Not many people seemed to want to scumhunt which is a bad sign. RC looked good early and then fizzled way out, Smith was doing a great job as psuedo-IC and with the wagon on him he went full obvTown, and Mastina did some good IC posting. Her other posts were difficult to understand as she held back a lot of information - could be playstyle (or IC trying to force people to think/interact) but really don't like this behaviour - almost as hard to gel with as RC at times!
Smith vs Grey seemed TvT and it was going that way until Mastina decided to join the debate when it had seemingly resolved itself. Also, early unease on Mastina's slot as the IC and early posts come off very different to her posts during her push on Smith. I read a different tone, some flawed logic, and a disconnect in her thought process when compared to the earlier posts. It could be playstyle related, or early gambits, but the feel was off and she's never claimed a gambit.
Icy lurks hard but throws out an uncountered BP claim, so my unease with this slot is playstyle related. In fact I'd thought they had replaced out until
483-4. NewbTown does seem to lurk with power roles quite often (I know I sure as hell have in the past!), but a few posts were good enough to get a town-lean anyway when they joined discussions. Read list is blind and I found it strange as I didn't see RC as null (town-lean for me), and why they put Smith top when the rest of town disliked the slot was confusing.
I liked Dark and Pieg's entrances, both asking the questions I would have if I'd replaced in at that point. NAI more than likely, but I could see their thought process which allowed me to read them a bit better. Dark however did confuse me with his debate on playstyle with Smith. I agree with Smith's points, and in fact think he's one of the best on the site from a teaching standpoint. Seriously - go read his wiki, past games, etc... you'll learn a heck of a lot. It screamed TvT, just a difference of opinion, but for a while I doubted the claim because of this exchange. Really had to force myself to re-read it again to feel comfortable though. Can see why Dark got wagonned -
565-572 isn't great, and interested if
596 was a gambit or real. Dark seems to have a different playstyle than I like, but it's been effective so happy not to let it bug me.
495 is lovely imo. Great tone, can read the logic, easy to follow thought process. This is what I like to see. Really hate that Smith went out the game early, because I'd love to see a ton more of these in here. The Smith wagon is infuriating as he's throwing good content out there, yet every page or two there is another vote creeping on. Seems to build over time, and nobody builds other wagons despite RC (I think others too) having a stronger d1 scumread. Scum probably either pushed the wagon, or took advantage of it, but a huge asset to town was lost d1 because people didn't want to pursue anything else.
641-2 are so good... shame that people didn't feel the town vibes Smith was throwing down here.
638 is a real puzzling readlist imo. Worrying as it comes from an un-counterclaimed power role. At this point in my read I had it almost reversed, and had honestly forgotten DogWatch was in here... far too many lurkers and replacements in this game.
Had to go and ISO to see where these reads came from and it was tough to tell. Had to re-evaluate my own reads afterwards due to this slot being confTown, but came to the conclusion we were just reading the game in different ways.
796-7 are huge towntells. No reasons to vote on Smith except if people are just sheeping on the wagon or are they being led by scum?
833 @Grey explain "softing" please. Not really sure what this was in reference to.
837-8 / 840 - RC takes a dive here in my lists. Read a lot of his games and it's not entirely AI from what I can see, but the fact he has a scumread he didn't build a case on and didn't want to vote is poor play. Willing to lynch Smith just to have a lynch d1 can be acceptable if you have no reads, deadline approaching, and have to sheep a townread... but that's not the case - it's badplay. Seeing how RC replaced out, I read it as more he got frustrated (can't blame him) and bored with the game (can blame him) but this really hurt town (really blame him). Sadly, I think it came from TownRC based off his earlier tone. Glad at least Ali is the replacement as I just completed a game with him and should be able to read them a bit easier than RC!
Also, twilight RC vs Smith is misguided TvT and it looks like they realised it a little too late.
NK goes on BP which is interesting. Not what I'd expect tbh, but doesn't offer a lot of analysis. Only other possibility I see is if scum didn't take any actions. I can't think of a reason for this (outside of WIFOM bs) so ruling it out.
894 from Ali isn't my favourite. Leads to
899 and 900 which is another interesting exchange though. Still fairly NAI on the whole unless we have a good read on either (not strong on either slot atm outside of PoE, personally), and similar to RC feels like a frustration replace from a game that has been anything but engaging. @Ali do you really buy scumGrey replacing out with little pressure - and also pursuing the engage with RC? Seems unlikely from my pov, but you do claim to know (and read) them very well. Why does it make sense to you?
910 is where I really like Dark for the first time. Sheeped Mastina d1, town was flipped, tracked the main wagon pusher. Not my style of posting, but at least can understand the process at this point. Dislike that no town asked the claimed tracker for a result though, feel that should have been the priority at dawn.
916 is Wino's first contribution of note imo. Good post, open thought, but not sure on reasoning. Still get a small town vibe from here.
918-9 also feels good. Ali does love a gambit, and although I disagree with Wino's theory, I like the reasoning and it follows a good path. I especially like the fact they don't back off when Ali reveals it was shitposting, feels like a true read.
I'll consider it after I get caught up - if I think you're not scum. 