Older cubers discussions

[openseas]

I didn’t see the location. Is it at the convention Center? If so, I’m going to get a room soon as well! It’s only 53 miles away, but I don’t want to commute during that!

No announcement yet but most likely the convention center. Sheraton is located there, Hilton is just across the street.

 

[SpartanSailor]

No announcement yet but most likely the convention center. Sheraton is located there, Hilton is just across the street.

Good thinking...

 

[SpartanSailor]

Just had a nice 2:49 for my 3BLD attempt. Took is super casual, but the memo turned out to be pretty easy. I also skipped my corner review before starting. That’s probably what got me sub-3. The splits were 1:48/1:01 (memo/execution). I need to get my 3BLD muscles back into shape. This was encouraging, though...

RE: US Nationals. I haven’t seen any additional info since the dates/location posted. If you guys see anything... please point it out. I’d like to register sooner than later. I’m not sure I’ll make any new events for qualification, but If so, I’ll just update my events if necessary.

 

[One Wheel]

I got another 3BLD success last night on what I was sure was a blown solve. I executed my first 4 corners before I realized I was using my edge memo. Executed second pair backwards, then the first letter of the first pair twice, then first pair backwards to get back to the starting position. I guess it’s not a good thing that two and a half years after starting blind that’s my best success.

I also blew a sighted 4BLD solve just before that. Probably one of the easiest 4BLD scrambles I’m likely to get: no parity anywhere, only one cycle break on centers, and I messed up a U-layer center target alg even though I was reading the alg off a cheat sheet.

 

[openseas]

Just had a nice 2:49 for my 3BLD attempt. Took is super casual, but the memo turned out to be pretty easy. I also skipped my corner review before starting. That’s probably what got me sub-3. The splits were 1:48/1:01 (memo/execution). I need to get my 3BLD muscles back into shape. This was encouraging, though...

RE: US Nationals. I haven’t seen any additional info since the dates/location posted. If you guys see anything... please point it out. I’d like to register sooner than later. I’m not sure I’ll make any new events for qualification, but If so, I’ll just update my events if necessary.

@SpartanSailor

Registration starts at Feb 15th, and it’s Convention center. There are heated discussion due to the qualification time (especially for feet).

=======

Some more important information for upcoming Nationals 2019!

The venue will be the Baltimore Convention Center in Baltimore, Maryland!

Registration opens on February 15th!

The deadline to modify your registration will be June 30th and the deadline to qualify for events will be June 25th!

The CubingUSA website and the WCA website will be up very soon, that’ll have the rest of the pertinent details, however if you have any additional questions by then please send us a message or email!

Qualifying times for each event this year at US Nationals are as follows:

3x3 | 0:40
2x2 | 0:11
4x4 | 1:00
5x5 | 1:40
6x6 | 3:05
7x7 | 4:15
3x3 Blindfolded | 3:00
3x3 One Handed | 0:30
3x3 With Feet | 0:45
FMC | 38 average
Clock | 0:13
Megaminx | 1:30
Pyraminx | 0:11
Skewb | 0:11
Square-1 | 0:30
4x4 Blindfolded | 10 minutes
5x5 Blindfolded | 20 minutes
3x3 Multiblind | 7 points

 

[Mike Hughey]

Wow, those qualifying times are getting tough! Amazingly, I still qualify for 9 events, including skewb and square-1, both of which are ridiculous. I really shouldn't qualify for those. Skewb is too easy to get into compared to some of the others, and for square-1 I should probably be disqualified because my qualifying average is so very old (and was a set of amazingly lucky scrambles).

 

[One Wheel]

I’m sure they realize that at present 15 people from the US would qualify to compete in Feet. That’s nonsense. I support having qualifying times for big tournaments, and putting fairly strict cutoffs on Feet to encourage people to take the event more seriously, but 45 seconds? 1:30 there would still be less than 100 people who would qualify.

 

[mark49152]

Probably one of the easiest 4BLD scrambles I’m likely to get: no parity anywhere, only one cycle break on centers

Tip: You can almost always avoid any cycle breaks on centres, by solving the non-U targets on each face first.

 

[One Wheel]

Tip: You can almost always avoid any cycle breaks on centres, by solving the non-U targets on each face first.

Hmm. Nice one. My center trace was N I F C O H D Q U R L W P T X T ( I wrote it down, too) P in my scheme is Lbd, T is Bdr, X is Dbr. Could that T X T cycle be avoided?

 

[openseas]

Hmm. Nice one. My center trace was N I F C O H D Q U R L W P T X T ( I wrote it down, too) P in my scheme is Lbd, T is Bdr, X is Dbr. Could that T X T cycle be avoided?

Since we don’t know your letter scheme, Hard to tell without scramble. But as Mike suggested, avoid any U layer color if possible during trace - you can minimize cycle break. And also very usueful to know to a center swap alg (not through your buffer). Your TXT case can be solved with one swapping alg. If you don’t know, you can always rotate (not recommending, though) your cube or setup one target to buffer, then, solve as U2 alg then add U2. You can move your Dbr using r2 to Ufr, then solve Lbd with U2.

 

[mark49152]

Hmm. Nice one. My center trace was N I F C O H D Q U R L W P T X T ( I wrote it down, too) P in my scheme is Lbd, T is Bdr, X is Dbr. Could that T X T cycle be avoided?

Doesn't look like you use true Speffz, but I'll assume you use the same groups of letters as Speffz, on each face.

In this case, only avoiding U stickers on the first traversal of each face doesn't work because your L face has two solved and two U stickers, so you have no option to defer them, and the other one is in the last position you shoot to on its face (R face) anyway.

In this scenario, I treat L stickers like U stickers, and avoid them on my initial traversal of each face. So after shooting to N, instead of I, shoot to L.

If after that I still have a cycle break, it will usually only be a couple of swapped pieces, so I'll insert them into the memo rather than start a new cycle. Insert as a pair right before a sticker of the same face as the first letter. In your memo, W is solved very close to the end, so I'd go back and put the X T before W.

N I F C O H D Q U R L (X T) W P

It's extremely rare that I break into a new centre cycle. I've done it maybe half a dozen times in a couple of thousand big BLD solves. Of course, if you have to spend time thinking about how to avoid a break, it's probably faster to just accept the extra target .

 

[Sergey]

Still not true sub20 solver

Spoiler: Did first sub18 avg5 and sub20 avg12

Average of 5: 17.80
1. 17.77 L2 B' U2 L2 F' U2 R2 B' D2 L2 U' R B' R' U2 L2 R' U F' U2
2. (16.31) R' L2 D R F' U2 F R2 L' F R2 F2 L F2 R B2 R' B2 R' U2 L
3. (21.61) B' R2 B2 D2 R2 B2 D2 B' D2 L2 B' U' B2 U L2 D F' R B F R'
4. 17.20 U2 B2 U2 L2 B2 U2 R D2 L B2 D' B' R' D R2 U' B D2 R2
5. 18.43 R2 D2 F' U2 B L2 D2 U2 F D2 F' L B' D U' L2 U2 F2 U' R'

Average of 12: 19.93
1. 22.03 U2 R' U2 L' F2 D2 R' U2 L' B2 R' F' D F2 L' B2 D' U' R2 U
2. 17.39 L2 D B2 U L2 B2 D2 R2 B2 F2 U2 R' B R2 D L R B' U2 B D'
3. 20.43 F2 U D2 B2 D F2 B2 L F' D2 L F2 R' B2 R F2 L D2 B2
4. 22.52 F2 U' R2 D2 L2 F2 U' B2 L2 B2 U2 R' U L B R B D' F2 L2 R'
5. 22.10 B2 D2 F2 D R2 U' L2 U' R2 D U B' U' B2 U' F R F L B2 R'
6. 19.85 B' L2 R2 F L2 F' R2 U2 B2 D2 B' D L R' U2 B2 L' D R2 F2 L2
7. (23.83) R2 B2 F2 R2 D' L2 U' L2 D' R2 U B' L2 D2 R B' U L2 B D2 F2
8. 17.77 L2 B' U2 L2 F' U2 R2 B' D2 L2 U' R B' R' U2 L2 R' U F' U2
9. (16.31) R' L2 D R F' U2 F R2 L' F R2 F2 L F2 R B2 R' B2 R' U2 L
10. 21.61 B' R2 B2 D2 R2 B2 D2 B' D2 L2 B' U' B2 U L2 D F' R B F R'
11. 17.20 U2 B2 U2 L2 B2 U2 R D2 L B2 D' B' R' D R2 U' B D2 R2
12. 18.43 R2 D2 F' U2 B L2 D2 U2 F D2 F' L B' D U' L2 U2 F2 U' R'

 

[SpartanSailor]

@SpartanSailor

Registration starts at Feb 15th, and it’s Convention center. There are heated discussion due to the qualification time (especially for feet).

=======

Some more important information for upcoming Nationals 2019!

The venue will be the Baltimore Convention Center in Baltimore, Maryland!

Registration opens on February 15th!

The deadline to modify your registration will be June 30th and the deadline to qualify for events will be June 25th!

The CubingUSA website and the WCA website will be up very soon, that’ll have the rest of the pertinent details, however if you have any additional questions by then please send us a message or email!

Qualifying times for each event this year at US Nationals are as follows:

3x3 | 0:40
2x2 | 0:11
4x4 | 1:00
5x5 | 1:40
6x6 | 3:05
7x7 | 4:15
3x3 Blindfolded | 3:00
3x3 One Handed | 0:30
3x3 With Feet | 0:45
FMC | 38 average
Clock | 0:13
Megaminx | 1:30
Pyraminx | 0:11
Skewb | 0:11
Square-1 | 0:30
4x4 Blindfolded | 10 minutes
5x5 Blindfolded | 20 minutes
3x3 Multiblind | 7 points

That updated 3BLD limit puts me on the wrong side of the qualifying time. I guess I just got my much needed motivation to double my efforts on 3BLD. I have two comps in the next 6 weeks with 3BLD. No more safe solves trying to get a mean. I’ll be on a DNF train until I get a sub-3:00 or June 25 (qualifying cutoff), whichever comes first.

 

[SpartanSailor]

Wow, those qualifying times are getting tough! Amazingly, I still qualify for 9 events, including skewb and square-1, both of which are ridiculous. I really shouldn't qualify for those. Skewb is too easy to get into compared to some of the others, and for square-1 I should probably be disqualified because my qualifying average is so very old (and was a set of amazingly lucky scrambles).

I qualified with skewb too... I was into it about a year ago... thru May or so, then lost interest. I couldn’t reproduce my qualifying 10.22 average at this point and I have no real interest to practice skewb too much.

Currently, I’d qualify in 333,222 and skewb. I wanted to qualify with 444, but it dropped from 1:10 last year to 1:00 and I’m not sure that is going to happen anytime soon.

But I really do want to qualify with 3BLD. It will be far more fun to participate in more than 333 and 222 when I go this year....

 

[openseas]

I qualified with skewb too... I was into it about a year ago... thru May or so, then lost interest. I couldn’t reproduce my qualifying 10.22 average at this point and I have no real interest to practice skewb too much.

Currently, I’d qualify in 333,222 and skewb. I wanted to qualify with 444, but it dropped from 1:10 last year to 1:00 and I’m not sure that is going to happen anytime soon.

But I really do want to qualify with 3BLD. It will be far more fun to participate in more than 333 and 222 when I go this year....

I believe you can achieve sub 3 3BLD soon. We're still in Jan, 5 month to achieve the cut-off, there are many comps with 3BLD.

For me, need to work on both 5BLD and MBLD. MBLD is not hard but there are not many competitions to have both. I may only have 1 or 2 chances before July. This year, I'll probably volunteer as a staff, it will be fun and exhausting

 

[SpartanSailor]

I believe you can achieve sub 3 3BLD soon. We're still in Jan, 5 month to achieve the cut-off, there are many comps with 3BLD.

For me, need to work on both 5BLD and MBLD. MBLD is not hard but there are not many competitions to have both. I may only have 1 or 2 chances before July. This year, I'll probably volunteer as a staff, it will be fun and exhausting

I’ve done sub-3s even as recently as yesterday. I’m going to push my memo time now. Yesterday I set an alarm at 1:30 for memo. My execution is usually around 1:00. That timing gives me some buffer for competition nerves. Although, if I get a good scramble with a memo that sticks quickly, I should have no problem. Sometimes, the memo is just awkward and I spend several reviews making sure I have it. That’s just time wasted....

I have the NE Championships in 2.5 weeks. I should have a good attempt there. Then, if I can make it happen, I’m trying to pull off going to the Orlando comp March 16-17... the later has a generous 20min cumulative time. The generous time doesn’t help if I’m shooting for sub-3, but does alleviate some pressure.

I’ve noticed too, that it’s difficult to find comps with Big BLD and MBLD. Those events do require considerable time and competition resources to pull off.

 

[One Wheel]

Competition yesterday was good overall. In order:
6x6 fail: at 4:38 halfway through a G-perm, lockup and pop, finished in 5:38.90 with a 5:00 cutoff :-(
7x7: 6:55.55, 6:30.73, 6:48.60 for a 6:44.96 mean. Very happy with that.
3x3: Lost a cross piece my first solve, then did the wrong PLL on the last one so the 32 I led out with counted. 27.36 average is typical for me, so I really can't complain. Would have been about a 25.8 average and gotten to the second round otherwise.
Feet: First round got a 1:38 average, which was good enough to get to the second round where I got a 1:37.80 average. Blew one solve each round.
4x4: Typical/good. Just under 1:17 single, 1:25 average.
Megaminx: 3:30 cutoff, 3:22 first solve guaranteed an opportunity for an average. Got a 2:43 single and just under 3:10 average. I could do better if I re-learned half a dozen CO cases.
3BLD: 7:00+ DNF, 8:00+ DNF, had 4:02 left to try, started executing edges before I ran out of time.
4BLD and 5BLD: I still need to get the U-layer target algs down, an attempt would have been my first ever, and I want to at least get close at home. Maybe next year.

I also got a Clock (Thanks Josh!), which I've learned how to solve without a tutorial. I need all of the blind events, and 2x2, Clock, Skewb, Pyraminx, Square-1, and OH to get all events. I'm signed up for Clock and 3BLD at a comp in 2 weeks. I need a fair bit of work to make any cutoff in Square-1, but the other speedsolve events are trivial, it's just a matter of getting to comps.

 

[h2f]

Nice, @One Wheel!

 

[SpartanSailor]

@One Wheel well done. I’ve looked at all the events too, but I’m not interested in several—such as feet, sq-1 and clock. I don’t even have a clock. But for me, the real challenge will be 4BLD and 5BLD. ESPECIALLY 5BLD. There’s just so much to learn with those and I’m not sure when I’ll be able to do that.

Congrats on that megaminx average and 7x7 mean.

 

[chtiger]

Another comp from this weekend. http://cubecomps.com/live.php?cid=3961&compid=48
Was happiest about sub-10:00 4BLD. Wasn't sure I could do that in comp.
Got a OPWR (old people world record) with a lucky skewb single (4.34). Had a +2 in the average.
A non-lucky sub-16 3x3 single, but sub-20 average still eludes me. Second round, did the wrong PLL on one solve, and put multiple F2L pairs in the wrong slot on two solves.
Had a decent 3BLD success. The two DNF's were in the 2:10's, one was 3 corners, one was 3 edges.
One bad round of clock, one good round of clock, 2nd best avg and single.
Still don't care about OH, but got PBs there.