Round 1 - 18 Players

[John]

ROUND 1

The game has begun! This was definitely a race against the clock yesterday to get everything completed in time, but we made it! Here are some of my early thoughts on night one that I shared in the VL chat. I'll give a more indepth review of the round later on.

Green tribe had everyone on call throughout the evening. Definitely a lot of awkward moments of silence with this group but overall I think they vibed well. Dusty and Lee both carried the conversation while they were there, but they weren't there at the same time. When Dusty left, Lee joined. I think Abby will be the one to watch on this group.

Purple started their night off with a game of Among Us which is such a choice, haha. But overall this group seemed to really get along as well. Carson was the major standout with everyone on the tribe really loving him. Zaid also seems to be well liked by many. The game started quick with this group though as once their calls ended we saw 1 on 1s with Zaid/Manik and Leanna/Ethan. Manik and Marissa seem to be the most in danger after night one, but a lot of that is because they were quieter on the call. People's opinions of each other will likely shift as 1 on 1 calls happen over the course of the weekend.

Yellow had a very interesting night. For the bulk of it it was just the ladies on call with Louise carrying the convo. Eventually Casey joined and he really had no clue what he was getting into with this haha, definitely a fish out of water but he started to warm up to things. When Roy finally joined you could literally see the dynamic immediately change as there was someone else for Louise to match energy with and also carry the conversation. Calum never made it on call, people assumed he fell asleep but at about 4am his time he messaged in the chat that he was just going to bed with his boyfriend, so he just didn't show up. He's going to have to do a lot to recover from missing night one.

[John]

Alright, time to recap some of the events of the game so far. A lot has been going on, and I think I’m inheriting some of the cracked Purple tribe’s energy in my real life, but alas we power through!

Each of these tribes were designed to have very different vibes and they’re honestly all delivering on it. Bexley (Green) is that mellow tribe with an underlying strategic edge with lots of players starting to play but discretely. Harrow (Yellow) had a slow start, but honestly have come together and are easily my favourite group this early into the game. On paper I wasn’t sure if this tribe would work well together but they crushed the first challenge. Now Ealing (Purple)….the tazmanian devil tribe, or at least that’s the energy they are giving. This tribe should be renamed as paranoid cractivity, this group is fun to watch, but the gameplay….big oof.

I’m going to start with Bexley (Green) because I feel like they’re the most mellow. Night one the star of this tribe was easily Dusty, talk about a big personality! I think a lot of people immediately saw Dusty on that night one call or really any interaction with her and were like oh man she’ll be an early boot, but Dusty has done a really good job weaving her way into the fabric of the tribe. I think because of her over the top personality just as easily as some players could assess her as an easy vote out, she is able to win people over and create strong bonds like she has with Juju and Abby. Abby without a doubt is the player running this tribe. She’s not too overt with her strategy, but from a social perspective she’s set herself nicely between the Lee/Miranda and Juju/Dusty duos. She’s in the perfect spot to secure herself safe passage through this phase of the game, and has set herself up as a frontrunner in this game early on. I’m loving the power struggle we are seeing on this tribe between Juju and Lee. Lee is definitely playing hard and trying to get his numbers in line. It’s funny because this is rubbing Juju the wrong way, but he’s actually playing a very similar game to Lee. I think it’s probably the fact that he recognizes that and the threat level Lee could possess that makes him a little uneasy. Notice I haven’t mentioned Brenden yet, it’s because I don’t have much to say. Brenden has kind of just been there, most people don’t seem to have too much of a desire to work with him, but at least he got to experience winning his first challenge ever!

Now onto Harrow (Yellow) who have also named themselves the hair tribe. I can’t express how happy I am that this tribe has taken form to what it is now. On paper this really is the misfit tribe, but I loved that about it and the fact that you had no idea how the dynamics would shake out. Honestly I still don’t because this tribe is such a breath of fresh air, it doesn’t seem like they’ve entered the being sneaky or forming alliance phase yet and are just taking the time to build relationships, get to know each other and have fun. I think this is the first tribe to try and have a game night. The slower start for strategy I think stems from the fact that this tribe does have a lot of newer players, but compared to the cracked Purple tribe it’s so refreshing reading this tribe’s convos. I will say though, a huge standout for me has been Casey. He definitely had a bit of a rude awakening round one seeing what he got into, but he’s adapted well, is super active and really giving this experience his all. As a whole there isn’t too much to say about this tribe strategically, but I’m really excited to see how they play this upcoming round and if they can keep the winning streak alive.

Ok now onto Ealing (Purple), let me try to compose myself before diving into this mess of a tribe haha. I think the fact that this tribe spent around 6 hours practicing for the first challenge and still came in last speaks volumes of this tribe. Honestly the only way to describe this group and how their playing is to compare them to the Tazmanian Devil:



This tribe has inspired me to coin the new phrase “cractivity”. Cractivity is the action of being so overly active that it skews your perception of what is active in a game by thrusting you into hyperspeed. This specifically applies to Carson/Ethan/Leanna/Zaid. They’re starting the game off with a lot of horrible habits with the sheer amount of time they are spending and the level of paranoia in their own minds they create because of it. Both Marissa and Manik are actually very active players, more active than most other players, but the fact that they’re considered the least active and targeted because of it is just because the rest of the tribe is at such a different level. I really hope now that we have hit weekdays these players literally just breath and slow down, because they won’t be able to sustain this game play. They may be ok on this tribe but the minute they swap or meet other players they’re literally going to come off insane.

Now onto this tribe’s dynamics. Leanna/Ethan very quickly became a duo and didn’t hide it well at all. A mistake I understand from a player like Ethan, but Leanna should have been better than making that mistake this early. Zaid has been overplaying like a mad man, joining a four person alliance with Carson/Leanna/Ethan, only to immediately out that in an alliance with Manik/Marissa, then to again out that group to the other three. He’s building trust with people, but his whole strategy revolves around people not comparing stories, definitely skating on thin ice. It’s great to watch as he makes this a very interesting round. He initially wanted to try and keep Manik/Marissa and approached Carson about the possibility. Although Carson wasn’t receptive this round, he didn’t immediately tell Leanna/Ethan in their three person chat what Zaid was saying, so there is a chance he shares some similar concerns about that duo. Will be interesting to watch Carson play this season on this tribe, although I would say Zaid has definitely been the star of this tribe this round for how much he’s been doing, Carson is definitely to best player in this group and set up the best.

Now onto the first vote, it looks like it’s shaping up to be a decision of Manik or Marissa and is currently leaning Manik. In my opinion, this is a bad move. No offense to Marissa, actually the total opposite, she is without a doubt the better player of Manik and Marissa and these players have been shady as hell with her, and she knows that. She will be much more dangerous to their games going forward if they win enough to make a swap with the five of them like they plan to. Manik is someone they can easily claw back in and he won’t do as much damage long term in the game. It’s a credit to Marissa for building the bonds with them over Manik, but still I feel like unless they lose again and go for an easy vote to clip Marissa, this could prove to be a major missed opportunity in their game. But selifishly I love it because watching Marissa continue to play in this position salty about her tribe is going to be so much fun. I hope she can get through this bump in the road.

[Tom]

GREEN-
Just haven't heard much from them yet. Only Abby and Miranda have given confessionals, and there's not much drama going on from what we can tell. Brenden seems to have corrected his mistakes from last time in the sense that he's not going absolutely haywire, but he does need to step up the social game more- and not in a strategic way, per se. Rooting for you, dude- you can do it! Abby has a good read on what's

YELLOW-
Really not much from these folks either, yet, but I appreciate Casey's commitment to at least telling us something! Really looking forward to when these confessionals start rolling in more. Danielle posting in the welcome thread is hilarious.

PURPLE-
So much going on here, and I don't want any of them to leave! Haven't heard anything from Manik but everyone else seems to have a really solid read on the tribe dynamics, so the gameplay is happening at warp speed and is overall strong, albeit it chaotic.

Carson: love his confessionals and the sensitivity with which he speaks about delicate subjects such as gender and race bias in the game. Connected to everyone, but is unaware that Marissa is considering targeting him for being a mega threat.

Ethan: Gosh he's so much nicer in his confessionals than I expected from his video. He proactively apologized to everyone! Ha. He's got the idol, but if he can't keep his closeness to Leanna under wraps then I could see him being blindsided with it by being too comfortable.

Leanna: Her confessionals tell us that she's playing hard but might not be aware of the perception that she's giving off, especially to Marissa. She's in a good position for now, but if Carson decides to flip from her and Ethan to Marissa and Zaid then she would be in big trouble.

Manik: Probably the boot tonight from what we've heard, but it's a shame because we haven't heard anything from him and he's a super nice and likable guy from what we're hearing. I agree with Zaid's perspective that real-life situations shouldn't interfere too much with the gameplay- he's a victim of being part of the Tazmanian tribe.

Marissa: Every single thing she's said in confessionals is spot on. She has the right read on almost all of the tribe dynamics, but doesn't need to be quite so sus of Zaid. She also doesn't know that Ethan has an idol. If they make the mistake of keeping her around this vote then I could see her pulling together the numbers to run this game.

Zaid: My winner pick! Apparently he came in HOT but at the same time it seems like he has made friends with everyone, especially Manik, and I feel for his ickiness and having to vote the guy out. Besides that, he's positioned himself more in the middle, BUT everyone knows that, and it could lead to problems later on. I think he'll make the wrong choice tonight and keep Marissa, and it won't end well for him down the line to keep her in the game.

Purple tribe is SO fun, especially because they are so active, but it's yet another reason why we don't want anyone to leave.