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Yes, Yul had a huge advantage once he found the idol, but that doesn't mean he didn't play the game well. Even that idol was not all-powerful and could have been dealt with using a little planning.

First, Yul does have a social game. He set himself up well in the original Puka Puka with a strong alliance with Becky and apparently good ties with Brad. He appears to have even gotten along with Cao Boi to some extent although it is clear the relationship was not as close. Jenny seems to have disliked him, but then she was probably at risk had Puka Puka lost.

After the tribal mixup, Yul and Becky made quick connections with Jonathan and Candice, and when it seemed Ozzy and Cecilia might be able to rally the rest of the tribe against them (in Candice's absence), he was able to persuade Cao Boi to vote for Cecilia instead of Becky. This was a huge move in the game as it isolated Ozzy within Aitu. Yul and Becky worked to further strengthen their position by pulling Sundra into their alliance, and while Ozzy was clearly considered a potential boot and outside the alliance, he was treated well as part of the tribe. Yul was able to cut the cord on his alliance with Cao Boi when it became clear it would be more trouble than it was worth. If there was one thing that Yul didn't handle well during this period, it was reassurance for Candice. I do believe he tried, but she misinterpreted something he said and decided she would be safer over on Raro. Hence, she mutinied with Jonathan's subsequently following.

The bonding that took place after the mutiny is a reflection of their collective response to the mutiny. Instead of feeling sorry for themselves, they worked together to pull off the immunity wins they needed to prevent further eliminations. Ozzy was no longer an outsider even though he surely would have been booted had they lost. While Ozzy was their secret weapon in the challenges, Aitu could not have won without all the tribe members performing well.

Upon the merge, Yul had his brightest moments of the game. First, he reassured his Aitu tribemates that he had a plan, which helped keep them unified in the face of seeming disaster. They could hold off scrambling to find alternative means of staying alive. Then he approached the only player who reasonably might have switched and pushed the exact buttons to get him to do so. Yes, this may have been impossible without the idol since Jonathan has certainly indicated that was key to his decision to flip back, but possession of the idol doesn't mean flipping Jonathan was easy. Ask Terry about that! Beyond that, Yul also used the flip to eliminate Nate, who was the biggest threat to pull Ozzy away from his alliance.

Even with Jonathan's flip, Yul and the other Aitus still had to navigate the consequences, including the rough feelings between Jonathan and the betrayed Raros. Jeff even referred to Yul as the U. N. with regard to this role. Smartly, he used Jonathan to eliminate Candice so that the numbers remained with Aitu, and then he sought goodwill by sending Jonathan to the jury. What's more, although he could not have kept Jonathan around without causing tensions in his alliance, he still managed to convince Adam he was the one calling the shots to vote out Jonathan as part of a personal deal with him.

Yul remained true to his alliance, which isn't always the best move, but in his case, it was. He knew the perception existed that he was the godfather of the alliance, and thus he was likely to get the credit and blame for the moves made. But he was consistently a nice guy throughout and didn't make enemies so jurors would not feel bad about voting for him. I think he may have been helped if he had managed to get Ozzy out at some point, but that's a moot point since there was no opportunity to get Ozzy. Then again, Yul never made it a priority to get Ozzy out, conserving energy in challenges when it was clear that Ozzy would beat the Raros. This basically kept Ozzy from ever feeling threatened as he may have if he saw Yul trying to beat him out and make him vulnerable. Thus it was that none of the other Aitus considered betraying the alliance in order to improve their own chances. Part of this is clearly circumstance - the Raro dominated jury would clearly favor any Raro over them so it was difficult to improve their odds by betrayal, but part of it was genuine affection for their foursome and wanting to go to the end together. Becky and Sundra had to know they had no chance to win. Perhaps that is why they were OK with the arranged tiebreaker at F4 and why Becky went ahead and refused use of Yul's idol.

Yul finished things off with a competent performance in front of the jury. Did he blow the jurors away? Not really, but he was consistent in his performance and with how he played in the game. Ozzy was good as well though, finishing things off with an emotional answer regarding his father that tugged at the heart strings. Sure enough, the more emotional players tended to vote for Ozzy - Nate, Parvati, Rebecca. Jenny and Brad had spent time with Yul in the original Puka Puka, and they split evenly. The former Aitu, who had spent time with both for most of the game, went for Yul. (Sundra's vote tends to show who was the one better at building relationships between the two.) The more strategic players - Candice and Jonathan - favored Yul as they just didn't respect Ozzy's game. That left Adam, who really was the swing vote, and he voted based upon the deal he and Yul made to get rid of Jonathan. Even in the final vote, Yul had outplayed Ozzy. (Poor Becky got no votes as everyone inclined to respect her game also respected Yul's game, and it was clear which one of them actually had a chance to win.)

As things played out, Yul never actually had to use his idol, but then again, he was rarely at risk. He was at the center of Puka Puka even if they had had to go to TC, and he formed a majority alliance at the original Aitu without having to rely upon his idol. Obviously, he was at risk at the merge, and that's when he made use of the idol without using it. But after that vote, he had the numbers for the rest of the game and kept his alliance from fracturing. It may have come into play at F4, but as things played out, the worst he would have seen there would have been a firestarting challenge against Sundra, which he almost certainly would have won. (Does anyone think Becky would have turned on him in that situation?) The final piece of luck was the F3 final TC such that he didn't have to risk Ozzy winning immunity and voting him out. This is true, but we don't know what the final challenge would have been, and certainly Yul would have tried much harder to win a F3 immunity under the circumstances. He can't be blamed for the rules of the season after all, and he played as well as he could given the circumstances he was playing under. That's all we have to go on to judge his play.