Falco

[Masahiro Sakurai]

Falco will address the finalists here!

[Falco]

Well done you three, I don't hate this as a Finale set-up at all, and I believe now after landing on Jury that whoever wins will only do so by a narrow margin. So fight hard for every vote.

Cap, best opening speech by some distance. You managed to make your own wall of text not a slog to read, which is always a good start.

Yet you and all three of you completely neglected to mention bad things about your opponent's games. My first ask (for all three of you to complete) is that you tell me why each of the other two's games are worse than yours. No reversing this and just re-telling me again why yours is so much better - we got that in openers. I want to hear why you think they suck. Tell me why these two are the people you wanted to face off against in the finals.

I don't need you to drag them through the muck here, but every bit of mud-slinging is a bonus point in your favour and against theirs.

Secondly, the eggs. No smart comments about the bird wanting to know more about the eggs please - that is speciesist, but I do want to know more. They were a huge factor the game to be used or abused - for me, played around since the merge. For you, played with since Gold tribe or before. But even Yoshi hardly touches on how exactly they factored into strategy. So some questions and clarity there please. I'd be lying if I didn't say I was jealous for being a non-egg-holder, but I can at least explain how I used the position of not being one. You guys have only barely touched on how you used it in yours.

I'm particularly interested in the round of the (second) Squirtle vote, because it seems to me in egg-terms, the two that it benefited didn't plan or expect that vote, and the one that did plan it did so did it against their own better interests.

Yoshi - were there any times you wanted to vote one way but the eggs forced you elsewhere - which times eggsactly? Can you tell me any specific votes were it was you dictating the vote and the egg-holders followed your lead? The round Squirtle left and you were finally free from just following a three-bloc of egg-voters, did you actually influence the splitting up of this block at all?

We talked enough game theory in-game that you know I did not like that strategy at all and I'll find it hard to vote for you because of it. This is not a trend I want to see catching on in other future games. You don't gotta answer those questions specifically, but you see what I'm getting at. Convince me how this was a masterstroke and tell me how you actually utilised it after the initial setting it up.

I need to see you had agency over your own vote even when being dictated where to cast it before I can vote you to win.

Wario & Captain Falcon - Similarly I want to hear about how you used the eggs. Again, not looking for specific answers to these, just give me your general thoughts to cover the following. How much of the early merge and you guys sticking together was forced on you because of them. Did Yoshi & his eggs steer your game through these rounds entirely? Anything egg-related from Gold that is notable? Cap - Good write-up on the Squirtle vote already, but how much did you factor in giving up control of the egg-vote when doing that?

I need to hear how it was you using the eggs to your advantage better than either of the others here.

Good luck all three, no bad winner here.

[Yoshi]

Well we all made mistakes. If we had played too outwardly good a game to make it here, we would've been chucked into the ring a long time ago. So obviously the final three all have mistakes they made and Yoshi even admitted to some of them in their intro statement. Yoshi is ready and waiting to hear what the other two will say about Yoshi's mistakes but here Yoshi goes with what they think some of the other two's biggest mistakes were.

Wario
Yoshi thinks Wario didn't play as strong a social game as the other characters who made it to merge, at least they didn't with Yoshi. They had connections with everyone, sure, but the manner in which Yoshi was talking with Wario always felt like Yoshi wasn't really making friends with Wario, it was only Wario just being there as a player. You compare this to people like Squirtle and Captain Falcon (before the Squirtle betrayal), you Falco and Robin and Yoshi would've been willing to have gone to the end with any of you just because you were nice to Yoshi (Even if most of what you said Falco was referring to how you couldn't work with Yoshi ) So while Yoshi did work with Wario a lot through the game, these were the kind of reasons Yoshi pushed for Wario in Gold and why Yoshi was so happy to turn on Wario in the final 4, because Yoshi didn't really have that strong a bond with Wario. Should Squirtle have made it there and Yoshi had had the same choice, Yoshi probably wouldn't have gone for Squirtle as a target just because of the bonds Yoshi had formed with Squirtle, that would've been a hard decision to make and Yoshi probably wouldn't have justified them.

Yoshi would like to hope that they did try and be nicer than Wario felt to Yoshi, but then again that kind of stuff is hard to judge from an inside perspective, so Yoshi would trust the Jury more on that front, but Yoshi really felt like they did connect with Falco late game, even if we disagreed on many things.

Captain Falcon
Yoshi thinks Captain Falcon's biggest mistake of the game was 100% betraying Squirtle. Sure you were close to Kazuya, and Yoshi can appreciate trying to keep someone alive, but at that point in the game, Squirtle is a much better ally than Kazuya, and Yoshi knows for a fact that Squirtle can be very good socially. By ditching Squirtle, you essentially put yourself on the path to a double Arena. The only reason you didn't was because Yoshi chose for the Wario/Falco duel rather than the Wario/Captain Falcon duel. And this was based purely off the random formulas Yoshi used to determine the best person to vote. It probably wasn't even accurate. But that was a big risk compared to sticking with Squirtle and guaranteeing Yoshi's vote even if you didn't want Yoshi in your F3.



Yoshi knew every round pre merge that they weren't on the majority. Egg holders having to tell you what to vote makes it real fishy if they try and lie to you about who they are voting for, because they have to actually commit to a vote, and then if Yoshi is voted off and survives, suddenly that is a grudge that will be held for a while. Everyone in the Jury and in the F3 has voted for Yoshi at least once this game. In fact the only players to never vote for Yoshi were:
Link, Richter, Isabelle and Ike. And only one of those players was ever on the same team as Yoshi. Despite that, Yoshi never really held grudges with players, specifically egg holders, because Yoshi was always let known in advance. Specifically in Gold, Wario hardly ever sent through an order for Yoshi as they knew they didn't have a majority and it wasn't worth giving Yoshi information in exchange for the chance of influencing a vote that probably wouldn't happen. Based on this Yoshi could work out the dynamics of who was voting for who and the 3 way battle which was Gold at the time.

The purpose of Yoshi's eggs in that stage of the game was to have the highest chance of Yoshi's "alliance" being in the majority of a group. While this happened, Yoshi's vote would possibly be something to fight over, and most of the time Yoshi's majority vote was with the majority. And if it wasn't the majority egg vote quickly switched to avoid backlash. This was the events that caused the Yoshi vote from Gold.

This is getting a bit rambly so Yoshi will cut to the chase of what they are trying to say with that:

- Yoshi never had a vote they could influence by voting across the majority. In all votes Yoshi was part of the majority for, Yoshi had a high influence on the target, Yoshi got who they wanted voted out on many occasions, some examples:
[Wii Fit Trainer, Wario(Gold), Piranha Plant(Final Gold), Pyra and Mythra, Dark Pit (both times), Kazuya, Falco, F5 and the F4 vote].

-When Yoshi was looking to get to a point where the votes actually mattered (after Squirtle left), Yoshi made sure to try and give themselves as many options as possible. When Captain Falcon was being voted the first time, Yoshi could've voted for either side, but Yoshi stuck with Captain Falcon because they knew that would keep Captain Falcon guessing about Yoshi's allegiances even though Yoshi teamed up with Wario and Falco for that round.

- In the last round, Yoshi made sure to get the order from Captain Falcon before they knew whether or not they would be leaving to vote for a person of Yoshi's choice. This would give Yoshi freedom to vote as they choosed regardless of what Wario ordered. It became un-necessary because CF survived, but Yoshi still was given influence on their vote.

tl;dr -> Even if Yoshi wasn't actually following through with their eggs, Yoshi wouldn't have had any rounds where they voted differently. Yoshi still influenced the votes as much as they normally would, and the only time Yoshi's eggs really caused a problem was when they were voted for the first time on Red for it, as Reds knew they could still control Yoshi's vote. Yoshi did get a lot of benefit from the eggs though as everyone thought Yoshi wasn't a major player due to their egg limitation, and it set up those early conversations that carried Yoshi through the merge.

Also Yoshi does want to note both to Falco and all of the other Jurors: Yoshi only chose to do this "egg strat" because as far as they knew, it had never been done before, and Yoshi was both curious and hopeful for how it turned out. Obviously Yoshi is here, whether through luck or Yoshi's strategy it is up for the Jurors to decide, but Yoshi is convinced their strategy helped them. Having done it once, this strategy obviously would lack the appeal and strength it would have for being the first time something like this was done and Yoshi obviously doesn't plan to use it again. It was an experiment, and even as a successful one, Yoshi knows it shouldn't be something people start doing at all after this. It is a novelty. And novelties wear thin after the first time it is seen.

[Wario]

Ouch Falco I worked hard on my opening speech! I was paranoid about leaving anything out. Underestimated the power of colouring text and gifs.

Yoshi was who I wanted to sit next to at the end from early merge onwards. I know that his egg strategy pissed people off, myself included and it benefitted me directly! So I knew he would have a hard time getting votes at the end. And right from the start I wanted him out because of his strategy, even though I had an egg. I don't think someone that hands over their autonomy for the entire game deserves to win, even if it's an interesting experiment. He was voted out how many times? Nobody can claim that it made him valued highly by people because of that, he succeeded due to his ability in the ring. If you want to vote based on people's abilities in the ring then he's your man. Because to me that's all he can argue. He claims that he would've voted the same as if he wasn't using the eggs, I call bullshit. You don't vote yourself out. Unless you count the vote where I came back to yellow and got out Piranha Plant , because that was made possible by not only me flipping Marth back, but also because of a self vote by Yoshi . It was missing from his game summary, I thought he was going to spin it to where he was avoiding rocks by doing that or something. But due to him not addressing it, I'll take it that it was a genuine mistake and his apparent closest ally in the game was forced to fight in the ring yet again due to his sloppiness. His strategy guaranteed that it would ostracize people. Why would people without an egg want to vote for him at the end? He was an immovable object that you couldn't take out, and there was no way to work with him. It would've been absolutely infuriating and if I was on the side opposing him I'd be pissed. Even if you had an egg, do you still respect the gameplay? Kazuya and I were trying to get him to ditch his egg strategy. I actually liked Yoshi from a strategic stand point and it was clear that I would've gotten along with him if he wasn't doing this strategy. Kazuya felt the same, and we wanted to work with him as an autonomous player. But he didn't want to ditch the strategy and he remained a target on yellow. He got voted out directly afterwards.

Captain Falcon . Someone who seemed to play a terrible early game on blue. I can only go by what I heard, but it sounded like he was in a lot of trouble early and only survived by the skin of his teeth. And the early game is not hard, you just have to be around and not completely suck. Then from yellow his one move was voting me out. Other than that he was voting either Yoshi or Piranha Plant out. And Yoshi was a direct ally for him, he was making concessions to not become a target himself. I'm sure there are players he would've preferred out instead (me) but he couldn't do it after one attempt. So he was happy to go along with targets that benefitted myself and the other people I was working with. Of course we know how it turned out, Yoshi never actually went out and Piranha Plant only lost on the last round so it worked out for him through luck in that way. As for merge. He was truly the benefactor of people not losing in the ring. Yoshi and Squirtle winning in the ring was the best thing that could ever happen to him, because if they had lost at any point earlier than they had, old Captain Falcon is going in. I know he had alliances with people everywhere, but there was no denying that he would be promptly voted into the ring if they had lost at any point. The same cannot be said to me. Was I less liked than him? Probably. Was I working with less people than him? Almost definitely. Was I able to shrink my threat level to where I wasn't a target, no matter what was going to happen? Absolutely. And he definitely did not. Him not going in until final 5 is incredible. Him going in took me targeting him. I was the decision maker on him going in, I controlled both people who went in there. As I said, wrong decision probably. But it still remains that I was the one that put him into the ring. I knew where all votes were going, and no votes were on me. So whoever I voted for first went in, then whoever I voted for on the re-vote went in. I should've waited one more round to keep myself safe, but it still remains that I took the shot. Along with your vote of course Falco . He benefitted greatly from being perceived as in a close duo with Squirtle , who was seen as a much better player and overall more threatening force. Everyone knew that Yoshi had loose lips in this game, but Captain Falcon also had loose lips. Plans would get out, and it was obvious that it was Captain Falcon leaking information so that he stayed in people's good books. It was transparent, and if I wanted to I could've turned things around on him. But that wouldn't have benefitted me as the game went on, it would've raised my threat level. Which is what nearly my entire merge game was about.

[Wario]

The eggs. Very early on green team I went hunting for egg information, as I had one. I asked everyone on green and nobody had one. I figured that at least one person is probably lying but even still it meant that I wouldn't be able to influence Yoshi because none of the people I was working with had one. So I was very keen on getting Yoshi out before the merge. Because I knew if he made it to merge, things would get trickier. It also meant that if one of us got to the end with Yoshi on the jury, it's still egg holders that influence his vote. So we're probably not getting his vote. So him going out before merge was my ideal scenario then.

On yellow I wasn't working with him. I was part of a group that didn't include him or Piranha Plant. I didn't even fake it, as Yoshi said I didn't even give him directions for his eggs in the first couple of votes there. I wanted him out and I wasn't really secretive about it. Once I was back and people were forced to make up with me, we started working together. That's when Yoshi revealed probably the most important information of his game to me that influenced a LOT of the merge. He told me that our group on yellow now held more eggs than the pink team. And this was close to merge. As I was egg curious, I'd found out that Squirtle and Captain Falcon each had an egg. As far as I knew, nobody else did on yellow. Even if we had one extra, that still meant that as a trio myself Squirtle and Captain Falcon controlled Yoshi and turned it into a foursome. A very powerful tool to have. And that's how I viewed him, as he gave up his autonomy he was a tool to be used. It sounds rude but it's true. So going into the merge I knew that I had a very strong option of continuing to work as a trio with Captain Falcon and Squirtle.

In the merge he definitely played a part. I saw the eggs as a powerful but temporary tool. Because I didn't see Yoshi lasting very long. I knew people would want him gone. Because if he was gone, people probably thought that it would be much easier to break up our group. Plus they couldn't control his vote. I was also aware that Robin had an egg, which was another reason I was happy to target her. Forgot to mention that part. So in the early merge I was happy to use it, but thought he'd be gone and then some of my other allies would get taken out. As it got further on, having Yoshi still in really helped to keep us together as a group. Because if we split up, Yoshi becomes much less predictable. And we didn't want unpredictable Yoshi, we wanted to control him and wield his extra vote. Plus we had trust in each other, we'd voted together all through the merge so it was easy to stick to it.

Late game the eggs definitely affected me. When it came down to the end, Yoshi was telling me that he would choose to go my way instead of Captain Falcon's way after he turned on Squirtle. And he didn't need to prove that on the final 5 vote which was helpful for him. On the final four vote is where it was put to the test and he didn't go my way. So I didn't get to choose my opponent for the final duel.

I hope this answers your question enough! I'm happy to answer any more questions you might have.

[Captain Falcon]

Cheers Falc, glad you liked me speech! And trust I’ll be workin’ hard for every vote I can get my hands on, I want this victory and I’m gonna fight hard to get it! Didn’t wanna trash the other two in my speech cos that was all about THE CAPTAIN, baby! But since you’ve asked… I’ll oblige. For what it’s worth, I think they both have their strengths, I enjoyed playing with both of them here, no disrespect intended, and not expecting either one to be a pushover. But I just think I’ve got more strengths, and they’ve got more weaknesses, which I’ll highlight for ya now.

As fer YOSH

Fundamentally, eggs stripped him of agency in the game, and put him at the mercy of other players. I think if Yosh was sitting here at the end after being protected all game by his egg carriers, his case would have a lot more weight and the strategy would have really paid off. But he wasn’t- he was voted out twice pre-merge for instance. When Yosh was voted out on GOLD, I was half expecting you pinkies would have a challenge beast volunteer since the rumour was you were a tight six (and I guess Sam did volunteer to some extent, but not for those reasons). So Yosh could have been up and out and that was fine with me- he was ultimately disposable. I’d argue it was his initial duel wins giving him that challenge cred that eventually found him in a spot of safety, more so than the egg strategy.

Also I think while Yosh could be scrappy and proactive, he didn’t always go about things very smoothly and his perceptions could be off. E.g. on GOLD, creating a 5 way group chat straight up with myself, Squirt, DK, and Marthy, imploring us to work together via the eggs. Intriguing idea, but we pretty quickly backed off cos it wasn’t where the natural dynamics were gonna flow and Yosh did not inspire much confidence that this could be a long-term thing. I enjoyed chatting with Yosh- but he positioned himself as a tool that could be used and discarded, not as a key alliance figure that we’d wanna mobilise around. On both of his original teams, the eggs didn’t serve him, they sent him to THE RING. Had he lost either of those times, we’d be talking about how the egg strategy was a cute lil idea, but it didn’t work. And then post-merge, he stuck with us cos it was mutually beneficial, but then he was also voted out twice again. He’s voting how we ask, he’s picking up votes ahead of us- pretty sweet deal, but not for him.

And lastly- I just think Yosh could have been more creative with his egg play (egg play? KINKY). I think I mentioned this to ya Falc, wouldn’t it be fun if Yosh revealed at the end the eggs was one big scheme and he just voted how we wanted anyway? What if he bargained with eggs- keep me safe here, I’ll lay you an egg. Allow players to trade eggs around maybe, just make Yosh more pivotal to the dynamics and give him some actual sway. Had he just pushed it further and used it more as a sneaky n’ strategic weapon for his own game rather than everyone else’s, I think he’d have a more compelling case. I think the egg strategy ultimately painted him into a corner and it stifled his flow of information, it stifled his ability to form relationships with non-egg holders, and it stifled his ability to remain safe. If this ain't the first we're seeing of this strategy, I think this is it in it's primitive stage- it hasn't hatched yet (HA!). Yosh won 5 duels, and won bids on a handful of SHIELDS, and kudos to him for that- but it wasn’t eggs that did that, and if he wins this, it ought to be cos his core strategy worked, not in spite of it not working.

As fer WARIO

Personally- I think Wario lost a lot of stock early in the game, and that is a big part of the reason why he was afforded that position of safety after the merge. He had the reputation of a messy over-player, and he also crushed both pre-merge duels he went into. And like Yosh, kudos for winning duels, ain't gonna take that away from anybody. But I don't think that was him actively lowering his threat level at merge, I think it was him just having a low threat level because he was perceived poorly. And after winning those duels as well as he did, voting for him and potentially facing him was high risk, low reward. I definitely think he did well to avoid duelling after the merge, but I don't think he was in as much of a position of power as he claims, cos he was admittedly inflexible. And so wasn't until endgame that he actually got to a position to wield some of that power- and I don't think he did that well. He benefited from my Squirt move (whether the right move or not, and I'll defend it, but he's lucky I made it), and then admits he fumbled the F5 vote, and then got sent in at 4 anyways. 

I also think his choice to cut people off may have made sense in terms of making himself less of a target, but I don't think ignoring people should ever be a legit strategy when ultimately this is all a social game here. It seems he actively burnt relationships when he didn't need to. The volunteer plan, for instance- when you volunteered on BLUE, I was always gonna have a soft spot for you there- you did something FOR ME, and so even at the pointy end of things, I'd still have respect for ya even after you voted for me 3 times in a row, ya bastard. Cos even when we weren't on the same page, you gave me the time of day. On the flip side, seems like Wario soured his relationship with most everyone he supposedly volunteered for on green. And then Kaz- who he was with for the entire game. How Wario managed to destroy that relationship so bad, I don't know. It may make you more likely to get to the end, but I don't think it should net you a win, to intentionally tank your social game. Wario had the challenge card up his sleeve- he could have been prince charming to everyone he met, and still gotten to the end because he could fight his way there if need be. That's a great card to have up ya sleeve and he didn't capitalise on it.

Finally, I just think he wasn't often successful at actually getting his plans in motion and having people follow his lead. Like on GOLD, he set-up his plan and then just expected to ride that out to merge. After that he pretty much dropped chat and kept it business- so we flipped on him and sent him out. Then post-merge, he admits he couldn't get things together and defaulted back to GOLD- people talked, they knew what he was up to. Robbie flipped on his F9 plan and took out his supposed shield. Kaz, Squirt and I had a group chain and so anything Wario told us about Kaz, Kaz had already told us himself. He was out of the loop-de-loop 7 and 6. I just don't think he had his finger on the pulse all the way through, which is something I think he should be able to claim if neglecting his relationships was meant to be the trade-off there.

EGG STUFF-

Will get to in another post a bit later. Also- expecting you'd be fine if we rebut each other here? I'm ready to! C'MON!

[Falco]

Wario, I've no more questions in particular, but keep answering as much as you feel you need. Which means sure Captain Falcon, re-but away. We have a long wekeend ahead of us. Go nuts.

[Captain Falcon]

Alrighty, just quickly to defend myself here- I don’t wanna to turn this into a back n’ forth bickerfest all weekend, but I will just give my own defences to the points against me best I can and leave it at that.

- Yosh mentions the Squirt move, and yep I did explain that in my speech, and I maintain I had my reasons there and they were sound. But even with Squirt being totally loyal to me, had I gone along with the split- all it took was you winning the duel Falc, I’d still be in THE RING at 5 since you and Wario were voting for me anyways. And I don’t think it’s totally fair for Yosh to say- well the only reason you didn’t duel at 4 is cos I decided not to. Well yeah of course, but that’s how it works. I get the point, but end of the day, I DID make it through 4 without duelling. Of course I’d have duelled had people decided for me to duel- but they didn’t! That’s the game. The Squirt move was a calculated risk, and maybe it was a risk I didn’t need to take, and I made things harder on myself- but I still made it here, ultimately. So that goes to show I had a path here whichever direction I took.

- Wario on BLUE- "all you have to do is be around and not completely suck." Nah. Wasn’t the case on BLUE, we just were not that team at all. We were stacked! That’s why we went to rocks in the first place, so I think that’s not an accurate depiction of how things went at all. Of course I fully own up to falling to the outside early on for whatever reason that was, but I think how I turned it around in the end makes up for that. As I explained in my speech, I’m proud of my stint on BLUE, and how I survived it despite the shaky start. It's a highlight of my journey, and gives perspective to the rest of my stint being what it was- I never dipped from the adrenaline I felt at that rock draw, and never wasted another moment. Besides, Wario claims he jumped before he was pushed on green, so can’t have been that easy!

- The depiction of GOLD just ain’t accurate either in my eyes. Squirt and I booted Wario to maintain a safe position through to merge (learning the lessons from BLUE HELL), and so it achieved exactly what it set out to. My time with GOLD was about making sure there was a constant rotation of boot options n’ duellists so I was safe, and strengthening the connections I had with the players there going into merge, like with Kaz n’ K Rool, and later Wario himself when he got over the blindside. Can’t say I’d have done anything differently on that team.

- On me not shrinking my threat level better than Wario- well yeah, I explained above why I think Wario had a lower threat level than I did. But me being supposedly a bigger threat than him and still making it here, in my eyes that’s a point in my favour, cos it means I had a tougher road and had more work to do to squeeze my way outta things. I had to be more liked, I had to be more of a busybody, I had to have open communication and remain in people’s good books, because it was more important for me to avoid THE RING- I couldn’t afford not to. I don’t see that as a negative. I think it’s why I had a harder time getting to the end, sure, but I don’t think it’s at all why I shouldn’t win. Now that I’m at the end- despite those tougher odds- I think it’s something I can be proud of and a it’s point for me, if anything.

Okay, and now- EGGS!

To be honest- for me and how I viewed Yosh and the eggs, initially I wasn’t too fussed about it either way. When he first pushed it on GOLD, intriguing idea sure, but more intriguing was working with Kaz and Wario at those initial stages, since they actually had connections, and we’d be sure our relationship would not come down to currency. And then after merge, in practice he was not too much different than any other ally. Difference being that, there’s more of an assurance he won’t pull shenanigans and flip. But Yosh wasn’t too different from, say, Wario for instance. We voted them out, they end up coming back, we agree to work together for mutually beneficial interests at least for those early merge votes. So on paper, eggs or not, Yosh is just one vote same as any other one of us. So no I would not say that it was specifically the eggs that bound us together, not from my perspective anyway. Maybe it was a convenient excuse- but functionally it was the same as a loyal GOLD ally who’d never switch sides. I think what bound us together more so was the way that 3/4 of those first four votes, a pinkie lost. That meant we retained numbers and power, and it made sense to use that to our advantage and to keep that momentum going.

Eggs got more complicated in the endgame, since now there’s 3 of us with eggs. So we’ve got me, Wario and Squirt. Here managing the eggs is really about managing the relationships with Wario and Squirt. If they both decide to send me in, all three of them send me in. If one of them goes, well, Yosh breaks ties himself, and of course Yosh and I always had a cute relationship which I enjoyed- then it becomes something I can at least fight for and argue my case to Yosh, and it won’t just be a hard no. That’s why with the Squirt move, it had to be that moment. Cos if Squirt did end up deciding to drop me in (which of course Wario would be down for as well), I would be locked into that. I didn’t matter if I had an egg or not when it was 1 vs 2- and actually it being 1-1 with eggs, at least gave me a shot to keep Yoshi’s vote. Which exactly what happened at 4. Sure- Squirt and I could have overruled Wario anyway. But this way, I didn't have to trust that Squirt would do that. I could overrule Wario, BECAUSE Yosh could overrule Wario and break the tie himself. Yes, Yosh has his own reasons for voting how he did- but whether I convinced him of it or not, I still gave him the name that he eventually went with. It was the one vote of the game where the power of the outcome finally rested in Yoshi's hands, and it went my way.

I do recognise that other players were irritated with the eggs- and I get that, and I was not cemented to the idea of riding with the eggs to the finish line. But at a certain point- when I’ve voted Yosh out myself, and he sticks around. He gets voted out twice early merge, and sticks around. He’s winning these duels- he’s gonna have longevity, you’ve gotta assume that, and then you've got the immunity in the last few votes. I really was flexible here and was open to working with anyone depending on how duels would shake out and how the numbers would look each round. But of course I’m gonna use eggs to my advantage, if this is a factor in the game that is seemingly not going anywhere, and one that I have access to. And I think I did use it to my advantage well, I must have, because I'm here off of Yoshi's last vote. 

Though it's all kinda moot anyway, since I used it in my protein shake day two.

[Wario]

Mar 12, 2022 16:13:00 GMT 10 Captain Falcon said:

- Wario on BLUE- "all you have to do is be around and not completely suck." Nah. Wasn’t the case on BLUE, we just were not that team at all. We were stacked! That’s why we went to rocks in the first place, so I think that’s not an accurate depiction of how things went at all. Of course I fully own up to falling to the outside early on for whatever reason that was, but I think how I turned it around in the end makes up for that. As I explained in my speech, I’m proud of my stint on BLUE, and how I survived it despite the shaky start. It's a highlight of my journey, and gives perspective to the rest of my stint being what it was- I never dipped from the adrenaline I felt at that rock draw, and never wasted another moment. Besides, Wario claims he jumped before he was pushed on green, so can’t have been that easy!

- On me not shrinking my threat level better than Wario- well yeah, I explained above why I think Wario had a lower threat level than I did. But me being supposedly a bigger threat than him and still making it here, in my eyes that’s a point in my favour, cos it means I had a tougher road and had more work to do to squeeze my way outta things. I had to be more liked, I had to be more of a busybody, I had to have open communication and remain in people’s good books, because it was more important for me to avoid THE RING- I couldn’t afford not to. I don’t see that as a negative. I think it’s why I had a harder time getting to the end, sure, but I don’t think it’s at all why I shouldn’t win. Now that I’m at the end- despite those tougher odds- I think it’s something I can be proud of and a it’s point for me, if anything.

Well of course blue was stacked, you've got four jurors from blue right?

You either didn't read my summary of green or you ignored it, because yeah it was easy. There was absolutely no scenario where I was going in on green if I didn't come up with the volunteer plan. I implemented it to keep as many potential allies and working relationships open to keep different options alive for later. I went in and I can tell you that it would've been King K. Rool and Marth going in if I didn't, then probably Link. And working relationships would've been negatively impacted if it had happened that way. So I went in when it was safest, with the stage chosen by me (I knew I'd be good at it and I was, I came first) and the shield for my 1% attack card in case I ended up on a different team. 

As for my threat level being low, again I believe I explained in great detail about how a lot of it was intentional after the first Dark Pit vote.

[Falco]

Thanks for the answers guys.

I've made up my mind and am casting my vote here. As is tradition, 12 hours before they are due. So no need to banter any further in this thread.

Over and out.