How do you play the early game?

[Malkon05]

There are two things I would add to this:

1. Know now going in that you will probably not win your first game. There are exceptions to this rule, but ultimately it's probably not going to happen. Does that mean you shouldn't still try? No. You should absolutely try as it has been done before. Just don't expect to. The first game is usually your way to get introduced to the community and learn about playstyles. It's way more freeing to know that the first game is usually the learning experience that you can use to figure out what went wrong and improve for the next time you play.

2. Spectators can be harsh. Most people who are liked by spectators are so because they are entertaining characters who provide thoughtful narration into the events of the game. If the spectators love you, it can be a very positive experience to re-read what they say and may often give you encouragement. If they don't love you, it can be a very negative experience to re-read what they say and may cause you to lose heart in how you feel. My recommendation on this is if you decide to re-read a spectators lounge/comments when the boards are opened up at the end of the game, you do so with the knowledge that they could be your champions, or they could shit all over how you played. Read at your own caution and you are under NO obligation to have to re-read anything post game. That is up to you, just be mentally prepared either way.

[Malkon05]

Honestly surviving the first 1-2 votes is just talk as much as you can and be a reasonably stable person

Flim Flam would disagree tbh.

[Malkon05]

I'm still trying to perfect my xof noises tbh.

[Malkon05]

Best strat is to find 20 idols and pick people off one at a time tbh.