What a great night it was at the CLASS Championship!

We started in Division III where Chicago Wind just "butchered" the competition with a score of 82.445 with their Sweeney Todd show. The corps who started off slow fought back quickly and has had an amazing season since, winning all captions. The most impressive of their show was the pure elegance in the marching they performed which rivaled some of their bigger brothers and sisters! Taking home silver with a 70.895 and grabbing second in the ensemble and GE categories were the Augusta Greencoats with their show Screamer which spoke for itself. Back in bronze barely edging out Indiana Regiment were the Poteet Somalian Pirates with a 64.415.

Division II has been the talk of CLASS shows everywhere this season as we are treated to some of the BEST division II corps in the country! Platinum Regiment had a rough season last year coming off their season 44 world title, but they were right back in championship form all season with their undefeated show Art(isms). The show, with music by Randall Standridge, is inspired by various painting techniques and artistic movements. The show right from the start pulls the audience in and makes them feel completely part of the process. The artist, who is introduced from the beginning, transforms the field into displays of giant canvas with his beautiful art work. The Director for PR discussed with us how it feels to make a run again after an incredible season 44. Their goal all season has been to top the previous world record, minus the Coprs IBEX finals of season 45. That would take hitting a 96.230 and guess what, they are on track. In discussing rivalries, they mentioned KKDC who spilt the captions with them in season 44, making them a bit nervous at times. They pointed out that KKDC is a fine example of how hard work pays off and he was glad to share congratulations at the end of the hard fought season. The show this year is pure GE and it shows in the scores as well as they grabbed gold with a 96.530 (reaching that high goal already) and very high GE scores nearly 2 full points in each ahead of the next competitor.

Who is that next competitor? No other than the Santa Clara Vanguard who has had a great season of their own and took Silver with a 90.835. PR is the ONLY corps to beat them all season. Their show, Inactive has been anything BUT! They grabbed the percussion title for themselves and second in every other caption almost taking visual performance. They inched ever closer and if their GE scores climb in the last few days of the season, they could inch even closer! Taking bronze were the Goldcoats with their uplifting show, "Let There Be Light" and a score of 81.740. Intriguing visually, the South Carolina corps had us wondering much of the season, what is this large light in the middle of the field? The corps appears to be one of 6 corps representing CLASS in world finals come Saturday!

Division I

Always the powerhouse division for CLASS, we certainly have some big shoes to fill this year with our Division II presence! Top bird Corps IBEX was not at Championships, but the secession of Champions lined up behind them were front and center. In the end it was Nemesis winning their 12th CLASS Title and 3rd in a row with their show "Dead Island". A somewhat controversial show for them it has become a bit of a cult classic as fans have joined in the fun dressing like zombies at many shows, while some families with younger children prefer to visit the concessions and souvenir booths during the show. The show starts with a lost group of friends who unknowingly end up on an island full of zombies. As they make their way through the small town they quickly realize they are not alone. Our main character spends the bulk of the show fighting off an ever growing population of the brain eaters, represented throughout the corps as we transform into zombies of our own. As the show ends, the last standing member to help the girl, the drum major, transforms before our eyes. As she looks in horror and quickly runs out of the stadium trying to escape. Members exit through the stands leaving us all to wonder, who will survive. Zombie apocalypse, erm Nemesis scored a 97.785 on their way to gold also taking percussion and guard.

One corps Nemesis NEVER gets too comfortable with is Carolina Royals and season 46 is NO exception! CR took silver with a 97.565, just couple tenths behind Nemesis and climbing. Their show "!" has left announcers all season long befuddled as how to announce the show. But once that awkwardness is over, the crowd settles in to a show that pleases all. Carolina Royals show grabs the ensemble and GE categories along with the crowd's imagination. Carolina Royals known for their late season surges seems set to provide another potential upset!

Who else can't you count out? Why the Lexington Legends of course. Taking bronze with just a few more tenths back made for another exciting CLASS Championship. Their show, "Bela to Bela" intertwined some Bela Flech with Bela Bartok and a bit of Brahms to make one beautiful rhapsody of music. Legends were second or third in all captions other than visual performance and guard. We talked to the Legends Director earlier in the season and he explained to us that the show happened much by chance. In development stages he was listening to a Fleck tune and recalled they were named after Bela Bartok and suddenly the magic happened. While the show itself is purposely a bit chaotic, bouncing from big country to hard hitting Bartok isn’t exactly a standard, everything comes together in the Miraculous Mandarin. After being out of the mix for a few seasons, Legends really needed to find their groove in season 45 and it certainly carried over to season 46. The group is certainly in the hunt to medal. We will discuss more with Legends Director later in the week at finals!


Wrap up
As we stand and salute the winning drum majors from Nemesis, Platinum Regiment and Chicago Wind, we are reminded just how far this organization has come since ground roots in season 6 evolving from the ECC into CLASS and hosting our first Championship in season 7. A mere 8 corps stood at that first Championship 39 seasons ago. Nemesis took that first Division I title and Great Lakers took Division II (there wasn’t one Division III corps that year). All but Nemesis have folded. I looked to the official invite I sent to some of the greatest directors to have ever played this game we call FMA and this is what I said:

" As a fierce competitor, I'd like to extend an official invite to join CLASS. Its similar to the combines and helps build a kinship and fellowship beyond normal game play. I am hoping to make CLASS a premier organization on FMA like we have in other fantasy marching arts sights. The goal is simply to be a dominant force in the activity and contribute in significant ways. We officially start here in season 6."

What tells me most we have made that success is the response to an interview we had with Platinum Regiment:

"I already love the atmosphere of professionalism that is brought forward by CLASS. There are so many elite groups that I can recall looking up to in my earlier days of FMA, such as your groups. Now I'm glad that I stand among them in one of the strongest leagues and caring families of FMA."

Thank you for being part of the kinship and fellowship all these years and to future members, look to the sky and you will see us there! Join us!

Amazing write up man. Really good stuff!