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Rowe Variation: My new last slot/OLL experiment

rowehessler

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Hey everyone,

I've been meaning to make a thread on this new "method" for a while now, so here it is. I have only shared my algorithms with a select few people to see what they think, including Jeremy Fleischmann, Breandan Vallance, and Anthony Brooks, and they also believe that this system has great potential. I guess the first part of the "RLS" system is what is most commonly known as the Winter Variation.
Winter Variation (F2LL) is a set of algs which allows you to orient LL corners while solving your 4th pair if this pair is connected. The full set of Winter Variation algs can be found here: http://absolutemind.pagesperso-orange.fr/f2ll-angl.htm
Not many people have actually taken the time to learn the 27 Winter Variation cases. But I believe they are definitely worth while. Mats Valk from the Netherlands uses one of the Winter Variation cases on his 6.41 official single, ranking him 3rd in the world.
scramble : D R2 D' F2 D' L2 U R2 D2 L' B2 D' L' U F' L U' L2 D'
X-cross : x y2 D U' R' F y R U' R' u R' (9)
2nd pair : y' U' R U2 R' U R U' R' (8)
3th pair : U' L' U L U2 L' U L (8)
WV setup : U2 R' U R U2 (5)
WV: R2 D' R U R' D R2 (7)
PLL : U' R U R' U' R' F R2 U' R' U' R U R' F' U' (16)
53 moves / 6.41 = 8.27 TPS

This is the solve that inspired me to finally learn Winter Variation, and to generate RLS algorithms. RLS is simply Winter Variation with all types of last layer edge orientations. There are 216 cases in total (this number includes the 27 WV cases). Here are a few examples of some solves during which I would use RLS:

Example 1: R2 F2 R' D2 B2 L' R' B2 U2 L D2 F' U' L2 F2 L D' R' B' L2 D' (cross on U)
cross: z2 D' R' y' R' U2 R' F D' (7)
first pair: R' U' R U2 R' U R (7)
second pair: y' U' R U' R' U R' U' R (8)
third pair: y' U R' U' R U2 R' U R (8)
setup: U R U' R' (4)
RLS: y' U R' F' U' F U' R U R B' R' B (12)
PLL: U' R2 u' R U' R U R' u R2 B U' B' U' (14)
total moves: 60

Example 2: L D2 U2 L2 D2 R D2 U2 B2 L B2 U' F' D B U' B2 U2 L' D2 F (cross on U)
cross: z2 y L U2 D' R' D F (6)
first pair: L F' L' F R U' R' (7)
second pair: y R U' R' U2 R U' R' (7)
third pair: y U2 R U R' (4)
setup: y U' R U' R' (4)
RLS: U F' U F R U' R' (7)
PLL: R' U R' U' R' U' R' U R U R2 (11)
Total moves: 46

You can find my complete set of RLS algorithms on my website here: http://rowe.cubing.net/rls/
I hope people find all of this useful. Feel free to comment, question, and leave both positive and negative opinions on the system.
 
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rowehessler

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Whoah! This will be REALLY useful, it's basically an OLL skip guide for all paired LS cases! Thanks for putting the time and effort into making this. :D

So what does the "R" in RLS stand for? :p

Lol yeah I couldn't think of anything else. I hate my last name so i just put the R
 

Escher

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Sweet, I'd thought about generating these a few times in the past year or so after finding a bunch by hand but never had the time/dedication.
I heard that Mats Valk knew the whole thing but I don't know how true that is (if anyone can confirm/deny?).

It's awesome that you actually went and made them all!

Are there any algs you can think of that you feel need improving? Brest and Robert Yau love finding new algs for cases...
 

rowehessler

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Nov 25, 2007
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Sweet, I'd thought about generating these a few times in the past year or so after finding a bunch by hand but never had the time/dedication.
I heard that Mats Valk knew the whole thing but I don't know how true that is (if anyone can confirm/deny?).

It's awesome that you actually went and made them all!

Are there any algs you can think of that you feel need improving? Brest and Robert Yau love finding new algs for cases...
Yes I've talked to Mats and he generated most of his own but I found all of these. We know about the same amount of skip cases, about 100 or so. He learned them at random but I've been learning them in order. Mats named the method "verba" far before I did any of this, so the name really isn't set in stone. I'm calling it RLS for now at least. And there are a few random ones, especially the all edges flipped wrong cases. But i don't plan on learning those anyway so i don't really care
 
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jskyler91

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This biggest problem with this is that trying to mirror 216 cases is kind of ridiculous. Instead, I think it is easier to only learn the UL, UB, and WV cases, those are the easiest to recognize because they create nice OLLish shapes and they tend to have pretty nice solutions as well. This is my plan at least. This way you only need to keep 81 algs fast and mirrable.
 
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rowehessler

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yeah i don't plan on doing the mirror algs for anything. Also this isn't a system that is used every single time, only for the f2l cases that can easily be set up to the formed pair. So yeah I plan on learning all of them for the FR slot only and WV for the BR.
 

jskyler91

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yeah i don't plan on doing the mirror algs for anything. Also this isn't a system that is used every single time, only for the f2l cases that can easily be set up to the formed pair. So yeah I plan on learning all of them for the FR slot only and WV for the BR.

My plan is to learn the ones I said and be able to mirror them to the left. This way if I get a case in the back right, for instance, I can just do a Y and it will be a front right case and vice versa.
 

jskyler91

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My problem thought is I can't decide between mastering this or mastering R-OLL. Both seem useful, but R-OLL is really easy to recognize and doesn't require any real mirroring or learning of new cases (I already know pretty much all cases from U2).

I guess the question is: "Is it better to have a shorter OLL but have little idea of the upcoming PLL or is it better to do a slightly longer OLL and be able to predict the PLL that is coming?"
 
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Hershey

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I guess the question is: "Is it better to have a shorter OLL but have little idea of the upcoming PLL or is it better to do a slightly longer OLL and be able to predict the PLL that is coming?"

Depends on how quickly you are able to recognize different cases?
 

Benjamins

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216 cases for something that comes up very rarely, only saves about 2-3 moves, has a harder recognition than OLL and has algs that don't seem nicer to me.
I think its cool to know them but not worth learning, at least for me.
 

Sa967St

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I guess the question is: "Is it better to have a shorter OLL but have little idea of the upcoming PLL or is it better to do a slightly longer OLL and be able to predict the PLL that is coming?"
CP recognition wouldn't be as easy as it is for OLL, but it can still be learned.

216 cases for something that comes up very rarely
They *should* show up about 1 in 4 solves. That's not so rare.

only saves about 2-3 moves
It looks like most of cases save many more moves than that.

has a harder recognition than OLL
Not necessarily. You need to see the orientation of at least six U cubies to determine you case, which is the same for OLL. Although it looks more challenging, by looking at the images, recognition shouldn't be too bad.
 
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Godmil

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It's an interesting idea, and well done for putting the work in, but I've got a wee problem with the idea (though not having tried it and not being near your level I may be way off the mark). It seems what you're doing is swapping LS for WV Setup and then OLL for RLS, so the same number of steps, just the first one may be simpler, but the second one seems massively more complicated.
It seems like you need the 216 cases for FR + 27 for BR + the 57 OLLs for when your last slot is on the left (unless you're strategically doing F2L to encourage the last slot to be on the right). It seems like a really complex system and I'm afraid I can't quite see the advantage. I'd love to be proven wrong, but on the face of it recognition/recollection hit plus the added difficulty of predicting PLL (which I assume you fast guys can do by understanding your existing OLLs) makes me worry that it may not be that useful a system.
If on the other hand it is intended simply to broaden your knowledge of lucky cases then more power to you, and good luck learning them.
 
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Hershey

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This is actually a very good alternative to OLLCP, about 114 less algs.
 

Escher

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It's an interesting idea, and well done for putting the work in, but I've got a wee problem with the idea (though not having tried it and not being near your level I may be way off the mark). It seems what you're doing is swapping LS for WV Setup and then OLL for RLS, so the same number of steps, just the first one may be simpler, but the second one seems massively more complicated.
It seems like you need the 216 cases for FR + 27 for BR + the 57 OLLs for when your last slot is on the left (unless you're strategically doing F2L to encourage the last slot to be on the right). It seems like a really complex system and I'm afraid I can't quite see the advantage. I'd love to be proven wrong, but on the face of it recognition/recollection hit plus the added difficulty of predicting PLL (which I assume you fast guys can do by understanding your existing OLLs) makes me worry that it may not be that useful a system.
If on the other hand it is intended simply to broaden your knowledge of lucky cases then more power to you, and good luck learning them.

Don't assume this is a replacement for LS -> OLL!

It's only to be used when f2l cases are very easily reduced to the joined pair, or if your last pair is already joined. Imo it's worth learning just for the funhax value.
 
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