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JT4ever wrote:

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From the blog:

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I'm not sure if I should be flattered or sue for plagiarism.

Go for flattery. Plagiarism is so hard to prove.

Russell may have only watched Tocantins before Samoa, but he was certainly taking good notes.

JT4ever wrote:

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TheWizard wrote:

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I owe the "I'm almost insulted" line to you - well, to me, but you suggested including it in the blog. Heh.

My pleasure. You certainly don't believe in burying your lead.

I agree that Russell watched Tocantins, but I'm definitely learning a lot watching him. It's a good reminder that you can play an aggressive game because most people are so passive, they'll do what someone else tells them to.

In some ways, John's game also seems to be inspired by yours. He pulls the strings in the shadows and lets others (well, Erik up to now) communicate his wishes to others.

Aside from his general aggressiveness, one significant point on which your game differs from Russell's is the matter of HII usage. You're definitely in the "keep it quiet" school whereas he's firmly in the "what good is it if you don't let people know you have it?" camp. Even though he ultimately didn't need the idol to line up the Laura blindside, the episode as a whole seems to support his philosophy a bit more than yours, if only because I have a hard time believing Erik would have been blindsided if any of his allies knew he had the idol. As it was, the Galu men figured that with 7 votes against him in place, Erik was a dead duck. It's possible John or Dave might have tried to pull off a last-minute maneuver if they could have strategized with Erik around the idol. But without knowledge of the idol, they didn't see a way out, and they just kept their mouths shut.

EPR2012 wrote:

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I dont see why everyone thinks Erinn was some strategic genius in Tocantins. How EASY is it to flip on your tribe when you KNOW you are #6 in a 6 person alliance. She had no other choice. She is a failure everywhere else. Why was she not trying to align with Debbie and Taj at some point to knock out JT/Coach or Stephen???? She may not have settled being 6th on the Timbira tribe, but she was more than happy being 4th (eventually 3rd) on Jalapao.

And Stephen, what would you have done if she had pulled you aside, at say 7 or 6, and said "Listen, we HAVE to get rid of JT. I know you guys are close, but neither one of us stands a chance at winning this game with him in it. Lets take him out while we can and control this game."

JT4ever wrote:

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TheWizard wrote:

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Although the one move he really deserves credit for is booting Marisa in Ep 1 when Borassi's name was also out there, and she was clearly a strong, athletic player. In that sense, he immediately weakened his tribe.

I'll give you that Borassi was probably the correct boot from a pure tribe strength point of view but as it happens, Ashley was the consensus alternate boot, and Russell simply helped sway the needed votes towards Marisa. So I can't really assign to him alone the blame for keeping Mike over Marisa, although it's probable Marisa would have been a lot more helpful in challenges than Ashley. (Oh, and Marisa was also my favorite player on paper pre-season, but as you pointed out, she proved to absolutely terrible at the strategic game.)

Moreover, your Jalapao faction helped vote out young, fit -- albeit pathologically stubborn and a woeful judge of ball flight -- Spencer pre-merge because you saw him as a strategy threat. So, you know, the individual game has been known to begin before the merge, if not always before the very first TC.