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Post by Regulus Black on May 29, 2022 18:06:30 GMT 10
Power of Partnerships Partnerships dominated this game for its duration, and for good reason. Having a prior relationship, someone who you’ve specifically nominated to play with and, probably more important- having someone specifically nominate a desire to play with you. That drastically changes things. Spending 3 days together before the game began really brought these existing connections into the game. Beyond that, pairs were incentivised to work together and play in unison due to the structure of the game – House Points, Switch/Flick and Owl Post all rewarded partners sticking together.And they worked. Remarkably, the entire jury except Fleur were all able to play multiple rounds alongside their partner. Partnerships coordinated themselves and linked with other partnerships. Creating formidable blocs. Having command of the numbers throughout. A month ago, all of us were hoping to do just that. Personally, a large part of the appeal of signing up was the prospect of playing with a partner. So what happens when before the first council your partner leaves? Game plan changes.
The New Plan I no longer had security and the luxury that a partner affords. Beyond that, my strongest day 1 connection, Carrow left too. And with that, my game shifted and became an individual one. I’d now have to pull back and infiltrate. At this point, I decided to try and work on building bonds- but to push these relationships out in-front of myself. While doing this, I tried to also fuel some paranoia in others behind the scenes to try to shake the confidence between members in different partnerships. The goal being to try and fuel some division to avoid all the pairs wiping me out. This pattern continued for most of the game. And the way it turned out, I’d develop a good bond and working relationship with someone, then they’d get voted out. This wasn’t all of my own doing though, which I’ll admit. Sometimes it was due to mistakes of the people who left. Sometimes it was down to immunity falling a certain way. Sometimes game structure was a factor. I mention these to certainly recognise the role which luck had in getting me here. But there was also a decent amount of positioning which I was able to pull off, to see myself prevail while you all fell. I wasn’t in the privileged position of having a safety net along the way like some of you did. I wasn’t able to have someone looking out for me from the other Side who I could rely on. My challenge was to play an individual game, without elevating my profile too much too soon. I really had a thin margin of error. While someone like Yax played a good game, but from a position of comfort- playing from the front, not having to overcome much adversity along the way. Not only was I the first player to lose their partner, but I also faced more councils than anyone in the process. I’d often collect votes, but I had to accept these. And would be willing to work with these people the next day. As I said, since the first council, I have been playing an individual game.
Reflections I've honestly enjoyed spending time with you all over the past month and will speak fondly of each of your games once this is all over. Tonks- you are probably the most similar to me of anyone I remember interacting with in any game I’ve played with. I appreciate chatting with you and I know that we’d get along well outside of this.
Malfoy- our burning rivalry gave me life and was such a fun sub-plot for me. We would both keep each other around, while pushing each other’s name out there. The tables kept turning, but I decided to take you out while I had the edge. But there's no doubt that you are a very capable player.
HK- We connected well pre-swap and you were the person I most was looking forward to joining at merge. The split council divide screwed you over, but your exit definitely changed the game. Your advice the night you left that it was more important to survive to the point where a move could be most impactful rather than to make a move for the sake of it remained with me and was front of mind when I made my move at 4.
Crouch- I really enjoyed bonding with you early and then was able to outflank you at the end after you dropped your guard a little and got too comfortable. I hope you can respect that I beat you at your own game during pivotal the endgame. I realised you were closer to everyone at 4 than any of us were to each other. I read this and by replacing you, ensured I was able to make it to the end, which I know was the outcome you were playing towards.
Moody- You know how difficult it was for an unpaired player to navigate the merge. We were in a very tough spot. But despite this, I was firm on keeping our pact the night you left and didn’t want to see you go.
Wood- We vibed well. Mate, I genuinely had fun playing with you. Was good to find someone else who’s into sport here. Hoping that your team got up this weekend. Was just a shame that we didn’t really talk for the first week of the merge. I was so pumped to crush the final 4 challenge and change the course of events.
Diggle- You Sir, are a powerful wizard. Your good luck charms never failed. You are also probably the funniest person in the game. I enjoyed the banter. You were huge here. A great all-round player. Kudos
Fleur- You were such a good sounding board and a solid ally. I value our connection hugely and hope I did you proud by making it all the way. Once this game is all said and done, I will remember you as my primary ally.
Lily- I pegged you as a big threat to me from the early merge when it became clear that you were in good with literally all of the key players. Because of this, I knew that I’d need to be very careful with how I went about taking you out. Waiting until the right time to do so.
Anyway, the decision for a winner is each of yours to make. I don’t have my partner on the jury advocating for me, which I hope isn’t too big a disadvantage tonight. I’ll end with this – to go from being the first unpartnered player, facing more councils than anyone, to dismantling the final partnership in the finale. That’s a fun storyline. And I hope it’s worthy of being considered for your vote.
I’m happy to answer any questions you guys have
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Post by Corban Yaxley on May 29, 2022 18:10:09 GMT 10
Hullo 'gain folks. Er, honourable member o' the jury? Wizard Court people? Ah, whatever you're s'pposed to be called.
It's real good to see all o' you 'gain. Turns out the Wizardin' World is real quiet when only two people populate it. I mean, I guess the hosts were there too, but I reckon they don't count as real people? I'm, uh, not sure what we're doin' this big wizard-court thing for, neither? I reckon at the start o' the game Petey was pretty clear that all o' the manor folks were s'pposed to win for that Dark Lord bloke? So I guess he wins no matter what, n' Black n' I are just fightin' over the honour o' givin' him magical Britain or whatever. I don't 'member Black from me past life at all, but I reckon there's no way a good bloke like him would ever betray someone as fearsome as the Dark Lord, so I'm sure he'll keep faith with that Lord bloke too, make sure he takes power. So this all feels a bit daft, fer me to be too concerned with what that Dark Lord blokes thinks when I don't even 'member his name? But I reckon that's alrigh': even if I don't care much 'bout him, I care lots 'bout all o' you, so I'll give some explanations o' my choices n' thinkin' anyways. I hope it's int'resting, but I reckon some o' you prob'ly know most o' what I'm gunna say? I played this bein' as honest as I could manage, so I reckon I'm not gunna have too many twists here. I don't like lyin' much to begin with, but I know the most important thing 'bout lyin' is telin' a consistenty story, n' with my memory problems n' all that I reckoned I'd lose track o' what I'd said to who! So, generally speakin', I stuck to honesty. I reckon my biggest strengths, that I'll try to highlight here n' there, are the friendships I made with all you folks, n' my capacity to keep a keen eye on what's happenin' regardless.
Corban Yaxley and The Hidden Idol of Malfoy Manor
Given how heated some members of the manor got, this looks surprisingly chilly.
The start o' the game felt alrigh' to me? I had some timin' issues bein' around when the gates first opened, but I tried to make sure I said hullo to everyone. Early on I was content to just meet all the fine blokes o' the manor, learnin' a bit 'bout the ol' lives we had that I'd forgotten 'bout. Most o' the folks seemed decently alrigh', I'd say. Lucius was real quick to be friends with me, n' asked if I'd be up for joinin' some other folks? I'm no good at knowin' how to open up to talk 'bout stuff like that so I was pleased to go 'long with it, n' he said he'd make a group chat when everyone was happy 'bout it. Bein' truthful, this raised a few flags? The way he proposed it to me made me a bit suspicious that it mighta not started with us all as equals, but bein' a group was better than not, so I quietly went along with it, resolvin' to keep my eyes open. Once Carrow bowed out, the group Lucius suggested was big 'nough to control the manor, so Lucius made the group chat: The Sacred 5. My first impressions were that the folks in the chat were a mostly solid bunch? Rodolphus was alrigh', Black was alrigh' if a bit o' an oddball. Still not sure if that stuff 'bout bein' a pear was goin' anywhere? Ah well. Barty seemed like a good lad, we got along righ' quick. He n' I connected pretty well 'fore the group even formed. I was not thrilled 'bout HK bein' on the outside o' it because I was feelin' pretty good 'bout him, but from my point o' view it'd be easy 'nough to steer votes on to other folks; Travers n' Pyrites were real quiet, n' I'd had a hard time keepin' up with some o' Igor's more wild jokes. Seemed like it'd be a solid setup for a couple o' rounds.Pyrites, somehow, decided to make the same group o' folks + himself? I suspected that at least one o' the chat had told him, had planned on usin' him to keep an edge if they found themselves on the outside o' it? A bit odd, but I didn't think much o' it. HK n' I got along even better, n' once Travers had to leave, he wound up suggestin' a separate five-person group with me, himself, Igor, Lucius, n' Barty? I was very nervous 'bout this, n' tried to subtly suggest to him that maybe Lucius wasn't a great option? After all, if there was a core o' folks workin' together in the Sacred 5, it'd almost certainly include Lucius. I was still cognizant that the Sacred 5 set's inner core likely didn't include me, and I reckoned it didn't include Barty, neither. But that interior prob'ly did include Lucius, so I viewed invitin' him to another big group chat as a bit dangerous. But ultimately, the group did need a 5th to have a majority, n' so the Murder Club was formed. Thinkin' bout the future, I reckoned once Pyrites died it'd likely be Murder Club vs. Sacred 5? In that case, it'd prob'ly not be too hard to convince Barty that the Murder Club made more sense to stick with. 'Specially because by then, he n' I had already been told by Lucius that the Sacred 5 had started off as a Rodolphus/Black/Lucius trio with each of 'em pickin' their own second. Lucius, Barty n' I had started a group chat with the purposes o' combinin' clues to get the idol, which is where he told us. So it made sense to me we'd want to get either Black or Rodolphus 'fore they put us up as options. Speakin' of that trio, we managed to snag the idol, workin' together. It was a mix o' cleverness n' negotiation to nab it. Lucius reassured us that while he mighta been holdin' it, he'd use it for the good o' us all. We'd been talkin' 'bout workin' with our partners from the Order too, so I reckoned in a show o' good faith I'd send Lily, Barty's partner, all o' the info we'd managed to glean 'bout the idol board, hopin' to sow the seeds of a decent relationship later. Then, o' course, the actual Pyrites vote happened n' everything went crazy? I'll not go over the logistics of it here, but I'll talk a bit 'bout what it meant for me as a player. Firstly; losin' a powerful tool like the idol that early felt pretty rough. Secondly; Lucius had, in my opinion, an incredibly solid position o' power n' threw it away because he panicked, or didn't trust most o' the folks he was workin' with. I'd need to be real cautious 'bout what he'd be willin' to do in dicey situations like that. Third: It meant the entire rest o' the manor identified Lucius, Barty n' I as a real tight trio. Fair 'nough, we had found the idol n' kept it secret, so that wasn't wrong? But if I was gunna make it to the end, that perception'd need to change. Fourth: Igor n' HK had much less in me that I'd have liked, n' I wasn't real sure 'bout how much that faith would be restored in the future. On the whole, I viewed the manor as a chance to learn 'bout how half o' the folks in the game ticked. Who they liked, disliked, n' how they'd think goin' forward. While I didn't love the fireworks at the end, there's no doubt they were useful in that respect.Corban Yaxley and The Meeting of the First Pair
![](https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/958040135474241540/979836458171002940/Newspaper.PNG) The newspaper is always full of lies, and this is no different.
The Daily Prophet was a new, exciting, and confusing opportunity for me. I had, due to my schedule, actually missed being present for whatever the last Malfoy Manor council was. So while I was meeting new order folks I was also trying to piece together exactly what happened to all of the folks I had previously been working with? A lot of the Manor scheming had felt last minute or deeply pointless, and I hoped the new order folks I'd be meeting were cut from a saner cloth. Just because Wood was Lucius's partner, surely he would not be prone to the same sort of overplaying shenanigans like spending an idol on someone who was almost never online? Being transferred to the same side as Barty was a godsend, because of the folks in the manor, he was the one I trusted most. Getting to meet his partner, Lily, whom I'd previously sent an owl post about how to find an idol, was a truly excellent opportunity. While I did not expect we'd be instantly best friends merely from our mutual connections, I had hope that we could grow into something solid like that from such an excellent start. This was also an excellent opportunity begin making it clear that while I worked with Lucius, I was not a mindless minion of his nor did I necessarily agree with all of his choices. Kingsley was an interesting presence; I would have been tempted to throw in with him as someone who was unloved on the previous side but the foursome of Lily, Barty, Wood and myself formed so quickly and naturally that it seemed foolish to throw away the good will of so many folks to attempt to save one person that the entire rest of the side had decided to go for.
I'd also swapped with HK and Igor, which was a very interesting dynamic. As far as I could piece together; HK/RAB/Lestrange/Igor had worked out that Lucius, Barty n' I were set to control large chunks of the manor, and had resolved to take a shot at the three of us in the following round instead of all quietly dying, only for Igor to betray that to Lucius? So from my point of view, Barty n' I had mutual trust, but there was a decent chance HK did not trust me, and Igor might have once but was furious about Lucius immediately using that information to betray his own trust. It also meant that HK and Igor were suddenly at odds with each other, no matter how much Igor may have wished otherwise. It also made me note; at very least Lucius, HK, Igor, and one of RAB/Lestrange will take actions based on not a lot of conjecture. Given that I'm a patient sort o' fellow, I filed it away for future reference rather than tryin' to act on anything too rashly. In the immediate sense, I preferred to maintain some kind of relationship with them in case of a switch of some kind? But I was initially not enamored with either of them. HK n' I had it out for a bit and I ultimately came away feeling better and stronger about HK than I had in the past. Igor was a bit manic, extremely upset that Lucius dared do something he didn't expect and was taking it out on all of us. A mad scheme to kill Wood to get Lucius to switch was hatched by them and summarily dismissed by me for being basically impossible to pull off unless Lucius was a drooling idiot. And while I considered him a touch impulsive and reckless, I do not consider him stupid.
Otherwise, the Daily Prophet was quiet. I shored up and built fantastic connections with Wood and Lily, enjoying their relative stability after the more turbulent days than the manor. They identified HK as a serious threat, which I felt was reasonably accurate but not optimal for me given my relationship with him. At some point Kingsley transfigured himself into Pyrites, which caused HK to fly into a rage and throw a challenge to attempt to kill him with no further discussion. Which we did, but which further added evidence in my head that HK will make wildly reckless moves in order to get his way. Not necessarily a bad thing, but something that only elevated his threat level in a group of people already wary of him. Lily, Wood, Barty n' I worked together to attempt to get the Prophet Immunity Item but ultimately fell short at three out of four. Igor found the board and extremely last minute tried convince HK to help him get the idol. HK, who despised him at this point, sold it out to me as fast as he could but Igor decided that HK's lack of enthusiasm for helping him meant HK must have already had it, somehow? Once again, I missed the actual fireworks due to my scheduling.
Ultimately, this phase ended in a position of quiet strength. I had a strong quartet in Lily, Barty, and Wood. In addition I managed to keep other strongest ally, HK, out of their line of sights despite them suggesting his name to me nearly every round, without taxing my friendships with them too much.
Corban Yaxley and The Big Dumb Group Chats
![](https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/958040135474241540/980138160577216632/wwsnipv2.png)
I reckon it's a bit odd that we called it 'Wizarding World' when all o' us are from Europe. S'not like any o' us know what a 'South America' even is or nuthin'.
The initial merge was a real int'restin' time o' tryin' to sort out who was friends with who, n' where I stood with all of 'em. I trusted my quartet from the Daily Prophet to stay together for the first few rounds, but didn't know how that loyalty would fare if our other allies were at each other's throats as it seemed. The initial plan had been to sync the four o' us up with Diggle and Lucius for a nice n' neat set o' six but upon seein' Lucius get voted out by the whole set o' folks includin' Diggle, that seemed pretty rough. It'd also been made clear to me, that between Rodolphus gettin' a ton o' Owl Post in the Manor AND how Wood + Lily talked 'bout Fleur, that her inclusion to my current group was mandatory, if she so chose it. So walkin' in to the merge, I had a couple o' objectives. First; figure out where Lucius actually stood with the rest o' the Dept. folks. And second, figure out as much as possible where Fleur, Black, Moody, Tonks, n' Digg stood with each other. As was always my goal in a new situation, I reckoned it was important I learned the lay of the land 'fore I started tryin' to set up a house at the edge o' a cliff or sumthin' equally dumb.
Real quick, a couple o' things surfaced to me. First: Tonks n' Lucius seemed to have initially got on alrigh', and Tonks was the main reason Fleur hadn't murdered Lucius as early as round one for killin' Lestrange. Two; Lucius had 'done sumthin' to get himself voted off intentionally, which he then confidently explained to me was why he was sure they'd go back to workin' with him, once he revealed that tidbit. Three; Fleur/Tonks were obviously best mates n' prob'ly were workin' real close with RAB too. And Four; Diggle and Moody were extremely close mates.
Bein' truthful here, I reckoned this all added up to Lucius dyin' sooner than later. He'd already played super aggressively in the manor and had showed no signs of slowin' down. His allies had already either written him off once (Tonks, Igor) or were extremely cautious or concerned of being seen as just his minions (Myself, Barty). While it wasn't likely he'd die in the opening round, he'd prob'ly be goin' out within a handful of days. So it seemed reasonably safe to try n' make sure it was clear with the folks aligned 'gainst him that if he were to die, I'd not be too dramatic 'bout it. I filled in both Fleur n' Tonks, the unofficial leaders o' the Dept, as much as possible how wary I was of the bloke, n' how much I assumed his overplayin' would eventually get himself killed. I had to wait an extra day to connect with Diggle, and I've got to confess that at this point in the game, I was real unsure 'bout Digg', too. He'd sent a couple o' junk mails to folks I was tryin' to befriend, and had gotten almost no post 'bout the game sent to me. While Lily n' Wood assured me Digg was a good guy they wanted to work with, I had little doubt in my mind he was on the outer edge o' that initial Order set and I needed to ensure folks knew I'd be willin' to cut him as soon as the pairs stuff looked untenable so as to avoid gettin' cut myself.
And then the group chats began. The first one was a joke chat by HK, which got a chuckle out o' me. He n' I had discussed how generally, we didn't like gettin' too deep with strategy in group chats, how it felt like you could only discuss stuff all members o' the chat could safely know n' how it could lead folks to feelin' way too pressured to either agree with sumthin' they didn't like or pressured to defend against sumthin' they didn't want to have too public. It felt like you could prob'ly force your way once with 'em, but the cost of the comfort of your mates seemed to be aggressively not worth it. So nat'rally when Lucius made a group chat with all 8 of the pairs to announce he'd "heard" Black's name the most n' wanted to make sure that's what we all wanted, I wasn't sure if I should laugh or cry. I decided to (unhelpfully) treat it as more or less a joke, made fun o' his lack of math skills, n' never posted in it again. I needed folks to know that he n' I were good mates! We could have fun, and banter and all that. But I also needed 'em to know that while I liked Lucius well 'nough, we were not playin' the same game. I think the fact that the name the group chat settled on wound up not even bein' who was near-universally voted out suggests my thinkin' was not unfounded. Especially given Tonks n' Fleur both said they wanted to keep Black when Lucius said he thought no one would miss Black? I felt it was obvious anyone friends with Fleur/Tonks was going to keep Black alive so that she'd keep workin' with them.
Canary leavin' wasn't too bad for me, but the format o' the next round was. The double elimination was tricky to begin with n' gettin' put in a group o' Barty, Wood, Tonks, n' Fleur was very suboptimal. I suspected that Wood was deeply in love with Fleur; he'd mentioned enough times that he really wanted to add her to the Daily Prophet quartet that I was assumin' at this point he was more attached to her than any specific member o' the pair alliance? In our chats together, I'd told Wood pretty bluntly that the only way I could see Fleur goin' for joinin' up with us is if we let her kill a couple o' our own first to make her feel safe in it. I'd initially said Lucius specifically, knowin' Fleur n' Lucius were never gunna work together anyways and had at best an uneasy truce? But it suddenly felt not unlikely that if Wood wanted to kill one o' the pairs to replace 'em with Fleur, I was the next most likely bloke to get hit. After all, hittin' Barty risked pissin' off Lily and Lucius was his mate. I thought he might go for Diggle, too? He'd already suggested that even if Diggle 'were to die' they'd take care o' me. At the time I was pleased 'bout this because I had been steadily preparin' to get to a point where I suggested we go for Digg. Hilariously, this was also the round Digg n' I earned our mutual ID reveal. I won't say much 'bout it, other than it shifted my thinkin' pretty dramatically, and I knew I wasn't going to have the heart to cut Digg for a long, long time. All this to say, I wasn't sure if Wood was gunna stick with the Daily Prophet boys, or with the Mysterious Girls. I'd put in a Switch that round to swap Fleur with Black, reckonin' that Wood might not want to piss Fleur off, but wasn't going to obey her wishin' to keep Black alive over folks he was actively close with? But someone else swapped Wood n' Diggle, instead. This was a bit o' a nervewrackin' situation; Digg n' Fleur were also obviously real close? But it worked out alrigh', Digg stuck with us. On the other side o' the fence HK left, cuttin' off one o' my other options while strengthenin' the set o' folks I was most invested in. Not a bad result, but not a great one, neither.
But o' course, I don't doubt the entire Wizard Court remembers the fallout of the HK/Tonks rounds with startlin' clarity. Wood tellin' HK to play an Idol he didn't have, while Wood secretly had an idol, only for HK to reach out n' ask Barty, who asked Lily, who accidentally tried to tell HK she was votin' Black only to post it in the most comedically named group chat o' all time instead, causin' Lucius to flip his lid again durin' council. A comedy of errors from pretty much everyone involved, all to take out a player that had done pretty well for himself up until real life forced him away from the board for most o' a weekend. Both bein' on the other council and gen'rally bein' a quite n' cautious type o' bloke, I was mostly shielded from the fallout? Wood n' Lily n' Lucius all seemed to hate each other, so Digg, Barty n' I had a generally easy time decidin' which o' the group they wanted to stand with. We decided Lily immediately, n' then I put forth this was a good chance for Barty n' I to prove once n' for all we were not just Lucius's minions. We already knew Fleur wanted Lucius dead and Black had been votin' for Lucius too; getting the rest o' the game to jump on it was trivial, n' then Lucius was out. But, hilariously, not before one last bit o' idol shenanigans. To rebuild trust Wood showed Lucius his Idol, thinkin' they could use it to mend the rift 'tween themselves n' the rest o' the pairs crew. Lucius showed it to me, suggestin' it was the ultimate sign o' good faith that he had it now. In an act o' coldness, I just made sure if the idol was played on one of 'em, the other was goin' home instead. Slinkin' back to them once these plans were in motion guaranteed I'd be in their shadow the entire rest o' the game, no matter how clever I was or how many questionable ideas I had to shoot down to keep them from self-imploding. For me to get here now with a hope o' persuadin' the court I actually played the game, they needed to die.
Corban Yaxley and The Days of TAPP Dancing
![](https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/958040135474241540/980138195465420870/DancingShoes.PNG) Once you put them on, you'll have no choice but to do their irresistible dance.
Once Lucius was out, Diggle made the TAPP (The Almighty Power Pairs) chat for the four of Barty, Lily, Diggle, and myself to work out what to do next. We felt that at 8, if we could just persuade some combination of the other four to not gang up on us, we'd be able to control the game for several rounds. I was extremely happy to go along with this; I felt after being a target at boot 10.5 and flippin' on Lucius in boot 9, I needed to keep my head down for a few rounds. The Lily/Barty vs. Wood war was raging on, and while I'd finally gotten the chance to properly work with the rest of the folks in the game, I was aware that my name had started to circulate as a target around now. Of the four non-pair folks, I was most committed to working with Moody. The two of us had connected fairly well over our scheduling troubles, and he'd been a loyal friend to Digg'. I felt that Black was in a weird spot where he n' I were never really online at the same time to talk, and we had totally opposite sets of allies. I think, lookin' back, that we both felt the odds the other was secretly workin' with Lucius was too high to share with for the first four boots of the merge and it was just too late to get back together now. Fleur was charming but everyone's friend and I had no reason to believe she'd want to keep me over the rest. Wood was tricky in that I didn't have any problem working with him, but the rift between him and Lily seemed too wide to bridge. So I talked to Moody a lot this round, tried to make sure he knew how much I was sincerely relyin' on him and how much I wanted to work with him. He named Black, n' so I was content to let that ride. I figured the rest of the four of us could happily vote for anyone to get to F7, where we had a huge amount of control. Barty had been pushing getting rid of Fleur for a few rounds now and really wanted to hit her here, but from my point of view, she was the target most likely to successfully rally a counter-movement as Wood, Moody, and Black all seemed basically fond of her and it was obvious Digg' was too. But I woke up that morning to a sudden flurry of messages, Barty convincing the rest of the group that if Moody wasn't going to be back online we could all take out Fleur anyways, causing a 4-3-1 split. As I had no reason to fight to keep her (I'd learned she'd been pushing to kill me) I accepted, and so Fleur died. I felt poorly 'bout this; not only had Fleur n' I gotten along pretty well but for Moody, also: I knew from experience how frustratin' it was to have folks abuse timezone issues to manipulate you into what they wanted. Nevertheless, we wandered into F7 a pair of pairs. From there it wasn't all that complicated to dance our way down to F5, taking out both Wood and Moody in the process. We'd intended to remove Black over either both rounds but I won the immunity challenges twice in a row, accidentally keeping Black safe for both. This put in me in an awkward position, I had won 4 challenges in a row and while I'd argue 2 of them had been because I was wildly lucky or just ignored, 2 of them had been my own successful efforts. I was aware that even though I didn't rate my challenge skills as all that strong, I was going to be seen as a big challenge threat by folks not paying sufficient attention to how I won those challenges. At F5 we'd all agreed that it would be fun to make history, getting two pairs as the F4, which is sumthin' that never happened in the show? I was quite pleased to go along with it, even if privately I was unsure of it? Barty n' I had worked together all game so I trusted him 100%, and Digg'n n' I had an agreement to give each other a heads up if sumthin' squirrely was 'bout to happen. So I knew those two would at least tip me off if Lily or the other was tryin' to shift things at the last second? Turns out I was right, but not in the way I'd have expected. When I didn't luck into winnin' a 5th challenge in a row, Lily suddenly put heavy pressure on Barty to flip on me with Black, sayin' how I was the biggest threat left in the game and if I didn't die here I might win challenges from then until the end o' the game.To Barty's credit, he wasn't 'bout to let me die? But 'gainst that credit, I'm sorry to say his means of keepin' me alive was a bloody mess. Rather than just turnin' her down or quietly just votin' Black anyways, he turns to me n' says if I want to live I have to go for Digg'. I'm wildly confused by this? I do not see how that can be true; if I want to live, all I need are Digg n' Barty to agree on a target and tell me. Nevertheless, I check with Black if he's bein' told Digg's the target? He confirms that's the case. At this point I'm real unsure of what to think? Diggle n' Barty had seemed incredibly close; the three o' us had a group chat prior to TAPP where they agreed they wanted to work together as long as possible. This is only a few minutes 'fore the final council, so I walk into the last council mildly confused and convinced I'm dyin'. Turns out Barty wasn't bluffin; he reveals he's playin' an idol on me. This means that he, Lily, and I are all immune, n' I put it together. Lily was gunna kill me and Barty is forcin' her to go for Diggle instead. This more or less plays out, despite the fact I quietly kept my vote on Black, unwilling to betray my partner. N' so, Digg died. This sucked for me, emotionally. Diggle and I had such a journey, and while I think lasting all the way to F5 was an accomplishment, the fact Diggle died without me even having a chance to say it was coming or apologize for why felt awful. Not getting his wand afterwards* cemented in my mind that he was (rightfully) furious with my failures. It hurt. Not only that but now I had to deal with the fact that Lily, a player I adored, had tried to kill me after saying how cool it would be to make history together? And also with the fact that Barty had managed to get the Wizarding World Idol, kept it secret from all of his closest friends, and then used it to force his own partner to attack someone she hadn't wanted to attack, securing his own position as most likely to make it to the end. I think both Lily and I recognized immediately that it put us in a terrible position; Barty had played us both and if either of us stood next to him at the end of the game he would have too strong an argument as to why he played the best game: he'd strong-armed both of his allies into accepting the death of their closest other friends and were forced to rely on him. Until this point, I felt he and I would have relatively even arguments? I was worried he could easily say he'd never been targeted but otherwise our games were very similar. Now, though? If I was going to win, I needed him to die. *I've since learned you could not pass your wand to your partner, perhaps if I had been a bit more clever and faithful I could have figured it out from this. Corban Yaxley and The Endgame Fine. I'll Do It Myself. With a final four of myself, Black, Lily, and Barty, I had a newfound amount of clarity. While I had enjoyed the peaceful dream of TAPP bein' F4 and then 'fighting it out', it was a dream I nearly didn't wake up from. It was clear that if I wanted to get to the end, I wouldn't be trusting anyone to do things outside of their own self-interest. No matter how Barty was miserable that Lily and I were both frustrated with him, it didn't change the fact he was set to win. No matter how much I'd loved Lily's steady and calm logic, there was no doubt she viewed me as the most dangerous person left in the game. I suspect if we'd had the time to talk more about endgame plans prior to F5 that might have changed? But now she'd taken a swing at me and at that point I reckoned she couldn't afford to let me live; she needed me to die so that her move against me didn't look like a failure. I respected that the two of us understood each other well enough that there was no attempt to persuade each other on different things in F4, and that most of our conversation was now looking to the situation where we both survived until F3. Barty begged us both to work together and I was perhaps too harsh in telling him bluntly it could not and would not work. So while I had not much faith in my capacity to win challenges, now it was time for me to step up and focus on that as a path to victory. I quickly synced up with Black; we agreed that both Lily and Barty had spotless records, neither of 'em had even been the target and therefor neither of us could beat them when we both relied on immunities over a handful o' rounds. We agreed that we would tie it in our favour because if one of us died, the other was left to need a win at F3 or fall. It was surprisingly easy for the two of us to work together, after having spent the game apart? But I think it was because we'd largely maintained a very pleasant and friendly relationship throughout the entire game; it was clear that even if our plans never intersected we still maintained a positive relationship. Truthfully I felt like I didn't know if Black would keep me at F3 as well, but I was solely focused on getting through each round now. I explained that I viewed Barty as having the strongest story but noted to Black that Lily had the stronger relationships with the Order folks Black worked with, and left which one to target up to him as from my point of view which one left was immaterial. He decided Barty, and so the Barty vs. Yaxley F4 was decided. A dark part of my soul thinks that tiebreaker challenge should honestly have earned the win for me. Trying to find where Peter left those links was ridiculously frustrating and I had to stretch my schedule to a breaking point to pull through. I found the first piece, hidden next to the pigmy puff gift that had been edited to include Avada Kedavra, reasonably quickly. But the other two were more brutal. I tried a number of tricks to make it faster, checking each post for their Last Edited date (before discovering Peter put a plug-in in place to circumvent that), and then searching large posts for unusual letters in the hopes the link might include that. Once both of those failed I started copying some of the largest posts on the board into Word, relying on spellcheck to highlight the link. Ultimately this plus the second hint helped me immediately track down the last piece, hidden near the bottom of the Rules & Expectations post on the Floo board. Once I re-read the last clue I couldn't solve, I realized I was being an idiot and Peter's last set of clues let me narrow it down in a minute, after an half an hour of miserable and pointless searching. But, having pulled through, I was even more determined to get to the end. When I saw the final challenge was about this game, I sat down to brainstorm what that might be and how I could help myself, making lists of all of the different fandom aspects that had been in the challenge, making lists of all of the wands and the chain of hands each one had passed through, and making lists of all of the spells that had appeared in the game. So when the final challenge was revealing how the wands had traveled through the game, and that my list of hand-changing was probably not far from the truth, I felt both clever and vindicated; ultimately I thought it likely I could pull out a solid challenge win. From there, I just needed to carefully evaluate which of Lily or Black were more likely to be a difficult foe in the final council? I felt that Lily had a solid argument in never having been a target and she had been beloved by most of the game. While she argued well that she'd burned most of the folks that counted her as a friend, my experience is that generally folks will have enough time to calm down and forgive those betrayals before the vote. I knew Black had some extremely solid friends whose votes I risked throwing away if I took him to the end, but I also felt it made it more likely I'd shore up some of my own friends to vote for me, rather than forcing them to choose between Lily n' myself. While Black did have more Wands than Lily, I knew if Barty had been allowed to send his Wands to Lily, it was extremely likely she'd have had the most wands as Barty gave me six and also gave Black the wands from Lucius n' Igor. Corban Yaxley and Wizengamot's Judgement
![](https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/958040135474241540/980156265793716235/Capture.PNG) I stumbled onto the Wizengamot board when looking for somewhere else Peter might have hidden those image links, may as well show that off.
For me, this has been a real quiet, careful game. Like a snake, I've spent most o' the game watchin' n' observin', waitin' for the right moments to strike. I knew if I was too aggressive in pursuing my own goals I'd get booted for it, but I also made sure to not just blindly follow what others wanted at every step. I knew to set myself up to be able to take the shots I needed, to be able to keep my own allies extremely close for as long as possible while whittling away the ones that I felt were the most dangerous to me long-term. I didn't always get it right; in retrospect I should have been more alert for betrayal at F5 than I was and less passive about moving things off of myself, relying on my relationships a bit too hard there. But I recovered, fighting hard to survive when my back was against the wall, and managed to pull off some clutch challenge wins when I most needed them. I told very few lies; I think the worst of it was telling Lucius I would vote Fleur when I was in too deep to possibly not vote him? But at the time he'd already shown me an idol he claimed he had ownership of, so I felt too much in a corner to do anything else. Despite having a comparatively few 'big' moves I can point to, I believe my game was not too passivie. I was always in the loop, and it frequently left me content to let things advance predictably because the predictable outcome benefitted me. My record of being targeted was not flawless but I believe many of those attempts on taking me out speak to me being a threat more than they do an easy boot. But ultimately, I made as good an effort as I could to be mates with the folks I was playin' with. I knew eventually I'd either see you all die, or die myself, but I figured we may as well have some fun, and share some good laughs, together, while I was still floatin' around. That was sincere, n' no matter how any o' you vote I'll remember all o' you with fondness. Cheers,
Corban Yaxley.
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Post by Corban Yaxley on May 30, 2022 19:59:34 GMT 10
Hullo once more folks. One last time, I reckon? Blimey, that's a bit sad to think 'bout.
This is written under some real time constraints a bit 'fore the end here so I'll be missin' the nice formattin' and images from the openin' speech. Sorry 'bout that.
I reckon I've done as much as I can here, n' so rather than talkin' 'bout myself anymore, I wanted to thank the lot o' you for bein' here n' playin'. I feel very lucky to have been 'part o' this, n' it wouldn't have been the same without all o' you. I've mused to Peter (n' any other host sufficiently bored to read my ramblin' diaryjournal) that these games are incredibly demandin', and showin' up n' playin' takes a lot outta all involved, so I reckon havin' folks still showin' up at the end should never be taken for granted. It's been a long road, n' difficult at points, but it's been real rewardin'. All o' you brought sumthin' unique n' important for this game to come to life the way it did, n' I'll be thinkin' 'bout our dynamics, our friendships, n' even some o' our conflicts, for a long time goin' forward. Specifically though, to Peter; I really 'ppreciate all the little touches n' cleverness you put into this. There were a lot o' things you did that I thought were real clever, n' I feel like it'd be nice to highlight some o' your clever design decisions.
Firstly, the challenges were a real delight, a fun mixed bag o' things. I may have had a rough go on a lot of 'em n' I think you're too fond o' makin' things harder than they need to be but on the whole, they were a standout part o' this. Puttin' the second-last challenge to be raisin' food for charity is a real sweet idea, n' I think it deserves a lot o' props. The whole game ran real smoothly, s'far as I could tell? The aesthetics o' the boards were great, n' havin' extra boards for the idols was outstandin'. I liked that you had the first two folks booted at merge to go in a double, because it meant they could keep each other company, rather than havin' that awkward bit o' silence where only one person's even around. I liked the house cup points a lot too; they were a nice wrinkle to help break the occasional decision without bein' overcentralizin' as a topic.
Black, one o' the tragedies of goin' to F2 with you is we don't get to talk much 'bout our games with each other? But I reckon for me this is the literal last minute, so I may as well go for it. I thought you played well mate; I know some folks voiced you'd be a bit o' an easy beat at the end, but I never took for granted I'd beat you here; you played a doggedly determined n' persistent game, n' I respect the hell out of it. In brutal n' difficult situations, you kept up some good cheer n' pleasantness, and I think it can't be understated how important a good attitude is, 'specially when your back's 'gainst the wall n' it's temptin' to just give in or be bitter. I hope it's that determination n' cheer are traits we share? I know I had an easier time for some o' this game but I think when the chips were down, I managed to show some grit. Leastways that tiebreaker challenge needed all o' my determination! I hoped I could read more o' your responses to some o' these questions n' I promise I will once the game is over n' done with, but outside of havin' fun respondin' the jury questions, today's been a rough day n' I just haven't had the chance outside o' a couple o' the earlier or smaller answers; I barely had the time to write out what I wanted to say! I didn't really edit much at all, neither. Hope what I wrote was at least coherent? Sundays kinda sucked for me, I reckon some o' my allies picked up that it was a day o' the week I had consistent trouble with.
Cheers to the rest o' the jury now; a handful o' times in this game I've voiced that it can be a bit rough to wake up havin' no idea if things'll look like they did a handful o' hours prior? But I reckon in this case I dunno how it goes, so wakin' up will be a surprise no matter what. Honestly, I'm happy with how I played this, on the whole. Certainly I wasn't perfect, but I gave it my best, n' my best managed to get me farther than I ever had before. I'd love to get even further n' pull out a win! But I know Black's in the same boat too, one o' us will be ecstatic for a first win no matter how this shakes out.
Thanks all, n' I look forward to catchin' up to all o' you once this has all wrapped up!
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