I like the idea of the extended intro, I can hear that you were trying to emulate the source's long intro. I think for your mix, it would work in the context of a much longer song, but I agree with my fellow judges that is too long here.
The writing and arrangement ideas are quite good in this track. I have to agree that production is holding this arrangement back however. The synth lead work sounds good (and nice soloing btw) while the orchestral elements need quite a bit of work. You have to be so careful with orchestral samples, they need to be humanized and properly balanced, often they need to have layered articulations, and they need the right reverbs and volume automations to make them work within the context of your song. Unfortunately here they all sound quite fake, dry and exposed. The drums are suffering from similar problems, they need much better eq and effect treatments.
Also agreed with my fellow judges that the entire track needs a rebalance job, and everything needs to be given it's own space in the frequency spectrum, as everything is playing over everything else. Don't be afraid to remove elements at some points where the song is too cluttered. The synth pad and vocal pad both are too present for too long. And yes, sidechaining is a great way to introduce some groove and also clear some space.
I hope you'll take this as an opportunity to kick up your production game another notch, because the writing and arrangement are quite nice.
NO (resubmit)