GEM's Crystal Ball: 2022 DCI Week 1 Finals Predictions
Week 1 is complete and GEM is here to provide our first set of predictions!
We are one week into the 2022 competitive season with shows taking place primarily on the west coast ending with the DCI Tour Premiere in Detroit, Michigan. Of the groups that competed in week one, only 12 will be finishing their season in Indianapolis in August.
Once corps have competed at a show, they will be added to that week’s Power Rankings. Preview shows and/or leaked videos are not taken into account for the Power Rankings.
GEM writers and contributors were asked to rank the 12 competing World Class corps based on where they predicted the corps would end up on Saturday night, August 14, 2022. Voters also picked which corps they thought would win each of the five caption performance awards.
1. Blue Devils (58% first-place votes)
Previous Ranking: 1 ↔
The Blue Devils have started the 2022 season with two straight wins in California, winning all but the percussion caption in Pasadena and then taking all captions in San Bernardino.
2. Bluecoats (32% first-place votes)
Previous Ranking: 2 ↔
This is the fifth straight year that the Bluecoats have won the DCI Tour Premiere at Ford Field, taking all captions and winning all but two sub-captions.
3. Boston Crusaders (10% first-place votes)
Previous Ranking: 4 ↑
Debuting at the DCI Tour Premiere, the Boston Crusaders placed second besting The Cavaliers by nearly two points. The Crusaders were consistently second in their captions, save for an overall fourth-place finish in Music Analysis. Though they did take first in color guard and percussion sub-captions.
4. Santa Clara Vanguard
Previous Ranking: 5 ↓
After winning their first show in Vista, CA, the Vanguard has placed second place in both of their matchups with the Blue Devils. The four-time defending winner of the Fred Sanford Best Percussion Performance Award, SCV most recently took second place in the percussion caption to the aforementioned Concord Blue Devils.
Previous Ranking: 6 ↑
Finishing nearly two points behind the Boston Crusaders at the DCI Tour Premiere, The Cavaliers’ sub-captions saw them place as high as second and as low as fifth. Their highest caption was Music Analysis (2nd) and their lowest caption was Color Guard (5th).
Previous Ranking: 8 ↑
Phantom Regiment finished ahead of the Blue Stars for the first time since 2018 at the DCI Tour Premiere. Regiment saw sub-captions as high as second (Music Analysis) but sixth overall in the Brass caption.
7. Blue Stars
Previous Ranking: 9 ↑
Though they were bested by Phantom Regiment at the DCI Tour Premiere, the Blue Stars did place higher in the Brass caption and Overall Visual. Their highest sub-captions were in Color Guard and Brass (3rd) and were sixth overall in the Percussion caption.
8. Mandarins
Previous Ranking: 11 ↑
The Mandarins have begun their season solidly in third place behind their California counterparts from Concord and Santa Clara. While they will not compete again until July 5th, they will see the Blue Knights who in 2019 placed seventh overall and bested the Mandarins by almost three points.
9. The Academy
Previous Ranking: NR ↑
The Academy finished the 2019 season in 15th place behind Pacific Crest by a little more than a point. This year things are very different as the Arizona corps has bested Pac Crest in all of their three contests, most recently by over five points.
10. Crossmen
Previous Ranking: NR ↑
The Crossmen rounded out the DCI Tour Premier finishing in sixth place, scoring fifth place in both brass and percussion over Phantom Regiment and Blue Stars, respectively. The San Antonio corps also placed fifth over the Phantom Regiment in Visual Proficiency.
11. Pacific Crest
Previous Ranking: NR ↑
After finishing 20th in 2018, Pacific Crest jumped to a 14th place finish in 2019 scoring less than three tenths behind Spirit of Atlanta who finished in 13th place.
12. Gold
Previous Ranking: NR ↑
Gold opened their season in Vista, CA, and finished with a score of 53.00, finishing almost five points behind Pacific Crest. The next night in Pasadena saw Gold improve to a 54.60 and finish less than three points behind Pac Crest. Wrapping up the weekend in San Bernardino, Gold finished with a 56.35 closing the gap between them and PC to less than two points. These two groups will see each other again on July 8th in Sacramento, CA.
Donald Angelica Best General Effect Award
Bluecoats (58% first-place votes)
Fred Sanford Best Percussion Performance Award
Boston Crusaders (42% first-place votes)
John Brazale Best Visual Performance Award
Blue Devils (63% first-place votes)
George Zingali Best Color Guard Performance Award
Boston Crusaders (63% first-place votes)
Jim Ott Best Brass Performance Award
Carolina Crown (74% first-place votes)