I am now happy to announce the results!

The judging panel consisted of me, FawFuL, Violet CLM and Minmay.

5th place: Spyro's Isle Duel - Spyro

What we liked:

• Compact layout means that the level is pretty action-packed and you never have to worry about losing track of your opponent, without being overly chaotic like some other small levels.
• Good variety of weapons and a sensible ammo distribution.
• The level makes reasonably good use of the tileset and looks quite clean visually overall.

What we didn't like so much:

• Whoever gets the Bouncer PU first tends to dominate in this level. A player can easily take the PU and stay up top, and it will be pretty hard for their opponent to come back without any other PUs available.
• The layout leaves a little bit to be desired; it's not bad by any means but it doesn't really offer much in the way of tactical gameplay due to being fairly flat and open. The skill ceiling is fairly shallow in this level, so it may not make for the most exciting competitive duels. However this should be fine for more casual games.

4th place: King's Peak - FireSworD

What we liked:

• Impressive use of the tileset(s), the level overall looks very professional.
• Well balanced distribution of ammo and other pickups.
• The layout design is solid overall, and brings to mind aspects of some of FireSworD's classic Battle levels such as Garden Brawl and Abandoned Robotics Factory in a good way.
• The gameplay requires some tactical consideration rather than mindless ammo spamming.

What we didn't like so much:

• The bottom left is very easy to camp in, a player can stay down there and shoot fireworks through the gaps to run down the clock.
• It can be very difficult to hunt down your opponent here. From our experience there was a lot going around back and forth in circles and overall it took a long time to make kills here if both players are on the defensive.
• Quite a lot of vertical movement, which isn't inherently a bad thing but the over-reliance on springs for getting around felt a bit stale after a while.
• The carrots feel a little too disjointed from each other; quite often one player tends to stick to controlling one carrot at a time.
• Perhaps Firework would've been better off as Gun 3 rather than Gun 8? Although this hasn't really affected the ranking as it's a preference thing, but I thought I would mention it here anyway.

3rd place: Without Form and Void - cooba

What we liked:

• Refreshing gameplay with an interesting layout that's fun to move around in. There's a good variety of open and enclosed areas, with the middle area being particularly interesting designwise and offering plenty of strategic potential.
• The use of gem rings for ammo is a great gameplay feature, making collecting ammo very quick and efficient.
• The visual theme is very unique and by itself makes it a memorable level. Despite the "scrambled" look, it is visually clean and doesn't have issues with distraction.
• Overall a high fun factor, there is a bit of a learning curve but will certainly make for some interesting duels.

What we didn't like so much:

• The bottom left is pretty campy with the carrot down there, despite the long respawn time of 30 seconds it can be hard to tricky with campers down there as the level doesn't have any weapons that shoot downwards (other than Seekers).
• The anti-gravity carrot is a cool concept but can be a double-edged sword - although can let you easily take 2 of the 3 carrots, if you end up at the top with it you have to wait for it to wear off before you can go back down, which can put you in a very vulnerable position. It's generally much safer to just use the warp to get up instead.
• Some flow issues relating to masking problems.
• The weapon balance could've been better perhaps. Fireball tended to be the most dominant weapon here due to having plentiful ammo for it and an easily accessible PU, the anti-gravity Bouncers were also fairly useful but Fireball PU shot diagonally could also fulfil its niche for the most part. The other weapons (Seekers, EB) weren't really all that useful here.

2nd place: Plumber Slumber - Dragusela

What we liked:

• Very nice layout with a number of interesting, distinctive areas, offering exciting gameplay with a high skill ceiling.
• The level size is well suited for duelling, being just big enough to run away from your opponent in but not so big that you can hide for long.
• Visually the level has a strong and well-executed theme, with some interesting tileset combinations that work together nicely.

What we didn't like so much:

• The Bouncer PU felt quite out of the way compared to the other PUs and quite dangerous to take if playing in a disadvantage. In general there wasn't really much reason to go in the water if you already had Bouncer PU.
• The top middle can be quite campy at times, although not overwhelmingly so.
• The ammo distribution and weapon selection could've been a bit more focused. For example bubble gun never really got used here at all. It felt like Toaster ammo was far more plentiful than any other ammo type here.
• I personally found the flow a bit tricky in places, although I will note that the other judges found this to be less of an issue.
• Some minor performance issues, particularly around the bottom the level.

1st place: Port Royal - Superjazz

• The layout design feels very flavorful with the theming of the level, having a good variety in more open and enclosed areas with excellent landmarking.
• Great variety in weapons with a well-balanced distribution, each one having its own distinct purpose in this level.
• Manages to strike a really good balance of safe vs unsafe areas, accommodating to a range of playstyles. No one single spot felt overly campy.
• The layout offers quite dynamic, freeform movement, helping to contribute to high skill ceiling.
• The cannons are a fun gimmick that were very satisfying to use.
• Overall the level is an absolute joy to play in, and I'm sure it's going to become a duel classic from this point on!

What we didn't like so much:

• The right side, while a nice contrast from the layout in the left side, felt like it had less interesting gameplay overall.
• The bottom left is maybe a little overly cluttered in terms of layout.
• I think firework ammo may be a tad too plentiful, but at least it feels well balanced in this level overall given that there is no PU available.
• Some of the color choices in the palette are perhaps a little questionable (such as the bright green bushes?)

Congratulations to Superjazz! As promised, your level will be guaranteed a spot in the next JDCE mappool. Everyone better get learning it if you want a shot at becoming the next duel champion!

Many thanks to everyone who took part in this contest, and to the previously mentioned judging panel.