Cagayan game: Tony made an AWFUL game move with his top 5, and was saved because a player made a move that destroyed her own game because she didn't like not being catered to. Sure Sarah has to take some of the blame, but Kas made a move that should NEVER have happened to a player that wanted to win the season.

I agree that Tony played a much better game than Sarah in Cagayan though, I am not discrediting Tony in the slightest, it is you that seems to think only 1 can be good and the other has to be considered an awful player.

As far as meta gaming, it goes just as far as pre game alliances. Sure they can play some part, but once the players get out there it is A LOT less relevant to the actually game than what people talk about pre game. Malcolm said he wanted Tony gone early, but once he got out there he changed his opinion and would rather have worked with him. Had Tony not went into this game like it was day 30 on Cagayan he actually could have altered his game and made a decent run. Once they split into 3 tribes he would have been needed for tribe challenges and not a target for a while. Yes Tony was always going to have a target, but he painted his target neon to make sure everyone who didn't see it did.

When comparing players over multiple seasons I think one of the biggest things to see if they are good players is how they alter their strategy to fit with the new group. Like you said, in Cagayan Sarah was in a pretty good spot but she made 1 really big mistake. In GC she has found herself in just as good a spot but has played so much better to ensure she doesn't make the same mistakes. To me that is a better player.

Tony has 1 mode, it won him Cagayan but a lot of factors helped him in that win, Trish being a HUGE part of it. People say JT can't win without a Stephen and I think the same goes for Tony without a Trish. If a player's game depends on someone else to be their like that I don't think they are an amazing player.