My thoughts (Have yet to play them all but from checking out the overview)
BridgeHead: Has quite the Broodwar feel to it, the base setup, the aesthetics, the overall feel of the map definitely brings back brood war. Early game pressure seems like it will be very strong on this map, either attacking up the double wide ramp or taking out the backdoor. I feel bad for terran players especially because that main size seems like a bitch for building management. I think if this map can get off 2 base it'll be a blast to play.
Dash & Terminal: Main/Nat/3rd setup is awesome (shoutout to scorp for that one). It's got the whole deus ex feeling to it. My biggest concerns on this map is why woiuldn't terran gangnam style every single time? You thought it was bad on Habitation Station while this map looks like 1/2 the distance of that and with the way you rally your army you could eventually just take the enemy gold pretty easily if yours starts to mine out. Protoss & Zerg look fun on this map though, especially after the 3rds as it expands closer and closer to your opponent.
Ecosphere: Sick aesthetics, where did you get those from lol =P. I'm not the biggest fan of the main/nat/3rd of this map but I absolutely love the middle with all the different double rock towers to open and block paths. Also finally another map to use the rocks blocking the minerals but not the gas so you can build there then start breaking them down.
Moonlight Madness: Best map of this list ezpz. *cough* hahaha
Mutiny: The changes you did to this map compared to what we all saw during the community spotlight is awesome. Safe nat yet exposed "backdoor". Love that you either keep the backdoor rocks closed and take the forward aggressive 3rd or you knock them down and take the corner base as your 3rd. The middle lowground section is amazing and I hope to see some cool gameplay with it. Parade push could be strong (or 2 base protoss pushes...) but at least the defender has some nice advantages if they defend up by the ramp. I don't feel the rocks blocking the two of the gold bases are needed though.
Noah's Ark: It ain't no cloud kingdom that's for sure <3 but it still offers some interesting game play. This map is very deceiving imo, it looks like it's very open but there are so many tight choke points that will be key locations to fight over. Much like Mutiny I'm very interested in seeing the middle path get used.
Terraform: Fun map. Love the layout. It's funny to think that this might be one of the more "standard" maps of the list. I'd personally get rid of the gold base and just make it a normal base but the changes that you did on this map are some even I suggested! w00t. This is probably my favorite map of the list, although I might be biased towards Negative because I think I have a hard on for almost every map he makes...
I am actually really really really hype that blizzard is working with TLMC even further than they used to. It make me think, even if it's just an illusion, blizzard is putting real work and thought into the game moving forward.
Also, I found me a typo!
from Noah's Ark:
It does this by placing heavy restrictions oh how large armies move around the map
Bridgehead looks like a supercool innovative map, but I feel like this one is going to be a pain in the ass to play on. I think it has too many experimental features at once. In particular those are the backdoor rocks, the double wide ramp, the backwards natural base and the frontal 3rd that can be abused from the highground. Also some of the areas look overly tight but I'd have to play a few games to see if that's true or not.
Dash & Terminal looks amazing aesthetically and strategically. Easily my favorite map. The natural/third setup is so cool, without looking impossible to overcome. Very innovative, but some more calculated risks here. Could obviously end up broken but I give it a good chance it won't be.
Ecosphere is looks like a nice map with some interesting stuff going on. Would have to play quite some games on it to see how I feel on all the rocks and how the backdoor is set up to be honest. Could be very good, could be very mediocre.
Moonlight Madness' expansion pattern looks impossible to pull of, to be quite frank. The third base behind the collapsible rocks is weird in itself, but on top of that there is no reasonable 4th base to take.
Mutiny is way too chokey for my taste. And the distance between natural and backdoor main looks uncoverable. And then the third is also miles away from the first two bases. Very hard to defend a lot of things on this map.
Noah's Ark's has no third base. And the sentry teleporter through the middle will probably make for some shit games.
Terraform's expansion possibilities looksvery interesting. And this could be a sick map to maneuver on. Somehow innovative, but somehow not. I like it.
-first four were fine -ecosphere was buggy: misplaced town halls, 3 mothership cores on the south spawn?? -Mutiny had weird tech. Reaper required tech lab? -haven't tried terraform yet.
Some odd choices (especially a couple where I think they actually chose the weakest of that mapmaker's submissions) but I like most of them. Grats + hope the TL Open is entertaining (don't see how it couldn't be since they chose pretty much all experimental maps)
Noahs' Ark is probably the best map here (or at least, the one I'm most interested to see games on. There could definitely be balance issues), although the middle aesthetics make the overview a bit hard to read where cliffs are and such. Probably not a big deal but something to mention. Bridgehead is probably my other contender for best, but does have a few awkward wrinkles that should be ironed out imo. (mainly that a lot of the minerals/geysers are needlessly weird.. blocking paths/defender's arcs which could end up being "interesting" but might end up just being annoying)
edit: also really surprised etcetra didn't get in at all. Of the submissions we saw (granted there were a couple mapmakers that didn't post theirs publicly) I thought he had the strongest 3-map-punch of all the submitters. I'd definitely argue a couple of his are better than 2 or 3 of the finalists, but ah well. Opinions
No voting Bummer, or can we vote after the tourney? These are my favorite in order by a "high" diamond zerg's POV: 1. Bridgehead by Semmo 2. Mutiny by Timetwister22 3. Ecosphere by Enekh 4. Dash and Terminal by SeinGalton 5. Noah's Ark by Superouman 6. Moonlight Madness by SidianTheBard 7.Terraform by -NegativeZero-
EPT
Bummer, or can we vote after the tourney? 
