The devil may have gone to Georgia but DCI is headed to Texas. The 2018 season is turning out to be one of the most exciting seasons in recent memory with tight races up and down the standings. 

On Thursday, you’ll get a chance to check out a variety of corps from the Guardians in Open Class, to the hometown favorites Genesis, west coast representatives Seattle Cascades, Pacific Crest, Oregon Crusaders, and fan favorite Boston Crusaders. 

So here are 3 things to watch for at the DCI Central Texas show before all the corps regroup in San Antonio.

1. Meteoric Rise

The Boston Crusaders have continued their unbelievable ascent up the DCI scores. To put in context, the Crusaders were at the Central Texas show in 2016. At the end of the night, they scored a 74.150.

This year, as of July 16, the Crusaders were already at an 84.450! Over 10 points improvement from 2 years ago at this same stage of the season. 

Continue to watch for changes to be installed in Boston's show, including their most addition: a pig's head on a spear. 

2. Building Towards History

Blue Stars are quietly building a strong case to not only make finals in August but to push higher in the final standings. Compared to the 2017 season, they are already 4.45 points higher than they were at the same point last year. 

They are currently sitting #8 in DCI’s rankings but if they were able to push up one more spot and finish 7th. That will be the Blue Stars’ highest finish since they placed 6th in 1977.

3. Hot-lanta

Spirit of Atlanta is having another great season. They are #14 right now behind The Academy and Crossmen for the last spot in finals. But if they were able to make a late-season surge up the scores, they could contend for their first trip back to finals since 2013.

On July 17, 2017, Spirit posted a score of 69.550. At their latest show on July 16, 2018, S.O.A. was already scoring a 77.350. They are 8 points ahead of their pace from just a year ago!

Let's not forget that the season is only 11-days away from the Atlanta regional. Which mean, Spirit will get some home cooking before the final push towards finals. Could this be the recipe for a trip to finals?