Fortunately the themes that made it to the final round weren't all horrible; however, I was much more critical of them so as to give my top choices a better chance.

Automation -1 - Less open to interpretation than I originally thought.

Break the cycle +1 - Although it may conclude with a lot of games of blowing up two-wheeled vehicles, it could be fun.

Control the environment, not the player -1 - I only downvoted this because it didn't have a chance of winning anyway and if I downvoted it it would give the other themes a slightly better chance or something.

Each playthrough builds on the last +1 - By the final round, I have quite a few ideas on how this could work.

Everything grows -1 - Would be better if something grew but not everything

It only changes when you aren't looking -1 - This is just not a very good theme.

Sacrifices must be made -1 - Way too vague; describes maybe 40% of all games.

Absorb your enemies 0 - This would be rather amusing to play around with.

Darkness is your friend -1 - "Darkness" means exactly two things: "The partial or total absence of light" or "Wickedness or evil."

Don't trust the game -1 - Leads to a lot of cheesy gimmicks in which the instructions tell you something that you specifically need to not do.

Magic, but at what cost? -1 - Basically just "Magic" but slightly better.

Making connections - FREAKING +1 - My personal favorite theme overall due to the massive versatility of it.

One item, many uses +1 - My second favorite theme next to the above; the said item can be a vast number of things and it has an equally vast number of uses.

Take one, leave one -1 - I would have rated this higher but it's not nearly as good as some of the other themes.

Two connected worlds -1 - Basically "Making Connections" except confusing and much more limiting.

Evolve +1 - In the screenshot I accidentally had this marked at [0]; this is actually a really powerful theme.