It's really interesting to be a juror in a game like this, cause tbh, I haven't really. The one time I was in a long form game FTC was pretty easy for me to cast a vote from the start and honestly, not that easy this time. Anyway, what this means is I get to write a long justification for my vote that is presumably well thought out and hopefully entertaining, which is sooooo much fun. So anyway let's get to thoughts on each of y'all.
Scoots, I sort of get the game you played. "As long it's not me" is a valid strategy, but you need to be sitting against the right people for it to work, and between Zor's careful control of the game and Bella's small moves, you don't measure up. Because your game did work well for you, you did make it to the end, but like, at least in my experience, I threw out the idea of you being a "secret buddy" at tribe 2 when you left me out a vote you didn't need to, and made that my first impression of you, so the charm that you naturally have was never met with "trust until it was too late", because you never really gained it for me. You did do a good job for your first showing, like be proud you made it this far, and in a vacuum your game is pretty good, but it barely moves the needle when I compare my reasons to vote for you to those to vote for Zor or Bella.
Zor, I came into this FTC expecting to be underwhelmed by you, if you read jury chat, you'll see that. But honestly, I'm very pleasantly surprised by your performance. You had a pretty strong opening, you took all the questions thrown at you in stride and I don't think you flubbed a single one of them. You explained all your moves quite succinctly and I think I understand each and every one of them pretty well. And I think you are right, you played the best version of the game that you could play, at least, you as you are right now, (I have no doubt that you could perfect an aspect or two in time) and playing with you was pretty fun. It was a strong game, and you should be proud of it, I have no doubt that you'll be seeing at least a few votes coming your way (maybe even enough to win). Yet, there's still just a nagging feeling that it doesn't "right" for me to give my vote to you, and that's weird. After all, you said and resaid that I was a very important ally to you and that me going set you back a lot, and by all means between that and our end game plans shouldn't your victory be mine? And you put a shit ton of effort into this game, I think it's no lie that you tried the hardest to play the best game you could, so shouldn't I at least reward that effort even if there are a few kinks that I don't like? And yet still, the nagging is there. And I think I know what it is, I just don't think I value the type of game you play as much as other people do. Cause you managed the shit out of this game, you had so many allies and made yourself soooo fucking safe and while there were moves that were hard at time to do, you did it. But you "managed" the game, and I think there's always been a twinge of that, not a lot, but just a twinge of it in our conversations, that you were managing me. I was given the information that I needed to know as it helped our alliance, but not more, not stuff that would be just good for me to know. Like back on tribe 2, it wasn't you that made me want to work with you and DV, it was DV, cause he often told me things you wouldn't, and one of the most important pieces of info that might have been able to help me in the round I went home (that Radja really wanted me gone) was kept from me because it would have changed the plan you wanted. The play I admire is someone who is willing to share that information, even if it may be to their detriment and if I truly was your endgame plan at the time then, it wasn't that kind of play. And tbh despite this, with a slightly different FTC matchup, or an F2, I'd probably be voting you, cause you played a hell of a game, and it's only right for me to acknowledge it.
But I have to cast my vote for
Bella
for a few reasons. The first is that to me, she was exactly the type of ally to share important information, hell most of the reasons I was informed as I was about other tribes and dynamics was because Bella had told me stuff without prompting, (she even commented that she entered "share everything with vash mode" from time to time) and it was a blast to talk about how "I" went to the park each day. She was the type of player who I felt I could trust with just about everything, and I did for a lot of the early and mid game. And I think she's right, you have to work smarter, not harder (hell I think I used that word before in one of my FTC answers) and she often worked her into positions where despite a large target on her back that inhibited her play, she kept being trusted and kept surviving. While times weren't always great for her and she didn't have all the information, by mostly just being kind and honest, she was able to have a good position and wasn't the primary target. And whether other people agree or not, I think it says a lot that she likely wouldn't be here at all if she didn't come in with a clutch win at the end. And in the end, she still couldn't vote for me, and as she stated, she doesn't think she was in her end game plans, it wasn't tactical and could have hurt her in future rounds, but she did it. She played the type of game I wish I could play, and while she didn't vote for me, I sure can vote for her.
Bellaphant
That's four votes Zoraster, one vote Bellaphant