Legacy 1: Mass Extinction

**Legacy: Mass Extinction** is the first installment of the Legacy series.

The game began in May 2019 and concluded in July 2019.  In the end, Tommy Hartdegen beat Charlie Welling and Scott Link in a 8-0-0 vote.

The season's theme was based on "The Great Dying”, which is more formally known as the Permian-Triassic or end-Permian extinction.

## Production

Initial production for this season began in March 2019.  Eddie, Jonathan, Julian, and Taylor founded the game and produced the first season.

## Twists

* **Extinction Event** - For the first vote of the game, both tribes attended Tribal Council. The two players from each tribe with the highest vote counts were voted off their tribe. Those two players were not eliminated, and instead had to choose another player from their tribe to form the Extinct tribe (Synapsid). Nicholas and Sherry were voted off of Sakmarian. They chose to bring Austin with them. Daniel and Staton were voted off of Kungurian. They chose to bring Amanda with them.

* **Legacy Idol** - The player who received the most votes in the pre-merge was assigned secret tasks to complete in order to receive the Legacy Idol, which functioned like a Hidden Immunity Idol.

## Castaways

*The **Total Votes** is the number of votes a castaway received during Tribal Councils where the castaway was eligible to be voted out of the game. It does not include the votes received during the final Tribal Council.*
## Season Summary

In our inaugural season, Tommy outlasted the rest and became our first Sole Survivor in a 8-0-0 vote against Scott and Charlie. Tommy perfectly defined his own game in his opening speech at Final Tribal Council, "For a game that is full of deception, I'm going to try to play as loyal as honest as I can this game... I was literally adapting my game every round." Tommy, appointed Hero of Season by both his tribe mates and production, found himself playing as the scrappy underdog as he watched his plans go awry. From losing his closest ally, Casey, at Final 10, to being on the wrong side of a rock draw, to narrowly losing the Final Immunity Challenge... it's safe to say that Tommy *should* have gone extinct. He faced off in the Final Tribal Council against two dominant strategists, but was able to win over the jury by having consistently good jury management skills and successfully presenting his story of adaptation.

*Legacy: Mass Extinction* was a season that ramped up to explosive heights. It was a season of back-to-back-to-back Skype calls right up until the moment Tribal Council begun. It was a season about delineating the difference between what is game and what is personal. And above all, it was a season about adapting to survive. Many players, even those not explicitly mentioned in these brief moments, left significant legacies behind by the end of this season.

Here are our top 5 favorite moments from Legacy: Mass Extinction (you can also watch this video of these moments):

### 5. "WELCOME TO DINO DINER!"

In the second round of the swap, the players participated in easily the season's most brutal challenge. They were tasked with eating or drinking (or kinda half-eating and half-drinking, with some of the sludgier menu items) as many gross menu items from the Dino Diner as possible to score points for their team. It's safe to say that the overall wellness of the cast plummeted that round. However, it produced a pretty hilarious video. So, worth it, I *guess*?

### 4. "YOU DON'T WANT ME TO MISS MY DATE, DO YOU?"

For the Final Immunity Challenge, Tommy, Charlie, Scott, and Maddie battled it out in an endurance challenge involving holding two solo cups bottom-to-bottom against a wall. The challenge came down to Scott and Tommy, both now required to keep one of their legs off the ground. Scott was channeling his inner-Parvati, while Tommy had exceeded everyone's expectations with how long he had lasted in the challenge. Tommy had a date planned for that very night... He knew that he might have to choose between his date and winning the challenge if the challenge went too long. After over an hour of facing off, Tommy tried to convince Scott to give up the challenge, by asking, "You don't want me to miss my date, do you?" The challenge continued on, with both Tommy and Scott as still as statues. Eventually, Tommy's leg dropped, securing Scott's spot in the Final 3 and an uphill battle to get there for Tommy.

### 3. "ROCKSSSSSS!!!!!!"

The Final 7 had an explosive Tribal Council that left a clear division (Spoiler Alert: That Tribal is also on this list). It was clear going into Tribal that Katie, Charlie, and Scott would be voting against Amanda, Maddie, and Tommy. One of the significant portions of the fallout from the Final 7 Tribal ended up being the separation of Charlie and Maddie who were previously labeled the Power Duo of the Season during Touchy Subjects. Their beef continued for the rest of the game, but was definitely at its height going into this tribal. Tensions were high across the board.

Immediately before tribal, the tribe chat was ignited by a single message from Katie, "ROCKSSSSSS!!!!!!" (with exactly that many exclamation points). The message was followed by a short spat that would set the tone for the Tribal Council:

> "How come no tried to get me to flip today? I’m by far the drunkest and most vulnerable" -Katie
>
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> "Because you don't talk to any of us girl" -Maddie
>
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> "Talking is a two way street Maddie LOL" -Katie
>
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> "Yeah, you're right I really had no interest in talking to you and I'm not here to be fake" -Maddie
>
>

Yes, the Final 6 did indeed go to ROCKSSSSSS!!!!!! Charlie was immune. Scott and Tommy received the deadlocked tie votes and avoided the rock draw. It all came down to Maddie, Katie, and Amanda... and the unfortunate victim of the wheel of extinction was Amanda. It seemed like Tommy and Maddie might be out of options at this point, but life, uh, finds a way.

### 2. "CHARLIE, I DON'T WANT TO HEAR YOUR RAT-ASS VOICE RIGHT NOW!"

My math skills aren't great, but correct me if I'm wrong: 4 is greater than 3, right? Well, not this round.

Charlie came into the Final 7 with in the middle of two alliances. He had been in a trio with Scott and Katie since nearly Day 1, but his real life connection to Maddie allowed him a comfortable place on the side with Austin, Maddie, Tommy, and Amanda. Charlie, previously called the Golden Boy by Natalia, made quite a few enemies with when he decided to use his Vote Nulifier to block Austin's vote. He and Scott quickly shifted to the villainous pair of the season. This surprise power play sent Tommy and Maddie scrambling. They switched from targeting Scott and instead voted for their ally Amanda! In a 3-2-1 vote, Austin was sent packing. Charlie tried to give an apologetic goodbye to Austin, but was met with, "Charlie, I don't want to hear your rat-ass voice right now!"

### 1. "I'M STILL NOT GETTING VOTED OUT."

Ah, Hidden Immunity Idols, they giveth and they taketh away. Daniel, as the player who received the most votes during the pre-merge of Mass Extinction, had the delightful possibility of earning a Hidden Immunity Idol. Unfortunately, he was unable to successfully complete his secret tasks. Yet Daniel still punctuated Tribal Council with, "I'm still not getting voted out," after he watched both Katie and Scott play idols. Daniel... was wrong. Katie and Scott negated all the votes, except for their own for Daniel (It should be noted that Charlie tipped off those two to play their idols, but concealed their trio by voting with the majority).

If we're being honest, any of the top 3 moments could have justifiably landed at the top spot, but this entire Tribal Council really delivered: it was funny, dramatic, and intensely strategic. It set the tone for many of the moments listed below it and was clearly going to be a highlight of the season from the moment it started.