My thoughts and reflection during each games

[rexxefa]

    So yeah. I'm not sure if anyone gonna read this (hopefully anyone who's browsing this thread who are going to go on season 4 (if there will be one), and probably Kevin ) but I said that I'm gonna do one of this in the finals thread similar to Tom and Kevin. I'll try to write every thoughts that went through my head on each rounds and my strategies going there.

Pregame

    There are a few people that come to me creating social bonds. I could remember Kevin and Ethy coming up to me first, but I checked back and I saw that Jay had also came up to me too pregame which I had forgot (sorry Jay...). And I thought I also need to come up to other people so I started with Lukas, knowing his love for the game and that he's a veteran of the game. So I asked him if I could stick close to him and for him to be sort of my mentor. And after that, Ethy also suggested me to group up with Joshua and form this Southeast Asian team and decided to keep this alliance a secret.

Main Match #1

    So Lukas has already talked to a few people and us three also has been asked to form up a six-way alliance for that game. And looking back, I was strategizing pretty unnecessarily too hard, since it's only results in us getting 2 points each, which is worthless because it takes 3 points to even win a garnet . Glad there was Lukas to lead the whole thing and sacrificing himself to not gain a point. It was completely unexpected that all 6 of us got the joint win and I'm not aware that Lukas convinced Arnold to trade up the convict card. So yea, there's that and I was also shocked to see Henry come to the forum at the last minute to do the DM...

Main Match #2

    So with us three (the SEA bois) having a few connection with someone else, I thought of some way for us three to know all of the roles each person have in the game. Basically what I thought is for each person to "Buddy up" with another person outside of our trio, mainly with someone who each person is pretty close with. From there, each person will exchange our own roles and what we picked to our buddies and they will do the same, but never revealed the information of what we gathered from the other members of the trio.

    Now the game started.  I got the crow, and Joshua got the lion. Mas didn't told us about the deer rule at the start which sucks because I would pick deer as the winning animal because Ethy was that role as well. So I just went with lion and support Joshua throughout the game. Everything went pretty well, we teamed up again with the people in the previous round plus Arnold excluding Trevor. But things screwed up when Joshua derped up and attacked Arnold while all 3 preys are in the same room... And that pretty much also screwed up Lukas' and my chance of winning. But the preys + Trevor won which I'm okay with.

    I asked Ethy who were the winners think of putting up for the DM and they're going with Tom. I knew that Tom has won 5 DMs in his season and I have a gut feeling to tell Ethy not to pick Tom because we haven't had any social connection with him and that he'll be a tough contender to play DM against. But I didn't, since I thought there's a pretty low chance him picking one of us to the DM. And sure enough, he picked me...

Death Match #2

    I noticed in the previous DM that even though Arnold have every information and Henry don't, Arnold still have a disadvantage over on the betting portion since Henry doesn't know the outcome himself if he decided to play. So I made a suggestion that it'll be better if everyone just state publicly what their choices are and let Tom and I do the rest and play a pure 1-on-1.

    I never thought of betting RPS to have any luck element to it. That game was pretty much a part psychological game part leveling game, and deciding which choice earns more reward and which choice will results in less damage. There's also a social element to it but we decided to remove it.

    My strategy was to play win every time, gaining chips,  until my opponent decided to bet on lose. Because I'm basing it on a thought that our opponent could bluff at any moment and lose on purpose. So I decided to do that and play to lose a round after Tom bet on lose, which gets me an advantage since he now got 0 chips. Looking back, I should've just go all in on win, since if Tom were to lose on purpose it'll be 0-0 and I'll be playing next round, so it'll go 3-0 and I'll go all-in on win that time too, which results on me getting more chips than Tom every time.

    Also I had actually thought to myself to go bet on my last turn, so my opponent won't have the chance to bet twice and earn more chips than me. So I was playing it safe and bet small, which also paid off since Tom was also trying to bamboozle me. The 7-11 score was pretty interesting situation to be in since that pretty much a checkmate moment right there. I had pretty much won there and it's sad to lose Tom since I knew he's pretty pumped about Lukas in the last season's blog and he haven't had a chance to play with him. And also it felt bittersweet actually to go against an all-time great DM player and to defeat him.

Main Match #3

    I don't have much to say about this game. It was all pretty much Ethy and Kevin thinking of the strategy and me going along with it (Joshua went inactive this game and Kevin was in a decent spot, and it was possible at that time for us three to get joint win). Unfortunately, Joshua's inactivity kinda screws me up as well and I have less points than those two which means I can't get the win as well...

    Ultimately, Joshua lost. I'm not sure if Joshua is a strong player, so I suggested him to go to the profile page and pick someone who didn't watch the show, which is Merriska. Was happy that Joshua won and we still have the numbers. Kinda sucks Merriska went at that point which means that it was pretty much a testosterone party from here on out

Main Match #4

    I still think this is a crappy game for a Garnet Match and for it to be at this stage... So yea. The initial plan was to just let everything where it were and keep Plat and Jay at last. But I watched S4E2 and it gave me an inspiration to be on the person with less garnets' side than against them, since we know that they have a bigger chance to be last and go to the DM. Which means there's less chance of them to pick me if they were last. The plan was to try to look like I was on their side, but deep down I knew that it'll be impossible to reach $20. So I was thinking of actually gave them the lowest selling price on a round or two and not keeping it a secret so those two could gain my trust. Plat followed my plan, while Jay doesn't. Also Kevin was helping them which is great.

   So we overshoots Plat's score and he gained a garnet. I'm confident Jay wouldn't pick me since I did offered him help. And little did I know at the time that he wouldn't pick me anyway since he and Plat was pretty much targeting Lukas.

Main Match #5

   Talk about winning a game in your sleep

    But really, Mafia/werewolf isn't really the same when you couldn't see the face of your opponent. This was pretty much my first time, aside from town of salem, to be playing this online. I was targeted first, because apparently I'm pretty social :/ Thankfully they didn't pick Ethy tho... And from the moment Lukas post what he posted, I knew for sure he's one of the murderer. I made a suggestion to send Joseph to the DM since he's the only one to never be on DM, but kudos to Kevin to steer that away from us and keeping the alliance a secret.

    So yea. nothing much to say about that game as well. Also to be completely honest this is the weakest MM game and DM game in the whole series. I enjoyed Bead Hordes 2.0, but this one is pretty unfairly OP tbh...


Part 2 coming up later.

[kaycali86]

Cant wait for part 2

[rexxefa]

Main Match #6

    Even with the long duration, I actually like this game. There are a lot of stuffs going through my head and what's the best move to make and such. But I remember thinking about the relationships and alliances in this game more than the actual game itself. I knew delete would be one of the most dangerous role, so instead of worrying to be attacked, I figured "how about I be the attacker?"

    During the game, I assume that the group were divided with me, Ethy and Joshua with Trevor loosely vs. Joseph, Arnold and Plat, with Kevin somewhere in the middle. Some of the guys' inactivity screwed my plans sometimes and Plat + Joseph's combo definitely also a challenge to deal with, since now everything becomes unpredictable plus Arnold's silence.

    Now this is where it's gets juicy gamewise. I deleted Kevin when I'm about to make my last move to the finish line, thinking he is leaning to the opponent side more than ours. And after I did that Kevin came to me saying that he's trying to target Ethy and that he's making a move with everyone else. Now right there the deed was done, Kevin and I was finished in that game. But I did not completely backed out of that offer because I thought "well, I developed a good relationship with Ethy and Joshua, so I guess if one of them DO get to the DM, they will never pick me!" I knew that in my confessional I said that I'm still sticking with those two, but that thought already come up to my mind right there.

    And back to the game, I realized after me and Kevin has taken 1st and 2nd place and Joseph is somewhere in the brim of the finish line, I realized that Arnold is 4 spaces away from the finish line, Trevor is 4 spaces away, and Joseph is 1 space away. Arnold and Trevor both has their 4 card. So I thought since there's no way Arnold could win at that moment, if they're indeed working together against us then Arnold could go to the finish line taking 3rd, then Trevor and Joseph could steal the middle place and taking the MM win from joshua and ethy. I tried pointing that out to Kevin, telling him to tell that to Arnold, but it was too late. I thought of talking about that to Arnold, but I figure he didn't have the same agenda as Kevin in targeting fully on Ethy and I haven't had a really great connection with Arnold. And in hindsight, it's a great move not revealing that to Arnold since it could be very well blow up my game and my relationship with the SEA Bois...

    I'm still honestly conflicted though at that time if I should stick with the alliance or join forces with Kevin, which is why at my confessional I said I'd rather be seeing Kevin go so I won't have that dilemma anymore. And yea, from that moment and when he swayed the DM pick from Joseph to Lukas, I recognized him as someone who knows how to get what he wants.

    And after Kevin survived the DM, my agenda is basically to play both sides. And depending on the situation of the game, if along the end of the game the favor is tilted to the SEA alliance's side, then I'll go with them. If it's tilted with the opposing side, I'll go with them as well.  I don't mind going to the final 3 with those two either, but the ideal goal is to keep my trust between Ethy and Joshua, so they'll won't suspect me if one of them came last, and there's almost no chance that those two will pick me for DM.

Main Match #7

    Again, I don't remember much about this game. I do remember that I had a thought of having a way to win and tricking Arnold to having my bomb Also Ethy did approached me that he'll be giving me the token to Arnold in advance and I was okay with it. But after that there's a side in me saying that "this trio isn't as exclusive as I thought... is it?"

    So yea. There's that. And was expecting for Joseph to be picking me for DM tbh.

Death Match #7

    Believe it or not, I actually wanted to try to play double sided poker and was actually excited at first that we were going to play that. Shocking, right? Talk about getting more than what you wished for...
   
    So I don't know what I will do at first, so I just go along with it and play safe at the start. I tried to double bet at the start with an average card, which is my first mistake since that costs me a good amount of chips at the start. I tried to mix in a few bluffs, but it was always caught up. I was hoping that Joseph would mix in some bluffs too, and I realized that Joseph is playing this so honestly, calling with high card and folding with low. So instead of getting caught with bluffs, I changed my strategy and to play like Joseph and build his trust that I was playing honestly too. After a few while I tried to mix in some bluffs and it worked. He folded while I got a low numbered card. I was lucky that I could pick up from my downfall (by cursing at random.org ), and when Joseph was at the same position as me, my strategy was just to keep playing it safe until the 5 chips removal, which worked for my favor.

    In the end, I guess Joseph got tired of it and going all in with a low card. Honestly, if I got a lower number than 10, I would've folded. But I didn't. Also shooked when he was a vet too all along in a different genius org franchise...

    But yea, I guess the key of this game is to be patient even if you have a very low number of chips, That's how I got through this one and my other following poker games.

Main Match #8

    Same deal, same goal like I said before. Tried to get Ethy to tell where he was and keeping it subtle, and direct Kevin to him. If Ethy was near Kevin, I'll le kevin get him and made a deal to give the token to me. If Ethy was on a long distance from the detectives after the final reveal, I'll help Ethy or steer him away from Joshua.

    Also the funny thing was that if Kevin won, I told him to say publicly that the reason he picked me is because he was randomizing it in random.org. So it was an irony when I got tricked that Joshua was using random.org as a way of concealing our alliance Sad to see him go though. Even though I was okay with him going to the DM and never picking me, I still don't mind either going to final 3 with him and Ethy with all the bond that we created.

Main Match #9

    One of my favorite games here. Still having mixed feelings with this as a garnet match tho, since I was hoping some mechanics of losing garnets in a garnet match to keep things fair.

    Same thing with before, if things tilted on Kevin's side, I'll go to Kevin's side, if things tilted on Ethy's side, I'll go to Ethy's side. But I also noticed at some part of the match that I have a chance of winning this since I was the only one with wolf and I'm in a decent position garnet wise.

    The main key is the howl cards. Since Kevin's main agenda was to break Ethy's streak at all costs, I could lean on Kevin's side and ask him to support me a bit so I could win this and give him the token. That way I could get him to use his wolf and howl cards if he got them. And Ethy, since I'm confident that I haven't did anything opposing him that's obvious to him, I feel like he's willing to play his wolf and howl cards. Now the main issue is with Arnold and Trevor.

    Now at this point, I have a horrible connection  with Trevor (he lied about his picks), so I just kept him out of the picture. I was also having minimal connection with Arnold. But the thing is, of course,  he always got howl card...

    Basically my way of making him to use is howl is through Kevin, since I think he have a good relationship with Arnold. Arnold was willing to give info to Kevin, and he was successful in getting Arnold to play it once. I was hoping he won't get howl again, but he did... So at that time, I figure let me play with my own hands. I made a deal with Arnold, saying that if I win this and he's not last, I'd give him the token. If he did went last but survived the DM, I'll give him 7 garnets next round. I was happily shocked that he went to play them howl cards...

    So I won the game. And since Kevin helped me the most, and since I felt that Ethy really haven't gave me anything item wise, I felt that I didn't owe anything to Ethy and gave the token to Kevin. Arnold picked Trevor, Arnold lost, and deep down in the evil division of my heart I was happy that my garnets are safe

Main Match #10

    I don't know how guests works I figure since they don't have nothing to gain and nothing to lose, I thought that they will do whatever I told them to... The pinnacle of my social game...

    But seriously, if I were to establish a better social connection with them I might have used them better for my advantage. But I don't, and making myself a fool by asking Pete to blow all of his coins at the start :V

    So yea, not a lot to talk in this one either. I got the equation that I wanted, kinda shocked that Pete and Adam knew my number, still haven't figured that out yet how they managed to correctly answered it. Also, I knew that the only way I get to escape this DM is if I win the token or Trevor doesn't come last. None of those happened. I got picked to the DM as expected.

    I didn't bother to campaign to Trevor to pick Ethy since I knew even if I tried to sway his choice to Ethy, it'll come across like I talked to him only for the sake of keeping myself in the game. And again we have bad personal connection already so yeah, I'd just hope for the best in the DM.

Death Match #10

    Trevor played a lot less safer than Joseph. He tried mixing some bluffs into the game while I still have the strategy of earning his trust and bluff after a few times has passed. And that bluffing with my constant folding and the double bets and my reckless betting thinking he would bluff definitely drove me down significantly.

    My chips keeps going down with no opening to regain them. When my chips are below 10 I started to lose hope. I figured my luck has ran out from last time, there are no way I could get back from this like last time. And I honestly legit had those moment of thought like the Dongmin's flashback in monorail where he's about to lose, and I honestly had "Jinho's S4 elimination from double sided poker" song stuck in my head at that time (which is a good radiohead song btw, still listened to it sometimes when working). My chip count is at 5, Trevor bet on both sides. Honestly, if I were to get anything under 9 at that point, I'll be lost either way either I bet or fold, and my time in the game will be over.

But RNG God told me, that "that time, isn't now", and I miraculously got a 9.

I was able to get my chip count back, getting ready for a new start. After I fold a round, Trevor decided to double bet again while I got 9 again. So I just try to bet big. If Trevor decided to fold at that point, I'll get an extra 16 chips. If he calls, I won the game. It's basically a win-super win situation for me. He called, I was trembling in excitement, but had to conceal it since I was in class at that time.

All in all, I really think luck played in a big role for my win this time, since there's no way I could've won if I didn't have those 9s at the right time. And I really thought that that's the last time Mas will play double sided poker in this org since how long a game takes and how tedious it is... Oh boy, am I a psychic!


Final part coming soon!