Both finalists deserve this vote, because both of them played out of their comfort zone. Daniel stepped out of his "follower" reputation and Nicole stepped out of her negative reputation. Surprising final two, but I knew both of these players had it in them to get it this far.
However, I told Daniel about how reputation affect games nowadays, so if I factor that out of this equation and focus on strictly gameplay as opposed to improvement, then my vote is going to Daniel. Nicole, I appreciate your nice comments in the FTC, but I feel like Daniel had more control in the game. You did a great job though. Honestly, it doesn't matter who wins, because both of you did amazing.