Witches' Coven (alliance)

The Witches Coven was an alliance formed in.

Inception
The coven was created on Day 16 when Ciera Eastin and Kass McQuillen were in the position of swing votes after post-swap Ta Keo lost immunity. Targeting either Spencer or Woo seemed to be the best move for the alliance as Kass ultimately became the swing vote. Despite their troubled past during their first season, Kass and Spencer made up and Kass voted for Woo, blindsiding him.

Troubled Waters
The alliance became official at the merge on Day 17, as it gained Abi-Maria Gomes and Kelley Wentworth. Unfortunately, this also meant that Kass and Ciera were going to have to flip against their old Bayon tribemates, which put the foursome in a difficult situation. After none of them could won immunity, they, especially Kass and Ciera, became the targets after flipping against the majority. In a last call, the alliance tried to vote out Tasha with the help of Spencer, but in the end, they failed, and Kass was the one who paid the price, after she was eliminated over Ciera in a split 6-4-2-1 vote.

Idol Play
With Kass gone, the three remaining girls had to think of something to stay in the game, and the answer was clear: Kelley had found an idol in the very first immunity challenge on Day 3, but she had to find an optimal time to use it. None of the "Witches" was able to win immunity, as Joe continued winning. Initially, they realized that, once again, Ciera's name was up in the air. However, Wentworth was also mentioned, as no one knew of the power she had. Fortunately for them, the opposite majority all voted for idol holder, Kelley, as she made a major power move, and played her immunity idol, negating the nine votes against her, and sending Andrew Savage home, surprising everyone.

Bayon Blindside
After showing the enemy the power they possessed, as well as destroying the solid core after Andrew's blindside, Abi-Maria, Ciera and Wentworth knew that they were again on the bottom and targeted once again, so they tried to sneak into the enemies' core. They succeeded, and were able to find a temporary ally in Stephen, who recently became paranoid about how he was seen in the Witches' eyes, and if he was any possible target to them. He made himself too too annoying, but remained an ally nonetheless. Once again, they were not able to win immunity, yet, they were making a plan with their "voting bloc" to eliminate Kelly Wiglesworth, as the new-foursome saw her as a very social and likable player, with a solid under-the-radar gameplay, which was seen as threatening. On the other side, the scrambling Bayon alliance had Kelley and Ciera as targets, the former for her big move, and the latter for flipping at the Merge. In the end, Wiglesworth was eliminated in a 6-3-2 vote, getting votes from the Witches, plus Stephen, Spencer and Jeremy.

Setbacks
Once again, the Coven had been spared from the vote, but they were not aware that the enemy also had an idol in their possession. They still saw Fishbach as one of their own, but did not contemplate him returning to the Bayon core. At the immunity challenge, the contestants were informed of a secret advantage that was going to be handed to someone at the exchange of losing any shot at immunity. Ultimately, none of the Witches dropped out, as they needed immunity more than anyone else, and Stephen ended up winning the advantage. Once again, Joe won immunity, leaving the alliance unsure of its future. Again, Ciera became the primary target of the Bayon alliance. They realized that Stephen was flipping back, and had enough votes to eliminate him, and save themselves. However, Jeremy used an idol on Fishbach, negating the five votes against him, and it ended with Ciera going with three of the remaining five votes, with the other two votes going to Kimmi.

Deflection
Without Ciera, Abi-Maria and Kelley were in their worst case scenario, as they were targeted, in addition to and one of their "allies" flipping. They were still willing to fight to the end, and hope was still alive. Miraculously, the reward Folklore challenge involved a hidden clue to the hidden immunity idol, and in a shocking end, Kelley ended up finding it and eventually, finding the idol at the bottom of Orkun's shelter. In a major shift of power, Joe ended up losing immunity to Spencer, which "spared" Abi-Maria and Kelley from being targeted, as they were relieved at being in a "safe" position again. Still, Abi-Maria became the new target of the scrambled Bayon core, as the Witches targeted Stephen for being a flipper. Stephen used his advantage at Tribal Council (revealed to be a Vote Steal) in a desperate attempt to try to stay in the game, against Joe, preventing him from voting and allowing Stephen able to vote twice. This plan failed however, and the Coven, along with Spencer and Keith, blindsided Fishbach with four out of the nine votes.

Taking Out the Threat
After the fallout of Stephen's blindside, Kimmi thought about linking up with the Witches in order to potentially form an all-female alliance with Tasha to weed out the males. Kimmi opted to vote Joe out with the help of the other females. At the Loved Ones Challenge, Kelley won and brought Abi-Maria, Joe, Keith, and Kimmi to the barbecue reward, with a minor intention of lowering her target. This ended up being Wentworth's round, as she also won immunity for the females, as the male immunity was soon to be granted to either Joe or Keith. Anticipating another Joe win, the unthinkable happened, and Keith won because Joe's blood pressure dropped, causing him to faint and to drop out of the challenge. Though Joe tried campaigning to stay in the game, his threat status ended up causing his downfall as everyone, excluding Keith, voted Joe out in a 6-1-1 vote.

Girl Power?
With Joe officially out of the game and the idea of a new all-female alliance growing intensely, Abi-Maria and Kelley continued to be targets to the majority. After Keith won reward and took Kelley and Spencer, in addition to his sole vote for Tasha at the previous Tribal Council, he became the primary target of her. While at the reward, Spencer discussed with Kelley and Keith about voting out Tasha over Abi-Maria who he thought the three could control up until the Final Four. However, back at camp, Abi-Maria was roped into voting with Jeremy, Kimmi, and Tasha against Keith because of his threat status. Now knowing this, Abi-Maria thought she was going to the Final Three because of her being the "goat" within the remaining castaways. Neither Abi-Maria nor Kelley could secure immunity, yet Kelley felt safe because of her idol, and Abi-Maria put blind faith in her volatility, which she thought would carry her further. However, at Tribal Council, Abi-Maria's personality was what sealed her demise, as she was voted out in a 4-2-1 vote, leaving Kelley, and in extension, Keith, on the outside by themselves.

A Short Road Ahead
With Kimmi gone, any plans of the alliance honing a majority went to waste as they were now in the minority once again. At the Immunity Challenge, Kelley won her second individual immunity, forcing the majority Bayon Alliance to target Keith instead. Though the end was near for Keith, Kelley constructed a fake hidden immunity idol to lure Jeremy into voting with them by exposing his paranoia. While at camp, Jeremy noticed Keith messing with the idol and whispered to him to vote for Spencer with Kelley. At Tribal Council, Keith sent signals to Jeremy that he'd be using the idol to take out Spencer. However, he didn't use the idol, confusing Kelley and relieving the majority alliance. Keith ended up still being voted out in a 3-2 vote.

Trivia

 * The name of the alliance was coined by Kimmi Kappenberg when she was an enemy of theirs.