Welcome to the 2009 season of the Drumlines.org Fantasy Drum Corps (henceforth known as "DLOFDC"). The DLOFDC Executive Committee (henceforth known as "us" and "we") welcomes you to this new season!

If you have any questions after reading, feel free to contact any of us via PM on Drumlines.org. We are responsible for everything that happens behind the scenes in the DLOFDC. We decide on all the rules and regulations. We also manually input DCI scores into the DLOFDC database as they post them.

Fantasy Drum Corps is no different from Fantasy Football, Baseball, or Hockey. It is a points–based game based on the subject of drum corps. The objective is to achieve the highest possible score at the end of the season. Just as fantasy football relies on the NFL for stats, DLOFDC relies on Drum Corps International (DCI) for its caption scores.

We would like to start out by recognizing the past champions of the DLOFDC.

All registered members of Drumlines.org are eligible to participate in the DLOFDC regardless of rank or length of membership. The only stipulation is that a member may have only one fantasy corps. Members found to have created an additional Drumlines.org account with the purpose of registering additional fantasy corps will have all of their fantasy corps disqualified for the current season. Also, do remember that having multiple Drumlines.org accounts is against the Drumlines.org rules as stated in Section 4 Paragraph 8.

We base all dates mentioned herein on EDT. The beginning of registration is TBA, but will be within the month of May. Keep checking back for updates on when registration will begin. When registration does begin, you may then register a fantasy corps.

If you are a returning director, your fantasy corps' information will be pre–filled. All you have to do is submit the information to confirm that you will be fielding a fantasy corps this season. The last date on which returning directors must register their fantasy corps is tentatively set to 29 May, after which point we will consider their fantasy corps folded and will remove them from the seeding. If any returning director wishes to change the name or location of their fantasy corps, they must contact DLWebmaestro with the desired changes after they have registered. To keep the DLOFDC as realistic as possible, we allow only one change per fantasy corps per 5 years.

There is a chance that some may wish to locate their fantasy corps in an area other than the US' 50 states, DC, and Canada. If this is the case for your fantasy corps, fill out the registration form as normal, except for the State field. You may leave it at the default state. After you have registered, contact DLWebmaestro and tell him which country/territory you wish to call home for your fantasy corps. We will assign you a country/territory code based on that area's Country Code. The first letter will be capitalized and the second lower–case, so they may be told apart from US States that have matching abbreviations, like Arkansas and Argentina. Arkansas would be AR while Argentina would be Ar.

The final day for all registrations is tentatively set to 31 May. This will allow everyone plenty of time to formulate a caption strategy and to setup your schedule between 01 June and the beginning of the season.

Some of you may be familiar with other fantasy leagues such as fantasy football, fantasy hockey, or fantasy baseball. If you are, then your understanding of how the DLOFDC works will come much easier.

In order to understand how the DLOFDC works, you must first understand how Drum Corps International (DCI) scoring works because we score the DLOFDC shows exactly the same way. At a normal show, eight judges adjudicate a drum corps. Each judge adjudicates a "caption." These captions are:

Each judge gives each corps a score out of 20 for their caption. The higher the number, the better the judge thought the corps did in that caption. To get a score, one would plug the captions into a formula. The formula is:

Score = GV + GE + (VP + VE + VC)/2 + (MB + ME + MP)/2

Let us break down last a past year's DCI Division I Champion's (The Cavaliers) score step–by–step:

Score = 19.3 + 19.3 + (19.9+19.9+19.2)/2 + (19.6+19.6+19)/2
Score = 38.6 + 59/2 + 58.2/2
Score = 38.6 + 29.5 + 29.1
Score = 97.2

Now that you have an understanding of how DCI scoring works (and thusly DLOFDC scoring), we can explain how you get your scores in the DLOFDC.

After you register your fantasy corps, you will pick a DCI corps to represent each of your eight captions. You will have a certain amount of points to spend depending on your fantasy corps' division. You have until 12 June to make some sort of serious caption picks. These do not have to be your final picks, but they must be at least serious and thought–out so we know you are not ignoring your fantasy corps. Once 12 June arrives, we will delete all fantasy corps who have failed to make serious caption picks. The chart below shows the amount of points fantasy corps in each division can use to purchase captions. We will explain divisions later.

The higher a DCI corps placed in a certain caption in their last show last season, the higher that corps' particular caption will cost.

This chart shows each corps, their last score in each caption last season, and how much using that corps' caption will cost this season.

Remember, you are choosing based on not only how well a corps did in their captions last season, but also by how well you think the corps will do in their captions this season. Everyone has his or her own theory on how to choose and who will place higher. Strategy is the key here.

You work hard to come up with your caption picks, so we work hard to keep them private. Only a fantasy corps' director will be able to see a breakdown of their fantasy corps' captions. This goes for both their fantasy corps' homepage and the competitions at which they compete. This remains in place until the caption change deadline has passed.

Throughout the season, we allow eight caption changes. That is, you can change your DCI caption representatives. There are only three restrictions to this process:

Before opening day of the season (19 June), you can make unlimited caption changes. Change any of your captions as often as you would like.

Once the season begins, you will be able to make six regular caption changes and two GE caption changes. Once you have made either these six regular or two GE caption changes you are stuck with your choices for the remainder of the season. For example, you can change all eight captions once, you could change one caption eight different times, OR you could change three captions and then five later on, and so on…

After 17 July, we will accept no more GE caption changes and after 31 July we will accept no more caption changes. Regardless of the number of unused caption changes remaining, you will be stuck with your choices for the remainder of the season.

There are a few special days in the DLOFDC schedule. We will be using a reward system for those who do well at all Required competitions before Finals week. We will give those who place in the top 3 in their division at each of these competitions an additional regular caption change. Therefore, a fantasy corps can potentially have 15 caption changes for the season.

To build your score we take the scores from each of your caption representatives during the DCI season. If the DCI caption representative competed on the same day that you have scheduled a competition you receive your DCI caption representative's score. Therefore, if you have The Cadets as your GV caption, and they score a 17.3 on a day you are competing, you will get a 17.3 as your GV score. If your DCI caption representative does not compete on the same day that you have scheduled a competition, you get your DCI caption representative's trend score. We will use the three previous caption scores to make a trend score. For example:

The 19 July score is the trend score, where we used the three real caption scores to make the trend score. Therefore, your MP score for 19 July would be 18.1. If a corps has competed less than three times, we will use their latest real caption score. If a corps has yet to compete in the current season, we will use their caption scores from their first competition last season.

If any of your caption representatives receives a penalty on a given day, you get that penalty subtracted from your score. However, penalties only count once per DCI corps per fantasy competition per fantasy corps.

For example, if you have Santa Clara Vanguard as your caption choice for MP and VC, and in a DCI show, they get a 0.1 of a point penalty, your fantasy corps would be assessed a 0.1 of a point penalty (not 0.2 of a point.)

We do our best to prevent ties here at the DLOFDC. In the case of a tie, the following scores (listed in order of precedence) will be the tiebreakers.

Each division in the DLOFDC is limited to 25 fantasy corps each. We will not set the total number of divisions until after the registration deadline has passed. The division we place you in depends on a number of factors.

If you are a returning fantasy corps, we have seeded you in a division based on your rank from last season. The current seeding chart will show where your fantasy corps is seeded. Your exact division placement will be tentative until veteran registration closes, since some fantasy corps may not return and thus we will bump your fantasy corps up a division. For example, if we have seeded you fifth in Division 3, and five veteran fantasy corps from Divisions 1 and/or 2 do not register by the deadline, we will move your fantasy corps up to Division 2.

We decide division placement for new fantasy corps on a first–come, first–serve basis. If all of last season's fantasy corps return, the first new fantasy corps to register will fill–in the rest of the open slots in Division 6, and the next groups of 25 after that will constitute Division 7, Division 8, et cetera. If the lowest division has less than 10 fantasy corps, those fantasy corps will all be moved up to the next division. For example, if we have nine Division 7 fantasy corps, we will move those nine fantasy corps into Division 6, thus making Division 6 consist of 34 fantasy corps.

Upon completion of the season, we will bump the bottom 5 fantasy corps in each division down a division and the top five fantasy corps in each division (with the exception of the top 5 in Division 1) up a division for next season. This ensures that the crème–de–la–crème directors populate the higher divisions and thus makes the higher divisions more competitive. It also gives each director a fair shot at advancing all the way to Division 1 if they have what it takes.

Each fantasy corps will setup their own tour schedule and will compete against other fantasy corps, similar to that of a real corps' season. If more than three fantasy corps within a division compete against each other in a single competition, the top three fantasy corps will receive fantasy medals of gold, silver, and bronze.

During registration, we will offer fantasy corps a chance to select a home show. You will find a form on your fantasy corps' homepage that lists the shows from which you may pick. The form will only list competitions that you have signed up for that take place in your fantasy corps' home state. The division your fantasy corps is in will determine when you will be able to choose a home show. The chart below illustrates tentative start and end dates that we will allow fantasy corps in each division to pick and name a home show.

As a director, you get to pick your entire tour. You can compete in a maximum of 27 shows. These 27 shows do not include any of the required shows; however, it does include your home show if you have one. We will automatically add all required shows to your schedule. Upon registering a fantasy corps, (if your fantasy corps is Division 1) you will find a link to setup your schedule on your fantasy corps' home page. If you are not a Division 1 fantasy corps, you will not be able to setup your schedule until registration is closed, since there is a chance that we will bump you up a division due to non–returning veteran fantasy corps. If you fail to set up a schedule (of at least 20 competitions) by 12 June, we will delete your fantasy corps.

Aside from Finals Week, there will be several other competitions this season where attendance is mandatory.

Finals week consists of four days of competitions to find that one fantasy corps in each division that will earn the title of Champion.

We will hold preliminaries on 05 August. The top 21 scoring fantasy corps from each competition will move on to their respective division's Quarterfinals (if Division 1) or Semifinals (all other divisions) on 06 August.

We will hold Division 1 Quarterfinals and all other divisions' Semifinals on 06 August. The top 15 fantasy corps from Division 1 will move on to Semifinals on 07 August. The top 12 fantasy corps from all other divisions will move on to their respective division's Finals on 08 August.

We will hold Division 1 Semifinals on 07 August. The top 12 Division 1 fantasy corps will advance to Division 1 Finals on 08 August.

08 August – what the whole season has been about. Twelve of the best fantasy corps from each division will be battling for the coveted spot of "2009 DLOFDC Division X Champion."