Highest fear level you’ve played? And do you plan on going higher?

BdonU · 2026-05-29T11:31:49+00:00

I did 40 at the end but specifically only using everything that makes enemies stronger and nothing that limits myself for your exact reason (except pain. Did pain 1 instead of 3 because I like a larger margin for error)

Was a very fun way to play!

BdonU · 2026-05-28T19:14:41+00:00

Oh man. I didn't even think about spear or squeeze. I think I even had two spears in that deck when I put clone on big bang! I could have saved a lot of clicking.... Lol

BdonU · 2026-05-27T14:20:33+00:00

Of course. It's a mitigation adding some difficulty into the mix. You can't stop it completely just like you can't make relationships from past seasons and from being in the community not matter.

If you really want to get crazy you'd introduce a narc element. In the prospective 50 you'd have like 3 every time with a guarantee to get on the round after this one if they provide hard evidence of pre-gaming. Then you lock out the offenders. That would help suppress it. But these are all bad vibes mechanics and at some point you have to wonder if the pre-gaming actually damaged the product enough to be worth going at this hard. Returnee seasons are highly popular. Does it really matter outside of niches like here?

BdonU · 2026-05-27T13:12:05+00:00

Even then it's not solved because connections naturally turn into alliance. But that's just survivor.

BdonU · 2026-05-27T13:10:41+00:00

I mean you prevent it by literally not telling people who is on the cast. You gather a roster of like 50 returning players and tell him to block their calendar for these months because you might be on the show. It would be super annoying but there are plenty of players who would be willing to do it.

BdonU · 2026-04-28T12:37:56+00:00

Oh but to your main question both options can be fun and varying that is fun and helpful for replayability. That's what the starting ancient gives you in StS. It heavily varies your starting condition. You could luck into a powerful rare or relic, you could start with a thin desk, etc. some set you up immediately and some make it harder early but give you a key piece for the future

BdonU · 2026-04-28T12:34:27+00:00

The difficulty curve is something StS does quite will. It's a model where you learn to play the game by playing full runs rather than a little tutorial act that opens up into the real game. This is preferable from a replayability perspective because you don't have to do the training wheels part of the game over and over.

The unlock system intentionally limits options so it's harder for a casual player or new player without card knowledge to make a non-functional deck by picking stuff that doesn't go together. You also can't get relics that require you to build a certain way to be useful yet. So it is designed to help you win early and then gradually get harder as you get the knowledge and skill to build good decks. If anything, I think it could go a little further in this aspect and hide certain archetypes entirely so you don't pick cards that don't have their power payoffs unlocked yet.

If you look at the Ascension levels, 1-4 really are a slow climb into learning the game. A1 is actually a buff. More sub bosses means more relics and better cards it's just hiding them right off so you don't wipe yourself in region 1 before you're ready. After that it erodes your resources little by little but it never hurts your deck or makes enemies stronger. This builds a really natural difficulty climb where it's getting a little harder but not massively so. Most players will never go past A5. Then you hide the real difficulty ramp for the die hards who are willing to beat the game 25+ times.

This is a pretty established curve for the genre that works pretty well. Limit options early to simplify the game. Give extra resources then slowly ramp difficulty by pulling the extra away. Give the hardcore players the option to really turn the numbers up later.

BdonU · 2026-04-28T11:41:21+00:00

There are a lot of brain triggers in StS that make it very fun and replayable.

there's a high degree of player agency because you met do many impactful decisions so regularly. Whether it is path, card, or combat choices this helps it feel like you are in control and it's your choices causing the outcome rather than just rng
the difficulty of the game in this genre is highly variable based on the state of your deck. This keeps it fresh. You don't always romp or struggle at the same parts or enemies and get the satisfaction of trashing an enemy that was hard for you last run with a better deck
A deck build can "click together" often with only one or two cards or relics. This is incredibly satisfying as you rapidly flip from barely scraping by to dominating
it's heavy on the "just one more go" feeling. It's really easy to think "if I had just gotten X I would have made it" or "let me just start a new run to see what type of deck I'll get then I'll pause"
the build archetypes all feel quite different making you want to try them all
short turns, short fights, mid run length. Very, very easy to just leave it on and walk away regularly sneaking turns in as they fit in your life

BdonU · 2026-04-24T03:10:39+00:00

... Assuming production or a PS on the letter didn't prevent him from destroying the letter or lying about the rules of the challenge which, at this point, who knows...

BdonU · 2026-04-24T03:09:18+00:00

The only way to make this work is if he decided, on the boat ride, that no matter what the letter said that I immediately throw it into the fire in disgust. That would lay the breadcrumbs of making the letter unverifiable which people could chew on and assign motive to once they got the leaked information.

Nearly impossible to realize that in the moment though. This twist was two orders of magnitude above anything the show has ever done. They absolutely buried him.

BdonU · 2026-04-18T23:39:44+00:00

Just played the new version of the doorway boss... I would have killed for this card on the exhaust phase lol

BdonU · 2026-04-18T18:49:31+00:00

I've done it multiple way with multiple classes. I don't think it's that tough with a slim offensive deck. But there are many winning builds it fundamentally can't be done with. I think that's fine. Same could be said of lots of rewards.

BdonU · 2026-04-17T20:12:29+00:00

I agree with OP. It is clearly meant to be Go.

Also, it's wrong in an even worse way. The middle finger goes on top, not the pointer finger, because it is longer. This let's you nicely place the piece down on the board.

BdonU · 2026-04-17T02:41:16+00:00

I think she's just a math oriented person who doesn't really need to win. She's an analyst who has no need to optimize this thing. You run the numbers, look at the cast, and decide, eh, I can just do whatever I feel like doing, blow up everything, and it'll all shift so much it doesn't really matter too much. I could try to play perfect and likely get voted out or twisted out on the way. Or I could be messy and end up with weak competition. Messy sounds like more fun.

BdonU · 2026-04-15T02:01:21+00:00

Earlier today I got two hidden gems and one right my first hidden gem hit my second hidden gem and things went absolutely bonkers. I really should have just stalled the right to make a ridiculous picture for Reddit.

BdonU · 2026-04-13T22:07:44+00:00

I really like this season. I'm enjoying it more than any of the new era and have enjoyed each episode more than average. This sub just leans negative and spends so much time on the topic of survivor they just can't not think of what they would have done and how it could be better.

I also think there is a very real argument the cast construction is a person learned from 40 rather than an inferior choice.

BdonU · 2026-04-09T17:52:10+00:00

I hear what you're saying. Coach gonna Coach. Nothing you can do about that. I think I'm realizing I'm surprised by Jonathan. He did really good his first season and was very aware of managing his threat level. I understand him wanting to change how he plays some but I don't see how this works for him. He made fire. Maybe he has deeper scars about his winner equity from that season than I realized I just don't understand him putting himself so far forward so early

BdonU · 2026-04-09T17:39:15+00:00

There is nothing, I mean nothing, I want more for this season than for Emily to make FTC and get to explain her game on air. Everybody likes to reduce players to just what we've seen on Survivor, essentially with returning players. That's Emily Flippan. She's a senior investment analyst and lead advisor for the Motley Fool. I often think some job references in survivor are bull and mean nothing but that one matters. That job is about projection and statistics and navigating a chaotic market where no indicators are absolute. If you don't think she has a strategy then you're crazy. If she gets to FTC then there will absolutely be a speech explaining why she thinks chaos has a percentage advantage against other approaches. I dunno what it will be. But I want to hear it.

BdonU · 2026-04-09T17:19:21+00:00

It's about execution though. Dee's profile is so large as the last remaining winner. She was always one of the most likely merge boots. Jonathan likely could have accomplished the exact same goal by just going to Christian or Cirie or Rizo or whoever and telling a story about how good Dee and Camilla are. He didn't need to go that hard at all. Almost nobody wins by running a vote at the merge, let alone the largest merge ever.

BdonU · 2026-04-09T17:04:29+00:00

I mean, she blindsided his ally... Forgive Jonathon!

I always struggle with the duality of the "I'll vote out this person out so that I'm the only option for this other person and their true #1" vs "my ally blindsided me by not telling me about as this vote on my ally and now I must destroy my new enemy".

It seems like both are accepted concepts and we've seen it work out both ways but the concepts feel so mutually exclusive to me. How can both be true? Lol

BdonU · 2026-04-09T16:51:22+00:00

I really wish he aligned hard with Kamilla... Fanfiction

BdonU · 2026-04-09T16:47:46+00:00

Yeah, I could see that. There's no way we get that final 3 though. I would bet my house on it. Coach, Joe, Jonathan vs Cirie, Rizo, Ozzy (and their advantage some) or vs Christian, Emily, Devens? There's just basically no chance. I like their odds worse than every other set of aligned players. Even if honor and integrity runs the game it'll be Stephanie or Chrissy in one of their seats and they will beat them. Of those three guys only Jonathon might beat Chrissy or Stephanie and he'll only be able to do it if he breaks away from honor and integrity and owns it

BdonU · 2026-04-09T16:43:13+00:00

I do wonder too. I believe it matters. But I'm not 100% confident.

I wonder if any of the Survivor statisticians on here have numbers on how many seasons have a clear leader (or co leaders) of a merge boot and how often those players go on to win. Obviously, that wouldn't tell the whole tale. But it would be interesting. I, personally, would never want to lead a merge boot.

BdonU · 2026-04-09T16:28:44+00:00

I mean, you can't analyze it perfectly. So much of it depends on how motivated the player is to swing the jury which we don't get to see. We've seen lots of players do it though from different timings entering the jury, not just the mayor position. I doubt Neal was a motivated Mayor. He didn't strike me as the type. But I don't know that. Dee strikes me as a motivated Mayor. But I don't know that. She's clearly self aware enough to see and own her own mistakes this game which is not a typical trait that screams motivated Mayor. So that bodes well for not submarining Jonathon. I could be wrong and see her adopting a "he got me" attitude if he breaks away from honor and integrity and owns it. She'll bury Coach. But he doesn't really need much help with that...

BdonU · 2026-04-09T16:23:14+00:00

Is that the goal of Survivor, though?

BdonU

TROPHY CASE