The Waterboy - tribe management area

[Bobby Boucher]

I certainly am. Fingers crossed next week I'm in a position to either bring in Jaclyn or Natalie

[Bobby Boucher]

Yahoo! What a great episode, seriously this season is setup now for an amazing finish. It's so good to watch Jon DOMINATE, especially as he's been my pick to win since preseason. I actually was hoping as a viewer that J&J would become ultimate swing votes and take out both top dogs in consecutive weeks and I was talking about it on PoS after the Julie quit. Now they've got an alliance of 4/9 plus an idol. They are set to go DEEP. That was such a power move and aggressive play which is genius. It's decisive, opportunistic and hard core. My word, now if Jon wins he is going to become such a top tier winner as potentially the best rounded player ever. WOW, the double play was so great- I can hardly comprehend it. A+ gameplay pending what happens in the fallout.
Oh with SC, my Baylor trade and Josh non trade paid off big time. They kept me in the running to win- I'm only about 90 off the pace and I have qualified for my first finals series- who do I play next week?

[The Ghost]

I have you slated to play Team Zissou. Teams 3-6 all finished on 6 wins and I think % isn't the best way to rank them considering the divisions. So likely going to rank them by points scored in the games they've played.

[Bobby Boucher]

Nice, so I'm actually in 3rd. Home final here we come! Based on that, a draw should see me progress which is a nice little one point buffer.
I'm conflicted this week (shout out to great tournament hostage- I think you've got the balance right!), do I trade out Josh /Jeremy for Reed or not? I don't honestly feel like Reed will be in the hot seat this week and with 2 jurors in, the points will make it no longer an offensive strategy to keep jurors and more a hedge against risk. I'm in a sudden death face off this week and know that the longer I can keep winning and posting big points, the more likely I am to challenge for the title (at least one of the 2 trophies available).
The key will no doubt be the double episode upcoming. That is just as important as the finale. If I can get 5 active players into the double, then I'm golden, but odds are that I lose at least one in the double- if I lose 2, that would be crippling and put me out of the running (especially as I have 2 idol holders- blindsides are massive point losers).
I think I'm going to trade out Jeremy this week and trade in Reed.
My options for trade ins are anyone, but I'm not bringing in Alec or Wes for sure. Alec is someone who has scored the worst of all active players, he's on the outs and has minimal scoring potential- he lost to Keith head to head in the challenge and isn't a savvy player.
Wes is a good player, but he's on the outs and has the (H)II cloud of Keith hanging over his head. It would be an easy play for the 6 (Keith, Wes and Alec exempt) to split it 3-3 Wes and Keith. Or even for Jon to lead a straight up charge to eliminate Wes as the next biggest threat- he does have a solid bloc of 3 of which he's the brains and brawn, which could match up competitively against Jon's solid 4 of which he's the figurehead(at least).
Natalie is on shaky ground as she was blindsided big time at tribal- if she flips out on the tribe and goes all Brandon meets J'Tia, then she'll probably be next to go. She would have favoured herself against Jeremy at FTC and for her plans to come crashing down at the hands of the least suspecting individuals given last ep would be a massive shock and so for her not to blow off some steam will be a huge shock- it just depends how she plays it.
Jaclyn is a possibility to leave next, but only if Missy turns on beast mode. I think Jac is a pretty decent player, but if Missy realigns with Natalie to blindside Jon, that would be the single biggest play of the season. A move like that could win her the game.

[Bobby Boucher]

Ok, after one last look at the player prices and ep 9 scores, I'm officially making my last trade this season.
Trade OUT- Jeremy
Trade IN - Reed

I'm sacrificing 5-10 points for finishing position as I feel like Josh will be a more facially reactive juror compared to Jeremy in the long run- I'm sacrificing a 'last voted out' headshot, but hopefully Josh more than makes up for it. Plus with Reed still in, there's incentive for Josh and the potential for a Josh/Reed juror dynamic- Val bowed out long ago, so Jeremy doesn't have the same kind of situation.

I really like the optional Back from the Dead trade btw

[The Ghost]

You're now out of trades.

Thanks for the feedback. That was actually based on your suggestion to introduce post-merge trades that could be used to trade jurors. I honestly can't remember where I got the idea to actually roll the post-merge trades into one for this, though. But it's interesting to see how people use them.

I'm thinking maybe for next season to allow purchasing of trades. It may encourage cashing in on expensive players more. I dunno. Any thoughts you may have are appreciated.

[Bobby Boucher]

Thanks
That's actually an interesting idea- I had the idea that maybe you could swap money for extra trades (like $3/trade or something), but the idea to completely change the thought process is also a potential option. So you could have it where players start with say $25. They get no trades to begin with - everything needs to be paid for. So you could get the best team possible early, but then probably fall over by the end, or you could get a super cheap team for starters with the idea of preserving trades until the end. Premerge trades could be cheaper than post merge trades. I really don't know if this would work, but it's just a crazy idea. The first point is probably better as you've basically already got the balance right with things and the idea of purchasing additional trades would add a further degree of strategic complexity without changing the basics.

Overall, luck plays a big part in doing well in a comp like this one, but there are ways you can plan your approach as a player so that you're more likely to do well and adding further dimensions will only help the people who are more invested. Things won't always work out ideally, but I've found that this season I've planned it out much better than in the past and with the benefit of experience, I've done much better.
I really want to either get the premiership or the league title, probably moreso than anyone else- fingers crossed that things work out for the best.

[The Ghost]

I think there's a couple who are really keen.

Luck is a big part, especially as people can be playing catch up early if they pick too many early boots or players who don't score well.

I'm hoping the end game is interesting. The top 5 tribes are separated by less than a hundred and all it takes is the right captain selection.

Also had an idea of allowing a reserve - so a seventh player for each tribe. You pick a captain and vice captain as well. Then your top 6 scoring players are your score (so if your captain isn't in the top 6, your vice captain gets double points).

Not sure if that's a great idea or not. Might just mean the right selections early benefit even more.

[Bobby Boucher]

Yeh, captain selection and the timing of trades are critical. Looking back, I stuck with Alec for too long. I probably made my last trade to soon, but my thinking is to maximise my point scoring potential. I want to have the immunity winner on my tribe as now with only 9 players left, immunity nets you a lot of points which I can't afford to give up to my rivals. And with 5 active players in my team means that I am odds on to have the immunity winner. I had the feeling that for the first 2 immunity challenges Jon threw them, so fingers crossed he doesn't throw it again, or my odds will be diluted. But the biggest thing which needs to happen for me is to not have the eliminated player this week- if that happens, then my timing will be spot on and with 5 active players heading into a double episode starting with 8 players, I'll be in a perfect spot. But if I lose someone this week, I'll have to rely solely on captain selection and other teams falling over to have a shot.

I'm thinking that this week I should change my captain to Reed, but I'm not 100% sure yet. I know that it's very risky to persist with Jon or Keith as captain as neither of their idols are secret anymore and that's going to increase the odds of votes headed their way. Reed or Baylor are my 2 options for this week as captain as Missy is a greater chance of going home due to the Jeremy vote fallout.

The reserve player and vc selection is interesting and is something like they do for cricket fantasy league with the 12th man. Maybe it could work, I don't know

[Bobby Boucher]

ok, since I've traded Reed in and want to avoid another Rocker-like episode 3 score I've decided to take captaincy away from idol holders Keith and Jon. I'm trying to avoid such a big negative score as I really want to at least win this week's match up. My trade is either going to work or not, so I may as well make Reed captain and hope. If it doesn't work, then I'm out anyway - if it's a neutral or positive move, then I will be set up to continue my campaign for at least one trophy.

I might be overplaying this week with both a Back from the Dead trade for Reed and then taking captaincy from my most reliable scorer and giving it to unpredictably scoring Reed. Hopefully this shakeup is enough to see me gain a place or 2 in the league standings as surely other top 5 teams are starting to run out of trades too.

[Bobby Boucher]

Holy moley, that was an amazing episode. Super super tense WOWWWWWWWWWWWWWW

[The Ghost]

It's amazing that I can still watch an episode and be amazed. Even the challenge amazed me with the antics.

[Bobby Boucher]

oh yeh, for sure. Aside from the tense 3 hour endurance, there were so many great moments in the challenge.
58 nuggets in 5 minutes
Jeff eating Jon's reward
Jeff and his tray of bacon
Natalie and her spitfail
Baylor and homie-g

This was one of the best ever episodes. Ever

[The Ghost]

Reed receiving immunity while doing splits.

[Bobby Boucher]

Yeah

Plus Wes and donutburger, Natalie ordering food and Jeff meeting her order exactly (how much food do they have??), Jeff saying that he doesn't have to do better and 'is that an annual event?', Jon's echoing SUGAR scream, Keith 'how old are you Jon... Roger that' and the wasp dance, Baylor's 'Schnikes' and running for cookies.