Survivor Maryland New Beginnings: Dangers of cross-tribal alliances

Episode 4 of Survivor Maryland presents even more alliances forming across tribal lines and shows the impact they can have on a vote.

Probably the most fascinating part of Survivor: Maryland, as opposed to traditional Survivor versions, is the ability to form relationships across tribal lines. Just four episodes in and New Beginnings has been living up to this alliance mania mantra. Let’s dive into the current cross-tribal alliances so far, and see how they are impacting the season. Warning: Spoilers ahead for the first four episodes of Survivor: Maryland – New Beginnings.

Right from the start, Abel went crazy forming alliances with everyone. At first, it seemed like the relationships he formed solidified his position in the game. However, it went downhill when he assumed that he could use those alliances to his advantage this early in the season. Here’s a breakdown of the counter-tribal alliances from the fourth episode, which you can watch on YouTube here.

Abel (Ferocity) with Alex (Baesqwaad): This alliance formed basically out of the gate. It didn’t look like many people were aware of it, and the two players seemed to trust each other implicitly. Even though Alex formed an alliance with Dylan and Keval, it still felt like she was sticking closer to Abel than anyone else on her tribe. But that all changed when Abel’s aggressive play came out too strong.

Abel (Ferocity) with Alex, Keval, and Dylan (Baesqwaad): Abel’s attempts to save his own skin is really what drove him to try to weasel his way into this alliance. He threw Don under the bus by revealing that he texted the other tribe all of the clues to the Hidden Immunity Idol. I thought that this was a risky but smart move since Abel needed to build relationships with people outside of his sinking tribe in order to survive long-term. I think what put a complete stop to this alliance was when he imposed on Keval and Dylan to throw the challenge.

Swole and Thomas (Ferocity) with Michael (Baesqwaad): It’s now a common fact that Swole, Thomas and Michael are close friends. Even though they survived this episode unscathed, they all have serious targets on their back, especially if they aren’t together after the looming tribe swap. Susan (Ferocity) also lives in the same building as the three, so the longer they can survive, the more powerful this alliance becomes. I think the tribe swap will determine how far this group goes.

Faith (Ferocity) and Don (Baesqwaad): This was the cross-tribal alliance that Swole referenced when he basically blackmailed Faith into switching her vote to Miranda in episode 3. This under-the-radar alliance wasn’t talked about at all in Monday’s episode. However, if Don and Faith do end up on the same tribe after the swap, I could definitely see them working together and creating a strong power shift.