i am not a tourney specialist, so, take this as the .02 its worth. i disagree that "all play is essentially for the blinds." thats either too deep a thought, or too simplistic, i cant make up my mind which it is.

when in a early stage of a tourney, you absolutely are NOT playing for the blinds. you almost always are trying to think of the best way to get additional money in the pot. if you have a marginal hand like AXs, you absolutely need more than the blinds to fight for.

and if you have AA, you are not satisfied with only taking down the blinds...you want people to make a foolish call of your raise, and hit a 2nd best hand.

sure, later on blinds mean more.

most of what you said i agree with, but not that one.