Structural

[Princess Celestia]

It's not enough to say why you deserve to win Survivor; the Jury is deciding who deserves to specifically win Survivor: Equestria. In addition to the 23 other players in this game, each of you had to deal with the structure of the game itself. Challenges, mechanics, swaps, items, pacing, and other factors that did not directly come from the other players all affected your journey here.

This thread is for the Jury to ask questions about how your ability to navigate the game itself stood out from your opponents.

[Derpy Hooves]

Oh my god Coco... I did see that the colour of those pictures (Sunburst/Fluttershy) had been changed, but I didn't go back to thos TCs to check! It was probably way too late as well, when did you find that idol?

SENT USING PONYPHONE

[Starlight Glimmer]

Agreed, I wish I'd gone back to those TC's good play on your part, also by my count that makes 4 idols in the game total?
1) My Legacy idol (can only be used at Merge/F7)
2) Pinkie's pre-merge idol
3/4) Coco's 2 idols

[Starlight Glimmer]

Rarity, as it appears you're around

I believe that going in to the F6 you had 3 very powerful items, some of which when combined put you in the most powerful position in the game

The chicken and the parasprites used together meant that you could've sent home any pony you wanted to

Any reason you didn't use either of those?

And likewise, the use of your ring had no effect, again you could've used said ring to flip the votes in that tribal where it could've been a 3v3

[Rarity]

Rarity, as it appears you're around

I believe that going in to the F6 you had 3 very powerful items, some of which when combined put you in the most powerful position in the game

The chicken and the parasprites used together meant that you could've sent home any pony you wanted to

Any reason you didn't use either of those?

And likewise, the use of your ring had no effect, again you could've used said ring to flip the votes in that tribal where it could've been a 3v3

Well first the Chicken really wasn't that potent of an item. Like it would have been a good meme to troll Soarin with, but he was ineligible for elimination and I had not quite chosen between Pear and DJ who I actually wanted to see go home. As for the Parasprites, my understanding was that if I used them, I wouldn't get my extra vote. I messaged the mods to verify that, but between Parasprites and the Ring, it was imperative that I put myself in a position where I was an important and desirable swing vote. I had just lost two friends and I was scared.

Regardless of whether I actually blindsided anypony with the ring, the important thing was that I became a tie breaker at the final even Tribal council. For that vote, the social weight of the item was worth more than any blindside I could have performed.

EDIT: Shit apparently I could have declared my intent to get two votes from my ring during the challenge and also used the parasprites to stop idols from being played. That was not immediately intuitive to me at the time, so I didn't bother following up.

[Soarin]

Coco:
I feel you've played a very consistent game all around. However, I don't feel you positioned yourself incredibly well to get to the end. A lot of ponies were catching on to you and as the game went on it became increasingly obvious you were a big threat. While I give kudos to you for finding two idols and winning the crucial F5 challenge, I feel you wouldn't have made it this far without them. If you hadn't had the advantages you had, how confident were you that you would still land a spot in F3, and what lengths did you go to to manage your threat level to ensure this would happen?

[Queen Chrysalis]

@all: Was there a twist or swap that most negatively affected your game? What was that and how did you navigate your way out of it? Was there a twist that most saved your game?

[Rarity]

@all: Was there a twist or swap that most negatively affected your game? What was that and how did you navigate your way out of it? Was there a twist that most saved your game?

Being sorted onto a tribe with you and Pinkie Pie was the scariest and hardest point of the game for me. I had just gone after your closest friends and alliance mates, and had done so fairly transparently. I expected for the two of you vote me off immediately. I navigated by building on the relationship I fostered with you, and hoping that would be enough to soften Pinkie to my plight. I figured it would cost me the possibility to work with Thorax and potentially Coco, but crossing Pinkie was not an option at that junction.

[Grand Pear]

Hey guess what. I'm at work. I'll get to all the questions when I get home tonight.

[Coco Pommel]

Oh my god Coco... I did see that the colour of those pictures (Sunburst/Fluttershy) had been changed, but I didn't go back to thos TCs to check! It was probably way too late as well, when did you find that idol?

SENT USING PONYPHONE

I was proud of making that connection I found the coloured pictures the night of the FlimFlam vote, and it took me a little less than an hour to go check the Sunburst TC and complete the puzzle.

[Granny Smith]

A question for each of ya to answer when ya need a break from spr srs strategy talk:

Tell me 'bout a moment or situation in this game that stood out to ya in some sort of remarkable way. Somethin' that made ya smile, somethin' that made ya laugh, somethin' that made ya cry even! One of the things that keeps me comin' back to online Survivor (even though I'm probably too old for it hah!) is the amazin' ability of these games to make ya FEEL. And I would really like to know somethin' that each of ya considered special in this game.

[Starlight Glimmer]

I believe that you found the idol before Derpy had pointed out the pictures to us, so you would've beaten me on it anyway, idk how long Derpy knew before that

[Coco Pommel]

Coco:
I feel you've played a very consistent game all around. However, I don't feel you positioned yourself incredibly well to get to the end. A lot of ponies were catching on to you and as the game went on it became increasingly obvious you were a big threat. While I give kudos to you for finding two idols and winning the crucial F5 challenge, I feel you wouldn't have made it this far without them. If you hadn't had the advantages you had, how confident were you that you would still land a spot in F3, and what lengths did you go to to manage your threat level to ensure this would happen?

Firstly, thank you!
There were two events in this game that were catalysts for me coming out of the shadows and taking on the role of a threat: the Wonderbolt swap and finding the idols. To survive on Wonderbolt, I needed to play a stronger social game than I had been playing up to that point. But I'll focus more on the idols, since they're the topic of this question and the bigger reason my game transitioned into what it was during merge.

I found the idols during the very first round of merge. Think back to then: the game was very different in terms of who was perceived as a threat. I hadn't been too active on Crystal Empire, and in the obvious pair that was me and Granny, I'd argue she was the dominant one in the first half of the game. There were players like FlimFlam and Rainbow who were clear threats, and plenty of players (you and DJ, for example) who still had plenty of time to become threats down the line. I might be wrong, but back in that first round I don't think I had much heat on me.

The idols gave me the resources I needed to play a flashier game and still feel confident I would come out in one piece. Without them, my game would have looked much different all throughout merge. I would have taken my time in establishing an alliance with you - I definitely wouldn't have ambitiously offered that alliance to you/DJ/Granny that early on. And I probably would have given much more control to my partners in Granny and DJ, letting them establish themselves as the threats in my place. That was basically my plan from the start of the game with Granny, avoiding surpassing her in threat level so that if a shot was taken at one of us, it wouldn't be me.

So to answer your question in regards to the idols: the game would look completely different without them and I wouldn't have positioned myself as a big threat. I feel confident I could have managed my threat level well from that early on in merge.

I don't think I needed immunity at Final 5. Rarity didn't want you at FTC, and I believe at least Pear would have joined us. nopony felt comfortable taking you on in Onitama, and while I may have been a threat, surviving Final 5 would have made you a threat to Rarity and Pear as well.

[Coco Pommel]

@all: Was there a twist or swap that most negatively affected your game? What was that and how did you navigate your way out of it? Was there a twist that most saved your game?

Wonderbolt Academy, hands-down. That was such an awful position for me from the start My options were heavily limited with Pinkie deciding Thorax and I were going to go one-by-one. Despite that, I feel I handled the situation about as well as I possibly could have! I tried my very hardest to connect with you and Rarity while finding the right time to express my concerns about Pinkie. You told me at the time that you didn't think it would be impossible for me to survive a second vote on Wonderbolt. I don't really know about that in hindsight considering Pinkie's idol and your intense loyalty to her, but I do think I turned a near-impossible situation into something that I could feasibly survive.
Relatedly, the F13 challenge being Robot Unicorn Attack was probably the twist that saved my game! I consider it the game giving me back some luck after putting me in such a tough spot. If you don't consider that a 'twist', then I'd say the firemaking challenge was the twist that most saved my game. I tried to undersell this when possible during the game, but I am pretty good at certain challenges. Robot Unicorn Attack and chess-like games are two things I excel at.

[Coco Pommel]

A question for each of ya to answer when ya need a break from spr srs strategy talk:

Tell me 'bout a moment or situation in this game that stood out to ya in some sort of remarkable way. Somethin' that made ya smile, somethin' that made ya laugh, somethin' that made ya cry even! One of the things that keeps me comin' back to online Survivor (even though I'm probably too old for it hah!) is the amazin' ability of these games to make ya FEEL. And I would really like to know somethin' that each of ya considered special in this game.

<3 you know that moments like these are ultimately what made me decide to spin the wheel again too. And this game provided several of those moments.

The moment that has meant the most to me throughout this whole experience was the chatter I had with Rarity before DJ was voted out. Rarity was feeling conflicted and just all-around not great about the game. We went back and forth all night between getting out of our heads playing Onitama, and chatting through our thoughts and feelings about the game at large. I won't go into the details - I feel that's something that would be more appropriate for Rarity to discuss if she wants to, considering we're both here at FTC. But our conversation that night meant so much to me, and regardless of how this FTC goes I am happy I'm here with her.

[Granny Smith]

Thanks for ya answer. <3

[Rarity]

A question for each of ya to answer when ya need a break from spr srs strategy talk:

Tell me 'bout a moment or situation in this game that stood out to ya in some sort of remarkable way. Somethin' that made ya smile, somethin' that made ya laugh, somethin' that made ya cry even! One of the things that keeps me comin' back to online Survivor (even though I'm probably too old for it hah!) is the amazin' ability of these games to make ya FEEL. And I would really like to know somethin' that each of ya considered special in this game.

<3 you know that moments like these are ultimately what made me decide to spin the wheel again too. And this game provided several of those moments.

The moment that has meant the most to me throughout this whole experience was the chatter I had with Rarity before DJ was voted out. Rarity was feeling conflicted and just all-around not great about the game. We went back and forth all night between getting out of our heads playing Onitama, and chatting through our thoughts and feelings about the game at large. I won't go into the details - I feel that's something that would be more appropriate for Rarity to discuss if she wants to, considering we're both here at FTC. But our conversation that night meant so much to me, and regardless of how this FTC goes I am happy I'm here with her.

This situation was indeed one of the turning points. It's not really a secret that DJ and Soarin both had me feeling like shit about how I was playing, and this was an opportunity I took to try to get some closure on how I was supposed to go on. I took advantage of Onitama and its chat feature to have a real conversation with Coco. A real IM conversation rather than the degree of separation that it feels like PMs always have. I don't really think anypony believes in my agency, but this was the point where I discuss with Coco that I was considering making a move against Pear due to my concerns with him. She can verify if she wants, but I don't really think that she was planning to do anything to stop me.

And to reiterate something I mentioned before, the reason that didn't go through was because Soarin was so socially unpleasant towards me that I didn't want to work with him. Coco's opinion on whether Pear should go had nothing to do with my decision.

[Grand Pear]

@all: Was there a twist or swap that most negatively affected your game? What was that and how did you navigate your way out of it? Was there a twist that most saved your game?

Had an extremely shitty day, but I'll try to respond to as much as I can right now…

The swap where I ended up having to vote out one of my closest allies(Lede) was probably the most negative to me. I got through it by making the best decision that I thought was there and by using it to get closer to my other allies.

The most positive twist was probably the auction for me, where I won the goggles and I got to spoil to whoever I wanted who had which items.

[Grand Pear]

A question for each of ya to answer when ya need a break from spr srs strategy talk:

Tell me 'bout a moment or situation in this game that stood out to ya in some sort of remarkable way. Somethin' that made ya smile, somethin' that made ya laugh, somethin' that made ya cry even! One of the things that keeps me comin' back to online Survivor (even though I'm probably too old for it hah!) is the amazin' ability of these games to make ya FEEL. And I would really like to know somethin' that each of ya considered special in this game.

Actually for me, that moment involved you. It was the Chrysalis vote, where I tried hard to throw you under the bus so Rarity, DJ and Soarin would vote with us. I was so nervous that TC, because I really wanted you to make it through there. I had immunity that round, so there was no way I was going home. When results were posted I was super happy that it worked out and that we had our group to go to the end with.

[Starlight Glimmer]

Out of question, how many ponies had you told about the locations of the items?

I only ask because we weren't very close but yet you gave me the whole list (admittedly this was due to me providing you with information and stating I knew you had the goggles)

And how specifically did you use the goggles information to help further your game?

[Grand Pear]

Out of question, how many ponies had you told about the locations of the items?

I only ask because we weren't very close but yet you gave me the whole list (admittedly this was due to me providing you with information and stating I knew you had the goggles)

And how specifically did you use the goggles information to help further your game?

I told all of my Alliance at the time(Dash, Rarity, Lede and FlimFlam). I'm not sure who else I shared it with afterwards. I think Granny and Coco probably got it at some point too?

I think the goggles helped in voting out Fluttershy and McColt, because they both had some dangerous items. So it definitely helped further my game, I think.