2007 Nomination Rally Tournament

The 2007 edition of the Nomination Rally Tournament was held by Leonhart4 during the offseason after the Summer 2006 Contest. The newcomers bracket was won easily by Mewtwo with Nightmare, Diddy Kong and Seifer Almasy also winning a nomination spot. The returners bracket was won by Raiden who defeated Fox McCloud in a close final. The five winners thus recieved a lot of support from the board for the Summer 2007 Contest.

Format
The format remained the same as the 2006 edition. The newcomers bracket was a 128 character single elimination until the quarterfinals where the final eight characters then proceeded with a round robin. The top four would win a nomination spot. The returners bracket was also a 32 character single elimination with only the winner getting a nomination spot.

Aftermath
Despite the field growing to 128 characters both Diddy Kong and Seifer Almasy failed to reach the bracket. Even though Mewtwo was stuck in an unwinnable match he was still able to impress by getting 25% against Ryu, Bowser and Toad and for even cutting Bowser during the ASV. Nightmare was given an easy match-up against Solid Snake, Vyse and Rayman and was able to take second place easily though was easily crushed in the second round against Solid Snake, Riku and Ryu Hayabusa. In what was thought to be an easy match Raiden struggle to take second against Sam Fisher in a match that also included Crono and Simon Belmont. He then bowed out in third place against Crono, Zero and HK-47.

Trivia

 * Despite not winning a nomination spot 20 characters from the newcomers bracket made it to the Summer 2007 Contest bracket.
 * Despite not winning a nomination spot 16 characters from the returners bracket made it to the Summer 2007 Contest bracket.