, I feel like it's safe to say Shawn was her "in" to that group.) I would say Caryn kind of joined this group to "target Rachel?" Either she or Ibe has an idol and wants to direct votes in a certain direction to get what they want, or she wants to use Shawn and try to tag team their way into leading everyone how to vote. Cochran and Vytas feel like they've been the kings of Bracari which looked to be the case and they want to continue that trend here. There is rumor that they have an idol between them and I wouldn't be surprised seeing as Katie found ours and probably gave Cochran multiple clues to pass to himself and Vytas.

Group 2: Rachel/Ibrehem/Marissa/Caryn (Caryn and Ibrehem were pretty tight on original Limici, I'm sure Rachel joined up with her friend Ibe on Tapoli and now that Marissa and Ibe are reunited, I could easily see this as a tight force.) I'm actually very scared of who this group is going after because it could be anything. They're not going to roll over and die. I'm sensing some idol play here.

Group 3: Becky/Semhar/myself (We all share similar stories in that we lost both of our partners and want to make sure that other partnerships don't run the game. It kind of reminds me of the Tyson/Gervase/Monica (partnerless alliance) on BvW.) I definitely want to stick with these girls and our goal would be to chip away at the "connectors", people like Caryn, Shawn, Vytas and Ibrehem that still have both their partner/friend still in the game. More than likely that at least one of them has their hand in multiple alliances across different sides of the tribe and it would be ridiculous to keep them or their social advantage in the game.