What mistakes did _______ make?

I’m, as I’m sure a lot of you are, shocked that Cassidy didn’t win. Not to take away from Gabler’s game, because I do think that he had a great final tribal and clearly made serious connections on the island (evidenced by him rattling off details about other players during the reunion). But still, I can’t help but feel like if I were in Cassidy’s shoes, there are almost no moves I would have done differently than she did. If I were her looking back at my game, here are the only mistakes I’d identify and regret. What am I missing?

1) Poor final tribal performance. She could have sold her relationship with James more, amped up the emphasis on voting correctly at every single tribal, and played up how she took out every person who targeted her throughout the game. And she should not have made the blunder of trying to take credit for Ryan’s boot, only helping Gabler make his pitch.

2) Not taking Karla at face value. Karla told her straight up that if Cassidy voted her out, she’d turn the jury against her. I’m thinking Cassidy tried to call her bluff here, and Karla wasn’t bluffing. But really I don’t know what else Cassidy could have done- I don’t know what the right response to that threat is, and besides, the only other possible target at that tribal would have been either Owen or Gabler.

3) Allowing Gabler to beat Jesse in fire. Letting him take out the last standing (and biggest) threat in the game might have given the jury a push in his direction. But truly, I don’t see a good alternative for Cassidy here. From the viewers perspective, it seems like giving Owen a shot to complete his underdog arc and take out Jesse is way too risky. And Cassidy herself acknowledged that she wasn’t confident she’d beat Jesse in fire, so she wouldn’t have gone up against him herself.

Rather than putting yourself in the position of a jury member to evaluate Cassidy’s game, put yourself in her position. Where do you think you’d see yourself losing the game, in hindsight?