View a recap of all scores from this event.
As a reminder: When reading about the recaps, please be aware that General Effect (GE) Visual and GE Music are the only two captions that are not divided in half prior to their addition to the final score. When listing those other caption scores, the undivided score is presented first, followed by a slash and the divided score that is added to the total score for each corps. This was the second competition weekend that used an 11-person judging panel, with the addition of an additional judge on both Visual Effect and Music Effect. Since the Masters of the Summer Music Games contest in Murfreesboro used only nine judges and four of tonight's corps were not in Murfreesboro, any comparisons between shows will utilize the San Antonio finals results. Four corps (Boston Crusaders, Blue Stars, Glassmen and Crossmen) advanced into the evening finals from the prelims show earlier in the day. The other eight corps were seeded into the evening finals based upon scores from the DCI Southwestern Championship in San Antonio a week earlier. Blue Devils (1st, 94.525) continued their undefeated streak, but the gap between them and the Cavaliers narrowed from 1.40 in San Antonio to 0.75 in Atlanta. Perhaps more significant, the corps' 2.6 lead over Phantom Regiment in San Antonio was cut by more than half to 1.15, substantially due to Phantom closing the gap in Effect Visual in one week from 1.05 and 5th place to 0.45 and 3rd place. BD won Effect Visual and came in 2nd to Phantom by 0.1 in Effect Music. After beating the Cavaliers by 0.5/0.2 5 in Visual Performance in San Antonio, BD finished 0.4/0.2 behind the Cavaliers on Saturday. Once again, Blue Devils won Visual Ensemble, Color Guard and Brass, but the spread over the Cavaliers in total Visual (Performance, Ensemble and Color Guard) narrowed from 0.55 to 0.05. The corps again finished 4th in Music Ensemble and tied for 2nd in Percussion, 0.4/0.2 behind Phantom, the same spread as in San Antonio. The Cavaliers (2nd, 93.775) won Visual Performance, tied Blue Devils for 2nd in Percussion, took 2nd outright in Effect Visual, Visual Ensemble and Color Guard, placed 3rd in Effect Music and Music Ensemble and dropped to 5th in Brass after coming in 3rd in San Antonio. Phantom Regiment (3rd, 93.375) improved upon its Effect Visual score from 5th in San Antonio to 3rd and moved up from 3rd in Effect Music to 1st. Music Ensemble moved up from 3rd to 1st and Percussion again placed 1st. Brass dropped from 2nd to 3rd. The Visual captions are now the corps' lowest captions; 4th in Ensemble, 5th in Performance and Color Guard. Carolina Crown (4th, 92.625) slipped behind Phantom Regiment mostly due to the Effect captions, both of which finished in 4th. In San Antonio, the corps was 0.5 ahead of Phantom. In Atlanta, the corps fell 0.55 behind, a swing of 1.05. That's significant because the corps scored 0.75 behind Phantom overall. All Visual captions slipped from San Antonio; Performance from 2nd to 4th, Ensemble from 3rd to 5th, and Color Guard from 2nd to 3rd. But the corps fared better in the Music captions, with Brass moving up from 4th to 2nd, Ensemble staying in 2nd and Percussion advancing from 5th to 4th. The Cadets (5th, 91.375) took 3rd in Visual Performance and Visual Ensemble, up from 5th in both captions in San Antonio. The corps took 4th in Color Guard and Brass, and 5th in both Effect captions. The Cadets' lowest caption was a 6th place finish in Percussion. Bluecoats (6th, 88.975) were 5th in Percussion; 6th in both Effect captions, Visual Performance, Brass and Music Ensemble; 7th in Visual Ensemble and 11th in Color Guard. Of note, the Bluecoats took 7th in Color Guard in San Antonio with a score 0.7/0.35 higher than it was in Atlanta. Santa Clara Vanguard (7th, 88.100) was 6th in Visual Ensemble and Color Guard and 7th in all other captions (tied with Blue Knights in Effect Music). Down to Bluecoats by 0.8 in total Effect and 0.625 in total Music, the corps was up to Bluecoats by 0.55 in total Visual. Blue Knights (8th, 85.950) tied for 7th in Effect Music, took 9th in Visual Ensemble and 8th in all other captions, including Effect Visual, Visual Performance, Color Guard, and all three Music captions. Blue Stars (9th, 83.175) passed Boston Crusaders by a scant 0.05 after being down by 1.775 to them in San Antonio. The corps' high point was 7th in Color Guard, followed by 8th in Visual Ensemble (up from 11th in San Antonio). They also took 9th in Brass and Effect Music, and 10th in Effect Visual. Blue Stars also earned a 10th place finish in Percussion, 11th in Visual Performance (down from 9th), and 12th in Music Ensemble (down from 10th). Boston Crusaders (10th, 83.125) finished just 0.05 under Blue Stars and were 9th in Effect Visual, Visual Performance, Music Ensemble and Percussion. The 10th place finish in Effect Music was down by two spots and 0.1 from San Antonio. The corps also took 10th in Brass, 11th in Visual Ensemble (down from 8th), and 12th in Color Guard (down from 10th). Glassmen (11th, 81.800) were 9th in Color Guard, 10th in Visual Performance, Visual Ensemble and Music Ensemble, 11th in Percussion and both Effect captions (tying in Effect Visual), and 12th in Brass. Crossmen (12th, 80.750) closed the spread with Glassmen from 2.675 in San Antonio to 1.05, gaining 1.3 in Effect Visual and advancing from 12th to 10th in Color Guard. The corps finished 11th in Brass and Music Ensemble, tied Glassmen for 11th in Effect Visual, and 12th in all other captions (Effect Music, Visual Performance, Visual Ensemble and Percussion).