Phase One: 3 Tribes

[Casey]

ROUND 1 THOUGHTS

OMG this tribe is a hot mess, there are a lot of conflicting agendas. Right now this is Erin’s tribe and she has made sure of that since night 1. Night 1 Erin, Jinx and Michael hit it off on call, they had the most relaxed easiest call of the three tribes and at the end of the night Erin seemed to want to ride with Jinx and Michael. She’s done a complete 180. Even on the night one call Erin was DROPPING HINTS on the night one call and was upset there was not an alliance made night one. Quintin and Karen seemingly hit it off in PMs. Alex is missing in action cause hes at his singing competition.

At the challenge, Jinx doesn’t communicate crucial information to Erin (that there are duplicates of the items in her item bank), they dont do poorly, but Quintin and Karen really drop the ball. Alex loses the singing competition and it is the best thing for his game, he slowly starts to have more meaningful messages and 1 on 1 calls and he works his way above Karen on the totem poll. Erin calls Quintin, and Quintin becomes her new #1. They make a threesome with Michael. On the tribe call Michael and Erin openly talk about targeting Karen, saying her timezone might be an issue. Michael esp runs with this, and tells most of the tribe yup we decided its gonna be Karen, causing Alex to be like “we WHO???” Alex runs to Erin, who he has seemingly SIMPed for and lets her know about Michaels antics, Alex and Erin want to talk to Karen and Quintin before settling on Karen, cause Michael is freaking them out. Mihcael asks Erin if he can throw out her name as a decoy to Karen. Karen talks to Alex and Erin and wins them over, and then the vote becomes a toss up between Michael & Jinx, who had a strong start but got a little busy and I think felt like she was in good with Erin who was in control of the tribe. Michael as Erin keeps saying “It’s giving second game.” Erin def started Michael on that train but then totally painted him as the conductor. Erin tells Jinx what Michael did, Jinx didnt want to target Karen (she wanted to target Quintin) but Erin gets her on Michael after filling him in on her antics. Jinx trusts Michael and pretty much tells him all of what Erin said. As soon and jinx and Michael finish talking they both individually ask to call Erin, itsa mess.

Alex goes to the islands, and is the only one to drop like any game info saying that Michael was being a lot and Jinx wasnt super active. The other two gave him nothing in return. Alex and Alexis risk it and Alex gets a 2 round idol.

Once Erin has heard that Jinx outed her to Michael, Erin is focused on getting Jinx out, and gets Michael off Karen and on Jinx. Meanwhile, Quintin, Alex and Karen start having second thoughts, and want to keep Jinx! Alex and Quintin admit that Jinx leaving is better for Erin and note that Michael is close to Erin. The 4 of Quintin, Karen, Alex and Erin talk and Karen lowkey tests the waters about keeping Jinx but Erin and Alex are all in.

RIP to Jinx, you really didnt do much wrong except for try and save Michael and I get it. We are missing a whole season of sass and fun and I am very sad.

Floreana is going super slow!!! It is hard to get a read on dynamics. JM likes Cassidy the most, and has called Ali a few times. Cassidy really like Ang, and talks to JM a lot. Ang likes Cassidy and likes Ali i think the best but she wants to keep him expendable. Ali really likes Ang and JM. Gage likes Ang & Cassidy, and maybe wants to work with Ali. He “doesnt think Ali can pull the wool over my eyes” Ali like Ang and JM.

And then there is Alexis. This tribe is super active practicing for challenges tribe calling like every night. Alexis is not keeping up, not giving her whereabouts, she tried for an hour to use discord and then accidentally said she played discord games instead of twitter, and that sussed Cass out. She went to the islands, sussed out Alex and Brian, lost her vote, didnt tell anyone on her tribe anything, and they TRIED to fish it out. Alexis unfortunately is the clear boot as of now, and shes moving this week so thats not gonna help.

Was on an Ali/Ang call earlier and they sussed out JM & Liz and Erin as well. Ang said “those College Survivor people stick together” Erin wants to work with JM a lot and Mathes a bit. Mathes is cognisant of JM and Liz. JM and Liz are familiar but Liz has voted him out! Dont think they will go out of each others way!

Genovesa is the big question mark. They are also all over the place. Brian and Juan are seemingly very tight, although today Brian said he is closer with Liz because “Juan doesn’t like drama, and I might be drama” **** Total side note Floreana is obsessed with Brian cause of his intro, hes become kind of a meme for the tribe***** Brian and Juan have noticed Caroline and Tegwyth vibing which they have been. Brian would target Tegwyth at this point because she is smart, and she didnt let him volunteer for the islands even though he still got to go. Juan def is the most active and he tries to call Brian and others. Juan wants to work with brian and Liz. Juan is realizing he is on a tribe of newbies and is trying to call Tegwyth and Caroline to feel them out. Liz has a few routes she can go, she laid it our herself. She can go with Brian and Juan, do a college survivor route with Mathes or go with the girls (but she can tell they arent as active). Right now she thinks going with the boys might allow her to be more utr. She is hoping to go to the islands and give away an advantage to build trust like w/ Noelle in 43. She stans Karen from the other tribe, I hope they meet up. Mathes like Liz, but is wary of the JM connection and like Brian, hes fine with Juan. Caroline and tegwyth i think are vibing but they are just not up to pace even tho this tribe does not do a lot of 1 on 1 calls. People are lumping them together. People think Tegwyth is stronger and scarier, but Caroline isnt super active and her moving is worrying people.

Nervous for Genovesa with the next challenge, interested to see how the players act if they do go to tribal. Last round was enough to show, that not everything is set in stone, and even if you arent super active, it just takes one person to spiral……

[John]

I have a lot of thoughts and finally the time to type them all out! I'm rebranding this thread to be all about the first phase of the game because my thoughts bleed between both Round 1 and 2. I'll gradually throughout the day at my thoughts on each tribe.


BARTALOME (BLUE)

This tribe really shocked me by how terrible they were in the first challenge. I don't even mean terrible from the actual performance itself, but they just totally missed the mark on how this challenge worked. It's not just about communication between the individual duos, there was a coaching and instruction element that came after the duos competed that they could discuss and share information, and this tribe just fully didn't. It was close but I'm glad they lost because I think this tribe was a little cocky early on with the fact that they had ORG experience and all expected things to go easy and they went anything but that!

With almost everyone's name being thrown around this round, it was such an exciting tribe to watch lead up to Tribal Council because it was an absolute mess. I think Erin/Michael showed their bias influenced from previous games they've played. Usually there's a very clear early boot and the first vote can just be easy. To them that was Karen due to her time zone making it difficult for the two of them to talk to her. They made the mistake though of assuming that just because that was how they felt everyone else must have felt the same way. So when as soon as they leave Michael just outright telling Alex that after speaking with Erin/Quintin that the vote is Karen, everything should have been fine right? NOPE!

Michael almost getting himself voted out first after being someone who was one of the most well received prior to losing the challenge was wild. Not only did he go full control on throwing out Karen's name early and assuming she would be the "easy vote" he then went on cruise control the rest of the day. Alex, who didn't like that he was last to find out and be told to vote Karen wasn't comfortable with the choice and told Karen everything. I really think Karen was the standout on this tribe in the first round because she fought to make sure it wasn't her. She got on calls with the whole group and not only ensured she wasn't the target but also that she was leaving this round with a majority alliance. An absolutely stellar round for Karen!

When it came to Jinx becoming the target, I feel like listening to conversations of people the vote could have gone either way so quickly. Quintin was indifferent since he wasn't that close with either of them, Jinx even admitting to him that they would have targeted him potentially before everything with Michael went down, and Alex/Karen both seemingly had preference for Michael given how everything went down. Luckily, since Erin/Michael had gotten close and she really swerved any impact from Karen being an initial target, Erin who herself is a very dominant voice in the game was pushing for Michael to be saved and she got her way. It was sad to lose Jinx, but unfortunately their performance in the challenge and falling on the outside of socializing enough game wise with a lot of the players was enough to get them to be the first boot. No major mistake or anything, just the group going with what they thought would help them win the next round.

Another fun wrinkle with this vote and Michael surviving is that Alex really threw him under the bus at The Islands. Like Alex went in there I think still a bit heated and really wanting to set the tone that he was gunning for an advantage, which he got so it worked, but he really threw Michael under the bus and sold him out on what he did in that first round. Not only did he do that, but it didn't really take much for him to sell everyone out. He didn't get much information out of the trip and it will be interesting how his loose lips impact the future of the game for him when he meets other players. Will they trust him? Will they leak what he said about Michael? A fun future wrinkle we would have lost if Michael had gotten voted out.

Now as to where this tribe is now, Round 2 and Bartalome is on cruise control again. No real game talk, they won the challenge. This is the one tribe that doesn't even have anyone trying to find an idol, and it's at a point where someone who only plays on their Phone/iPad and a total newbie has found the beware advantage. I expected a bit more from this group of veterans and I think this speaks to their potential longevity in the game. They're going to need to step it up to keep on the level of some of the other players this season, we saw the spark before that first Tribal Council, hopefully they can keep that spark alive this season.

[Casey]

ROUND 2 into ROUND 3 THOUGHTS

This tribe literally did nothing this round, they are all on cruise control, no one has really even talked about looking for the idol much. Erin thinks shes everyone (except Karens) #1, and is in a pretty nice spot, which is true right now. Erin did mention that Alex & Quintin are her #1s but she trusts Michael the most. She wants to work with Karen the least. She doesnt think she can get Alex/Quintin to flip on Karen. Karen had some pretty solid reads in her confessional, she can sense Erin and Michael are close and that Michael will be a good shield.

Alexis has finally started playing the game. She FINALLY told Cassidy about the islands and losing her vote, she trusts Cassidy and Ang. There is a very pro-women vibe on Floreana after Jinx and Caroline have gone home. Ang and Cassidy both did say Caroline going would make them reconsider Alexis and wanting to send home a man. So a Floreana tribal could be spicy. They do know that Alexis has no vote….but what they dont know is Gage doesnt have one either. Gage is in a real interesting spot. He’s decently liked by his tribe, but he found this beware advantage and from his confessional he doesnt really have a set plan to activate it. Cassidy gets back from the islands and Mathes has told her & quintin about the beware advantages, which Cassidy shares with the rest of the tribe. Even when Gage was on an alliance call earlier with Cass/Ang he continued to play dumb. If they win this challenge him not having a vote in a swap could be really bad. Their was a alliance formed between JM/Ali/Cassidy, which i think??? She told Ang about. But Ali is hiding it from Ang. JM trusts Cass the most but likes the rest of the guys, Gage I think is with Ang and Cass but I think they are starting to get sus of him. I really hope they lose since they only have 4/6 and I want Tegwyth to live.

The powder keg popped off this round on Genovesa, the Kumbaya tribe finally actually started doing more than small talk. Before the challenge only really Brian and Juan called each other, with maybe 1 or 2 other calls Juan did. After that everyone realized it was gametime. Unfortunately, Caroline and Tegwyth were late with game talk. It was funny cause Juan and brian didnt talk much game with Liz and Mathes but they were talking a TON in dms about random stuff. Brian and Juan want to pull in Liz and then Mathes as a 4th. It starts between Tegwyth and Caroline but Liz figures she wants to save Tegwyth and pushes the vote onto Caroline, who people talk to less than Tegwyth but not by much (neither of them were inactive by any sense). Liz gives Teg a heads up Carolines name is out there. This whole time Liz is jumping call to call leaking basically everything to Mathes and Brian separately. Teg makes a girls group (she asked permission first) and after talking with liz, she makes one with Mathes and Liz as well. Brian, Juan, Liz and Mathes make a chat called the Tortoises. Here it already starts to get very messy. Liz noted in her confessional that shes being probably too chaotic playing the middle, and I think it could get her in big trouble down the line. Liz and Mathes to an extent, encourage Tegwyth and Caroline to want to make a foursome, which Caroline does. This whole time Liz is immediately spilling any information she gets to the guys, and gives some to Tegwyth too. It literally would pop up on the screen and within 10 seconds she either would say it out loud or send it in a group chat. Mathes and Liz def put words in Caroline and Teggy’s mouths. Liz and Mathes both pushed Juan and Brian as a duo. Juan and Brian, didnt give Tegwyth and Caroline the time of day at all. It was kinda hard to watch the newbies pretty much be backed into a corner right away, when Juan and Brian pretty much only were calling each other before this.

Then Caroline finds the beware advantage at like 1 AM, which requires her to get three unique people to say the words: turtle, lampshade, and caution at tribal in order for her idol to activate and earn her vote back. She tells Liz and Tegwyth in the morning, and the “plan” is for them to say the words and trick brian into saying turtle. Liz rats this out immediately. Seemingly confiding in Mathes the most, they continue to play the middle. There are more sporadic calls throughout the day. Mathes and Liz are trying to get Teggy to comfortably vote for Caroline. Tegwyth 100% sees the writing on the wall. While she trusts Liz (Liz let her know Teg/Caroline were being viewed as a duo), she can see that this isnt their best route, and Caroline is obvi giving information. Caroline did like not talk about the vote directly with Liz, or call her, which was not great but would not have changed the outcome. Even with Liz being messy, unlike the first tribe, Genovesa seemed to have a case of Stick-to-the-plan-itis. Brian and Juan get on a call, and I couldnt tell if this was paranoid speculation or actual concern, but they were concerned that Liz and Mathes, but moreso Liz could be playing the middle, and could flip. Even if they aren't 100% onto her it is on their minds.

Mathes has really been impressing me on this tribe. Although he doesnt talk much game over text, a lot of the tribe feel pretty comfy with him, and in both challenge planning and actual strategy, he seems to be the most level-headed and thinking things through, and has the most logic behind his actions. He def tried to most to reach out to everyone on an individual basis, I think he also played off the islands really well.

It was really sad to lose Caroline. I’m praying this tribe gets their shit together for this video challenge but they dont really have an editor at this point or a script, they just have “scooby doo theme” while the others have a script or at least a plot and ideas being fleshed out. I don’t want to lose Tegwyth too, because I think she has infinite potential at a swap. Her tribe is clocking she will probs flip at a swap, so i dont think they have the drive to win. Caroline and Tegwyth both had a lot of natural instinct, and kept up with the small talk frequency pretty well. They just didnt start calling and game talk fast enough, which is a common newbie mistake, and Brian and Juan as vets really did not help set the pace faster. Caroline/Tegwyth both had some pretty spot on reads on Brian in particular, but on the whole tribe. No matter the outcome, I hope this isnt the end of their org journeys, as I think they could both be a force, and it’s crushing my soul that it is going this way.



STOP VOTING OUT THE WOMEN.

I’m nervous for the women of this game, in the slim chance the Bartalome loses I think that is the only way a man leaves, unless shit goes wild on Floreana. Really nervous for Tegwyth, I dont think anything besides a slow start on a very newbie tribe has her in this position. I think shes golden at a swap. Erin and Liz are very much working with the men on their current tribe, and Erin has already expressed interest in working with JM and Mathes. Liz does want to work with Karen, and I’m hoping Liz can change course at a swap, and click with maybe Cassidy too. Liz is already being cracked and working so closely with someone like Brian isnt going to be good for her long-term, its too much chaos. This might just be me, but after this week’s actual survivor Caroline’s departure is stinging even more.

[John]

We just wrapped up the movie trailer challenge and the Genovesa tribe is really unlucky that I hadn't typed my thoughts on them before it LOL


GENOVESA

This is probably one of the worst tribes we've ever had in 21 seasons of CONQUEST and it really has very little to do with the player voted out (Caroline) and the player likely soon to be voted out (Tegwyth) and entirely to do with the four in the majority. Let's not get too ahead of things, this tribe first round was the tribe I was most excited to see play. We had our hopes high for this group, excited to see how the newbie players adapted to the game, how more veteran players would step up and lead this tribe, and unfortunately this tribe has been just awful overall. Brian and Juan have been horrible veteran leaders in the sense that they are doing the absolute bare minimum to survive. Brian and Juan will complain about nobody talking to them while making no effort to talk game with anyone. From the way this tribe outcasted Caroline and Tegwyth for being "inactive" when in reality they just made connections and game allegiances with what seems to be the first person they spoke to and never looked back. They now find themselves going into a swap situation down two members in the game and delusional of how well they're playing.

Let's first talk about the Caroline round, because honestly this one was a bit messy. I don't feel like Caroline, or Tegwyth for that matter, actually played this round wrong. This round ended up being Caroline/Tegwyth and Brian/Juan on two individual sides. Each duo clicked quickly in the game, but not with the opposing duo. Caroline/Tegywth's slow start 100% comes from lack of familiarity with these style of game, while Brian/Juan can't get away with that excuse, them, especially Brian, just did not invest time with either Caroline or Tegwyth. So this setup Elizabeth/Mathes to be in a strong position to play the middle and they did in possibly the worst way I've ever seen. The two of them had a lot to work out this round, but I have to say that with better players the way each of them played, especially Elizabeth would have gotten them voted out. Elizabeth was an absolute faucet of information, sharing everything she heard with everyone else and both her and Mathes were really dirty with setting up Caroline and Tegwyth into situations like throwing out a name or setting up a group chat, that once they did they would immediately rat out. The amount of red flags both these players threw out that round was wild, and I can't help but feel that as the game progresses they're going to continue to play that way and have it catch up to them. I hope they prove me wrong.

Anyways onto the "Beware" advantage, I was disappointed when Caroline found it knowing it was likely going to leave the game as soon as it was found, but it was interesting seeing how she approached it and how people handled it. Caroline as soon as she got the advantage told the people she trusted most, and unfortunately with that including Liz meant the she told her entire tribe. Now this early in the game an ally with an idol presents a really great opportunity. Knowing exactly where the idol is, who has it, the fact that they could use it to your benefit, it's something to consider at the very least before voting them out. Caroline showed no inkling that she would be shady in any way, that she was anything but wanting to be loyal to the players, but when discussing the Beware Advantage on a call I sat in on Liz and Mathes didn't even consider the option of keeping her. Like I get not making the move, but to not even consider it, they even acknowledged that their tribe would be losing their idol and were like "oh well". Unfortunately the Beware Advantage ended up being the nail in Caroline's coffin, but I honestly hope we see her in other games or a future season. I think she got a real shitty tribe that didn't even give her a chance and with other players and now having the experience of a game under her belt could be one to watch.


Now onto this trailer challenge. Again, 21 seasons of hosting under my belt, never seen a tribe give less of a shit about this challenge. They had 55+ hours for this challenge. Tegwyth had a wedding this weekend and let her tribe know she'd be busy...what was everyone else doing? Lots of people actively just saying in chats they're playing video games, they're hanging out with friends. I feel like their lack of interest in this challenge, lack of leadership, lack of organization and pure procrastination might just be a reflection of this groups age, but the fact that any of them would think that starting to film at 2pm on Sunday when the challenge started 12:30 Friday and ends 6 hours later would give them any chance. This was easily the worst submission we've ever seen from a group in this challenge, and it's not even the video quality or anything that caused it. It's just that literally none of them seemed to care to take charge or even do anything with this challenge. Like it was actually embarrassing with the outcome and definitely something I'll bring up at Tribal Council.

I feel like Tyra Banks with this tribe because I was so high on them and to see them perform so badly and put in such little effort. I was really rooting for them and they did me so dirty! They're even pulling the super nasty move of knowing they have an easy vote to take out Tegwyth (in which Tegwyth will be blindsided because she trusts Liz/Mathes) and wanting TC as early as possible. Just an all around icky icky feeling for this group of players after this round. Hopefully they can win me over again as the game progresses, but I just can't help to feel sorry for Caroline and Tegwyth given how things panned out with this group. 

[John]

I'm not going to do any additional update on BARTALOME other to say it's ridiculous how none of them has found the beware advantage. Caroline, someone who has never played a proboards game and Gage who plays on his phone and iPad, not even using a computer, both found these advantages DAYS AGO! Meanwhile Bartalome who is the veteran squad with experience....NOTHING! It's embarrassing at this point because they're not even looking! Like what is this, the new gen of survivor is supposed to be scrappy, the complacency this season is ick! I'm in a mood tonight clearly, FLOREANA are lucky that I won't be writing about them tonight, but honestly they've been solid except for Alexis so I don't even have anything negative to even say about them, but still I'll wait to be in a better mood to write theirs because they deserve it!

[John]

FLOREANA

Finally getting a chance to catch up and write about this original tribe. Honestly there’s not too much to say about it because this ended up being a pretty solid group despite how mid-performing they were in challenges and how they were a mess of dynamics. I’ll first start talking about Alexis who has been absolutely irrelevant as a player, almost comically so in the fact that she’s barely active, gives her tribe nothing and also hilariously lost her vote so LITERALLY has nothing to offer to the tribe gamewise. This tribe did consider the opportunity to throw the challenge for the easy vote, but didn’t take it and I think that could have been a miss! More on that later.

The stars of this tribe for me have been Ang and Cassidy. Both have been really dominant socially within this group though each have their own individual style of gameplay. I think Ang has a great way of being social and making people feel close with her without coming off as too threatening strategically while Cassidy has the same ability but I think people read more into the game aspect of how she plays. It’s a really interesting dynamic between the two of them and how they’re working closely but fully acknowledge how good the other one is. I can’t wait until we get to see both of them handle a vote and Tribal Council, I think that’s when we’ll see them truly shine.

The guys on this tribe are chugging along. Gage is someone who’s been delivering for me and I’ve been happy about that. He definitely comes off as a gamer and probably a bigger threat than he truly is, but the added factor of him finding the Beware advantage was an interesting wrinkle to this tribe’s story. I feel like he sat on that information too long, I think, unlike with Caroline, he could have actually gotten that idol and his vote back in that phase of the game with only the loss of Alexis who was disconnected and voteless. Now in a swap situation there’s less certainty. JM on the other hand of Gage is the type of player that’s giving a total opposite vibe. He does not give off the overly gamer vibe to the point where I think he may fall in the background of the game from an agency perspective. He needs to take charge and really carve his path in the game, which is easier said when you have Tribal Council vs when you keep winning. The lack of loss did not help him. And then there’s Ali, what to say about Ali. He’s definitely a wildcard and luckily very liked by his tribe, but I don’t think anyone takes him seriously as a player and I can see why. Will that vibe of him change throughout the game? We’ll have to wait and see but I kind of doubt it.

[Casey]

Bartalome

Just more of the same on Bartalome to finish up the round, Erin has a very stronghold on this tribe and is one to watch moving forward. Karen too has really impressed me, shes won Quintin over to the extent he could give her his power. Quintin too has impressed me as people arent seeing him as the threat he is!


Floreana
Not much happened after my last post, Cassidy and Ang have like seemed to back off of protecting Alexis, cause she ghosted during the challenge. Gage really not loving Alexis, so much so he wanted to throw the challenge to get the idol and get her out. He mentioned possibly telling JM about the idol in a swap


Genovesa

Ugh John covered all the ugliness and all my anger about the challenge. It was really frustrating to watch because Floreana was having a lot of problems too! If they put in like a modicum of effort they couldve pulled it out. But all around was disappointed in Juan and Brian esp for like not even making a google doc, like they didnt even have to write the script, but like help get them organized at least??? Tegwyth was busy at a wedding, but everyone else was either completely non-responsive or were talking about how they were playing video games. This vote was set in stone, and the lack of trying shows how truly worried they were that Tegwyth could flip in a swap. Mathes said multiple times he did not care. Mathes did slightly sketch out Brian and Juan because they think he waited to tell them about the advantage opportunity. Brian and Liz consider keeping Teggy for half a second. Unfortunately Teggy was pretty MIA before the vote, sealing her fate, but they also made her do tribal early. Mathes super close with Liz but Liz is pretty central in the tribe, I think Juan was in trouble if they lost again. Juan was worried Liz would flip to save Teggy. Interesting to hear, Juan clicks on a personal level with Brian but said gamewise its been eh. I do like Liz’s approach of having Mathes as her UTR #1 and Brian as her OTT #1. Although I did not like Liz’s gameplay during the Caroline round, I really really liked her round 3 confessional, I thought her reads were very good, I thought she had good insight, and a decent gameplan going into a swap mindset.

RIP Tegwyth so much lost potential, she had good reads, and good takes, curse this tribe. It's time for Tegwyth's tegvenge.