Vecepia Towery

VECEPIA TOWERY - A CASE STUDY

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Opening:

Voting strategy is dependent upon the social dynamics and relative strength of the individual players in the tribe. This is as much true at the beginning of the game as it is at the end and any discussion of strategy has to begin with a summary of the individual players in the tribe.

Gina: PP-player. Loyal and non-aggressive player whom immediately formed a bond with Hunter.
Hunter: AP-player. Athletic and charasmatic as well as the tribe's obvious leader, Hunter was playing the tribe strength game, but when backed up by both Gina and Patricia, it is also obvious that he is the early game leader as well.
Patricia: PP-player. As a non-athletic, middle-aged, woman, Patricia is immediately in a vulnerable position on this tribe. Early support is obviously going to Hunter.
Peter: AP-player. A talkative and quirky player who formed an immediate bond with Sean.
Rob: AU-player. In a tribe full of early pairings, Rob's was with Sarah. Rob is always at the centre of any tribe activity but he is fully capable of making dramatic moves if he feels it is to his advantage.
Sarah: PP-player. Rob's other half and blind follower.
Sean: AP-player. Very vocal player who has difficulty keeping his opinions to himself. However, Sean is also obvservant and aggresive. He formed an early bond with Peter
Vecepia: AP-player. A quiet but very obsevant player, Vecepia was keeping her options open. Her support drifted to Sean almost by default.

D-players: Gina, Hunter, Patricia
T-players: Peter, Rob, Sarah, Sean, Vecepia

Tribal Council 1 - Day 3 - Boot: Peter

Votes:
Gina, Hunter, Patricia, Rob & Sarah voted Peter
Sean voted Sarah
Peter voted Patricia

Vecepia voted Sarah

This tribe was complicated from the get go when the players immediately split into three distinct groups. Gina and Hunter with support from Patricia, Sean and Peter backed up by Vecepia, and Rob and Sarah. After loosing the first immunity challenge, the consensus seemed to be drifting towards booting Sarah who offered zero around camp and little in the immunity challenges. If that is the way it would have happened, it likely would have saved this tribe a lot of misery. Vecepia, Sean and Peter could have easily slipped behind Hunter's leadership and, with support from now free agent Rob, could have dispossed or depowered Hunter when the situation warranted.

Unfortunately Peter couldn't leave well enough alone and openly suggested booting Patricia, in the interest tribal strength. This naturally raised the ire of Hunter and company and, with Sarah no longer the target, Rob was all over booting Peter.

Rating: Good - Sarah was the right call from Vecepia's perspective.

Tribal Council 2 - Day 6 - Boot: Patricia

Votes:
Rob, Sarah & Sean voted Patricia
Gina, Hunter & Patricia voted Sarah

Vecepia voted Patricia

The door opened for Vecepia with Hunter's and Gina's blunder of wanting to vote out Sarah. Rob immediately switched loyalties to Sean and Vecepia and suddenly these four became the new tribal leaders. The problem was that no matter how they voted the tribe was likely to be left a mess as Hunter and Gina could not appreciate that folks are trying to play a game here and this coup was bound to leave the tribe bitter and divided. Removing the leader in Hunter may not have been a bad idea but, of course, has the problem of removing his strength from the challenges. Leaving this bitter player in the game is hardly more attractive but Patricia and Gina wer likely to match him in that department anyway, so voting out Patricia was probably their best option.

Rating: Great - The coup was the way to go and Patricia was likely the best option.

Early Middle-game:

Tribal Structure:

Gina -> Hunter
Hunter -> Gina
Rob -> Sarah
Sarah -> Rob
Sean -> Vecepia
Vecepia -> Sean

N-players: Rob & Sarah
D-Players: Sean & Vecepia
T-players: Hunter & Gina

It's tough to seperate Rob-Sarah and Sean-Vecepia into N and D-players as they are essentially equal pairs, but I do suspect the Rob-Sarah bond to be a tad stronger. This tribe is still ugly as hell as it essentially has three leaders and it makes one wonder if the best call would have been to boot Hunter or Sean right from the beginning just to simplify the leadership structure, but it would have been very tough to support such a move. If only Sarah had gone first, Hunter could have been set up as a T-leader and this tribe may have come out competative. As it was, the loses just kept on coming.

Tribal Council 3 - Day 9 - Boot: Hunter

Votes:
Rob, Sarah & Sean voted Hunter
Gina & Hunter voted Sarah

Vecepia voted Hunter

This episode's editing portrayed this as a bit of a "knuckle-head" move but I agree with it. This tribe was not losing challenges because of its lack of strength. It was losing challenges because it couldn't work together and the only hope of improving that was in simplifying its leadership structure.

Rating: Good - Hunter was the best call in a bad situation.

On day 11 a surprise swap saw Rob, Sean and Vecepia over to Rotu in exchange for Kathy, Neleh and Paschel. Five new players entered Vecepia's game.

Gabriel: PU-player: A very likable and laidback type of player playing day by day.
John: AP-player: The tribe's leader, paired with Tammy and apparently backed up by Gabriel.
Robert: PP-player: Loyal, passive and isolated.
Tammy: AP-player: John's other half.
Zoe: PP-player: Certainly a T-player in this tribe but one with friends. Ubfortunately for Zoe, they all went over to Marramu in the swap

Tribal Council 4 - Day 15 - Boot: Gabriel

Votes:
John, Rob, Robert, Sean, Tammy & Zoe voted Gabriel
Gabriel voted Rob

Vecepia vote Gabriel

In the minority on both sides of the island, it's obvious the old Marramu is in trouble. Vecepia finally got a taste of winning when the new Rotu won its first immunity challenge leaving the new Marramu to, not surprisingly vote out Sarah. The one important thing to recognize about Rotu is that it has never lost a challenge, meaning that alliances were never put to the test. When they finally did lose one, the boot drifted to the most vocal of the old-Marramu triple, Rob. There was a wrench in John's plan though, Gabriel. When he was approached about how to vote he said that he was going to vote the way his conscience felt. John immediately felt something was afoot (there wasn't, Gabriel was foolishly being straight up and probably would have voted Rob anyway) and decided to shift to Gabriel, a very risky move. Here Rob, Sean and Vecepia did the right thing and approached Gabriel about forcing a tie in hope of shaking things up. Unfortunately, Gabriel wasn't there to play that type of game (or any kind of game at all) and he allowed himself to be removed without a fight

Rating: Good - Once Gabriel said he didn't want to force a tie, Vecepia's and company's vote became inconsequencial. It's too bad their move didn't pay off, it might have inspired more aggressive play from M-players in future seasons instead of the constant sucking up we see.

Late Middle-game:

The tribes merged and the remaining player's entered Vecepia's game.

Kathy: AU-player. An aggresive player but with little skills to play the game, either socially or strategically.
Neleh: AP-player. Neleh perhaps has the strongest pairing in the game with Paschel, and backed up by Kathy, she obviously becomes a player with options.
Paschel: AP-player. The other half of the Neleh pair backed up by Kathy

N-players: John & Tammy
D-players: Robert & Zoe
T-players: Kathy, Neleh & Paschel
M-players: Rob, Sean & Vecepia

Tribal Council 5 - Day 21 - Boot: Rob

Votes:
John, Neleh, Paschel, Robert, Tammy & Zoe voted Rob
Rob & Sean voted John
Kathy voted Zoe

Vecepia voted Rob.

The M-players, lead by Rob, immediately began looking for ways in which to dispose N-players,and with the dynamics if this tribe it didn't look like it would be too tough. Kathy, Neleh and Paschel had formed a tight bond and even Zoe, in the past, had been tighter with this group than with John and Tammy though Kathy became disillusioned with Zoe once she realized that there was actually a game going on. Rob correctly targetted Kathy as the player that may actually swing their way but his efforts were not successful and Rob was voted out, though he would have been the target anyway.

Rating: Good - Vecepia was offered the fifth spot in John's alliance. Once it was clear that John was, for the moment, untouchable, her best play was to continue to be the good soldier.

Tribal Council 6 - Day 24 - Boot: John

Votes:
Kathy, Neleh, Paschel, Sean & Zoe voted John
John, Robert & Tammy voted Sean

Vecepia voted John

John and company, obviously not seeing the vicariousness of their position, made it abundantly clear to Neleh and Paschel that they stood sixth and fifth respectively in the game. Neleh persuaded Paschel that they should team up with Kathy, Sean and Vecepia and take out John. As obvious as this move seems, it should be recognized that it likely would never have happened had the tension not been raised in the game through Rob's and Sean's continual pot stirring.

Rating: Good - Once all their efforts paided off, this vote became pretty much a no brainer.

Tribal Council 7 - Day 27 - Boot: Zoe

Votes:
Kathy, Neleh, Paschel, Robert, Sean & Tammy voted Zoe
Zoe voted Robert

Vecepia voted Zoe

This vote was actually precipitated by Kathy's anger towards someone she viewed as a friend but in the end removing Zoe only limits Kathy's own options down the road.

Rating: Great - Limiting Kathy's options is exactly what works to the other player's advantage. They need her as a stooge.

Tribal Council 8 - Day 30 - Boot: Tammy

Votes:
Kathy, Neleh, Paschel & Sean voted Tammy
Robert & Tammy voted Vecepia

Vecepia vote Tammy

Perhaps some might have had the temptation of approaching Robert and Tammy with the plan of voting out Neleh, but it would never have worked as the original Rotus would have simply banded together over the stab attempt and take out Sean and Vecepia. Neleh and Paschel are running the show and Sean and Vecepia are only there due to their good faith.

Rating: Good - Once Robert won immunity, this was an obvious choice.

Tribal Council 9 - Day 33 - Boot: Robert

Votes:
Kathy, Neleh, Paschel & Sean voted Robert
Robert voted Sean

Vecepia voted Robert

Again, a stab attempt through using Robert to force a tie wouldn't have worked because Robert would have finked in a second and Neleh and Paschel would have turned on Sean and Vecepia in half a second. In fact, if he had it in him, faking that Sean and Vee had approached him with such a deal would have been a decent counterplay on Robert's part.

Rating: Good - Again, there really is little other choice.

Tribal Council 10 - Day 36 - Boot: Sean

Votes:
Kathy, Neleh & Paschel voted Sean
Sean voted Neleh

Vecepia voted Neleh

Sean and Vecepia did their best to woo over Kathy, Sean even offering her a final two deal (and I think he would have stuck to it), but it was no use and the inevitable finally happened.

Rating: Good - There was no sense in hiding where her game was. Neleh was the right target.

Endgame:

N-players: Neleh & Paschel
D-player: Kathy
T-player: Vecepia

Tribal Council 11 - Day 37 - Boot: Paschel

Votes:
Kathy voted Neleh
Neleh & Paschel voted Kathy

Vecepia voted Neleh. The tie was resolved by having the three players without immunity reach into a bag and draw stones. Paschel drew the purple stone and was out of the game.

Although always providing support to the right people, Vecepia was never out front in any of the alliances she was in. Here she showed she could play this game. If Vecepia hadn't won immunity, there is little doubt that the three original Rotus would have voted her out but once the necklace was around her neck the vote shifted to Kathy. Kathy voted Neleh and Vecepia did the absolute right thing by forcing a tie. With the necklace around her neck she had nothing to lose and everything to gain if the right person picked the purple stone, and pick the purple stone he did.

Rating: Great - What's sad is how few other players in the same situation in other seasons, did the same thing.

Tribal Council 12 - Day 38 - Boot: Kathy

Votes:
Neleh voted Kathy

Neither Kathy nor Vecepia voted in this tribal council.

Once Kathy dropped out of the immunity challenge the deal making began, but it was pretty obvious no-one wanted to be opposite the perpetual underdog Kathy who hadn't turned her back on any deals because no one bothered (other than Sean and Rob) to try and make deals with her.

Tribal Council 13 - Day 39 - Boot: Neleh

Votes for winner:
John, Robert, Sean & Tammy voted Vecepia.
Kathy, Paschel & Zoe voted Neleh

The fact that most of the people voting for Vecepia did so simply because they were sore losers, personally I was happy simply because Kathy hadn't won. In my opinion, both Neleh and Vecepia are as deserving as at least half of the other winners of this game.

Grades:

Opening: A-
Early Middle-game: B+
Late Middle-game: A-
Endgame: B+

Overall Voting Strategy: A-

Overall Social Strategy: B
Comments: Vecepia was well liked by everyone but she tended to keep a low profile leaving others to lead the charge. Despite that, she always backed the right horse and was able to step up and manipulate events when needed. Leadership: C, Social Ability: A

Overall Rating: B+