Blue Devils remain undefeated going into the DCI World Championship Finals, with a 0.85 spread over Carolina Crown. However, Crown closed the gap by a full point over the spread Blue Devils enjoyed in Quarterfinals (by scoring 1.45 higher than in Quarterfinals, the largest increase of all corps). According simply to the dynamics of what happened from Quarterfinals to Semifinals, the title could still be up for grabs. Only two corps in the top 12 scored lower than in Quarterfinals; Phantom Regiment (a scant 0.05) and Troopers (-0.15). Still, Troopers hung on to 12th place by 0.30 over the Colts (despite Colts adding 0.45 to its score) and are heading into the Finals competition for the first time since 1986. Every corps under Colts scored lower than in the Quarterfinals, with Madison Scouts losing the most points at 0.90. Blue Devils (1st-98.40, up 0.45 from Quarterfinals) took Visual Effect (plus total Effect) and all three Visual captions (Performance, Ensemble and Color Guard), plus Percussion. Just 0.10 from a perfect score was attained in Visual Performance, Visual Ensemble and Percussion. The corps took 2nd in Music Effect to Carolina Crown, down 0.25. Brass also took 2nd (by 0.10), as did Music Ensemble (also by 0.10). Remember that in figuring out the final score, all captions except Visual Effect and Music Effect are divided in half before added to the total, so those two 2nd places in the two Music captions combined are responsible for only a 0.10 difference in the final score. Carolina Crown (2nd-97.55, up 1.45 from Quarterfinals) took 1st in Music Effect, Brass and Music Ensemble, also capturing a tie with Blue Devils for1st in total Music. A 2nd place in Percussion was up from 4th the day before. The corps took 3rd in Visual Effect, Visual Ensemble and Color Guard as well as 3rd in total Visual. But Visual Performance dropped 0.10 to 5th after placing 4th in Quarterfinals, finishing under the 3rd, 4th and 5th place corps. Holy Name Cadets (3rd-97.20) picked up 1.15 from Quarterfinals to hang in close to Crown, taking 2nd in Visual Effect and all three Visual captions. The corps took 3rd in all three Music captions (Brass, Ensemble and Percussion) and 4th in Music Effect, 0.55 down to Crown and enough to put the corps in 4th in total Effect despite the 2nd in Visual Effect. The Cavaliers (4th-96.05) picked up 0.20 in total score, but still lost ground to Holy Name Cadets by falling from 0.20 behind in Quarterfinals to 1.15 down in Semis. Only Visual Performance was as high as 3rd place. (At the Quarterfinals, the corps took 2nd in Color Guard and Percussion, but fell to 5th and 4th, respectively.) Visual Effect tied for 4th place and Music Ensemble and Percussion took 4th outright. More of a concern for the corps is the 5th place finishes in Music Effect (down from a tie for 3rd in Quarterfinals), Visual Ensemble, Color Guard and Brass (which also took 5th on Thursday). Santa Clara Vanguard (5th-95.90) picked up 0.40 to place only 0.15 from the Cavaliers. The corps' highest placement was 3rd in Music Effect, with Visual Effect tying Cavaliers for 4th. All Visual captions took 4th and tied with Cavaliers for 4th in total Visual. (Cavaliers placed 3rd, 5th and 5th in the three Visual captions.) The problem for the corps continues to be the Music captions. Brass, 2nd in Quarterfinals, dropped to 4th. Music Ensemble remained in 6th and Percussion remained in 7th, adding up to 5th in total Music. Bluecoats (6th-93.55) picked up 0.90 but is 1.45 down from Santa Clara. (In Quarterfinals, the corps was down to SCV by 2.85.) Music Ensemble and Percussion took 5th place, but every other caption ended in 6th except Color Guard, which finished in 7th, up from 8th in Quarterfinals. The corps enjoys a 2.35 advantage over the next highest scoring corps; up from the1.95 spread it had over 7th place on Thursday. Boston Crusaders (7th-91.20) gained a spot at the expense of Phantom Regiment by adding 0.85 to its score while Regiment dropped 0.05. (This involved the only placement switch from Quarterfinals.) A tie for 7th in Visual Effect was joined by 7th in Music Effect, Visual Performance and Visual Ensemble, the last three finishing higher than in the Quarterfinals. The Color Guard and all three Music captions finished in 8th place. Phantom Regiment (8th-90.65) took 6th in Percussion and 7th in the other two Music captions (Brass and Ensemble). Music Effect took 8th and Visual Effect, Visual Performance and Visual Ensemble all finished in 9th. Color Guard placed 10th. From being 0.35 above Boston in Quarterfinals to 0.55 down in Semifinals and going from 0.75 above Blue Stars to 0.25 up shows a potential dynamic the corps hopes to halt in Finals. Blue Stars (9th-90.40) took 6th in Color Guard, tied for 7th in Visual Effect and took 8th in Visual Performance and Visual Ensemble. Music Effect took 9th despite being 8th on the sheets of both Visual Effect judges. All three Music captions finished in 9th, Percussion rising from 12th in Quarterfinals by gaining 0.70 from the night before. (Remember that really represents an increase of 0.35 in total score because all captions but Effect are divided in half before being added to the total score.) Glassmen (10th-87.95) took 9th in Color Guard and 10th in Music Effect, Visual Performance and Brass. Visual Effect, Visual Ensemble and Music Ensemble finished in 11th, and Percussion dropped a placement to 12th. Blue Knights (11th-87.55) gained 0.35 on Glassmen to finish just 0.40 under the next highest corps. 10th place finishes were earned in Visual Effect, Visual Ensemble, Music Ensemble and Percussion. Music Effect and Color Guard finished in 11th and Visual Performance and Brass finished in 12th. Troopers (12th-85.90) finished 11th in Visual Performance, Brass and Percussion. Every other caption finished in 13th. The corps tied Colts in total Visual and scored 0.15 down in total Effect. The advantage over Colts was attained through scoring 0.45 higher in total Music. Colts (13th-85.60) gained 0.45 from Quarterfinals and almost made it into Finals. Both Effect captions took 12th, as did Visual Ensemble and Color Guard. Visual Performance and Percussion took 13th and Brass and Music Ensemble finished in 14th. The Academy (14th-83.75) took 12th in Music Ensemble, 15th in Brass and 17th in Percussion to take 14th in total Music, the same placement every other caption took across the board. Madison Scouts (15th-82.40) took 13th in Brass and 15th in Music Effect, Visual Performance, Visual Ensemble and Music Ensemble. Visual Effect, Color Guard and Percussion all placed 16th. The total score drop of 0.90 was the largest drop of any corps from Thursday. Crossmen (16th-81.65) took 14th in Percussion, and 15th in Visual Effect and Color Guard. Music Effect, Brass and Music Ensemble took 16th and Visual Performance finished in 17th. Spirit (17th-80.45) was 15th in Percussion, 16th in Visual Performance and Visual Ensemble and 17th in all other captions.