Urbosa

Question 3: This is for both you and Revali, since I'm out of questions for Mipha and she's not getting my vote anyway, though she's free to answer this. Your answer to this question will determine my vote.

Ignoring pre-merge vote outs like Magda, Teebo, Riju, and Pelison (because that would be too easy), that leaves 10 people on the jury. Who are the two or three people left on the jury that you feel like didn't deserve to be here, or played games that don't reflect the quality of play this season?

And why?

If Revali would like to castigate my decisions while also being a direct beneficiary of them, then he is at liberty to do so. That said, I will address each point:

1. I will allow Link to speak for himself here if he so chooses, but I will stand behind my decision to use the Sensor+ to as a means to convey intent during a vote in which we couldn’t communicate. The alternatives were to sit in silence and hope for the best in a 3-3 tie or to announce Naboris’ target publicly and hope that no idols were played. As it happens, Link would play an idol that round, and Patricia also had an idol. Of course, I didn’t know that at the time, but what is to say Kass, Kohga, and I don’t vote into an idol and I go home? Given the severe constraints on our ability to strategize and coordinate, I will continue to argue that this vote highlights my ability to adapt when others couldn’t and to use the tools at my disposal to execute a vision.

2. I’ve addressed why I didn’t idol Hunnie. I wanted Hunnie, Oven, and Revali to be the players I fought with to the end. With the suspicions that Hunnie had leaked that very same group to Kohga — a read that has been confirmed as correct, I might add — that left me in a terrible place in an already bleak tribal dynamic. Why would I save someone who was in the process of selling me down the river? As I said in my response to Hunnie, that could have all changed once the votes were read and she saw she had been the target, but again there’s no guarantee of that. Kohga was a brilliant social player. He could have easily patched things up with Hunnie and argued that jumping ship to avoid guild by association with me, Oven, and Revali was still the optimal move. I couldn’t risk it.

3. This is a valid point given the events to follow, but it’s also easy for him to make this argument in hindsight. Had I used the Vote Blocker at this Tribal Council and then proceeded to use the Ice Arrow, Revali’s Gale, and Urbosa’s Fury, I would still be sitting here dealing with the same criticisms: That I had too many items and used too many items. At the end of the day, Revali is still sitting here because I had the wherewithal to know Oven wasn’t the target I had ensured we had the votes to force a tie AND guarantee the outcome. Yes, allowing Kass the opportunity to pass his vote steal to Epona was an unintended consequence, but I have to wonder if Revali’s righteous rage over Oven’s elimination is for show. Would Revali have brought Oven to the end, or is he only raising an objection now to make a convenient dig.

4. Again, this is an argument that is easier to make once we have a full picture of the round and the implication of the votes that came before and after. The Sensor+ wouldn't have told us who had voted where until after Tribal Council. We did not know for certain Mipha had an idol. Revali, Oven, and Mipha were also reticent to tell me they weren’t voting Sidon. We couldn’t know for sure that Kass had passed his item off, and if I had used Revali’s Gale on Sidon and reset the Tribal Council, he could have just as easily used his remaining item in conjunction with Epona. Even worse, it may have tipped off Epona, Kohga, and Sidon to use their idols, in which case Oven, Mipha, or Revali STILL leave.

5. Revali’s insecurities with regard to Urbosa’s Fury are valid, but as he also says himself I was consistently honest with him on the strategic front. I chose not to pass him Urbosa’s Fury because I couldn’t trust him not to try seizing the opportunity to make a move. We had openly discussed the fact he would try to stop my advance into the endgame, that he had to do it to have a chance at the end. Why in Hylia’s name would I give him the opportunity to pull a Denise, using someone’s own item against them? Even if he did use it on himself, that would have been a strong social argument here and now — that he had been able to convince someone who knew he was targeting them to give him an item to keep himself safe.

I can understand the frustration, but I also disagree with Revali’s ultimate conclusion: He DIDN’T have to fight or claw his way through the game because he had allies around him who had already surveyed the group dynamic and planned accordingly, who knew when he was being targeted and thus knew when to protect him. He may have been uncertain himself about how things would play out, but that speaks to a disconnect to game events and not a scrappy UTR game.

Again, my fellow finalists and jurors can’t have it both ways here: You want to fault me for playing items? I can respect that, but I will also argue that I used them to the best of my ability to aid my journey to the end. You then want to fault me for not playing items at the same time?

Which is it?

If the core issue is me having items in the first place, then that is a conversation for post-game. To continue to use me as a referendum for individuals’ thoughts about the game design, however, is something I won’t just roll over and take — especially since I was likely not the only person in the game to come out of the auction with multiple items, and especially since I was not the only one to have a range of items at their disposal in general. By comparison, my use of items at key moments should highlight why my game shouldn’t be reduced to, “She won challenges:” I used them at the proper times to benefit my game and to help out my allies. To admit that doesn't make me anymore selfish than Revali telling me he would cast aside a partnership that had involved rounds of dedication on my end simply because he didn't like his odds against someone who broke challenge records. He conveniently triangulated item play to me specifically, but let's not also forget that Mipha sank two idols and had an item that revealed the total number of idols in the game. Sidon used the Legacy Advantage and an idol prematurely when, if he hadn’t, he could likely be sitting here. Kohga had an idol, an arrow to knock me out of the F5 challenge, and a half-idol. The examples go on. In all of these cases, however, I don't argue that their having items undermined the game. Each of us used what we had at our disposal to varied success, and that is what ultimately matters.

Again, to fault me for using devices that were worked into the fabric of the game is one problem given the fact that they were SO pervasive; to resort to attacking my character or my game — especially after all the times I went to bat for him — because he believes I played items too excessively and too sparingly at the same time is an entirely different issue, and I really thought Revali was better than that.

Opinion: You should take pride in the things you've accomplished. I understand why you feel like immunity hurt you in a social way: the more you won the more you were pressured to continue winning. You aren't stuck in the social atmosphere of the merge now though, you're in a place you can claim that strength and own it as part of the full package you should be presenting to us as a Finalist. It might help to keep the goal in mind.


I keep retyping this as I realize many of my questions are personal things only I would care about and wouldn't affect my vote. You clearly have good social game sense in regards to picking up reads. The Name your Final Six round outted many many of the game's reads there. What did you pick up from that and how did it affect the way you trusted and treated players going forward?

I will answer your question in the morning, Oven. But thank you for saying that <3

The F6 Twist a unique beast in that it was difficult to discern fact from fiction. I had actively spread Kass, Kohga, and Sidon at intervals throughout my list and placed certain players I didn't have strong ties to such as Oaki and Patricia much higher to hopefully prevent them from winning by virtue of being the lowest or highest ranked player overall. Because of this, I couldn't take the results entirely at face value. What did help inform my assessment of the twist and how it had affected the game were the ensuing reactions. With good reason, Revali didn't feel great about the situation: He had only paired with me. I had placed Hunnie and Sidon in my F6, and neither matched with me. I didn't know at the time, but Kohga would become suspicious of the fact I didn't openly express greater concern of how the rankings shoot out — that would be revealed later during our conversations. At the time, I tried to keep a poker face because I didn't want to risk passing messages through players like Epona to Sidon, Kass, or Kohga for fear of tipping the group off to our alliance. The unintended result, though, was that each player took this (at least I assume) as confirmation I wanted to break from the pack. Lastly, learning that you were connected to Horse raised a red flag immediately that Hunnie's information had been accurate. 

So what did this mean for me? It meant I found myself in a position where I worried my closest allies at that point would have justification to turn on me sooner rather than later. My relationship with Kass was already rocky, and not pairing with him just gave him a reason to make a move. As important, I was able to recognize that allies such as you and Revali had the perception of being on the outs, and I could use that information to quickly build a voting bloc to play from the bottom if need be. 

I did, and I don't regret doing so because for my part I always held out a shred of hope that we could reunite at some point and take on the game. My shift from holding you at arm's length to actively targeting you didn't come until later in the game, though. What factored into the shift? You playing a part in trying to blindside Revali (while also reaching out and telling you had something to tell me, but if you did I would have to keep it a secret and promise not to act on it). You taking out Oven. You telling me Epona was a threat, but one that could be neutralized closer to the end while actively targeting them at Final Six. That is three votes in close succession that you also tried to keep me in the dark, so I'm sorry if it upset you that I made alternate plans or didn't loop you in, but clearly there was a breakdown in trust and communication that went both ways: It was never a simple matter of, "Urbosa is keeping me out of plans." You actively targeted my allies while hoping I wouldn't figure it out, and I returned the favor every time.

Add to this something we have already discussed privately, the fact that any time I would express a desire in going the distance with you — far earlier than any of our clashes at Tribal — not once did you ever reciprocate the sentiment. I understand that, to you, you didn't want to make promises you didn't intend or didn't want to keep, but that always lingered in the back of my mind. Why was I continuing to put in the effort despite getting no words of encouragement in return? Or finding out after the fact that you both were irritated I didn't try reaching out during F6 Twist to profess my heartache at not pairing off and at hearing you were irritated most at me for the Oaki vote, etc.? Because I thought you were worth it to at least try.

I never thought of you as anything less than a brilliant social competitor, but I also recognized that, perhaps more than any other player or ally, in-game events settled on you in a personal capacity. More than once, you expressed the need for affirmations or validations, so I tried to provide those to ensure I was with you. As we drifted apart, I too got the sense you thought I was stupid, but I still tried to keep a positive conversation going to at the very least come out of this experience with the friendship we had made in tact.

The reason I reached out was to get a jump on damage control heading out of Divine Trial. Again, I recognized the fact that you especially would be more angry at me not saying anything than if I were to sit on my suspicions and hope for the best. Turns out the gut instinct was correct, and you even expressed in PMs the fact you were miffed you weren't asked to be part of that group.

It was never a matter of me telling Hunnie the plan and then using it to vote her out. I felt betrayed that she would so quickly turn around and pass that information to you when it could have benefitted the both of us. I would have voted Kass here if given the opportunity, but I believed keeping an ally around who would just pass on plans was more detrimental in the moment so I didn't fight the wagon. 

I mean, I might have felt less of a need to go after your allies if I didn't already feel I was being held at arm's length. But sure. I guess it's a two way street.

I still don't really feel like it was necessary to keep saying those things, and especially after you'd stolen my item, like, come on of course there was no coming back from that. It's not a big deal though.