Mafia: Lovers' Quarrel

***Mafia: Lovers' Quarrel*** is the thirty-second season of *The Mafia Series*.

In this highly-anticipated game, many players brought their A-Game to the season to participate to their full potential. All three parties had their strong moments, but ultimately this game ended at its climax when the maniac brutally dragged the head Mafia, allowing the Town to claim victory over the two quarrelsome evil parties. The twist of this season featured two lover pairs and a trio of lovers, who would die if their lover(s) died.

This game lasted from August 14, 2022 up to August 29, 2022. The amount of activity in this game was rather high as most players were contributing in one way or another. No one struck out this game (though several strikes were administered), and the viewing lounge was also relatively active for the season!

# ***Roles & Twists***

**Twists**
* **Lovers:** At the beginning of the game, it was announced that certain players would be (platonically) in love with one another. These lovers would have a group chat with one another, though they would not know each other's roles. In addition, if one lover died, then the other would die as well! It was not specified how many lovers there were, but there were two lover pairs and one lover **trio**. This lover trio functioned the exact same as the other lovers, but three people would die at the same time instead of two.
If both lovers (or all three lovers, in the case of the trio) vote for the same person, then an extra vote would be cast against the player that they voted for. This extra vote would still activate even if a lover's vote was blocked.
* **Bonded Spirits:** In the spirit of love and connection, five players were secretly given the bonded spirit role.
* **Cheating Monarch:** This season contained three monarchs. One monarch would be a "cheating" monarch, who was paired with both other monarchs (though the other two monarchs would *not* know this). However, these two monarchs *did* learn that they did not have their ability to block votes. The cheating monarch was the only one with this ability, and they had to choose another monarch to give this power too, while the other third monarch would be left hanging without any power. The cheating monarch would only lose their vote is both other monarchs died... but if the cheating monarch died then *both* other monarchs lost their votes.

# ***Game Summary***

*Mafia: Lovers Quarrel* began in very exciting fashion. Players from all parties began strategizing immediately while the town was fairly active. In addition, the sets of lovers all seemed enthusiastic with their partner(s). There were not too many claims immediately, as several of the players wanted to hide their more powerful roles, but **Jelk** was the first victim of the Mafia on the first night. There were several strong, private claims from evil players as well. Eevee, the Head Mafia, used Joan's ability as the corrupted seer to claim seer for himself. While there was some miscommunication at first and Joan claimed seer too, the true seer soon changed his claim, instead saying that he was a knight. Ava positioned herself well in the game by claiming gambler, and she was confirmed at the first vote when her alien partner, Emmi, blocked Eternal's vote (which pseudo-confirmed Ava).

During the first vote, players seemed to be divided between Kae, who was claiming to be a joker, and Eva, who was claiming to be an herbalist. Both Kae and Eva had double claims and were less active than most other players in the game, but **Kae** was ultimately executed with a narrow margin. Meanwhile, Joan revealed his corrupted seer role to Emmi, and they began working together. Joan was worried about Eevee growing too powerful down the road, and he wanted to take out his Head Mafia. The other lover pair, Mari and Meli, were also working together very well to try and confirm one another. The Mafia's next victim was **Aster**, but Eva luckily put her heal on him without telling anyone. This event caused eyes to shift entirely off of Eva and onto her counter-claim, Ell. Many players were suspicious of two herbalists being in the game, assuming it to be powerful against the Mafia. However, at this point, another major event occurred in this game.

Jelk, who learned that he was a bonded spirit, decided to use his ability to join Emmi's confessional. Upon learning that she was alien, he agreed to work with her. Then, when he used Emmi to convey his messages through the town, he hid a secret message, revealing that she was 3rd Party. Piper quickly recognized this codeword, and Emmi was immediately outed. Joan was in hot water due to this revelation as well. He also revealed to Emmi the rest of his Mafia team which he was previously hiding. While all eyes were on Emmi for the second execution, some players instead created a plan to first execute an apprentice claim that was following her. **Qrstuv**, this apprentice, was promptly executed, but little did the town realize that he was actually the maniac! He decided to drag down **Aster** with him. In his final words, Aster confused the town, causing them to completely disregard his monarch claim. While there was previously some skepticism with the triple monarch claim between Alfie, Aster, and Cherry, most players were now convinced that Alfie and Cherry were the real monarch pair (which was, partially, the case).

With so many powerful town roles in the game, the Mafia decided to start chipping away at them. **Andrew** the bartender was the next to die, which would later bring suspicion later on that Meli was actually a corrupted bartender. Players became worried that Mari was the Mafia and Meli was corrupted due to them defending each other so fiercely, but the two simply did not want to reveal that they were connected in a lover pair.

While Emmi put up a strong fight to try and turn many other players onto voting Ell, she fell short by one vote. **Emmi** was executed, and then it was revealed that **Joan** died of heartbreak at her execution. Eevee was then forced to come up with his own foreseen roles, but it did not prove to be much difficulty for him. Most players believed his claim until the endgame. Next, the Mafia team killed off **Cherry**. Around this time, too, Abby, who was quietly slipping by with her commoner claim, decided to say to Lego and Smk (her lover trio) that she was actually the baker. These two bought her claim at once, and the three defended one another throughout the course of the game.

**Ell**, who was a simply unconfirmable seer, was unable to recover from his suspicion, and he was the next victim of the vote. Shortly before this kill, however, Ava began to make her move. As the sole 3rd Party remaining, she used a search where she discovered both Mafia members and those in a lover group with Mafia members. She proceed to forcefully blackmail Eevee, Abby, and Felidues after discovering their true identities. This group of four was forced to work together against the divided town. The next kill was the only healer claim, **Daichen**, as the evil players continued to escape overall suspicion. Mari had mentally checked out of the game due to constantly being under fire for being suspicious. She began only to talk strategy with her lover pair and best friend, Meli, but ultimately **Mari** was the next victim of the execution, dragging **Meli** out of the game with her.

Piper the aristocrat and Capy the commoner had both gained suspicion over the past few votes, simply due to the fact that there were very few possible Head Mafia and accomplices left - it seemed. The Mafia could confidently stride to the end... with only one hindrance, Ava. While Eevee and Felidues were trying not to worry about Ava for the moment, this would indeed prove to be their downfall. The town members and Ava created a plan to blindside Abby, who was a commoner claim. Piper was particularly worried that Abby was actually the Mafia, and that's why the lover trio had survived so long. When Alfie blocked all votes against Piper, **Abby** was entirely blindsided, and both **Lego** and **Smk** were collateral damage, bringing the game down to the final 8.

**Henry**, who had been quiet due to his confusion throughout the duration of the game, was the next player killed. The Mafia knew that they could not vote him out, as the student. Even though there was possible traction for having a vote against Henry down the line, Eevee knew that this was the move he would have to make. Felidues continued to escape suspicion and fly under-the-radar as a lawyer claim, but he and Ava had several private confrontations. Eevee and Ava were also having quite a few arguments during this point in the endgame as well.

The town was not sure who to vote, but Piper was protected once again when Eevee engineered a plot to execute **Capy** in a 3-1-1 vote. Piper was also becoming annoyed that Felidues had continually been blocking her votes. It was now the final six, and the Mafia had to make a decision. Eevee knew he had to kill Ava, but Ava completely admitted that she would drag him. Eevee decided to take the risk... killing **Ava**, and the game ended in an unprecedented ending with Ava the maniac dragging **Eevee**. With no more Head Mafia left in the game, the town claimed victory! While **Felidues**, as a corrupted lawyer, lost, **Alfie**, **Eternal**, and **Piper** survived and won!

# ***Voting History***

*Extra votes through lovers voting together are* not *counted on this chart.*

# ***Awards***

Because this season had more than ten players and three rounds of executions, awards were handed out at the end of the game. They were given to the following recipients.

# ***Trivia***

* Not counting *Mafia: All-Stars II*, this is the largest non-societies game to date.
* This season marks the first time that the villagers have won two times in a row since *Mafia: Star Cruise*.
* Nathaniel won the viewing lounge prediction game for this season.