08 - RED CANYON

[Captain Falcon]

 RED CANYON 



Just a sweet stroll down RED CANYON heading into the weekend! This baby has two jumps, first one is easy peasy, second one... it's gonna be a lot more complicated!

THE CAPTAIN is ready for the next phase! 3… 2… 1… GO!!!

ON THE LAST WEEK

What a mess of a tribe this was, polar opposite of BLUE but challenging in its own ways. Looking back, my paranoia was pretty unfounded, but it felt like every day I was scrambling to get something together. Ultimately, it worked out okay, and tonight I am completely at easy. Watch me get blindsided after saying that. But probably the first vote since the first 2 that I have felt totally comfortable. The GOLD team is kind of a mess, nobody truly trusts each other, we've got Plant and Yosh doing there whack thing, Wario is openly sceptical of everyone here, Kaz has his old bonds to green that he's clearly trying to bury, Marthy is MIA. K Rool is totally solid though, but I'm worried Pink is gonna throw him in the ring immediately after he chose Smashville in the duel. And then me and Squirt, who also have Falc and the twins over on the other side. But despite it all, this team of oddballs has been pretty fun, and it's been nice to go through the gamut here, with the doomed diminishing first team, and the thriving fertile second team.

ON TONIGHT

Of course, it couldn't be a GOLD vote without me someone trying to cause a last minute flip. I kinda just want Marthy out because he is just going to get removed anyway, because he's not logged in for 32+ hours at this point. It's not like Plant is this force of nature that deserves to stay over an inactive, but at least he shows up, and votes... and usually how I ask him to vote. He is loyal to THE CAPTAIN, but then he is a huge challenge threat, and I don't wanna end up in THE RING with him. Don't know if he's that loyal. Also decided to take initiative with this GRAB bid, but I just wanted to elevate my target before merge I guess. Plus, it's a nice gesture.

ON MY GAMEPLAY

I think I have done a LOT of overplaying and overthinking. But I think it worked. I mean, GOLD team got every duellist. Not saying that's off my back, but- a lot of pre-merge ARENA is just kinda throwing shit at the wall and taking it round by round, and it's almost like the less you plan, the more naturally fluid the dynamics are, and the more duellists arrive, and the more safer you become. I think I've got a good connection with everyone on the team, even Yosh and Plant who nobody else seems comfortable relying on, I'm good with them. On the other side, there's OG BLUE, and all the others I've got a friendly rapport with. Could just be immediately shut down at merge, but for the moment it seems like I'll have a good thing going in whichever direction that ends up being. Unfortunately I feel like GOLD is gonna fall apart at merge, but if I can get off the sinking ship cleanly, maybe things will be okay for ol' Cap.

ON MERGE

Erm... this is gonna be interesting. I've spent several rounds cultivating this DOWN WITH PINK attitude, but now it's looking like half of pink is gonna be old BLUE, and so there's a grand total of two players I'll be supposedly gunning for here before things get messy. I probably should have thought this through a little bit more. Good news is that I think I might be well situated here, because we'll have numbers from GOLD, and ideally protection from Falco and the twins, so if I can maintain that position for a while it could give me a good run at this. I just gotta be careful not to Pom Pom myself by trying to keep an alliance of oddballs and outcasts together for longer than I should. At the same time, I'm not gonna dump a bunch of players who I've now spent an idea week with and formed new connections with. I'm better positioned than Pom Pom was, I think I've got more options and I'n just more on my game generally. So I'm looking forward to seeing how it all shakes out.

MERGE is close, but is our hero in trouble? Is green takeover gonna threaten THE BLUE FALCON? Probably not but that sentiment fits with this gif!

[Captain Falcon]

When will I be getting the final clue BTW? Just so the team don't think I'm hiding it away behind their backs.

[Captain Falcon]

Or even if it's like, sometime momentarily, or after the duel selection? Just so I'm not constantly refreshing ykwim.

[Tabuu]

Feb 24, 2022 19:50:03 GMT 10 Captain Falcon said:

Or even if it's like, sometime momentarily, or after the duel selection? Just so I'm not constantly refreshing ykwim.

Should be after the duel is posted

[Captain Falcon]

Ty ty!

[Captain Falcon]

Feb 24, 2022 20:04:52 GMT 10 Wario said:

Very nice! Love the transparency!

Lol.

[Captain Falcon]

Am I allowed to get an ETA for this bc I'm just refreshing indefinitely and I wanna go to bed lol.

[Masahiro Sakurai]

Feb 24, 2022 21:16:09 GMT 10 Captain Falcon said:

Am I allowed to get an ETA for this bc I'm just refreshing indefinitely and I wanna go to bed lol.

As soon as the current person attempting a duel is done I'll reveal who is immune and then distribute clues.

[Captain Falcon]

You've got BOOST POWER!!

[Captain Falcon]

Sandbag

Gotta go GOLD.

[Sandbag]

You got it Cap!

[Captain Falcon]

Sad about Marthy.

Also UGH unless I'm being fed bs, too many people wanna work with me and it's gonna get messy. It's already enough with GOLD and BLUE, but now with Dedede's proposed 3, that leaves Dark Pit as the only player here I'm not aligned with in some way.

I think Turtle Racer Demon is my core. But already THE EMOTIONAL WEIGHT of breaking trust is beginning to seep into my mind, and it sucks. Why is being in the best position, just, the worst?

[Sandbag]

Hey Cap!

Welcome to the merge 🥳 Lookin' clean.

So first thing's first.... Who is Turtle Racer Demon?!

Secondly, my curiousity is piqued by your last sentence. Do you believe it will be harder to play well from 'the best position'? Would it be better (for you) to have fewer options?

Do you think anyone else in particular is especially well positioned in this Free For All?

[Captain Falcon]

Thanks Sandy B! Thought of avoiding GOLD just to not make my allegiances too clear, but how can I NOT choose it?

Oh, Turtle Racer Demon is a 3-way alliance made by Kazuya with Squirt and I. Squirt is sceptical, but I do think Kazuya is genuine with it. The only thing is I think Kazuya is closer to the other greens than he is letting on. Do I think he would ultimately prioritise TRD? Yes. But I think he'd rather play the middle between us an greens, much like how Squirt and I would rather play the middle between Kaz and BLUE.

I think it's just... easier to fuck everything up when you're in this position. I'm just a better player in general when I am playing from the bottom, than playing at the top. Having so many options at this point is promising for longevity, but it's also easier to haemorrhage goodwill when you're having to let people down and/or betray them along the way. So I wouldn't say it was better for me to have fewer options, but I am just better suited to that style of play. A lot of it has to do with how even after all these years, I still am just bad at betraying people and can beat myself up about it. Like I'm still over here feeling bad about the DK vote lol. I think maybe because some of these players may also be fairly green (obviously just speculating here and nfi about specific ID's, but there's like a dozen newish Aussie players from the last few Ausvivor seasons that could be in this), and so it would feel more brutal to let them down. Idk it's just always gonna be a factor when I play, I always feel bad about making those moves (though I still always do it lol), and it's something you don't have to do as much playing from the bottom.

I think after a vote or two I will harden up and re-contextualise things. I invested a lot in trying to unify GOLD, build some genuine connections there, regain the trust of Wario, etc. And on the other hand, there's the pinks who seem to want to establish something with me, because, well, who wouldn't want to work with THE CAPTAIN?

I do think a few people are in this position though, I don't think it's unique to me at all, and so that's why I think I need to act quickly and establish something, because GOLD does not have longevity and I think we can all sense that. It also is hard because you have to tell everyone what they want to hear, or else you're just being non-committal and wishy washy. But then once you do, you can be blown up as having deals with everyone. I think that is part of my game play though that I always try and connect with everyone on some level, so I set myself up for this dilemma.

Maybe I'm reading it all wrong too, and that's always a possibility. I think it's not off the table that pink is in a big group thread right now, sharing stories, working every angle they can to make final 5 and how they can split the rest of us up. Or than green has also reunited and doing the same thing. So I absolutely can't get comfortable and play like everyone wants me and I can just ride out for awhile. Though I do think, ultimately, my best bet here is to keep my damn mouth shut and kinda go with the flow for a few rounds before there's a clearer scope of where things are headed.

[Captain Falcon]

I'm so torn right now!

Marth leaving kinda fucked up the planned order of my confessional threads. This was supposed to cover 2 votes, but does the Marthy quit count as a vote? If so, the next thread will be shorter than usual. But if not, I'll have one extra thread at the end, which I ain't planned for.

What to do, what to do...