Round 10

[Masahiro Sakurai]

Big Blue is finally gone, to the relief of a few, and the merge looms. Not before a scary vote to decide the first juror though, which I'll get to talking about one day.

[Sandbag]

Oof. Yellow is getting antsy as fuuuuck.

Everyone is getting sketched by Kazuya simply because he is remaining calm. Meanwhile Captain, Squirtle, Wario AND K.Rool seem to think he's up to something.

The big issue is his lack of forthrightness with certain information. If people ask he would definitely give.... but they don't ask and get sketched when he doesnt offer. Meanwhile he seems super content to just ride with Yellow Team deep into merge, potentially joining with Pit/Dedede.

Meanwhile, Pink has completely deflated. Red team might well go extinct come merge with Samus 100% leaving tonight and Robin set to face Plant over the weekend.

It's kind of a fascinating set of allegiances for the merge.

OG Green:
Dark Pit, Dedede, Kazuya, Wario, K.Rool

Yellow Green:
Kazuya, Wario, K.Rool, Marth

OG Blue:
Captain, Squirtle, Falco, Pythra

Yellow Blue:
Captain, Squirtle, Marth

Yellow "Core":
Captain, Squirtle, Marth, Kazuya, Wario

Pink:
Falco, Pythra, Dedede, Dark Pit Robin

Egg Holders:
Wario, Marth, Squirtle, Captain Falcon, Robin

Pirahna Plant:
Pirahna Plant

and a whole bunch of little trust snags like Yellow Blue liking K Rool, Yellow distrusting Kazuya suddenly, Falco/Kazuya spectator bond, Marth and the pink blues, Dark Pit/Dededes outed alliance with red, Pirahna hating Wario, Yoshi's nonsense.

I couldn't say which direction the merge will go. At all.

[Tabuu]

Still, Yoshi just has to survive this challenge and make merge. Yoshi wonders how many suspect that Yoshi's Jury vote is also directed by Yoshi's eggs... Yoshi thinks only a few have realised.

Really do not like this. If you want to use eggs for some inane shit in the game then sure, go for it, but don't potentially decide the ftc because of an egg gimmick. This is barely above the people that random.org their votes and decide the winner because of it (which has happened more times than it should). I hope he doesn't repeat this shtick in future because it could be incredibly disrespectful to do.

[Masahiro Sakurai]

Feb 24, 2022 12:00:10 GMT 10 Tabuu said:

Still, Yoshi just has to survive this challenge and make merge. Yoshi wonders how many suspect that Yoshi's Jury vote is also directed by Yoshi's eggs... Yoshi thinks only a few have realised.

Really do not like this. If you want to use eggs for some inane shit in the game then sure, go for it, but don't potentially decide the ftc because of an egg gimmick. This is barely above the people that random.org their votes and decide the winner because of it (which has happened more times than it should). I hope he doesn't repeat this shtick in future because it could be incredibly disrespectful to do.

Yeah, I have to agree with this. At least it's known or inferrable from the start, but I would hate for the game to be decided on the basis of something that was essentially random. I know I'd be annoyed if it was the deciding vote that cost me a win, and I expect most FTC participants would feel the same.

[Tabuu]

Today's Tabuu Topic is... abandonment Because Samus was forced to place this game to the side in order to focus on their real life, while Marth has just fucked off I guess? Hmm.

Yellow Team

Amazing how opinions can change on a dime. A few rounds ago I was loving Marth's energy and that they were finally playing for themselves, was ironically loving Yoshi's egg shtick and just had a lot of interest in the team. Uh, I don't feel that right now. I am very glad that Captain Falcon is safe, along with some people like K Rool and Kazuya, but I have a general distaste for the team at the moment? And I need it to be better.

Captain Falcon - A shining light on this team, and has really navigated this tribe with stunning success. His name has never been a real target and he is probably the only person on this tribe besides K Rool to never get a huge amount of backlash sent their way. And now he is going into the merge as a huge wildcard with possibilities everywhere, I love that.

King K Rool - He never really had a chance on Pink and was cut purely for being from Green (with even people like Falco wanting him to stay but relenting for appearances), but ever since joining Yellow he's found new life. He's fully cast aside his old allies on Pink and has made friends with all the relevant people here, even Squirtle and Falcon feel safest with him out of every Green now. Probably the best rebound from dueling that has happened.

Kazuya - I enjoy that he's starting to develop beyond just a green cheerleader, because the role was dulling him a bit. Now that's he is starting to see what the others see with Wario he could have a far more interesting role in future... or just go back to being a green cheerleader, one of the two.

Wario - I love Wario, but sometimes he hits a bit too far. It's hilarious to watch, but he needs to remember to not go so far that it kills his game like it seems to be doing right now.

Piranha Plant - lmfao @ him still surviving and now making it to the jury, having never posted a single word. there's a power to that and i'm transferring all my ironic stanning from mario/yoshi to him.

Squirtle - i swear i want to like Squirtle. i just can't read his posts. i have made efforts but i am unable and at this point i have stopped trying.

Marth - Where did he go? If he gets booted it is entirely on him, very disappointing. But tbh I was already losing faith after he started talking about needing to run back to Green to "atone" for voting Wario when Wario was using him? Lol.

Yoshi - I have already said it in this thread, but the egg shit being planned for his jury vote too is fucking gross. I think Yoshi is a good character and could've really been great here, and even though I thought the egg shit was :/ I kinda liked how funny and stupid it was. But it being used to vote for a winner? That's not good. Sammy needs to never do this kind of shtick again, but I understand why they don't realise how bad it could be since they're still so new. I love that they're a noob who is really getting into the spirits of shticks and the like and is having fun, so it sucks to have to put them down here.

[Masahiro Sakurai]

Captain Falcon is turning on Marth here, and while I can't say I disagree with it as a move, I think there's still a chance Wario can cajole Green into using Plant to boot whoever goes in from Pink anyway. We'll see if Marth is able to show up; that will be the real suspense of this vote.

[Tabuu]

Pink Team

A very competent team, but that's fine. They were forced to cut Samus, who absolutely was surviving this week with no danger if she were able to log in. It's a very sad end to her, but real life comes first and I respect that. I know I've quit a couple games in my time for similar reasons (and attempted to drop out of one after quitting another game but was given a login anyway, never forget bloo's world casting). They've mostly just cut all the fodder from their tribe and now will have to sway some people or win duels to make an impact come merge. They can do it, it'll just be harder for them.... but this might be the force they need to rally against to make their team more interesting.

Falco - I have seen the cohosts not rly liking his attitude towards Robin, but I adore Falco sry. I think he's antagonistic without being horrible, and he's fun about it. His confessional is always the first one I check out each round because I know it'll always have something good and interesting in there.

Dark Pit - I still find myself very interested in their story here. I don't know where their arc will lead next but I want to see it. Still my winner choice of the game, they are showing they're a force in every aspect here and the only thing that may stop them is a shock duel loss.

Robin - Also very interesting, Robin wanting to volunteer now is entirely unexpected but big. I would laugh if this week really is just the reds going from 5 members to 0 though. Robin feels like he's starting to get boxed in due to casting aside all the reds to die and then losing Samus, so I do fear he will just be a pink cheerleader due to necessity now and won't have the ability to break out of the role.

King Dedede - A little more lowkey recently, but still strong. Funny, smart and a solid shtick. I think Dedede has potential to rebuild connections to Yellow as well, much more than DP does at least, and nobody except Falco really suspects the power he holds.

Pyra and Mythra - Was there. But that's what she needed to be during this tribe, so good job there. Surprised to see Gundham completely uninterested in dueling this game, it's very different to the usual challengewhore persona.

Samus - It is very sad that life got too busy, she had so much potential and could've been an endgamer. I understand her decision though and wish her the best, she also made sure to let us know instead of just flaking on it so I cannot hold it against her. A respectful exit, and I still like her a lot overall but I'm putting her in yellow just because she wasn't really here during this tribe.

[Tabuu]

The Ring

aka where I talk about our premerge fallen angels. Consider this my overall thoughts on each, as some of them were legends while others were also there I guess.

Richter - Still one of the funniest single round arcs I've seen. The two tie votes because of his indecision and late/early vote changes, picking the bad rock and fucking himself over via misread permissions to a 20th Place finish, when before he was the most popular player on Blue by a wide margin. Best premerger 2022. Might still be in my top 5 for this cast even now.

-Samus would fit here in an overall ranking so far if I hadn't discussed her on pink already. great first week, too busy second week.

Donkey Kong - DK was doomed for two reasons, and only one of them he had any control over. The first is that he sent one line pms, which were enough to get him from an early target to firmly in the core on red, but once he swapped and was with the players who were there to really play he was quickly outmatched. The second is that he was swapfucked, there was no way to survive that tribe for him even if he was the best social player ever. Very unlucky. I think DK has a massive growth in his week, and if in future games he can expand the length of messages and amount of depth to them, he can go far.

Mario - Mario's first week was a GREAT underdog arc as he tried to find a place for himself, and eventually managed to find one. I was so happy for him and rooting for his success... and then he kinda fumbled it in week 2 by being too loyal to Robin/Samus when they had already cast him aside twice. A little sad to see him not willing to make any moves until it was too late, but he had a good first week and the second one was probably a learning experience.

Link - Would be above Samus/DK if that one scandal didn't happen. Link as a whole was a great figure in the game, and I also love the commitment to the game still after it has ended, but that one comment was a really bad mistake that he is lucky he wasn't removed for. I don't believe he'll ever do it again and the right call was made there, it's just a shame that it taints the whole time of the rep now. I think I still like him overall though.

Ike - Poor guy, the true noob being a first boot was sad I hope he plays again as he did have potential, he was just a little overwhelmed I think. It's a hard adjustment getting into orgs.

Duck Hunt - Less active than I think he hoped to be, a great first round and a good last round, but very muted in between.

Wii Fit Trainer - Seemed great, but even they knew it was their time to duel and leave when they were eliminated.

Isabelle - Showed up once so we couldn't replace her with Asbel, and then went inactive so the slot was wasted. Knew she was going to do this.

[Masahiro Sakurai]

Big ditto on Falco. If we were doing MVP round-by-round he'd have the lion's share of my votes. There's an openness to those confessionals that really feels unrehearsed, stream of thought stuff, and that's my favourite kind of thing to see.

On the precipitous Red decline, I think Sandbag cursed everything by saying Red was the complex tribe earlier.

[Master Hand]

I'm not going to have the time to properly blog until the weekend, where I may do Master Fingers covering the entire pre merge, in terms of how their post merge positions are impacted.

In terms of tonight, Captain Falcon is right to target Marth for being MIA and it is a pity the others aren't going along. Maybe Marth has good reasons, who knows, but this is not something he should be escaping this time.

I feel for Samus. She really was Peak Macka for the entire first week of play

Wild that Red could go extinct before the merge. I do not believe any one tribe going extinct before a merge has happened in Australian ORGs, and it would be hella rare at ORGY too.

[Masahiro Sakurai]

This was a pretty dull round all told, but this duel will be a high-stakes one. I think Plant could last a long time once the people voting for them could actually be their opponent.

Wholeheartedly agree that this was an entirely undeserved reprieve for Marth, though the strategy of using Plant to eliminate all of these pink people is hard to fault, so I can see why it was advantageous to look the other way. It's a bit of a bummer in general for the mounting tension to be sidetracked by a lot of inactivity. It has been a flat end to the week, so I hope things pick up again sooner rather than later.

Bright spots have included Yoshi and Plant's mutual Sandbag use; it's a cute thing for the two ill-advised shtick pariahs to protect each other in that way. It's a shame Yoshi's shtick has limited that relationship's potential to develop further. Wario's misunderstanding of Kazuya's motives through not really getting that the Smash Ball is a word filter has also been some good comic relief, and that is how I like my Wario! I enjoyed K Rool just nodding along to every he says, too. It would suck if Kazuya suffers for it, though; he's a nice fun sleeper presence that I'm really glad has made merge.