Magic Kingdom

**SurviVARs: Magic Kingdom** is the third season of *SurviVARs*. It had 14 new castaways and 4 returning castaways marooned for 34 days. It premiered January 15th 2022 and the winner was crowned February 17th 2022.

## Production

This season of *SurviVARs* had 18 castaways divided into two tribes of nine. The game lasted 34 days but if someone had to quit or be ejected tribal council would be cancelled.

## Twists/Changes

* **Returning Players -** The Most Robbed Players and Pre-Jury All Stars from the first two seasons came back for a second chance.
* **Disneyworld Safari -** Advantages and idols were hidden in a separate server which could be explored and interacted with using bot commands.
* **Joint Tribal -** With 14 players remaining, two tribes went to Tribal Council together to eliminate a single player.
* **Final 2 -** Final Tribal Council was between two players instead of the usual three.

## Season Ranking (1st)

**Cast - 2/6**

Magic Kingdom’s cast was absolutely cracked. I don’t think I’ve seen a merge lineup where every single player (except for maybe one) had so much win equity. I think there were only two players in the whole season that I would call genuinely inactive. The returnees are kind of an asterisk here, but even though 3/4 of them didn’t make deep runs they still contributed to the pre-merge. They weren’t the most active, but I don’t regret bringing them back. If anything, it speaks to the strength of the new players that they ate the returnees alive. It was inevitable that a cast this strong would produce a great winner, because they would’ve had to outplay so many all-stars to get there. Magic Kingdom’s cast was also just so damn fun to watch. I think it’s fair to say it’s the least toxicity I’ve seen in a season, and that this cast of players was just having fun playing the game, while playing it damn well. I don’t know if we’ll ever have a cast of new players as strong as Magic Kingdom, even if seasons like Evolution come close.

**Pre-Merge - 4/6**

This wasn’t a bad pre-merge, but it didn’t have much to set it apart from the other seasons. We had some interesting drama with Ali and Jess, but that was pretty much it. Otherwise, it was basically just booting Kyle (robbed king) for being inactive, and then the three returnees for pretty much the same reason. Not much excitement, but that doesn’t mean it’s a bad pre-merge. It just means that there were so many better ones ahead of it on the ranking.

**Post-Merge - 2/6**

The pre-merge was a bit meh, but the post-merge was incredible. Since all the more inactive players got booted prior to the merge, we were left with a cast of 11 strong players that all deserved to be there. Or maybe 10… Brianna was pretty inactive. But even then, she provided entertainment by disappearing entirely only to pop in every boot and ask why they voted for her. Every round was interesting for one reason or another, and we had a lot of great blindsides like Red and Quint. Every player was playing hard, and every single one had a chance to win. Power shifted constantly between underdogs, and everyone clambered to end up on top of the game. We had some iconic eliminations like Mason’s (iLadies, anyone?) and Vince’s, and then the winner of the season ultimately came down to a firemaking challenge between the two strongest contenders. It was very hard to choose between Evolution and Magic Kingdom as our best post-merge, and it was very nearly MK. It’s just that good.

**Gameplay - 1/6**

Magic Kingdom is easily the season with the best gameplay, because every player was playing well and making smart moves. Once we hit the merge, there were no really “easy” votes. Nobody was just there for the ride. Everyone had plans to get them to the end, and was working towards making them happen. This meant that it turned into a season of power grabs and battles of wits. Players were outwitted one second, and then bounced back and became the outwitter in the next vote. It was very exciting to watch, and really kept us on our toes. Other seasons may have had the strongest strategists in its top players, but no season has a cast as consistently strong as Magic Kingdom’s when it comes to gameplay.

**Story - 1/6**

Magic Kingdom’s story was so fun because every player had such a clear role in the story, yet nobody was really at its center. Everyone was the protagonist depending on how you look at it. Red was one of the most lovable personalities we had seen in this ORG, and nobody saw him as a threat until the endgame when the underdogs finally took control. Izzy and Quint were a solid duo until Quint was sent home, sending Izzy into beast mode for the rest of the game. Davon was a scrappy underdog that had to fight for any power, and still nearly pulled out a win in the end. In terms of an overall story, nothing was what people would expect. For a season with four returnees, they were far from being the driving force of the season (only Quint made merge). Many of our top Edgic contenders (Quint, Mason, Red) were sniped, and our UTR players (Davon, Izzy, Nick) stole the game at the end. The season featured a lot of fun rivalries and battles, like Mason vs Vince, Davon vs Izzy, Izzy vs Neen, and Davon vs their immunity idol. Overall, though, I think this season has the clearest theme of them all: Underdogs. In a weird way, everyone was an underdog this season, because nobody was in charge until they made a big move and took control. It was like a wave: Person A becomes a threat, Person B takes them out, and then Person C takes out Person B for being the new threat. Quint, Mason, Red, Vince, Davon, and Neen were all underdogs that took power for themselves and then got cut by another underdog doing the same thing. It was such a cool story to the game, and something that really gave this season a unique identity that no other season can top.

**Hosting Experience - 1/6**

This is probably no surprise, because everyone and their mother holds Magic Kingdom up as the gold standard of what a good season looks like. Everyone loved this season, both players and spectators alike. Sure, there were a few moments of toxicity, but by usual Discord standards it was super chill. The players were all committed to the game, and the confessionals were better here than any season before or after. The cast had fun playing this game, and that meant the specs had fun watching. This season was the SurviVARS community at its best. It’s my personal favorite season of the ORG, and I’m not alone in that.

**Overall Thoughts**

There’s not much to be said other than the fact that Magic Kingdom is just a really solid season all around. The only real negative is that the pre-merge wasn’t above average, but that’s a pretty weak critique. This season had it all: a great cast, great gameplay, memorable moments, fun twists, rootable players, a clear story, and a fun community at the base of it all. Magic Kingdom just rocks, and that’s all that needs to be said. It was our first truly stellar season, and I hope that it’s just the first of many.