2023 DCI World Championships

3 Major Storylines To Come Out of 2023 DCI Prelims

3 Major Storylines To Come Out of 2023 DCI Prelims

Here are the top 3 storylines that came out of DCI World Championship Prelims competition, held at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis, IN on August 10

Aug 11, 2023 by Natalie Shelton
3 Major Storylines To Come Out of 2023 DCI Prelims

What. A Day.

After twelve full hours of drum corps action, here are the three storylines you NEED to know that came out of today's 2023 DCI World Championship Prelims competition:

1. The Top 25 Are Set

Only the top 25 highest-scoring corps out of the 32 ensembles that took the field today will advance to the 2023 DCI World Championship Semifinals tomorrow on August 11th. In case you need a refresher on scores, and thus who advances to tomorrow's Semis competition, here's how things shook out at the end of the evening:

Prelims - August 10
1Blue Devils97.688
2Carolina Crown96.975
3Bluecoats96.688
4Boston Crusaders96.300
5The Cadets93.688
6Mandarins93.363
7Phantom Regiment92.675
8The Cavaliers91.788
9Colts90.175
10Blue Stars89.363
11Troopers89.163
12Blue Knights86.650
13Crossmen86.338
14Pacific Crest85.000
15Spirit of Atlanta84.838
16Madison Scouts83.525
17The Academy82.588
17Music City82.588
19Spartans81.913
20Gold79.250
21Genesis79.088
22Southwind77.438
23Jersey Surf76.238
24Columbians76.088
25Seattle Cascades76.050
26The Battalion74.725
27Guardians74.575
28River City Rhythm71.175
297th Regiment70.075
30Colt Cadets68.550
31Raiders67.175
32Les Stentors65.500


So this means Blue Devils through Seattle Cascades will advance to Semis while The Battalion, Guardians, River City Rhythm, 7th Regiment, Colt Cadets, Raiders, and Les Stentors officially have performed for the last time in the 2023 season.

2. We Need To Talk About Captions... Again

In keeping with the rest of the season, the Caption Race is one of the most intriguing stories to consistently come out of each competition. While we saw a large chunk of ensembles in Allentown, it's been a few weeks since these ensembles have gone head-to-head. So here's how the Caption Race is looking after Prelims:

Color Guard - Prelims
1Blue Devils19.500
2Boston Crusaders19.400
3Bluecoats19.300
4Carolina Crown19.000
5Mandarins18.600


Brass - Prelims
1Carolina Crown19.400
2Blue Devils19.200
3Bluecoats19.000
4Boston Crusaders18.900
5The Cadets18.600


Percussion - Prelims
1The Cavaliers19.700
2Boston Crusaders19.550
3Blue Devils19.500
4The Cadets19.350
5Carolina Crown19.250


General Effect - Prelims
1Blue Devils39.125
2Carolina Crown39.000
3Bluecoats38.900
4Boston Crusaders38.425
5The Cadets37.650


As fans may be quick to notice, we still have a few solid first-place winners, including The Cavaliers in Percussion, Crown in Brass, and Blue Devils in GE. The rest of the captions have been a bit back and forth, which should make things extremely interesting as the week goes on.

3. History Has Been Made

A handful of exciting storylines came to the forefront today, including:

  • Music City achieved its highest-ever World Class score: 82.588
  • Colts achieved its highest-ever score in program history by breaking 90 at Prelims
  • Seattle Cascades and Columbians making it into Semis 
  • Phantom Regiment achieved its highest score since 2014: 92.675. Only time will tell if they surpass their 2013 score of 93.250.

Missed the Action? No Problem - Tune Into our Rebroadcast With Sound!

As a reminder to fans, in addition to our live streams on Prelims, Semis, and Finals night, we will have correlating Rebroadcasts With Sound airing 24 hours after the show's original start day/time. So if you want to relive all of the action from Prelims, you can tune into our Prelims Rebroadcast on August 11th at 11:45am ET. Click here for more information about the Prelims Rebroadcast.


We've got a lot more content coming your way over the next two days, so be sure to follow us on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube for BTS content, exclusive interviews, corps highlights, and more!