GEM's Crystal Ball: 2022 DCI Pre-Season Finals Predictions
It's the return of competitive Drum Corps and GEM is here to provide our first set of predictions!
The 2022 DCI season will be one of the most fascinating in recent memory, thanks to both the fact that we haven’t had a competitive season since 2019 and that in 2021, only a certain amount of drum corps fielded a show (and some of those that did field a show decided not to make the trip to Indianapolis in August). It has made our annual prognostication a tad bit more difficult.
Except, of course, at the top, where one program hasn’t placed lower than 2nd place since 2006.
GEM writers and contributors were asked to rank the 20 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 (60% first-place votes)
In 2019 the Blue Devils took home their 19th DCI World Championship with their production, Ghostlight. The corps has finished first or second for the past 13 seasons and has placed no lower than fifth since finishing third in 1975. And while they did not field a show in 2021, past, present, and future Blue Devils met to produce a special video project entitled Other Worlds.
2. Bluecoats (40% first-place votes)
After narrowly losing to the Blue Devils in 2019 with their show The Bluecoats (by a razor-thin .087), Bluecoats participated in the 2021 Celebration Tour by going through the door into the world of Lucy. In 2010, the corps medaled for the first time, taking the bronze with their production, Metropolis: The Future is Now. In 2014, they took home the silver medal with their show Tilt, and in 2016, Bluecoats won the gold medal with their show, Down Side Up.
3. Carolina Crown
Carolina Crown took home their seventh Jim Ott Best Brass Performance Award for their show, Beneath the Surface, narrowly missing a medal in 2019 by .037 with their show Beneath the Surface to the Santa Clara Vanguard. The corps presented a series of live performances and streaming events of their 2021 production, Project 21: In My Mind. Since their first finals appearance in 1995, Carolina Crown has failed to make finals only once in 2002, finishing within the top five in finals every year since 2008. In 2013, the corps won the gold medal along with the Jim Ott Best Brass Performance Award, the John Brazil Best Visual Performance Award, and the Don Angelica Best General Effect Award with their show e=mc2.
4. Boston Crusaders
The Boston Crusaders finished in sixth place for the third time in corps history in 2019, winning their second consecutive George Zingali Best Color Guard Performance Award. The Boston Crusaders drew on familiar themes from literature and film production for their 2019 show Goliath. This was followed by Zoom for the 2021 DCI Celebration Tour. The corps has not missed finals since 1999 and has enjoyed its most competitive run in corps history since 2017.
5. Santa Clara Vanguard
Receiving the bronze medal in 2019, the Santa Clara Vanguard did not perform live at DCI events in 2021, instead choosing to come together in a show of unity and hope for the 2021 film production, Wait for Me, which was presented in exhibitions at the 2021 DCI Celebration. SCV is the four-time defending winner of the Fred Sanford Best Percussion Performance Award and has continuously placed in the top five since 2012, winning the silver medal in 2017, the gold medal in 2018, and as mentioned, taking home the bronze medal in 2019 with their show, Vox Eversio.
6. The Cavaliers
The Cavaliers have enjoyed a four-year run of top-six finishes most recently finishing in fifth place in 2019 with The Wrong Side of the Tracks. A seven-time DCI World Champion, The Cavaliers last medaled in 2011 with their show XtraordinarY and last won a caption award that same year. In 2021, The Cavaliers participated in the DCI Celebration Tour performing Live! From the Rose.
7. The Cadets
The Cadets are a ten-time DCI World Champion and are one of the oldest continuously active junior drum and bugle corps in North America, continuously placing in the top six from 1982 to 2016. Their 2019 production Behold earned The Cadets ninth place at Finals, besting the Mandarins by .538. Their 2021 production …Shall Always Be was a FloMarching Top Five Fan Favorite placing third behind Phantom Regiment and Madison Scouts, respectively.
8. Phantom Regiment
The Phantom Regiment last medaled in 2012, placing third with their show Turandot. A two-time DCI World Champion, the corps has continuously made finals since 1974 though they were in danger of breaking that streak in 2019, ultimately finishing in 12th place with I Am Joan. In 2021, the Phantom Regiment brought back one of their most popular shows Harmonic Journey, thrilling audiences all summer long placing first in the FloMarching Top Five Fan Favorite poll.
9. Blue Stars
In 2008 the Blue Stars returned to DCI finals after a 29-year absence with their show, Le Tour: Every Second Counts. Since then, the corps has only missed finals once (in 2012) and has placed in the top ten in the last four competitive seasons, most recently earning eighth place in 2019. Inspired by the Tony-Award-winning musical In the Heights, the Blue Stars 2021 production @ The Top of the World featured the music of Lin-Manuel Miranda.
10. Blue Knights
The Blue Knights have continuously made finals since 2004 placing as high as sixth in 2015 with their program Because… Their 2019 production …I Remember Everything earned seventh place improving on their ninth-place finish in 2018. The Blue Knights participated in the 2021 DCI Celebration Tour with their show Always.
11. Mandarins
Holder of eight DCI divisional championship titles (now Open Class), the Mandarins are a two-time World Class Finalist placing 10th in 2018 and 2019. The corps earned an 89.300 in 2019, the highest score in their history with their show subTerra. Inspired by historical female Japanese artist, Yayoi Kusama and her piece “The Flower Obsession”, the Mandarins aimed to bring to life the hallucination of an artist’s work with their 2021 program Beyond the Canvas.
12. Madison Scouts
The Madison Scouts last earned a place in finals in 2017 with their program Last Man Standing. A two-time DCI World Champion, the former all-male corps adopted a non-discrimination policy in 2019 that expanded membership to all genders to participate in the Madison Scouts. This would’ve taken effect in 2020 but the first all gender-inclusive corps did not perform till the 2021 DCI Celebration Tour. Their program, Between the Lines, took second in the FloMarching Top Five Fan Favorite Poll.
Just missed: Crossmen, Troopers, Pacific Crest
Donald Angelica Best General Effect Award
Bluecoats (55% first-place votes)
Fred Sanford Best Percussion Performance Award
Santa Clara Vanguard (55% first-place votes)
John Brazale Best Visual Performance Award
Blue Devils (85% first-place votes)
George Zingali Best Color Guard Performance Award
Boston Crusaders (70% first-place votes)
Jim Ott Best Brass Performance Award
Carolina Crown (75% first-place votes)