DCIFan91

I agree with you on the Blue Stars front. Their current design philosophy is fine if your sole goal is to make finals. But if they want to take the next step and break out of the bottom half of finals, they need to do something different than what they have been doing. I’ve always been a Blue Stars fan. They have a reputation of being one of the best organizations in the activity from a culture standpoint. Really cheering for them to have the competitive success that matches that.

GE seems to be the story of the season for the Blue Stars. Great Brass scores, Guard holding serve, and percussion has made huge strides over the span of the season. I wonder if a design team revamp is on the horizon this off-season. I personally enjoy the show and am a big fan of the organization. Just wonder if changes need to be made in order to take the next step from a competitive standpoint.

I feel like Blue Stars and Phantom have gone back and forth all year in regards to Brass and Guard. Blue Stars have been getting fantastic brass scores the past week or so. I think overall, they both are pretty equal in those captions. The difference is GE. Phantom is always 1.5 points ahead in that caption alone.

It’s really hard to predict where Cavies will fall. Their drumline is the ultimate trump card over Blue Stars and Troopers/Colts.

Cavies drumline is unreal. This show, design wise, is not up to par with the 3 previous we just watched. Which is super surprising given their design team.

The back half of the Blue Stars show is killer. I think the opener holds it back. Mesh the Cadets opener and the Blue Stars ballad/closer and you’ve got yourself an exceptional DCI show

They went out and acquired a top tier staff/design team in one off season. Some corps have the resources to do that, some do not. The collection of minds they have on their team is incredible.

I have this feeling that BS is going to coast in the 8-9 slot for a little bit then all of a sudden make a big move as we close in on finals. I don’t know why I feel that way, but I do.

Their early season brass scores reflected your statement. But at their two most recent shows, the brass judge put them above Phantom in content. So who knows.

I feel like 1.2 in a 24 hour period has been done many times. I’ve also stated in another thread that the Phantom/Blue Stars/Colts mini tour in the Midwest has been odd from a scores perspective, IMO. Almost no movement. If it was one corps plateauing, I would say it’s the corps hitting a lull. But when every corps in that string of shows flatline in terms of score progression, my eyebrow raises a tad.

My totally accurate score predictions BD- 89.3 Bluecoats- 88.1 BAC- 87.6 Crown- 87.4 Phantom- 85.1 Cadets- 84.2 Blue Stars- 83.7 I think you see a big jump for Phantom and BS in terms of score.

I think these scores are about 1.5-2 points below where they would be elsewhere. I feel like this happens to the Midwest circuit every year. They cruise around Wisconsin, Illinois, etc without much movement and then *boom* they get in line with everyone else once Texas tour rolls around. Everything will shake out this week/weekend. I, personally, still think Phantom will place above Mandarins this weekend. I think this is the first recap I’ve seen where a couple judges had BS above Phantom in a caption/sub caption in music.

Looking at the upcoming tour schedule, they have several days after the show tomorrow night where I believe they have the opportunity to implement changes without fear of competitive ramifications. I hope they evolve this show!

SCV 2022 🤝 Phantom 2023

I think Phantom is solidly 5th this year. They seem to be in their own tier. Doubt they’ll be able to catch the Top 4, but I also don’t envision Cadets, Mandarins, Cavies, or BS gaining ground on them either. This is the perfect year for them as an organization. Finished last year on fire, continue the momentum this year to go into the off-season with the sights set on a medal in 2024.