GEM's Crystal Ball: 2022 DCI Week 3 Finals Predictions

Blue Stars, Mandarins, and Crossmen trending up!

Jul 12, 2022

“Gold.” *Twitter*, 2022, Link. Accessed 12 July 2022

Week 3 saw the additions of the Blue Devils “B”, Blue Devils “C”, Heat Wave, Raiders, and Troopers to the competitive field.

Once corps have competed at a show, they are eligible for the 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 top 15 competing corps, regardless of class, 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.

“Blue Devils.” *Twitter*, 2022, Link. Accessed 12 July 2022

1. Blue Devils (59% first-place votes)

Previous Ranking: 1 ↔

The Blue Devils have started the 2022 season undefeated, widening the gap between them and Santa Clara Vanguard by 2.550 and taking all captions except the Percussion caption.

“Bluecoats.” *Twitter*, 2022, Link. Accessed 12 July 2022

2. Bluecoats (19% first-place votes)

Previous Ranking: 2 ↔

The Bluecoats took the all but one sub-caption at the Tour of Champions - Northern Illinois show scoring an 80.450.

“Carolina Crown.” *Facebook*, 2022, Link. Accessed 12 July 2022

3. Carolina Crown (22% first-place votes)

Previous Ranking: 3 ↔

Carolina Crown took two of three music captions, two of three visual captions, and overall General Effect in their 1 point victory over Boston Crusaders at CrownBEAT on July 9, 2022.

“Boston Crusaders.” *Twitter*, 2022, Link. Accessed 12 July 2022

4. Boston Crusaders

Previous Ranking: 4 ↔

Boston Crusaders took the percussion and color guard captions at CrownBEAT on July 9, 2022.

“Santa Clara Vanguard.” *Facebook*, 2022, Link. Accessed 12 July 2022

5. Santa Clara Vanguard

Previous Ranking: 5 ↔

The four-time defending winner of the Fred Sanford Best Percussion Performance Award, SCV took the Percussion caption over Blue Devils by .300 at DCI West in Stanford, CA.

“The Cavaliers.” *Twitter*, 2022, Link. Accessed 12 July 2022

6. The Cavaliers

Previous Ranking: 6 ↔

The Cavaliers last competed on July 6 in Ankeny, IA. As part of The Cavaliers’ ongoing COVID mitigation protocols, the corps performed standstill performances in Dubuque, IA, Dekalb, IL, and La Crosse, WI.

“Blue Stars.” *Twitter*, 2022, Link. Accessed 12 July 2022

7. Blue Stars

Previous Ranking: 8 ↑

Blue Stars scored a 2.750 win over Phantom Regiment taking all captions except the Brass caption at River City Rhapsody in La Crosse, WI on July 10, 2022.

“Mandarins.” *Twitter*, 2022, Link. Accessed 12 July 2022

8. Mandarins

Previous Ranking: 9 ↑

Mandarins most recently competed at DCI West in Stanford, CA scoring a 76.950 and placing third overall.

“The Cadets.” *Facebook*, 2022, Link. Accessed 12 July 2022

9. The Cadets

Previous Ranking: 7 ↓

The Cadets most recently competed at CrownBEAT in Lexington, SC scoring a 76.900 and placing third overall.

“Phantom Regiment.” *Twitter*, 2022, Link. Accessed 12 July 2022

10. Phantom Regiment

Previous Ranking: 10 ↔

Phantom Regiment most recently competed at River City Rhapsody in La Crosse, WI scoring a 73.000 and placing second overall, and taking the Brass caption.