Winner: CDFA (Winning entry here.)
Eliminated: Weezy and Shiirn (both resigned)
A personal message is sent out on March 22, 2011 to all the nine mappers to map the song Simple and Clean by Utada Hikaru. They must make an [Easy] difficulty. By March 29, 2011, only entries from CDFA and OzzyOzrock had been submitted due to confusion, prompting a deadline shift to April 5, 2011. Shiirn and Weezy expressed desire to withdraw from the competition due to real life issues, and a mere five minutes before the second deadline passed, SuperMaay sent me a hasty PM with the Mediafire link to the beatmap. Judging took around two days, and though the judges did not consult with each other directly the unanimous result was CDFA. For future reference, if the judges disagree I'll have them consult with each other.

Winner: CDFA (Winning entry here.)
Eliminated: Nobody
The new deadline, April 16, is sent out to every mapper. Their challenge is to map the song Sanxion7 - EternuS and to make an [Insane] difficulty. Some difficulty in this challenge comes from the fact that the song is in 1/3. Once again, only three mappers turn in their entries within a week but this time, it is CDFA, OzzyOzrock, and -kevincela-, and both CDFA and OzzyOzrock turn in their entries within hours of the deadline. Zelos is the first to PM his decision, and picks -kevincela-'s map. Lilac then PMs me next, and chooses CDFA's map. Seeing how -kevincela- was ineligible to win anyway, CDFA wins by default! The remaining mappers are then double marked, except for SuperMaay who is only single marked. If any of the double marked mappers fail to turn in an entry this time, they will be eliminated permanently.

Winner: -kevincela- (Winning entry here.)
Eliminated: NotShinta and ouranhshc (inactive for three episodes)
This one goes up to April 25. Of this year. Blue Dragon, a previously inactive mapper, is the first to turn in an entry more than three days before the deadline. -kevincela- turns in an entry within a day or two, but OzzyOzrock and CDFA are late to the party with maps a few hours late. NotShinta and ouranhshc are finally eliminated due to their inactivity while SuperMaay falls to Double Marked status. On a more positive note, -kevincela- wins an advantage in the next challenge, and everyone else is safe. Note: Blue Dragon was originally picked as the winner but could not as a result of being Double Marked. Because of this faux-win, Blue Dragon was moved out of marked status.

Winner: Nobody
Eliminated: EVERYONE (but mostly SuperMaay)
The new challenge is given out, to remap Poinsettia with only sliders. Burai sliders and three different slider velocities are allowed. But guess what? None of that matters because there were no entries. Not a single one. So everyone is eliminated. We're done. Finally.

On the special occasion of my first beatmap getting ranked, I am holding an elimination contest. Details are below!

1) In each "episode", everyone in the contest submits one beatmap to me under the episode's theme (for example, "instrumental"). Each "episode" will consist of periods for mapping (one week) and periods for judging (however long it takes). The judges can be seen right here:

Lilac, the Elite Mapper
Zelos, the timing expert

2) I then give download links to the judges (via Mediafire) so that our panel can decide on what they believe the WORST beatmap and BEST beatmap is. The creators of the beatmaps will have their name hidden.

3) The person with the BEST beatmap receives immunity for the next round (this stops when there are four people left). The person with the WORST beatmap will be eliminated from the competition... and die.
Haha! I was just kidding about that last part. sort of

4) This continues until we have one person left, and while they will win no material prizes, they will win recognition in the mapping community. I think.

What do I look for in a map? Hmm…

Depending on the difficulties, I look for various things to tell whether a map is good or not. First of all, it has to be rankable in every aspect, that said, do not be afraid of trying something new as long as it’s legal, legit and doesn’t play like the 3rd floor of Etrian Odyssey 3. (Because that floor was terrible. 3+ agitated FOEs that come after you as soon as your on their side of the door? Ridiculous. I mean the only reason that game was good was because the class he some decency and the skills are better.) But I digress; these are the rough criteria that I look for in each difficulty.

Easy: Some common things you are already know is that you need difficulty settings that are suitable for an Easy difficulty. I’m also a big stickler of the OD being higher than the AR for ANY difficulty. Try using the largest circle and a SV that’s reasonably low (However, high SV Easys can be beneficial sometimes.)

I look for nice flow in these types of maps. Nice slider shapes will score high but do not fret if you didn’t do it or don’t like it. I respect different types of mapping and if you manage to do a really nice Easy difficulty with non-symmetrical sliders, that’s fine as well, as long as players who can’t play well find it fun to play that’s all you need.

If you want, you can find some of the guest Easy difficulties I’ve done. Without trying to brag, I’m quite proud of what I’ve done for my Easy difficulties. I-It’s just…I-I don’t know… Anyway.

Normal: Trickier, however, not as tricky as Hard difficulties! I also look at slider shapes but I also focus on flow. Flow is a very vague term and is tossed around quite a lot and even I, myself, don’t know how to define it in words. I guess it will be something I’ll comment on when I judge your map. Sorry. ^_^;

Common things, you know. I’m pretty sure most of our contestants have at least one ranked map or have played many maps to know what is acceptable for a Normal difficulty and what isn’t.

Hard: This is where I start saying to scrap the prettiness and focus more on getting your map to flow and play well. Obviously long streams and massive jumps here will have mark deductions but don’t have none at all as that will also make you lose marks. Get a nice balance right and most people forget about the use of sliders in Hard. These are crucial if you want your Hard to play right. Throw in some long sliders or even kicksliders. It’s all gravy.

To be honest, I don’t want you to completely scrap prettiness as it is a key aspect as well for a memorable Hard. However, flow and playability of a map matters more and scores more for me than map with slider art and iNiS patterns every second combo. (No offense iNiS mappers. If I did offend someone, please tell me. T_T)

Insane: This is where I really look for flow. Feel free to chuck streams and jumps to your heart’s content but I’ll be judging and if I don’t like something… ^_^ (in other words, make sure your streams and jumps are reasonable or I will have to cry myself to sleep. T_T)

Even though I prefer jumps myself, I will not deduct points for streams. I deduct points for terrible usage of streams and jumps. Also, though I can’t play ALL Insanes, it doesn’t mean I will take points away if I can’t pass it. I know what constitutes as a good Insane. (I think Mogsy said something like that…)

Anyway, the most important thing is to have fun. ^_^; So have fun!