On Sunday, July 28, all of Drum Corps International's World Class corps competed at the DCI Southeastern Championship at the Georgia Dome in Atlanta. The top 13 corps all broke 80 points, up from 10 corps last week in San Antonio. Only 0.90 separated 1st place from 3rd and only 1.55 separated 1st from 4th. Among the top 12 corps, the only change in placements from San Antonio eight days earlier was between 9th and 10th places. Unlike the big shows in Minneapolis and San Antonio the previous two weekends, the Atlanta show did not feature a double General Effect panel. There was only one Visual Effect and one Music Effect judge. While reading the following, please keep in mind that the scores of the two General Effect captions are counted for full value, but each of the scores of the three Visual and three Music captions are first divided in half, with each of those half scores then added for the Total Visual and Total Percussion score. View the complete recap of scores from this event. Blue Devils (1st, 92.90) won six of the eight captions, up from just two in San Antonio. The corps was 3rd in both Music Effect and Brass, 0.50 down to Crown in the former and 0.20 in the latter. However, that deficiency in Music Effect was far more important, as it accounted for a full 0.50 in the total score, while the Brass score accounted for only 0.10 after that caption was divided in half. The 0.80 spread over Crown in Percussion was worth 0.40 in the total score, greater than the 0.35 advantage BD had over Crown in the overall total score. With all other captions being relatively close between the two corps, to stay ahead, BD needs to maintain that spread in Percussion and perhaps close the gap in Music Effect, which was down to Crown in San Antonio by 0.25, half the spread as in Atlanta. Carolina Crown (2nd, 92.50) won Music Effect by that impressive spread of 0.50 and also won Brass by just 0.10 over Cadets and 0.20 over BD. (Remember to divide the Brass score in half.) Besides those two captions and the 5th place finish in Percussion, the only other caption not to place 2nd was 4th place in Visual Proficiency. The percussion has been as low as 7th and much attention has been focused on the placement of the line all summer. One saving grace is the performance of the percussion is not affecting the Music Effect mark. Another is the corps moved up one position in both General Effect captions from San Antonio. The Cadets (3rd, 92.00) won no captions this week, but still maintained a presence within striking distance of the title. Music Effect, Brass and Visual Analysis placed 2nd, Visual Proficiency, Visual Analysis and Percussion took 3rd and Visual Effect and Color Guard took 4th. After taking 3rd in all three music captions in both Minneapolis and San Antonio, moving up to 2nd in Brass and Music Analysis could be foreshadowing things to come. Santa Clara Vanguard (4th, 91.35) is only 1.55 from the top score, slowly closing the gap of 1.85 in San Antonio and 2.15 in Minneapolis. 2nd place finishes in Visual Proficiency and Percussion saw the corps move up one spot in the former caption and up one spot in the latter. 3rd place finishes in Visual Effect and Color Guard were followed by 4th-place finishes in the remaining four captions; Music Effect, Visual Analysis, Brass and Music Analysis. Phantom Regiment (5th, 89.00) was no higher than 5th in any caption. Music Effect and Music Analysis both placed 6th, and Percussion finished 7th. The five remaining captions all placed 5th. Bluecoats (6th, 88.20) once again took 4th in Percussion. Music Effect and Music Analysis placed 5th, and Visual Effect, Visual Proficiency, Visual Analysis and Brass placed 6th. Color Guard slipped one spot to 9th compared to a week ago in San Antonio. Madison Scouts (7th, 86.20) was 7th in every caption except for 8th in Percussion and 11th in Color Guard. The Cavaliers (8th, 85.35) was 6th in Percussion and 8th in Music Effect, Color Guard, Brass and Music Analysis. Visual Effect was 9th, Visual Analysis 10th and Visual Proficiency 11th, down two spots from San Antonio. Boston Crusaders (9th, 85.00) moved up in Color Guard from 11th in San Antonio to 6th in Atlanta, the largest caption jump of any corps in any caption over the past two regional events. Visual Effect and Visual Analysis finished 8th, Music Effect and Visual Proficiency 10th and all three Music captions 9th. After a spread under Blue Knights of 0.05 in Minneapolis and a far greater drop of 1.10 in San Antonio, the corps rebounded and passed Blue Knights by 0.45. Blue Knights (10th, 84.55) was 7th in Color Guard, down from 5th in San Antonio. 8th in Visual Effect and 9th in both Music Effect and Visual Analysis was followed by 10th place finishes in Visual Effect, Brass and Music Analysis. Percussion finished in 11th. Spirit of Atlanta (11th, 82.70) was 12th in Visual Proficiency and Percussion and 13th in Color Guard, down from 10th in San Antonio. The remaining five captions all placed 11th. Blue Stars (12th, 82.15) ranged from 9th in Visual Proficiency to 14th in Musical Analysis. Color Guard and Percussion was 10th, Brass 13th and both Effect captions and Visual Analysis finished 12th. Troopers (13th, 80.35) moved past Crossmen despite earning no caption placements within the top 12, even though Crossmen had three captions that placed 12th. Color Guard was the lowest caption at 15th, with Brass and Percussion both finishing 14th. All five other captions finished 13th. Crossmen (14th, 79.95) took 12th in Color Guard, Brass and Music Analysis. Percussion took 13th, both Effect captions 14th, Visual Analysis 15th and Visual Proficiency 17th, a plunge of six positions and 0.40 from San Antonio. Last weekend, Troopers were 0.60 behind Crossmen in that caption. In Atlanta, Troopers were 1.30 ahead, a change of a whopping 1.90, which kept the corps out of 13th place. Colts (15th, 77.75) reversed positions with Pacific Crest, taking 14th in Visual Proficiency and Visual Analysis. Music Effect, Brass and Music Analysis placed 15th, while Visual Effect and Brass took 16th. Percussion slipped two spots to 19th. Pacific Crest (16th, 77.30) was 14th in Color Guard, 15th in Visual Effect and 16th in Music Effect, Brass, Music Analysis and Percussion. Brass was 17th and Visual Proficiency finished 18th. Mandarins (17th, 75.50) moved up two placements from San Antonio, taking 15th in Visual Proficiency, 17th in both Effect captions and Percussion, 18th in Visual Analysis and Music Analysis and 19th in Color Guard and Brass. The Academy (18th, 74.55) took 15th in Percussion, 17th in Music Analysis, 18th in Music Effect, Color Guard and Brass and 19th in the other three captions. Oregon Crusaders (19th, 74.40) was 16th in Visual Proficiency and Brass. Visual Analysis and Color Guard finished 17th, Visual Effect and Percussion placed 18th and Music Effect and Music Analysis 19th. Jersey Surf (20th, 70.65) was 21st in Visual Proficiency and Visual Analysis, 22nd in Visual Proficiency and 20th in the remaining five captions. Cascades (tie 21st, 68.85) was 21st in Music Effect, Visual Proficiency and all three Music captions. Visual Effect, Visual Analysis and Color Guard finished in 22nd. Pioneer (tie 21st, 68.85) was 20th in Visual Proficiency and Visual Analysis, 21st in Visual Effect and Color Guard and 22nd in Music Effect and all three Music captions. View the complete recap of scores from this event.