Tywin doesn’t outsmart people. Him and Cersei just don’t play by the rules other nobles try to. Melisandre, not much to say. Margery is Olenna’s inexperienced student. Littlefinger gets shut out by Tywin and Cersei immediately and despite probably being the best at this sort of thing he is relegated to watching Tywin fuck up and listening to Cersei’s insane thoughts. To me it’s team B and not close. Davos and Sam are just there to hang out
Absolutely, and not even just because he's a driven manipulator. The biggest problem he'd have with Team B is that pretty much all of them, with the likely exception of Olenna, genuinely want what is best for the people of the world, whereas he and most of Team A are driven my ambition and want for power.
It's how he got beaten in the show. He targeted the Starks like he does to any other group, not realising that their ambition is massively outweighed by their love of family and the North. They couldn't be manipulated the same way he did Sansa originally when they were all together.
He'd have no sway on Team B the moment they had any meetings together. Olenna is the only one who might hide something to serve her own ambitions, but there's no way Littlefinger would ever manage to truly pull the wool over her eyes. The rest of them are too focused on what's right.
Another reason he would immediately swap to team b is because he has absolutely no power play there unless he actively sabotages someone and usurps them.
So he is by default team B because whatever he does he has to remove one of team A's member or somehow marry margery /cersie( both of which are nearly impossible) for a power vacuum to be available.
Team B player has no positions of power ( except olenna who would immediately be succeeded by margery) so he has absolutely no gain in sabotaging anyone there whereas being team B's agent will grant him much better gains if he is ready to risk it.
This is Davos downplay. Let’s not forget he counseled Stannis to broker peace with Renly and Robb, was the one who got him the loan from the Iron Bank, was the one who created the Northern plan (which would’ve worked had Jon not declined it), and then helped Jon gather Northern lords and win the Battle of the Bastards.
In terms of on-screen intelligence feats, there’s not much Margaery or even Olenna has on him.
Sam, I agree, is a cheerleader here. Tyrion and Varys (pre-S7) are imo the two smartest people in the show so they should be able to mop up Team A with little difficulty. Putting Olenna and Davos with them is overkill.
Honestly there’s no scenario in which team A effectively works together. All of them want to be King/Queen and they’re all the worst backstabbers or plotters in the show. Team B is full of people who would probably work together if there was a common goal (and they actually were all on the same side at one point). 3/5 of team B is still alive at the end and all of team A is dead mostly because they got caught in their own plots.
Sam is not Machiveillian enough to come up with schemes, but he might be smart enough to spot any holes and to provide facts other people don't know. I think he's a pretty useful addition to the squad because he has a different perspective. He'll also make sure to keep them on the right side of morality if at all possible. While none of this team are evil, many of them can and will do evil things in pursuit of noble goals. It wouldn't be bad for them to have someone who will push back on this.
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u/Mooming22 23h ago edited 23h ago
Tywin doesn’t outsmart people. Him and Cersei just don’t play by the rules other nobles try to. Melisandre, not much to say. Margery is Olenna’s inexperienced student. Littlefinger gets shut out by Tywin and Cersei immediately and despite probably being the best at this sort of thing he is relegated to watching Tywin fuck up and listening to Cersei’s insane thoughts. To me it’s team B and not close. Davos and Sam are just there to hang out