PSO26 FINALS COMMENTS

 PSO26 FINALS COMMENTS

I honestly believe I won't be able to express myself well enough just through the website comments and scores, so I'll try to put some order to my opinions through this blog.

First of all, this is absolute hell to judge lol, I have always said I don't consider myself a good pick for a judge, I only spin based on instinct, and don't really pay attention to the "science" behind of what I do.

I do trust my instinct to tell me which combo should be "better" in a competitive setting, however, this time I feel like whatever choice I make, I won't be 100% sure about it, perhaps in some few years from now results might be clearer, depending on how these different styles evolve, being a lone judge and having only 1 week to decide will definetly bring uncertainty to me, but I'll just do my best.

With this said, I'll have to be honest about my criticisim to every combo, because everyone has some low lows, and some high highs, and I'll try to mention everything with no filter.

Also, for this round I'm not comparing scores with R1 (I will if it is the same spinner) I'm comparing only the ones in round 2, I say this in case you find some "inconsistency" or whatever with previous scores (what matters to me is the ranking in this round).

GENERAL OVERVIEW

(I'm writing this before deciding the winner, I have no idea yet, I've only judged execution so far)

N1716
This combo is pretty good, I was not expecting 3p2h from you, the combo however, when compared to the rest of this round, does show the gap in experience in multipen, it feels like the other contestants are a step further, I believe now that my choice for you being in top 4 in round 1 was correct, I like that you tried 3p, and it turned out pretty decent, you did a great job.

DumBananaMike
I'll be honest, I was practicing a similar combo (in round 1 and in round 2), we think alike, and this means I might be able to understand your combos and their difficulty better than anyone else, is this good? is this bad? I don't know, I believe it perjudicated you in Round 1, yet in Round 2 it might play in your favour, maybe...
I'm fascinated at how you executed this combo, I really wonder how much it took you to land this, it's pretty fun to watch, and I believe it's a worthy combo for this finals.
You always say things like "I'm not as good as these two" or "why am I alongisde 2 greats", yet you prove yourself with combos like this lol, I've always said you have so much potential, and little by little you prove it.

i.suk
You are insane, I was expecting a worse combo based on your own claims about it, but damn, this is something else, I wouldn't be able to beat you in a 3p2h duel.
It's a memorable combo (just like the rest of contestants honestly), mainly because of the meaning behind it, to me it's like a "I might not be young like you but I can still fight" claim, you did good, and you're literally making it hard for me to decide between you and the other 1st place contenders.
I've seen other comments about the combo and I feel like some people really don't get it, I think it's okay because they've probably never tried multipen, much less 3p2h, genuinely in my eyes this is one of the greatest combos you've made, perhaps the best multipen you've done? I don't know but it's definetly in that top, but hey, maybe it's just that we all (multipen spinners) have different perception now LOL

Mumm3y
DAMN you had all of this saved??? I'm glad you joined PSO lol, to be able to watch this amazing combo and in such an epic setting, I love it, I still don't get how your cat did not move at all even being so close to such intimidating aura LMAO.
Love the use of more aerials, it shows the confidence in your 2p2h has grown even more, and the JACKAROUND is just great.
I like a lot how you build combos, and this time you didn't disappoint, I feel this is one of your strongest points.
No need to say, this is also a 1st place contender, I think I'll just let scores decide, because the level is just so similar yet so hard to compare, 2p1h, 2p2h and 3p2h all in one round???

EXECUTION

I have to warn about this before anything, since 3 of the 4 combos have offcam (where I literally can't see what the mods are doing) I'll probably put a -0.3 point penalization, is it too low? maybe, I wanted it to not be too deciding when it comes to .5 points difference, yet it might be a deciding factor if scores come to a tie.

Also, from now on I might start being harsh on combo criticisim and details, hope none of you take this personal, besides, these mistakes/errors I'll be pointing at are most likely stuff that would happen to me too, I'd say these comments to myself too.

N1716
If we talk purely about technique perfection, yours is one of the best this round, although there is some unintentional bounces from the mods and some apparently non intentional non circle spins (meaning wrong angle for the camera), the combo manages to show a (I'd say) 90% execution satisfaction to me.
When it comes to effect I'm not sure I see it at all? I feel like the part that makes more sense is the finisher, yet the combo feels like you're just doing whatever you can to finish the combo? I'm unsure about this, also the fact that there is a part where 2 mods stay still for too long is something I can't unnotice.
Anyways, I think overall you did pretty good so I gave you an above average score (close to max).

Penalization of -0.3 is applied because of offcam.

DumBananaMike
Again, if we talk purely about technique perfection, yours is also one of the best this round (perhaps you'll be tied with N1716), while he has little errors during all of the combo, yours are apparently fewer (not by much), but a little bigger, the ones that are mainly noticeable are:

- Lack of center control (My own term): meaning that you had to move a little too much to the side to catch the mod that was flying away from you, this is natural in a power combo, of course.

- The offcam: no explanation needed.

- The Turbulence: in the last drift, the doubt is noticeable, and I understand, it's the finisher and it's always scary to land it.

Aside from that the combo looks very confident, and I love that, it's a lot better execution than I'd expect from a combo like this.

If it comes to effect, I think the combo makes a lot of sense, maybe some details to improve would be that sometimes a mod is still for too long (not by much honestly, it's just nitpicking), and the finisher, which didn't convince me at all at first, but upon watching more times, I think it's okay (still could be improved somehow), remember I'm mainly just intuitive so this is just a hunch, still, the doubt won't allow me to give you full score in effect, but I will give you a decent one.

Penalization of -0.3 is applied because of offcam.

Mumm3y
In technique perfection I think your combo has some noticeable flaws, there is some obvious turbulences and shaking during the combo, and there is the offcam too, however overall I think the combo was executed pretty decently, I think it's a satisfying take for the difficulty of the combo, there is mistakes but it's just in a few moments.
It's close to DBM's but I think yours are more noticeable.
I almost gave you a 2 instead of 2,5 but I think you did way better than the lowest tech perf scored combo lol.

If it comes to effect of the combo I think I liked more your R1, it doesn't mean this round is bad though, it just means it will have less points in that area than the other one.
I also think the camera angle (and the offcam) don't favor the jackaround, I know how it works because you showed it in your explanation, yet if I can't see it in the combo I can't just assume you executed it perfectly, I know because of the pens ending positions that you landed the trick, yet I can't know if the rotations were actually good or if it even rotated at all.

Anyways, I liked the 1st part where you kinda "showcase" the difference between convergent and divergent, and the aerials, up until 0:06 it was a majestic 4/4, but from there to the finisher it kinda went down, still, I think it's close to max score.

Penalization of -0.3 is applied because of offcam.

i.suk
Since you've been spinning and competing for so long I assume you're strong enough to receive some jabs LOL.
If we talk pure about technique perfection, the entire combo is choppy, I understand that the reason for this is the difficulty of the combo (I mean 3 pens and fc), and for my taste I think it's satisfactory enough, yet in a competition I have to be more harsh, and compared to the rest of the combos, I have to give it the lowest score.

Now if we talk about effect, I'm not sure we've seen enough 3p2h to effectively point what is good and what is bad, but so far I think the combo looks great, I like that every pen has their own role, and you try to move them all during the combo, "red pen is aura farming" lol.
The division in the sections is quite evident, yet it doesn't feel like they're all just taped together, they do connect in a fairly good way in my opinion. (except perhaps for that part where you grab all 3 pens in the same angle).
I think I expected something else for the finisher, maybe one more rotation from the yellow mod? something a little more determined, what you did doesn't feel inmensely wrong though, it just feels like there could've been something else (although perhaps that would've made it harder to land the combo within the duration time range).
Also, almost forgot to mention the role of the fingers, I do like that you tried to highlight them like in this frame.

Fingers are part of the combo as well (duhh), so for that I think the effect score will go the opposite way of technique perfection one.

DIFFICULTY

I think the difficult part will be to accurately point out which one is harder LOL

N1716
About pure hardness, I think having 2 out of 3 mods be still for too long does impact negatively to your score, I think for a 3p2h combo the difficulty is good enough, however there is another 3p2h combo in this round, so I have to compare it, however, you should be proud of delivering such a combo in this battle, I also think having all mods being in a slot (or grabbed) the majority of the combo but the finisher does give you a lot of room to breathe, in hardness and in density.
About density, as I mentioned earlier, the pause of the movements in some of the mods makes it more comfortable to link the next trick, the last aerial was good though, a solid finisher.

DumBananaMike
Since I've been working on a similar combo, I feel like I can point at a certain score, and then use it to compare with the rest of the combos, of course my combo is not a 5 either lol, just in case you're wondering, it's more about being able to perceive what a 5 would be currently.
So, a 2p1h power, this is great, I think the excessive use of the T1 slot for the pushing mod did decrease your score a little, however the difficulty of landing this combo is undeniable, I wonder how much grips as bodies in the pens help, I am not going to lower your score for that reason, don't worry.
And to land that drift as the finisher you must either be crazy or have mastered that drift greatly.
As a mainly 2p1h spinner I am so impressed, and so proud of your achievement.

About density, I think it's fair to give you a high score, I don't know how to explain it, but I know there's not much room to breathe when you're doing these aerials, perhaps your 1p power skill has helped you? I don't know, but the fact that you had the balls to risk all the combo with that finisher still amazes me LOL

Mumm3y
I think when it comes to hardness of the breakdown as a whole, yours is fairly hard, I think if we talk about landing only, it'd be a little below DBM's, yet I'm also accounting for the difficulty of "landing correctly", which means landing a take fairly decent, as in good flow and good timing (you could land this combo with a very choppy execution, but landing it right also has it's own difficulty).
I think giving you and DBM the same score is fair, since the last fact is that you're using 2 hands to control these mods, as an example, catching the jack around with the other hand seems easier than catching it with only one (both of you did some 2p power, which is why I'm making this comparison).
And I'll be honest, the powerpass part does not really convince me when it comes to difficulty.

If it comes to density, I think there are some parts where the difficulty chain is clearly broken, like in moments where you grab one pen in each hand (it's a more controllable setup for next trick in my opinion).

Examples

For this reason I'm giving you a little less score in density than your opponents, but it's not too much, since I think the rest of your breakdown does well enough.

i.suk
I think this combo seems quite hard, perhaps the first half is the easiest, yet that last part is harder, if I had to choose the hardest linkage for this round, it must be that finisher, of course for the rest of the combo I also accounted for difficulty of landing correctly, the finisher did carry you a lot in this one, yet the whole sequences of interlacing fingers also helped a little, even though I feel they were done very shortly, like you wanted them to end ASAP.

Even though the finisher looks like the hardest, I'm not sure if it is the hardest or close to the hardest trick possible, given you are kinda controlling them 3 pens in a way, even if yellow mod is fingerless, it's only at times, so comparing to mumm3y's aerials for example, I think it brings the combo near that level of difficulty, so I'll probably give the same score.

As for density perhaps majority of this combo but this part...

...seemed dense enough.
Yet, it seems unlike DBM, you have a little more space to breathe when it comes to landing the combo, you can grab them at certain times, and have more time to think about what you're doing, since this combo can be landed slowly.
I have too many doubts about giving you more or less score than him, so I will give the same in hardness, just to cushion for any perception mistakes, in density however I do think DBM had the highest.

ORIGINALITY

Alright I'm currently in hospital and most likely waiting for a surgery tomorrow, so if you feel this part is rushed, it's because it is.

N1716

If we talk about pure novelty I think the fact that you did 3p already gives you some kind of advantage, there is some tricks that however are quite simple (if we compare to say i.suk's), and feel more like adding 1 pen to already existing 2p, or even adding 2 pens to existing 1p (I hope you all get what I mean LOL) so the score will be moderated.

About conception, it does not feel like this combo creates something a "step above" previous 3p2h combos, rather feels like a very nice 3p2h that focuses rather on landing and execution.

DumBananaMike

About pure novelty, the combo (and it's tricks) are balanced, some tricks are new (some I was gatekeeping grrr), the one at 0:07-0:08 was my favorite, yet some other tricks are pretty well established (like drift), and well, I saw some tricks you recycled from this combo.

so I think a not too high score seems correct.

About conception, I think proving a 2p1h power combo is good enough for this battle, maybe the fact that I've seen similar linkages from you or others in other combos before will lower a little my perception, like this concept has already been proved in parts (in linkages, not full combos though), by yourself and other spinners, but score will still be pretty good.

Mumm3y

I think I have to talk about novelty and conception at the same time here, the highlights for me were the named tricks (JACKAROUND), convergent and divergent stuff (even though you already mentioned this to me before lol), from 0:00 to 0:06 I think you really went a step forward on 2p2h, not sure if it surpasses your WT combos, but it's there, it's my favorite part, however, there are still some parts of the combo that don't really convince me? Like from 0:06 to 0:13 sure, these are tricks that have cool naming, yet when you don't pay attention to those names they don't really look like something that rare for 2p2h in my opinion (also from 0:06 to 0:09 it feels more like highlighting 1p with one extra pen), then there's the JACKAROUND (I love mentioning it) which honestly follows the same path as some of DBM's tricks, yet I'll still put it into the equation as positive originality points.

I also love that you bring these concepts (convergent and divergent) not only to prove them but to also give more tools for future 2p2h spinning, these are applyable to a lot of tricks surely.
So I feel like your score should be above average.

i.suk

In novelty I think it's quite obvious there will be a high score (3p is one of the most unexplored) it won't be max tbough because for me a max score in here would be totality of the tricks being completely new, and as I mentioned before there is some parts that are quite simple in all aspects, and the finisher we know is not completely novel.
The starter it seems like you did in klb's guest appearance, there is a section that I thought you used in your feint wt combo but that didn't have the fingercrosses, so I guess you're safe.

As for conception though, I think proving a 3p2h of this caliber is insane, using not only pens but fingers to create effects, and proving mixing fc with 3p is possible, I feel is a fair trade for execution lol (I shot you with a magnum there)

Overall I probably would like to rewrite this last part but eh, I got no much time left for it.

Anyways, I have rankings now, they did end up being a triple tie for 1st place, however, this was before applying the penalizations, so in the end i.suk got first place.

I had to recalibrate though, so it didn't end up being the deciding factor, but I think even after that, at the end it was.

I feel like no matter who I choose there will be people who agree and people who don't, and that it's inevitable, given I'm an only judge there's most likely some grade of bias affecting these results (same as there will be some bias affecting spectators opinions, yall aren't safe either LOL).

Is there a correct choice? I don't know, to compare 2p1h, 2p2h and 3p2h in the same round is quite complicated, for now atleast, I think the three 1st place contenders all had valid points to win.

DumBananaMike

I feel had the most balanced combo of the group, great execution, nice difficulty, and good originality.

Mumm3y

Had also a fairly balanced combo, with great originality, not too bad execution, and good difficulty.

I.suk

Was more unbalanced, sacrificed execution for originality and difficulty (more for originality than anything), which well, had more weight than execution.

N1716 (Honorable mention)

I think you did a great job despite not being too experienced in multipen, and you definetly earned your place in this dream match.

I consulted RPD before showing him my results, and his ranking coincided with mine, so I guess that gives me a sense of "what I chose is maybe not too crazy"

So far I think if i.suk had better execution, the decision would've been easier, if Mumm3y had maintained the level of the 1st part of the combo, it would've been an insta-win for me, even if i.suk had good execution, and for DumBananaMike, I think with a few more tricks (as original as the 0:07-0:08 one), it would've been 2nd place or even 1st depending on how crazy they were), overall I feel something was missing, as for N1716 I'm not sure what could've been done to win to the other 3 combos, but I think the combo would've destroyed anyone else who could've got top 4.
Oh well, let's not forget the offcam penalization that also played a big role in here, even if I tried to make the penalization lower than 0.5 (well, I could've made it 0.5 and it would've had the same effect lol, but I also could've made it 1.0 and just be an *******)

As a wise man said once, we not only submit combos, we submit videos...

Given I'm an only judge, do understand this result will inevitably be based heavily on my opinion (following criteria of course), it may or may not show what combo was best (I don't think anyone can be 100% sure of that, unless we had more judges who understand multipen and get an average result out of there).

As I said before, I judged part by part, scored first execution for all spinners, then difficulty, then originality, and the total of those scores minus penalization ended up showing a winner.

If you asked me what combo I would've chosen by tie-breaker decision if there were no penalizations, I think results would've been different...

I wonder what will happen with future multipen competitions, I know I don't want to have to judge anymore LOL, or at least, not alone, so my vote is just that, a vote, an opinion from one person that just ponderates with other person's opinions.

Anyways, I have to thank you all for expanding 2p1h, 2p2h and 3p2h all in the same round, and just know that if I was able to leave that triple tie, I would've, to me you all performed at the same level.

On a big note, I really hope none of you get emotionally hurt with these results, I know a title seems like this big thing to get before you get it, but that hype quickly vanishes once you do..., take care y'all, you can always blame the judge for not winning and it'll be true 😆

(Huh, apparently I expressed myself wrong in here? This is not meant to mock anyone, it's just a reminder/joke that results will always depend on opinions, but I'm sorry if it turned out wrong)

Thank you!