How Spirit of Atlanta turned 2.5 down into 2.413 up on Blue Knights
Spirit of Atlanta were 2.5 behind Blue Knights when the two first met on July 18 at DCI Southwestern Championship, and finished 2.413 ahead of them at Finals. The piece argues the swing is a General Effect Music story: it is the caption the two end the season furthest apart in, worth 0.45 of the final margin.
This is a reading of the sheets rather than a report of an event. The rows it argues from are printed underneath it so the argument can be checked rather than taken.
The evidence
DCI Southwestern Championship, July 18: Blue Knights 82.4, Spirit of Atlanta 79.9. Blue Knights ahead by 2.5. (the DCI Forge score archive)
DCI World Championship Finals, August 8: Spirit of Atlanta 88.588 (10th), Blue Knights 86.175 (12th). (the DCI Forge score archive)
Total swing between the two meetings: 4.913. (the DCI Forge score archive)
At Finals Spirit of Atlanta's largest weighted caption advantage is General Effect Music, 0.45 of the margin. (the DCI Forge score archive)
How the numbers are weighted
General Effect counts twice. The two effect captions carry 40 of the 100 points and the six performance captions carry 60, so a tenth moved in effect is worth two tenths moved in percussion. Every weighted figure in this piece is scaled that way; the unweighted caption marks are printed as the recap prints them.