He also emerged as a challenge threat, winning four Immunity Challenges. Despite his rapid rise to power, he was able to consolidate trust with a strong alliance by forging crucial social bonds which insulated him from elimination. Tony steadily played more aggressively towards the endgame, eliminating anyone he saw as a threat and taking control of the game. At the merge, wanting to keep those he perceived to be bigger threats around, Tony rallied these players against those he saw as maintaining a low profile. Having learned from his past mistakes, Tony kept a low profile for a good portion in Winners at War by playing patiently: Reaffirming his Cops-R-Us alliance with Cagayan castmate Sarah, and building stronger personal relationships with his tribe. When it became clear that the two could not coexist in the same alliance, Sandra turned their entire tribe on Tony, voting him out on Day 6.
He attempted to build an alliance consisting of the biggest threats in the game, but it did not go as planned due to his lack of trust in Sandra Diaz-Twine. His aggressive gameplay made him an early target on Game Changers. His hyperactive and strategic game won him the title of Sole Survivor in a 8-1 vote.
He frequently turned on his majority Solana Alliance in order to engineer a variety of blindsides, and convinced Woo Hwang to take him to the Final Two over the unpopular Kass McQuillen. In Cagayan, Tony played the game with ferocity, occupying a high-profile leadership role for much of the game, constructing "spy shacks" to eavesdrop on his tribemates, double-crossing his own allies, swearing on relatives both alive and dead, and finding several Hidden Immunity Idols, including one with " special powers". He also competed on Survivor: Game Changers. Anthony "Tony" Vlachos is the Sole Survivor of Survivor: Cagayan and Survivor: Winners at War, and the second two-time winner in Survivor history.