Episode 6 (Second Swap)

[Charity]

Post thoughts below!

[jordan]

Initial thoughts after the second tribe swap...

Tempest

1.) Well this is a highly appropriate tribe name for Kari who must be fuming that Nicholas went home.
2.) Marcellino finally gets away from that majority he was afraid to play with🤷🏻
3.)Why must Taylor and Kilby continue to be linked up!!! Apart they could have been great, but together they are two birds tied together by a string clumsily bumping into each other's chance of greatness.
4.) Ryan is still here 😐
5.) Gaston got so, so lucky that the plan to blindside him changed.

Arkanoid

1.) The Zaxxon majority of MAAA! is now just triple A
2.) I guess Ben and Gina will continue their quest to find the cracks in original Zaxxon, this time with special guest Spitzer.
3.) Ali is probably happy Nicholas is gone...I'm not😠
4.) Four of these people have only been to one tribal all game!!!

[jordan]

Tempest Tribe

Gaston- Realized his paranoia was warranted last round and credits Kilby for steering the vote off of him. Kari told him the plan was brought to her and did not originate with her and Nicholas, which Gaston does believe. He also believes Taylor was probably leaning more towards blindsiding him, so he now has trust issues with her. Before the swap, Gaston was pleading for anyone from his old tribe to talk to...and then proceedes to name all of them, except Marcellino...who is who he ultimately gets swapped on Tempest with😂

Marcellino- He definitely picked up that Gaston was with Kilby and Taylor. But he has his sights on Kari for building a working relationship with. He sees her value as a lost piece. She on the other hand, mentions he isn't as 'cerebral' as the kind of players she likes strategizing with. He plans to tell Kari he has an idol if they go to tribal so that he can convince her to vote with him. Now he wants Gaston gone, because Gaston told him he doesn't want to stick with the four other Zaxxon members because he thinks he would be on the bottom because of the swap🤦🏻

Kari- Her luck is getting swapped with the same people who just blindsided her. She's ticked, but handling it better than I expected. She shed tears for Nicholas and even though she doesn't feel like being social, she got to work. She was able to tell Gaston that the plan had originated with Taylor and Kilby. Kilby says he still wants to work with her and that he just didn't trust Nicholas. Kari will say yes now to survive because she has no one, but given the chance later...she will flip. #KariRevengeTour

Taylor- According to Taylor, Kari brought the original plan to target Gaston to Kilby and herself. But when things switched to Nicholas, she didn't want to make herself a target by trying to stop another Nicholas vote off. Before Nicholas was voted out, Taylor did get an inside scoop from him into how Ali and Alexander have played in the past which could be really helpful moving forward.

Ryan- Feels like he put a lot of work in on Zaxxon 2.0 with everyone except Marcellino...who he ultimately swaps with. Luckily for Ryan, Marcellino talked before the swap about hiding behind Ryan as a shield. But he's glad to be reunited with King Kilby.

Kilby- He's a punk thinking we're all just mad he voted out a favorite! Kilby!!! We're also mad that you are making this game much harder for yourself than it should be, we just can't say that to you yet!!! He has big fish in a small pond syndrome and if he keeps flopping around, he's going to end up outside of the pond with no air. Just lay low and listen to reason. Next he'll probably do something equally baffling and target Taylor for no reason that makes sense🤦🏻

[jordan]

Arkanoid Tribe

Ben- Believes the swap worked out in his favor despite not being with Kari. He sees the possibility of getting a 3 v 3 split with original Zaxxon vs Gina, Spitzer, and himself. He also correctly pegs that Marcellino had the Zaxxon idol since AAA are not as comfortable as they were before the swap. However, he might be planning a real life meet up with his flirt-mate Alexander...because that's what Floridians do in a pandemic 🤷🏻 *update* They did.

Alexander- Drove nearly 2 hours to meet up with Ben for dinner. And spilled the details on his Zaxxon alliance. Specifically, he confirmed to Ben that Marcellino does have an idol. Alexander also will likely vote with Ben because he does not plan to go to rocks for a player like Ali. He is itching to make a move, but doesn't want to come off as a traitor. Alexander also makes a deal with Ben that if they lose again next week, they take out Spitzer.

Spitzer- He believes the swap has given himself a great chance to meet the most people in the game, everyone except Marcellino, to have a head start on relationships prior to a merge. Hopefully he does better than what he did with Kari and Nicholas. He plans to stay 3 strong with Gina and Ben to break-up the Zaxxon AAA. He wants to target Ali who he believes is too likeable.

Gina- She's good at following, but not sure how much she will be able to forge new plans going into an individual game. No one is targeting her though and she has a group willing to include her in plans.

Ali- I have no idea what Ali is thinking and doing. But it's clear there was some kind of confrontation between Ben and himself. Was it manufactured to gather sympathy for a AAA to stick together and go to rocks, did Ali give Ben indecisive responses that set Ben off, or is this just a smokescreen to hide the fact that Alexander is going to flip? Ali really seems to believe Ben will be leaving though, but he's not a reliable narrator for what is happening in this game.

Antoinette- She's not happy with Ben's fight with Ali after the challenge loss. She definitely thinks it was bullying, and doesn't want that behavior to stick around in the game. This is pushing her to go to what she believes will be a rocks situation to stick up for Ali. However, the disagreement could have been an over exaggeration in order to appeal to get emotional side...because she seems more upset than Ali actually is.

[Charity]

THOUGHTS -

Arkanoid: This seems like it’s going to be the group of people who are going to dismantle the original Zaxxon Tribe. Ben, Spitzer and Gina have all came together earlier in the round and reached the agreement that they need to stick together, and that it’s better to go to rocks over letting original Zaxxon take over. Within it, Spitzer seems to be playing everyone but is having the most talks with Alex, likely recognizing his power. Spitzer is a total villain this season, making comments regarding hoping he can continue to lose so he can learn more about these people. He doesn't seem to care who he has to lose in the process. Gina seems to like Antoinette, and wants an alliance with Antoinette, Spitzer, and Alex, which honestly seems fair? Gina overall has a positive edit going for her, but she needs to be more strategic and talking about the long term game. And Ben is just playing crazy aggressive, making sure he’s not the one to go home this round by confronting people who he isn't working with while also keeping up communication with the people he does have a relationship with. Ben also has key knowledge, like Marcellino’s idol, which can be dangerous down the line.

Ali is vocalizing to everyone that Ben bullied him... which I’m not sure is the case? It seems like Ben was very blunt with Ali, not putting up with bullshit, and Ali is not a fan of this. I am not a fan of the term "bullying" being used here, but Ali is allowed to be upset if he didn't like the interaction with Ben. I think Ali SHOULD be more careful making sure people have a clear picture of what happened, instead of using it as the key foundation to target someone. Antoinette seems to be eating the whole thing up, hating the idea of someone bullying someone else. Which like... I don’t blame her from a personal perspective, I think it's great to stick up for people who you believe are being wronged, I could just see this being a pitfall that ranks her game moving forward. She is not looking at the facts, she is looking at feelings and feelings alone. Alexander is proving to be super cutthroat - he will ditch Ali in a heartbeat over going to rocks. That's the type of villain I love to watch personally.. partially because I relate with it LMAO.

At this point, I could see Ali leaving if the non Zaxxon members stay strong and Alexander flips to them, but the other thing that could happen is that we could lose Ben if the whole “bullying” narrative continues. That's the narrative of this round. As far as tribe rankings go, I'll post those after tribal is completed this round. It's a little too muddy to say for sure at this point.

[Charity]

THOUGHTS -

Tempest: Will definitely be a confusing ride if they have to go to tribal. Kilby proved last round that he is not looking at the big picture for this game, though he thinks he is in his own way. His idea of looking at the big picture is to take out the most likable and the strongest people, which on paper is a good idea? The problem with this perspective, however, is that this game doesn't always work in the favor of the most likable and the most strong players. As far as I'm concerned, a mediocre player with 5 loyal allies is waaaaay more dangerous than a good player with 2 allies. It's possible he proves me wrong, but he needs to get his shit together. ESPECIALLY because he has a lot of power on this tribe.

Taylor is in a good spot as always - she is liked by Kilby, Ryan, and Gaston. You also have Kari wanting to make amends with Taylor. Taylor's voice has dropped off a bit since the Van round, I hope she is able to pick things back up by merge.

Ryan made the mistake of telling Kilby about his relationships, because now Kilby is considering targeting him? It's such a sad narrative because I believe Ryan is most loyal to Kilby, but Kilby is someone who stretches an inch of information to last a mile. Ryan needs to downplay everything at this point so he can make merge.

Gaston linked back up with Marcellino, but who is shocked. Gaston is in an okay spot, but I won't be shocked if he is targeted soon due to his connections.

Marcellino is in hot water, with Kilby wanting him out. If Marcellino catches wind of this, however, he can idol. Marcellino is not blowing the social game away at this point, but he is doing just enough to survive round after round. He's sort of like a cockroach... has found himself in hot water a lot, but has survived due to other people going absolutely crazy.

Kari is the hero of the season at this point. She is one of the only people who consistently sticks up for what she believes in, and she has played this round to the best of her ability in trying to repair relationships and gain allies at merge (especially Kilby and Taylor). She got a horrible draw for this swap and I dont think Kari can win at this point, but ahhhh I'm rooting for her.


Here are my rankings at this point in terms of power-

1. Kilby/Taylor
2. Kari/Gaston
4. Marcellino/Ryan

[Charity]

Gina is low key KILLING the game right now.. I had very low expectations of her at the start of the season, but she’s a key reason Ali is leaving this round because she knows this is the best for her game. She’s also setting it up so Ben is a target next round and not her by telling Antoinette and Alexander that she doesn’t trust him... LOVE IT.