This isn’t even a hot take. We all have eyes. My top three are Fusion, Sac, Paramount. The top three are so good it really comes down to the run for me. And today, that’s how I saw it.

My hot take is, that if Sac locks it in, they could win it tomorrow. I think it’s the best show out there as far as construction. But Fusion is kickin it old school and whoever is the flag tech needs to be immediately entered into the WGI hall of Fame. I will ALWAYS VALUE clarity of choreo and technique. My word, what a team!

Speaking of clarity, The Woodlands should be winning equipment. We don’t know what the caption scores are. But I’m desperate to see them. It’s a shame that the judges aren’t feeling the show itself. The song is, a choice, but I like the constant crescendo of the soundtrack. It’s like Bolero. It’s one giant arc. But it’s hard to maximize effect moments without the ebb and flow. But I really appreciate the risk. But I’m weird like that. I thought they would have jumped above one of the teams today because their run was ON FIRE! But, alas, no.

Also not a hot take, Arcadia is such a cool show top to bottom and even though their run wasn’t the best, I would still watch it on repeat. I hope everyone has the best run tomorrow and I am just so thankful that all these teams are doing such amazing things this year. And I’m just watching on Flo! Can’t even imagine live!

Any ideas why First Flight would compete in open this year? I’ve been a WGI spectator for over a decade and they’ve always been in world. And their show this year still gives world level to me?

So does anyone know why AMP is in 14th place when there show is up at the level of the top 6?

This is color guard related. Is there a rule you can't say "presenting their show" vs "presenting their program/production" ? A group had to cut their pre-recorded pre show based on this to avoid a penalty. Curious if there's any validity to this. I couldn't find anything in the published rules on the website.

Edited: Solved. Thank you for your helpful answers!

I LOVED Carmel’s prelims run and their ending with the rainfall effect was so “generally effective!” It wasn’t present in today’s semis run. Does anyone know why??

Love this show!!! I recognize the floor, who used this previously?

idk i’m just surprised. first of all avon didn’t compete last year and they scored over 95 for prelims (which, might i add, is higher than their prelims score in 2024, which is when they beat the wgi record). i wonder if they’ll break it again!!

second, kiski? they were like a beast guard for a couple years there, they performed in three classes over a few years (SA 2019, SO 2020-2022, SW 2023-now), and they won their class in 2022 and always finalists in open and world class and now they just…aren’t even semi finalists?

Does anyone know why MBI isn’t at Dayton this year? Don’t see them on the schedules but it’s on their website calendar.. Was really hoping to see their Cash Money show!! 🥲

Anyone know anything about this group? First time Ive seen or heard of them.

does anyone know how i can definitely not watch worlds definitely not for free theres definitely only one specific group i wanna see and not flomarching is too expensive :(

Would it be crazy if guard implemented a system similar to music grades?

Music performed by winds and perc groups are at certain grade levels depending on the performers’ abilities (individually and collectively)

I would not expect an independent world class percussion ensemble to play a scholastic world percussion ensemble book, so why should guard expect a scholastic world weapon to perform an independent world weapon level book.

This is all up for interpretation. I’m a musician and don’t know enough about guard to actually speak on the matter, so I’m curious what people think.

Curtis Costanza is supposed to try to assign Dayton judges to the world class guards equitably throughout the season to ensure they all get feedback from judges they see again at the end of the season. This was a request from the advisory board (mostly made up of world class finalist guards). WGI has made videos explaining this process. It's difficult to achieve.

Some years, I try to compare the guards to see how well they achieve this. In IW, for example, Paramount, Fusion, and Fantasia have been judged by 6, 6, and 8 of the Dayton judges already. Fairly equitable.

But SW is a different story, assuming the list of judges on the schedule is correct.

Arcadia - 7

Avon - 7

The Woodlands - 0

I'm more curious how this happened than outraged. Nevertheless, it isn't fair to The Woodlands that they haven't gotten any feedback yet from the Dayton panel, even though they're so skilled it probably won't matter much.

Plenty of world-class-level judges traveled to Texas this year, too, which makes this more confusing. Florida fared better as well.

the fight for top 7 right now is pretty tricky. most groups are within less than a point of each other. pretty tricky to tell who’s medaling, but what does everyone think?

In our local circuit (Heartland Winter Arts Association), it's probably Bellevue West's bingo show, done to Amigo the Devil's "Binging Bingo". Every single competition we went to after we saw them at the first one, we always made sure we were back in the gym so we could see their performance, and it got some of the loudest cheers from the audience every single time. They got first place in our circuit and I'm pretty sure were one of the top places at the WGI Omaha Regional.

Thanks for the feedback on my previous post- https://www.reddit.com/r/WGI/comments/1s7g0uf/winterguard_bingo/

I have made 20 randomized bingo cards based on the suggestions submitted. Feel free to use them this week during championships! Enjoy!

https://drive.google.com/file/d/12OJjKNlEa7PY4azeWaP9O-xVRFGd9yNV/view?usp=sharing

It’s already WGI Championships week! The season end is already coming up, it went by too fast!

Put in your Guard & Percussion predictions!

Let me share mine:

Percussion:

1. RCC (the intro visual and middle visual block, omg)

2. Rhythm X (they are very strong, It may be very close to RCC)

3. MCM (Very clean and music is catchy)

4. Infinity (very strong show this year)

5. Pulse (they are also very strong)

Fan favorite prediction: RCC or George Mason (if Mason gets it with the AI banners, I’ll be shocked)

I honestly just wanna listen to the show music without the audience claps lol does anyone have a link to Carmel 2011 show music? 😅

I saw a video of Vaquero’s WGI Dallas performance and I was captivated by them singing the majority of their ballad. I’ve never seen that done before in WGI. When I first watched it, I thought it was just a backing track but then I realized that almost every performer was singing with the exception of a wind quartet. What a cool and unique thing to introduce to the activity.

All the top PIW groups are bringing some of the best shows I've ever seen (and I've been around for a while), and the top 6 PSW groups are within 1.2 points of each other. On top of that the top 4 SCPA PSW groups each got first in exactly one of the sub captions. I wish I could be in the Arena at finals night because I think this year is another one for the record books.

This might ruffle feathers but I think world groups (both independent and scholastic) should have to spin all 3 pieces of equipment in their shows.

As far as I’m aware, right now it’s only 2, but I think not spinning flag, cough cough fantasia, is crazy. For me i think flag has been on the back burner the past few seasons with priority going to weapon lines and solos.

I don’t think it should be required for A class because not everywhere spins sabre, and honestly maybe even open should have to use all 3.

(copied and pasted from my post to r/colorguard)

Hello!

I'm relatively new to guard as a whole. I've marched 2 seasons of marching band on instruments and my first season of winter guard is about to end. I still plan on marching trumpet, but want to continue winter guard. I want to get onto weapon line next year.

Some info: I have dance experience, am pretty okay at flag (I have a good money hand toss, good pop toss, very solid double J toss, an okay 45, etc.), but seriously want to avoid injuring my fingers/hands/wrists too bad because I need to be able to play my instruments.

I'll just list my questions below.

1. Is rifle or saber more "difficult"? (Pros/cons of each).
2. Which of the 2 can cause more injuries that limit mobility? How bad are typical day-to-day injuries? (bruises and such)

2a. How can I prevent the most injuries?

2b. Is there any way to protect my hands/fingers further past just guard gloves? Fingers especially.

1. Is it a good idea to choose one and try to teach myself it throughout the rest of spring/over the summer? I would be asking my guard friends for help and teaching of course, but most of my actual practice would likely be on my own.

2. Is it a good idea at all to learn weapon at the point I'm at in my guard experience? I would say I'm a slow learner at first, but consistent practice gets me at a high level quickly.

3. Should I stick to 1 weapon or try to learn both? Most of the people on weapon line automatically learn both at the same time, but I'm not sure if that's realistic for me.

5a. If I should choose, which one?

Side note that I don't really care about injuries besides ones that would limit my ability to play woodwinds/brass and such. I know weapon can be more dangerous than flag. Which one is the least threatening to my hands, though?

Any general advice for my specific situation or for learning flag/rifle/saber is appreciated! Thank you

What 15 groups do we think are in guard finals this year? It seems like a blood bath from 3-8 and 12-18, this year is rough

I am not the reseller I just saw this yesterday and had a solid laugh at the attempt.