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Post by Peter Pettigrew on May 29, 2022 12:41:37 GMT 10
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Post by Alastor 'Mad-Eye' Moody on May 29, 2022 19:29:12 GMT 10
Black and Yaxley, congratulations on not only decimating the Order of the Phoenix entirely, but also having defeated all of the other Death Eaters who also stood in yer path. This game's not been an easy one, and I commend ya both for the tenacity and skill it took to reach this far.
Peter's postin' this on my behalf means I haven't read a lick of your opening speeches yet, so apologies if you've gone through this in detail and direct me to the relevant sections of your speech instead of wasting your time on me, and I'll read through and ask any follow ups I might have after catching up later on.
So let's be up front on this first. I wish I'd gotten the chance to talk more closely with both of the two of ya more than I did. Aye, schedules are a bitch and all that, but there's more to it. Yaxley, I relied on our connection through Digs to keep us aligned as much as possible, but didn't ever get real in the thick of it with you specifically. Black, by all accounts we should have been working tighter than buttocks squeezing onto an ill-placed wand, but something never clicked there for us. Which means, for the both of you, I'm gonna be reading everything these next 24 hours with remarkable closeness. People always like to say their vote's up in the air when they've certainly got a preference one way, but I'll give it to you straight: my vote is very undecided at the mo'. So much so that even comin' up with the best question for you both has been a bit of a headscratcher.
I think one thing I'm very keen to know is more about your relationship with each other and perceptions of your competition here in the Final 2. These immunity pairs really tied your fates for a couple rounds. One of which was the round I got booted on. For both Final 7 and Final 6, Yaxley and Black, you two were paired up. Black, I'm sure you know your name was a heavy contender there both rounds (well, assuming for 6, even though I wasn't there). Yaxley, your name I don't think would have been in the top 3 or 4 options either time. Yet both times, Yaxley, you win immunity, and Black, yer immune by proxy.
So Yaxley, what was your thoughts on those challenges and having Black as your pair there? What was your relationship with him throughout this game, and why are you a better candidate for this win than him? Did you want Black to be immune those rounds he was tied to you, or was that more an unfortunate side effect?
And Black, what were your plans to survive in both of those rounds had you not been immune? Way I see it, Wood plays his idol and you leave at 7. 6 I'm less sure of. Did Yaxley save your arse there both times, or did you have paths to take other than immunity? What was your relationship with Yaxley throughout this game, and why are you a better candidate for this win than him?
Thanks to ya both, and congratulations either way, really. Black, you've overcome a hard journey to make it to this point. Considering I was telling everyone around F9 or F8 that you'd be a lock to make the end if you stayed much longer, I'm not sure if I should be pleased or frustrated that I'm right. Yaxley, I think you had a better set up coming into the merge section of things, and were able to navigate that carefully enough to always keep targets in front of you to get to this point. Whoever takes this will deserve it.
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Post by Regulus Black on May 29, 2022 21:47:30 GMT 10
Thanks Moody, so yes. We should have been tight and you know that I tried to work something with the players who weren't in a partnership more than once. Maybe it was down to our different time zones, different agendas or just the way the game was playing out around us that meant that we could never really get on the same page. No slight on you, but it kind of would have either required you to be willing to take a leap of faith away from the relative security of being in good with Diggle, or potentially you taking a more active role in bringing me in for that to happen. But I don't blame you at all- you had a spot in an alliance and so I can't expect you to just throw that away. As far as my plans at 7 .... I don't know if I was necessarily gone without immunity. But it definitely helped. I'd been talking with Lily and Crouch about how you, Diggle and Yax seemed to be gearing up for a deep run together. Potentially even all the way to F3. It had just been revealed that you and Diggle worked on finding an idol together and Yax was Diggle's partner who seemed to be in lockstep with you guys. So there was a very visible 3. I know that Lily was concerned about this and we'd spoken about breaking up your 3 already. So depending on which two people had immunity, I would have aimed to get Wood, Lily and Crouch onboard with that plan.
At 6, this is harder to predict. I think it would depend on who else had immunity. If Wood had it, we'd planned for him to play the idol on me - allowing us to knock out one of the pairs. Which Wood can confirm. This would have really opened up the game. As far as my relationship with Yaxley- it was friendly and pleasant throughout. Which is how I tried to be with everyone. Of course, I'd adapt the way I would speak with different people and bring in different elements of my personality depending on who I was speaking with. I think remaining on good terms with everyone was crucial given the niche I filled throughout the game. Being generally positive and easy to talk to made me less of a 'problem' than if I'd have been more standoffish, I think? But as far as Yaxley specifically, we were kind of distant strategically- because he was obviously in a power seat, by virtue of being in an active partnership. I remember him making it clear that we weren't on the same page, but he also said that in future rounds, if we both stuck around, that he might be more willing to work with me. Which he was, after Diggle bowed out.
As far as why I'm a better candidate to win, well we both made it to this point. So to differentiate, I think it makes sense to look at the paths we had to take. Yaxley did well to get here, but essentially played in cruise control - being able to rely on his bond with Diggle to recruit 'mutual friends' so to speak. Of which you were one of them. You said yourself above that you relied on your mutual connection to Diggs to bring you guys together. I had no such luxury. I don't know what Yaxley's path would have been if Diggle left pre-merge, or how long he would have lasted. What I have proven though is that I was able to overcome this disadvantage, playing at a disadvantage from the jump to outlast 18 other people. I had to play an individual game and couldn't just sit back and cruise thanks to being in a pair. I feel that this made my path here a trickier one. One which I hope that you can appreciate.
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Post by Corban Yaxley on May 30, 2022 5:54:01 GMT 10
Hullo Moody,
S'fair to say I wish we'd gotten more o' a chance to work together more closely there Moody. In a funny way, it felt like because we were so close with Digg', we could never quite get that close to each other? From my point o' view we chatted well 'nough but I always wondered how much o' our friendship would survive if Digg vanished, 'specially early on. By the last couple o' rounds together though, I felt we were actually real close to each other; I hated seein' you go at F7, kinda cursed my own immunity win that round to be sure because as far as I'm aware, the group o' us woulda just hit Black there instead, n' then Wood over you at F6 as well.
I'd second what Black said; we were pleasant but distant. I tried to ask a couple o' game questions at the merge early on but felt like I was gettin' nuthin' back, so eventually I just sorta gave up, said for now we're separate but we should keep each other in mind if we can? Basically what Black said above here, is accurate. I tried to be similarly pleasant n' fun to talk to, keepin' good relationships with folks as much as possible too. I think no matter what space you're occupyin', bein' a miserable git's a quick way to die. Sayin' I was on cruise control's not really fair, I'd say? Outside o' the rounds I won immunity anyways I was active n' involved with the choices the pair quartet was makin', n' I think it's a mark o' my own social game that we survived even when our other allies in Wood n' Lucius, lost it at each other after the HK boot.
I agree Black n' I both played solidly for the most part. I'd say I hope I take the win for gener'lly playin' a more solid game on the whole? I'd argue that Digg didn't really give me much in the way o' mutual friends; aside from you, he was real close to Fleur (who tried to kill me the round after Lucius left) n' his fight with Lucius meant that navigatin' that set o' relationships was even more fraught with complications. S'far as I know, Lily put in an effort to befriend Digg' because o' how close Barty n' I were, not the other way 'round. Similarly, s'far as I know Wood n' Digg were never all that good with each other? So I'd say if I appear well-connected, I take the compliment of it but reject it was 'cause I had a livin' partner. Black, by comparison, did need immunity to skate by several rounds, includin' the round where you would have gotten him killed, if only I hadn't won immunity. Now I don't begrudge anyone from needin 'to win immunity to pull out a win, but I think the fact that even then, I was the one winnin' it and he survived because Peter's table put him next to me, should count for sumthin'.
Cheers, n' thanks for presumably readin' all o' my novels.
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Post by Alastor 'Mad-Eye' Moody on May 30, 2022 10:04:40 GMT 10
Thanks for the answers, both! Can't say it helped me too much, but that's the way it goes.
Couple side comments -
Black, you mentioned somewhere else about trying to get a 3-2-2 plan at 7 if they were gonna split. The fact of it is, I was thinking all day about going to you to confirm the split vote plan, and that it'd fall on you as the secondary, and that I could just vote with you and Wood (against preferably Crouch there) to save the three of us. Issue was I was too blasted nervous about putting that idea out there about 5 hours before council. Wood also told me Crouch floated my name to him, and I thought maybe putting a target on Crouch out there in the open too early would just get a vote flat turned on me while I slept. Timing was always a bitch on that, so I was always wary of givin' people too much to throw around while I couldn't be there. I really should have thrown in with you and Fleur harder, but every round it just seemed like you were the best name for me to keep saying, so I kept on with it and didn't want to be two faced to you. Just a variety of factors keeping us apart, including my own personal hesitancies.
Yax, you made a real good point about how being paired with Diggle wasn't always the best thing. Coming into the swap with Pyrites after everything at the Manor was more a curse than blessing, and he and I had wildly different perceptions of everyone. People are going on and on about how the pairs made things easier, and I'm sure they did. But it's also important to recognize that they also make things way harder when your ideal target might be your partner's best ally. Had I made the merge with Pyrites, I think that'd have presented an entirely different set of obstacles. I also think you're right that we treated each other cautiously early because of our connection through Digs. We were probably both a bit nervous about where his final loyalty could end up being.
That's more rambling's from a mad old man, but hopefully helpful to see where my head's spinning.
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If you've got time, I know you've had loads to write about this game and it's all been very serious and proper about us making a decision of who to vote for.
So I'll lighten things a touch and since no one else seems to have asked it, what one experience or conversation in this game did you enjoy the most, or made you laugh the loudest? Personally, I'm big into this whole HP thing, and that's what brought me here, so the challenges being themed so incredibly to nostalgic experiences really got me good. That shitposting challenge was during a hell weekend for me, but I had a blast with it (and making Malfoy write a fan fic scene for absolutely no reason). Huge shout out to Peter and all the rest of the hosts for the work put into this entire thing (doing this now since I'll be way late to cast reveal later where everyone shouts out the hosts).
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Post by Corban Yaxley on May 30, 2022 12:14:25 GMT 10
Cheers mate, glad to have a breather to think 'bout sumthin' fun.
The AVPM word puzzle challenge stands out to me for a fun change o' pace. I love AVPM, it's my favorite part o' the fandom. Folks who've seen the sequel might recognize some inspiration for my thinkin' n' speakin'. Not only that but I'm a big fan o' word puzzles like that; I play some Scrabble, n' I got into a lot o' Wordle n' games like that. So seein' those two loves together was incredibly exciting.
My other favorite thing was playing ultimate tic tac toe with a drunk Diggle during the shitpost-off. Nuthin' to do with the game or HP, I just love introducin' a new version o' tic tac toe to folks.
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Post by Alastor 'Mad-Eye' Moody on May 30, 2022 13:51:16 GMT 10
Cheers mate, glad to have a breather to think 'bout sumthin' fun. The AVPM word puzzle challenge stands out to me for a fun change o' pace. I love AVPM, it's my favorite part o' the fandom. Folks who've seen the sequel might recognize some inspiration for my thinkin' n' speakin'. Not only that but I'm a big fan o' word puzzles like that; I play some Scrabble, n' I got into a lot o' Wordle n' games like that. So seein' those two loves together was incredibly exciting. My other favorite thing was playing ultimate tic tac toe with a drunk Diggle during the shitpost-off. Nuthin' to do with the game or HP, I just love introducin' a new version o' tic tac toe to folks. Also a huge Starkid fan. Hate that you beat me at that challenge, and that it was my downfall - I might have had it over you but I forgot about the alphabetical order thing for a few minutes like an absolute moron.
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Post by Regulus Black on May 30, 2022 18:12:33 GMT 10
Probably my funniest moments were when I'd just talk about random things- like going into detail about your rave cave, or speaking with Yax about my desires to be a floating prickly pear, or out of nowhere suggesting that Diggle was a goth who was big into MCR and talking about that after he recoloured his picture
Very strange, indeed
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