We’ve had almost two full weeks since the completion of the WGI Color Guard World Championships. 

Since watching color guard winners be crowned under confetti at UD Arena — a celebration that seems like ages ago — we’ve waited impatiently for more championship-caliber indoor performances. Too impatiently, really. 

So, how do we pass the 12 long days between color guard and percussion/winds action? Predictions.

Here are five somewhat “hot” takes on what’s to come at the WGI Percussion and Winds World Championships, scheduled for April 21-24. 

1 — Pulse Percussion will win its first title since 2015 and fourth all-time. 

Since half of the groups that often finish among the top six in PIW competition hail from California, it’s tough not to look at Golden State events and give them the most weight. And the fact of the matter is Pulse is two-for-two in WGI events held in California — sure, both by paper-thin margins over Broken City — and enters April with the highest WGI score earned by a PIW group to date this season, 95.550.

With that in mind, I’ll admit this take isn’t the hottest. Things feel very wide open among the top handful of groups, but I’m going to side with the current “frontrunner.” 

2 — A brand-new group will win Percussion Independent Open. 

This was mentioned in a previous article, but it still stuns me — in 23 years of PIO competition, 23 unique groups have earned gold medals. No group has ever done it twice. So, technically every PIO champion has been a “new” champion. That’s why I chose my words carefully — 2022’s champion will be brand-new, a group that has never competed in PIO World Championships before. I’m locking in Cap City 2 atop the PIO leaderboard. 

We’ve seen it before that Open Class counterparts to World Class groups often find success, and this group has put up strong showings all spring against top PIO competition, including a head-to-head win over defending silver medalist and 2018 champion Matrix Open at a non-WGI event in late March. If a new group always wins this class, my gut tells me a totally new group is going to win it in the grand return to WGI Percussion World Championships.

3 — Avon HS will medal in all three WGI categories.

This one’s already one down, two to go, as Avon’s World Class color guard earned its second gold medal in as many seasons just a couple of weeks ago. Now, it’s time for the school’s percussion and winds groups to take their shot at glory. 

Percussion-wise, Avon will be up against steep competition, but proved in 2019 it has what it takes to earn a top-three finish. In terms of scores earned to date, Avon’s most recent WGI tally is sixth among all PSW participants, but was received a full three weeks before the five groups ahead, and is still just six points off the medalist tier. So, theoretically, another bronze — at a minimum — is more than in reach. 

As for the winds side of things, a gold medal would be Avon’s first since going back-to-back in 2016 and 2017. That being said, its winds group missed out on the top three in 2019 by less than a tenth of a point, so they’ll be looking to flip that script this weekend. 

4 — Winds’ new Independent World Champion will be…

For its five years of existence, the WIW category has been dominated by Rhythm X Winds, which earned gold medals in all but one season — 2016. This year, though, Rhythm X won’t be among the four Independent World winds groups competing, meaning new glory is up for grabs among a quartet of intriguing competitors. 

I’m putting my chips down on STRYKE Winds. It was a close call between STRYKE and UTRGV, both of which have earned impressive scores this season, but it’s hard to ignore the fact that STRYKE was scoring in the low- to mid-80s back in February. That’s just five points behind what any other WIW world championship participant scored as recently as March 19.

STRYKE has been lurking for a few years, earning two silver medals and one bronze in its last three appearances, but this seems like it could be the year Palm Beach, Florida group takes the cake. 

5 — Matrix will get back into the PIW Top Five. 

This wasn’t a prediction I was prepared to make in early March, but Matrix has come on strong in many of its results down the stretch. As a result, based on current numbers, while it’s a toss-up for the fifth spot in PIW — mainly between Matrix (93.650, Week 7) and RCC (92.150, Week 7) — Matrix seems positioned to have its best finish since 2017. 

The Northeast Ohio ensemble has finished among the top five three times in the last 10 seasons, but two of those came in 2012 and 2013. In 2017, when Matrix last earned fifth, it beat out in-state counterpart Rhythm X by just 0.175 to do so.