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Erior vs DioBrando

Eriror
Difficulty 8/10
Links are very stable and required detailed planning, but they are based largely on charges, passes and arounds, and the variations are not outstanding, this puts a limit on the difficulty that can be awarded. Double haitua at the end perks up the points a bit.

Creativity 6/10
Some counters, but a lack of well placed original elements. As a result it has a very 'classical' feel to it. Points have been awarded for creative linkings and the counters, but originality is lacking.


Execution 10/10

Eriror may disagree, but I am aware of a couple of very slight possible speed changes, but they are so minor and once viewed under slomo it may be due to the angle obscuring the amount of rotation in a certain axis. It is being picky to award anything but flawless execution.

Presentation 8/10
Eriror's video comes in a flavour of 240p, which reduces the video quality by a decent amount. There are also some compression artifacts, though these are negligible. The camera angle allows all the tricks to be seen perfectly and the pen shows up well against a black background, as does his hand.

Total:

32/40


DioBrando
Difficulty 9/10
Dio uses fingercross, mind-bending wiper links and finishes with a short FL sequence that surpasses eriror's double haitua finish. Overall the instability of these techniques and their application in this combo makes it outstanding.

Creativity  9/10
Dio has put serious effort into using original wipers and fingercross tricks into his combo. The entire combo is heavily creativity-orientated and is a joy to look at in slow-motion to observe what is exactly being done.

Execution 7/10
The pen is accidentally bumped into the hand at 0:05, and the movement at 0:03-0:04 is shaky, in slow motion there appears to be a pause between the tricks occuring, whether this was intentional is unknown. At 0:12 the pen is pushed forward with too much force and has to be brought back under control. One point deducted for each of these 3 minor errors.

Presentation 8/10
Everything can be seen and the video comes in 480p, but the angle is unorthodox and the background could be better. Minor as it does not impact the viewing of the tricks.

Total: 33/40

Winner: DioBrando


i.suk vs Nashi

i.suk
Difficulty 9/10
Powerful links and powerful power, typical i.suk combo. The links could be made even harder though, for example exploring fingercross, wipers and FS links more. Or just make the complexity of 0:12-0:15 last the entire combo, avoiding twisted sonics and the like as small filler pieces.

Creativity 7/10
New links with creativity gone into creating them, I especially like 0:12-0:15, also square pass is a rarely seen trick. Effort could definitely be done into advancing originality here, however.

Execution 9/10
Speed is not fully constant, which I have seen in literally all of i.suk's combos. Execution is excellent, but until speed is kept even, 10/10 can not be achieved.

Presentation 8/10
Would be 10 but your head is in the way and your lighting is much darker than usual.

Total: 33/40

Nashi
Difficulty 7/10
Links of varying difficulty. Some were good, others were more simply done, and the finisher was far simpler than i.suk's.

Creativity 7/10
Arguably more creativity gone into the links, but lacking some rarer tricks.

Execution 8/10
Execution is generally good, with the exception of a small stumble and the finisher looking unstable.

Presentation 8/10
The exposure problem that stops motion blur when the pen is moving makes the combo look unsmooth when it is not. Otherwise

everything can be seen well.

Total: 30/40

Winner: i.suk


Neoknux vs Padrace

Neoknux
Difficulty 8/10
There are some very hard links here, but a point is lost overall due to there being some weaker links and not maintaining overall difficulty, and another point lost as the finisher could have been harder.

Creativity 9/10
Some very great creative highlights. 0:04 was a highlight for sure with originality and 0:20 was another for originality. This is combined with counters, taps and creativity gone into the links. 9 is given, as a 10 would require a combo consisting of entirely creative links and original tricks, although this comes close

Execution 8/10
0:08 is jerky and the speed alters significantly, at 0:22 you nearly drop the pen as it accidentally hits and bounces on the desk again. Point deducted for each minor mistake.

Presentation 8/10
Camera and background is good, as is the choice of pen. However, the angle makes some elements look ugly, such as the mirrored powerpass. Additionally the spinner's style is unappealing. Point deducted for both instances.

Total: 33/40

Padrace
Difficulty 9/10
Longer combo and a greater variety of difficult tricks and links. The finisher was likewise more difficult. However, not 10 due to some easier links lowering the average difficulty of the combo.

Creativity 9/10
Just like neoknux, many creative links and original tricks. Slightly more original highlights but as with neo, the combo is weighed down by some non-creative elements that detract from this.

Execution 5/10
Pause at the TA at 0:09, stumble at the taps at 0:10, 0:14 catch from the palmspin is jerky, 0:15 jerky catch 0:18 pass hybrid is jerky, to name some. Execution loses points for many small errors, but is capped as there are no more-serious errors.

Presentation 9/10

Good angle, good camera and decent choice of pen, combined with black background. The black grips on the background look slightly unappealing, but otherwise good presentation. I should deduct points for the combo being over the time limit, but I won't, as I think it's subjective and should not be a heavy deciding factor.

Total: 32/40

Winner: NeoKnux


Yamaguchi vs Tigres

Yamaguchi
Difficulty 7/10
Links had decent difficulty on average, there were some highlights such as 0:16 onwards, but could easily do with more complexity, and harder tricks.

Creativity 6/10
Links had decent thought put into them, and there are a couple of somewhat original elements, such as at 0:17 and the finish linkage was a highlight. However, it is clear that creativity had not been placed in high regard when planning this combo.

Execution 7/10
Shadow at 0:06 is jerkily caught as the pen slows down and needs to be manually pushed into position, finisher catch is shaky and almost based upon luck, as well as pauses such as at 0:09 and 0:11 lasting too long, breaking up the fluidity of effective counters.

Presentation 8/10
Nice style, pen and setup. The video is blurry however and the lack of sharpness and definition is unappealing.

Total: 28/40

Tigres
Difficulty 7/10
Like yamaguchi, some highlights in difficulty such as midbak 1.5s and some better links, but weighed down by a lack of new, more difficult links overall.

Creativity 4/10
Severe lack of creative elements and no original elements. A little thought had gone into adding some wipers and some of the links but many were common.

Execution 9/10
Some hand motions were too much, but exceptionally smooth and very good execution.

Presentation 6/10
While the spinner's style and angle is not a problem, the setup is much too dark, making it unappealing and hard to see what is going on in the video.

Total: 26/40

Winner: Yamaguchi


Mystic vs Zkhan

Mystic
Difficulty 6/10
Gigantic lack of difficult linkages and the tricks are focused on spam. Power sequence at the beginning and not at the end lowers difficulty points and it is not exceptionally difficult to warrant being placed there. Linkages are simplistic and the finish sequence is of a lower difficulty than the rest of the combo.

Creativity 3/10

Some creativity into wipers and the around links, but very little. Combo does not show any attempt at originality, using common linkings and tricks.

Execution 9/10
No visible real mistakes, although at 0:14 the baks are not controlled as well as they could be and nearly go offcam.

Presentation 9/10
One near-offcam knocks off a single point, otherwise presentation with style, background, pen and camera is fine.

Total: 27/40

Zkhan
Difficulty 8/10
Some links are of good difficulty, some lesser so. There are some harder parts but they are partly outweighed by simpler parts of the combo. The combo is also of long length, which adds an extra part for difficulty.

Creativity 7/10
Many creative links, though a couple more original tricks would not go amiss.

Execution 6/10
Major error at 0:24 and the final double bust was shaky. -2 points for the major error and -1 for the double bust being shaky. Another point lost due to lack of control to keep the combo oncam.

Presentation 8/10
Good camera, setup, but tilt the camera up so you do not go offcam! Your combo is more important than looking at your crotch (Debatable, but still)!

Total: 29/40

Winner: Zkhan

Far vs JackyMacky

Far
Difficulty 7/10
Some good links, but quite a fair few of unnecessary, simple linkages that add nothing to the combo.

Creativity 6/10
Good ceativity and thought gone into the linkages and some rarer tricks. What may have been original elements I cannot see as the lighting is too bad and you go offcam, so lack of originality has to be scored.

Execution 7/10
Couple of offcams and jerky finish detract from the points of execution.

Presentation 4/10
Lighting is terrible and it is very hard to see what is going on. Also the camera settings make the pen movements jerky and there are offcams! Huge points deduction on presentation.

Total: 24/40

JackyMacky
Difficulty 8/10
Difficult tricks and transitions, though I feel not enough work went into linkages on each hand, and focus was more on the 1P2H elements, despite the links on each hand making up a decent portion of the combo. Regardless, the difficulty of the 1P2H elements give the combo a solid, high difficulty score.

Creativity 8/10
1P2H elements give a nice boost to the creativity score, with a rarely seen kneebounce finish, 1P2H wipers and smooth transitions providing good originality and memorable moments in this combo.

Execution 9/10
Execution from Jacky is generally good as usual, although 0:07 looks rather abrupt and the kneebounce finish doesn't look that controlled with how it is caught

Presentation 9/10
Generally good presentation, angle allows everything to be seen. The pen is a bit subjective as it looks too long for your hands, but my main problem is with the exposure rate not allowing enough motion blur of the pen barrel. Aside from that minor issue, good points in presentation.

Total: 34/40

Winner: JackyMacky


Iota vs DarKT

Iota
Difficulty 8/10
Impressive links and tricks, giving a high overall difficulty. However, the structure is not as complicated as it could be, and the finish could be made harder.

Creativity 8/10
Many original trick variations and innovative, creative links make this combo rank high in creativity.

Execution 9/10
Some hand motions were over the top, but the execution of the combo was very well done overall, with no real mistakes.

Presentation 9/10
Very nice presentation, although the video quality could be sharper.

Total: 34/40

DarKT
Difficulty 9/10
Very hard linkages done at great speed and over a long length of time, this combo is without a doubt extremely high on the difficulty ladder

Creativity 7/10
The finish was creative, although there was much to be desired with regards to more originality, albeit creativity was clearly used to design the combo's links.

Execution 8/10
Generally good execution, although the finish was sloppier than the rest and went offcam.

Presentation 9/10
Good setup, but the finisher going offcam indicates that the camera should be zoomed out more.

Total: 33/40

Winner: Iota

Rotation87 vs TheDane

Rotation87
Difficulty 8/10
Very strong links and tricks, highlights including PD Powerpass rev and several PU tricks (noticing the wiper -> PU handbust -> Palmspin rev from F2F)

Creativity 8/10
Lots of originality with trick variations and creativity gone into the links was very well thought out. Finish was a nice touch.

Execution 4/10
Very low execution, many pauses, mistakes and offcams.

Presentation 6/10
Camera settings could do with adjusting, exposure reduces the motion blur on the barrel of the mod significantly and there is way too much light on the mod compared to the dim background, making it look ugly. Offcams indicate the camera should be zoomed out/further back/further up. Spinner's style is unappealing.

Total: 26/40

TheDane
Difficulty 7/10
First sequence was well thought out difficulty wise, the rest of the links are less impressive, only made up for by the aerial busts and the finish. Links need to be planned out more.

Creativity 5/10
First sequence had good thought put into making the links, the rest of the combo was lacking in creativity and originality. Finisher with the aerial bust straight to spiderspin was nice and unusual, however.

Execution 8/10
Finish sequence got shaky, but aside from that the combo was very smooth and well executed.

Presentation 10/10
Very good presentation, nice style, pen can be seen correctly, angle allows everything to be seen and the camera settings make the spinning very smooth, with no offcams.

Total: 30/40

Winner: TheDane