Thursday, March 9, 2017

Game Changes: Draft & Ep 1

All Stars are back! This "Game Changers" season title really makes you question why they picked that name, when the likes of Hali have been included. But all the same, with that shining exception, this is a beastly season. We've already seen two giants of the game slug it out, and I expect we'll see more of that in nearly every episode this season.

I like the new rule that you can't have evenly split votes. That technique was getting pretty boring, and this is a crafty group that will be able to come up with creative work-arounds.

For the record, I'm so happy Ciera went home first. She's such a toxic personality, and I do not enjoy seeing her get screen time. I don't care that she voted her own mother out... that doesn't bother me considering what the situation actually was, people just like using that sound bite. But I don't like the way she plays the game. With her & Tony gone, this will be a far more controlled environment, and I think we'll really get to see people outwit each other in a masterful fashion.


Draft Order:
  1. Michaela
  2. Malcolm
  3. Tai
  4. JT
  5. Tony
  6. Caleb
  7. Zeke
  8. Cirie
  9. Aubrey
  10. Ozzy
  11. Andrea
  12. Sarah
  13. Troyzan
  14. Ciera
  15. Sandra
  16. Jeff
  17. Debbie
  18. Brad
  19. Hali
  20. Sierra

The Teams:

Michal & Ben "Try Harder" - 18 points
  1. Tai (6 pts)
  2. Caleb (0 pts)
  3. Sarah (6 pts)
  4. Troyzan (0 pts)
  5. Brad (6 pts)
Baggadocious "Legends of the Fall" - 14 points
  1. JT (6 pts)
  2. [Tony (-4 pts)]
  3. Ozzy (6 pts)
  4. Sandra (0 pts)
  5. Debbie (6 pts)
Doug & Bri "Original Manbun" - 12 points
  1. Malcolm (0 pts)
  2. Zeke (6 pts)
  3. Aubrey (0 pts)
  4. Jeff (0 pts)
  5. Sierra (6 pts)
MoonBee "Steel Magnolias" - 6 points
  1. Michaela (0 pts)
  2. Cirie (5 pts)
  3. Andrea (6 pts)
  4. [Ciera (-5 pts)]
  5. Hali (0 pts)

Power Rankings:

1. Original Manbun:  Malcolm & Zeke are both looking pretty good right now. Aubrey could be in a tough spot if they weren't about to switch up tribes next episode... so I guess I'll say that she's probably still in pretty good shape. Being in the minority right before a tribal switch-up usually ends up being a good thing. I think Jeff is going to go home soon. He was SO useless in that last challenge, I just don't see people tolerating that for much longer. I don't expect much from Sierra either, but she's fairly unobjectionable, so she could go far & earn decent points along the way.

2. Try Harder: The first episode went about as good as it could have for our team. None of our players stuck their necks out too far, we earned a lot of points, and most of them seem to be using sound strategy. This team has enough physicality to earn points along the way too. It's still SUPER early though, and with a tribe mix-up on the horizon (my guess is a split into 3 tribes of 6) no one is truly safe.

3.Steel Magnolias: Cirie is in trouble early. You know it's bad when even Debbie isn't really willing to work with you. Hali seems like a waste of space, and Ciera is gone (woot!), which means that Cirie needs to bounce back quickly, or this team is depending entirely on Michaela & Andrea. And even if Cirie makes it to the finals, I'm just not sure that this team has the ability to rake in big points once it gets down to individual challenges.

4. Legends of the Fall: Bag & Andrea bucked the accepted wisdom of drafting past winners, and this looks like a risk that won't pay off in the end. Especially if Sandra keeps pronouncing herself the queen to everyone. That tribe was happy to go with it for now, but that's gonna get old real fast. JT - or, as he'll be referred to from now on, Fat JT - and Ozzy are getting chummy but they'll be easy targets. I really hope that Sandra & Cirie end up on the same tribe next episode & join forces. That would be spectacular to watch!!


Douche of the Week:
Hali, just because she doesn't deserve to be on this season.

7 comments:

Michal Greenberg said...

Also I just realized that I won my Sierra v. Ciera bet against Melissa, woo hoo!!

Unknown said...

I am really glad they got rid of Tony! But I must've fallen asleep for a couple of minutes. I thought Malcolm and the guy who almost died last time were all gung ho Tony. I didn't hear anything about voting for Aubry, and suddenly (for me) everyone voted for Tony except Tony and Sandra. Why did Sandra "have to" vote for Aubry? When did everyone else decide Sandra was right and they should vote for Tony?

DOW: Sandra. I generally really like her, but they way she declared herself the Queen, etc. after Tony got voted out was really obnoxious.

TheGraveWolf said...

The Tony Show's pilot was not picked up by the network.

Queen Sandra showed she could be easily riled by Tony's parting words.

Michaela's pouty party was not a good sign for the #1 pick. She did look great in the physical parts of the first challenge.

Everyone wants to work with Cirie in the pre show interviews. No one wants to work with Cirie in episode 1. Huh? I still think she'll go deep.

Team rankings:

#1 Try Harder. Michal picked the name but I like it. Our players can win challenges and will benefit from a tribal mix up which looks like it may be as soon as next episode.I think we did a good job getting our players where we did in the draft. I remember Sarah being the #1 pick for a couple teams on her season. Hopefully the Tai/Caleb link will prove fruitful.

#2 OMB. I think team Try Harder has 4 players who could win individual challenges that are primarily physical (not Troyzan) and OMB only has Malcolm. Aubrey is a social giant and will go far but probably without a ton of points.

#3 LotF. I think there's quite a drop off and then this team and Steel Magnolias are close in rank. Too many past winners/celebrities but this team will have a much easier time winning challenge points than the anemic Magnolias.

#4 Steel Magnolias. A first out boot for Ciera doesn't do this team anyway favors. They will struggle to earn challenge points and even with the mighty Cirie I still have to rank them last for the time being. I think both Michaela and Zeke went too high in the draft but we'll see...

DoW was Jeff Varner and I don't see that changing until he gets the boot. Michaela gets honorable mention for her theatrics.

Bag said...

DoW: Sandra for her comments as Tony was snuffed.

GnightMoon said...

I agree with GraveWolf's rankings.

Taking Ciera over Sandra was a huge mistake, it appears. Solely based on track record in a decent sample size, it was a real bad move. However, if you look at the first two episodes, the most aggressive players were eliminated first. If that trend continues, Sandra could be on the outs soon. I thought she had a great quote about playing a simple game with being okay with anyone getting voted out as long as it wasn't her.

The "Most Improved Award" will be an interesting battle to watch this season. I thought Brad had a good start, as he seemed to add some humility and tact to his game. We will see if he can maintain it throughout the season. I thought Malcolm had a pretty good episode and will do well if he can find a longterm alliance to lay low with until the end.

Dropping the buffs would appear to benefit Cirie. She needs a fresh tribe and two allies she can link up with.

Tony DoW. He came out too fast for a group he couldn't manhandle.

TheGraveWolf said...

Yeah, I think that's a solid analysis Moon. Michal made the same observation during the episode about taking Ciera over Sandra. Byeeeead judgement. ;)

Congrats to Melissa on losing her first ever bet during episode 1. Well done rookie!

Brad does seem to have mellowed. Survivor has been the culprit behind many a terrible hashtag and #WWMD is par for the course.

Doug said...

I'm going Sandra for DoW. Yelling about being the Queen of Survivor was a bit much.

The new spreadsheet isn't up yet, so I can't check what other side bets were made during the draft. Anything fun?

Considering Caleb and Malcolm are basically the same person on their tribe, why did Malcolm get more than 2x the airtime? I hope it's just because he a better speaker and gets better ratings for CBS from the lady viewers, but too much airtime can be real good or real bad this early. Not sure what to make of it yet.

I agree that they skipped over some stuff that lead to the 2nd Tribal vote. Tony was way on the outs, but it looks like the producers wanted us to think it was closer than it was.

We also don't know a whole lot about the other tribes real alliances, since they weren't put to the test. Such a quick tribe swap will certainly mess with those.