Morgan's Rankings

[Host]

6. Tess
Season: Resurrection
Placement: 6th
Edgic: CPN

Before I begin this write-up, I must express how heartbroken I was to find that Tess would not be able to play in All-Stars. She is, without a doubt, the best villain this series has seen in my opinion. She was probably the biggest surprise in Season 4 and she erupted to be, who I think was, the biggest character in Resurrection. Nearly every single vote, even ones she wasn't even apart of, revolved around her in some sense. It's a true testament to her impact in the game.

Tess's demeanor throughout the game would probably not tip anyone off as "villainous". In comparison with other Good & Evil villains, her strategy wasn't as good as Dominic and she wasn't as ruthless as Annie. She was an original, and her gameplay/persona throughout the season can pretty much be characterized by the phrase "emotional power-steering". She began the game in the middle of Dallas' alliance and Gloria's alliance…but she didn't want to be in either. She wanted to form Tess' alliance. And she spent the rest of the game trying…and succeeding…to do just that.

After the Dallas boot, she tried to flip things for Rosemary to stay along with Hannah, but alas Wyatt didn't budge. Ironically enough, after this vote, Tess pretty much scooped Wyatt under her pocket. At the swap, she made an alliance with Stephenie & Yvette after finding herself enjoying the Cascade bunch much more than the Napa bunch. Speaking of Napa, Tess was instrumental in their dysfunction. A normal player would've waited until late in the game to try to flip against Napa, but Tess wasn't going to wait. She voted out Gloria and that's when her name went up in lights. She got just as cocky as Dallas and Gloria before her. Stephenie realized this and wanted to do the exact same thing (which would've created a hilarious trend of Dallas > Gloria > Tess > Stephenie), but alas they ended up winning that last tribal immunity- sparing Tess. At the merge, Gloria & Quincy returned and wanted to flip to vote out Tess for all of her debouchery, but she played an immunity that she won at Death Valley. After Hannah was blindsided, Tess pretty much threw any hopes of Napa staying together out the window. She scrambled to save Steph at the Final 11, and when she couldn't, she swore to get control again to get out the people she didn't like: emotional power-steering. She took out Quincy, then Gloria, then Beau…until she was ultimately blindsided by the Cascade group and Luca for being the threat she was. Such a great arc and character.

[tess]

Ah thank you so much Morgan! I'm really humbled to rank this high. Like Quincy said

it means a lot (probably more than it should, even).

[Host]

3 Luca
Season: Resurrection
Placement: 1st
Edgic: MORP

It was hard for me to figure out where to rank Luca. He is probably the most well-rounded player and winner we've had, staying afloat strategically, being well-liked, and being a challenge powerhouse. I think the reason that he's placed here is because I find people who lose the game much more interesting than those who win. To win the game, Luca had to be very under the radar at times, he had to suck up to people, etc. He played very textbook, but he played it phenomenally and was incredibly entertaining.

Luca was the first person in the series, and probably will be the only person, to consistently deliver great video confessionals. It allowed for myself and the viewers to get insight from a player that we never really had before. Had Luca not won, I'm sure that his "edit" would've been different- as he was sort of a background narrator the entire time. He served as a calm mirror to reflect the craziness that was constantly happening around him- which was very refreshing in Season 4. Also, in a season where people made moves for the sake of making moves, Luca proved that you don't win by making elaborate moves, you win by making small, lasting cuts (which I think is symbolism that he harped on during the game).

For most of the game, he was a secondary character and narrator to people like Gloria, Quincy, Hannah, and Tess- and didn't really come forefront until the Final 9 twist, where he was able to secure immunity and wedge himself in between the Cascade tribe (great foresight really). It wasn't until the Final 4 that people really even saw him as the one to beat, and by then he already secured immunity. While I expected him to sweep jury votes, he was refreshing in his jury questioning in how brutally honest he was with a few people- which was a nice cherry on top of his gameplay all around.