neo

i was so glad for the other teams when i saw the deathmatch. it goes to show that strategising plays a huge part in success too as they massively neglected strategy for overconfidence by not even considering the possibility of a backup plan. underestimating japan in the rope game was their downfall.

japan's departure was the most sad for me honestly. i do think they were one of the most tenacious teams and incredible for beating teams like turkiye and australia who people expected to be potential finalists off the bat. i loved the sense of family they had and the fact that you could see them all fully embracing the finalists in the end too. huge respect to them all, there's not one person who didn't truly give 110%. it's very clear how hard they all worked.

mongolia's last min log strategy with the bridge was brilliant omg. orgil really came in clutch for that and i love that they all trusted him and went along with it despite their hesitance at first

honestly the castle quest showed just how good team korea are at working together - everyone had their bit to play and they smashed it. it was crazy seeing how fast they managed to complete all of that. i felt like kdh redeemed himself here from questionable strategies in the previous quests lmao.

the arena for quest 5 is crazy... truly looks like they stepped into a historical drama

itoi is such a machine i love watching that guy compete. same with amotti, i loved his tenacity in s2 and he shows again and again that he's such a strong all-rounder.

so happy my ideal top 3 made it to the finals. at this point i'm happy regardless of who wins. i would've been annoyed if australia took the win even despite how strong they were purely as it defeats the purpose of physical ASIA

agreed. there was no way they'd just let the rest of the team sit around and do nothing. they were overconfident, underestimated their opponents and it absolutely came to bite them in the ass when they put all the strongest people out immediately without considering any other backup plans.

looks like this death match is going to be absolutely insane. can't wait for next week. really hope korea and mongolia smash this challenge and we get the ideal top 3 in the final with korea, japan and mongolia.

soooo incredibly satisfying to watch japan beat australia though i was elated for them. sungbin's analysis was spot-on, itoi's stamina is insane esp for his age too. what an absolute powerhouse.

i love team korea but i keep questioning kdh with his strategic choices and decisions every time... if they're going to "throw" the first rope game due to not beating australia why would they waste sungbin on it since he's such a solid all-rounder and an adaptable choice to have in the second game? him and amotti are two of their trump cards judging off their general skillsets and seeing them in the prev seasons. why didn't dh himself go, especially since he was saying he was good at it when they announced the challenge, why not do it himself if he was so confident and going for the speed over strength angle? if they were going for strength, send minjae as a "throwaway" instead. it's so frustrating to watch lmao... either go all in like japan did and let it pay off or just don't send sungbin at all imo

pretty pleased that the top 4 (minus turkiye sadly, loved recep and yasmine especially, but everyone else did amazing and deserved tbh) ended with my main contenders to win. hoping for either a mongolia vs korea / japan vs korea / mongolia vs japan finale!

yes he still did amazing despite having to run for the ball, all three did to go for over 100 rounds. especially after they increased the weight and reduced the timer.

rooting for mongolia in this second group lineup ! i know mr acrobat is gonna absolutely smash the hanging game and i'm excited to see him in action

so glad amotti managed to pull through for korea i was so stressed for them, i knew my guy would have the tenacity to nail it in the end. everyone did amazing to last so many rounds though, i feel like philippines got unlucky with their placement being after australia in the throwing order too.

i definitely think they should've let amotti do the hurdles as it's a circuit and he's got his crossfit background. i do think sungbin would be better at the ball toss game considering his strengths in s1 but don't know if it would have been better for them to have donghyun do it instead as he is likely slower than those two overall and the ball toss is more strength/endurance over speed, plus they emphasised more importance on the relay scores. too late for them to change it though now sadly.

i agree, i also question his decisions and strategy sometimes with the direction he led the team in. like aside from this week's eps, imo for the shipwreck challenge they pulled ahead into overall 1st place bc of sungbin and amotti being adaptable and switching tactics whenever they needed it instead of only sticking to the plan kdh stated. i feel like one of those two or eunsil are better suited as a strategist/leader figure even if he's the most senior one of the team.

i hope so bc i want to believe amotti will pull through lmao... though i feel like they lost out by not really choosing the optimal matchups for each challenge, like imo sungbin would've been better suited for the ball toss and amotti on the circuit race due to his crossfit background.

i thought that too, especially since amotti's background is in crossfit so circuits should be more of a breeze for him and sungbin has the strength and stamina esp thinking back to the challenges he smashed in s1.

i really hope they don't have to exit so early on because i'd love to see them face off against japan or turkiye again... sungbin, amotti and eunsil esp are such a joy to watch as they were favourites from prev seasons. i hope amotti's tenacity helps him like it did for the s2 finale.

the main variable is we have no real clue what to expect from the new philippines team member since we haven't seen him in previous challenges but he did seem to be at a disadvantage having to run every time the aussie guy lobbed the ball too. it'll be a close call i think.