As this is the final round, it shall have a rather difficult theme. To make up for this, though, you are given two months to accomplish your masterpiece.

Your task in this round is to create a remix based on one or more themes associated with a single villain from any RPG. The theme must be of some significance to the character. However, you cannot use the character's main theme. For example, you choose Seymour of Final Fantasy X as your villain; you cannot use Seymour's Theme, but you may choose, say, Fight With Seymour, Seymour's Ambition, or perhaps even Guadosalam or Challenge (though this was used in both the battle against Seymour Flux and and the one against Yunalesca). Be careful, though, as deductions may be given to those pieces which will use themes that are deemed too loosely associated with your chosen villain. Also, you must include at least one original theme in your remix. This takes the Creativity criterion to a whole new level, does it not?

The remix must also utilize a concerto instrumentation setup, i.e. there must be a solo instrument (or instrument group) accompanied by a supporting instrument group. You can go for something as ancient as a solo violin accompanied by a string orchestra and a harpsichord to something as modern as an electric guitar supported by synth brass, drums and "laser beam" sounds.

The judges for this round shall be yours truly, Francis "Fermat's Last Theorem" Gayon (Sound Test Curator), Michael "Macstorm" Cunningham (Editor-in-Chief and Public Relations), Sam "Nyx" Marchello (Editorials Curator), and Mike "JuMeSyn" Moehnke (Editorialist).

And so it has come to this. After nearly a year of wonderful music, the time has come to award the winner. The new Resident Remixer of RPGamer is...

The Black Antonio

I know, it comes as a rather big surprise, but you know what they say, "Vox populi, vox Dei." Well done, Antonio! Let me congratulate Rexy as well! If my scores are any indication, you should know that I thoroughly enjoyed your submissions. I hope your return to Sound Test won't be affected by these turn of events. I wish that you would continue to support and submit to the column. I know quite a number of readers would be very pleased if you do so, as well. Thank you to all the participants! True, I wish that there had been more artists, that way, I needn't have created a false identity and composed fillers, but hey, I can't be one to complain when the journey was simply breathtaking. Thanks to all the voters and my fellow judges who took the time to aid me in this undertaking. Happy Holidays to you all!

Theme (10%) - This score represents how well the submission adheres to the theme of the particular round. Unlike in the previous competition's rules, a grade of 0 is not possible for this criterion, as a submission which fails to adhere to a particular round's theme in its entirety will not even be eligible for judging and shall be treated like a regular submission to Sound Test. There can be some gray area, as most rounds' themes shall be comprised of multiple conditions; thus, remixers are warned to be very specific and exact with their remixes.

Remix (35%) - The category encompasses how well the remix represents the original work(s). The piece should be strong enough that someone familiar with the original work recognizes the source material, but that it also strong enough to stand alone from the original.

Creativity (45%) - This category is a critique of the artist's compositional decisions in the songs creation. What has been added to really breathe life into the remix? Does the piece flow solidly from section to section, and stay fresh without becoming repetitive? Is listening to this song enjoyable?

Production (10%) - This category encompasses the technical qualities of the sound, including the quality of samples used, of any recording done, and of mixing and panning.