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To anyone who has switched methods, what is your story?

What method did you switch to?


  • Total voters
    78

BenChristman1

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I switched from CFOP to Mehta because I think Mehta has the potential to be the best 2H method out there, but most people won't believe it unless they see fast results, so my goal is to get fast results with it to prove its viability. It's been way more fun to practice Mehta than CFOP, so I'm sticking with it for the foreseeable future. I averaged about 10 with CFOP and now I'm around 14 with Mehta. After several months, I'm still quite a bit slower, but I feel like my path to improvement is clearer. Mehta has a lot of algs, so if you're ok with that and want a fun but fast new method, I highly recommend learning Mehta.
To add on to that, and to kind of go along with what @zzoomer was saying, even if you don’t switch to Mehta, it’s still a really fun method to learn and it will help you understand many different aspects of solving the cube that you don’t get with CFOP, such as the FB and EO Belt steps, and it also shows that there’s many ways to continue after solving just part of the cube. After solving the belt, there are so many different paths that you can take, most of which are shown on the flowchart here.
 

Swagrid

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I've swapped my main method a few times but this is the story of the big one, that stuck

I've been cubing for about 4.5 years now, on and off. No consistent progress, so was slow. Around last summer I decided to swap from my main method at the time, and for the past 3.5yrs, which was CFOP, and use ZZ instead. I already knew ZZ because I had learned all big 4 methods and then some. The reason I changed was because of ZZ-CT. I always thought it was an interesting method, and I always burned out using other methods. So I tried CT, and loved it. Grinded algs hard during that summer, spent 2-5 hours a day learning TTLL algs. Learned all the TTLLs by the end of September. I haven't burned out since the swap.

When I used CFOP, I averaged 22 and my PB was 15.16. Now, I average 14 and my PB is 9.29
 
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pyrapyravince

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at first, i thought i could solve cubes with roux, but i couldnt. I would solve the first 2 blocks and finished f2l, and just hoped that i got a last layer skip. Then after my cube died i got a gan air and learned with the little manual.
 

guelda

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Nice to read others cubing stories :)

I started cubing at the beginning of 2020, after trying a bit the beginner's method with a well layed-out document which sadly didn't contained the algs written grouped by triggers (I mean each alg didn't use parenthesis to highlights the fact that it is easier to learn them by bits), I looked for a method with less algorithms and found Roux. I enjoyed each for the rest of the year and was 27s on average when I decided to switch to another method : Mehta.

I just wanted to try something else as I didn't progress with Roux (too lazy to work on my F2B probably), and Mehta looked clever/fun + there was a very nice and simple tutorial on YT (kudos Bamboo Cuber!). With its 3 algorithmic steps, it was kind of the opposite of Roux which is highly intuitive. But I guess I "understood" better the cube so was interested in learning algs.
So now I practice Mehta since then, still slower than with Roux (approx. 33s vs. 27s), and for some reason I think I'll never beat my Roux times with it, but I enjoy using both in solves depending on the scramble.

I'd like to learn LMCF after getting a bit better with Mehta.
 
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ok here's my story:

I started (speed)cubing exactly 362 days ago i.e on May 22 2020(I solved it for the first time on the day before but I did my first ao5 on May 22). I used to use keyhole(yes, keyhole because I figured it out by myself) with the R' D' R D last layer. A few weeks later, I learnt 4LLL and got down to sub 30 without F2L. Then, I learnt CFOP and got down to sub 20 with it. In December, I took a 25 day break from cubing only to see that I find cubing boring. Then, @Nir1213 mentioned me on the Mehta thread. That's when I got to know about it. I found it fun and switched. I struggled for the first month or two but I got down to sub 30 easily. Now I average 21-22 with Mehta and 19-20 with CFOP(well, I don't do CFOP anymore lol). I love it's heavily algorithmic approach and it's efficiency(46-53 moves vs 60 moves CFOP). My long term goal is to somehow get sub 8(preferably sub 7) with Mehta and show that it can be better than CFOP. My short term goal is to get sub 20 and beat CFOP times. If you're bored, want a change of methods and like algs, you can learn Mehta and if you're stuck, I and the good folks at the Mehta Discord are really happy to help.

E: If you know Mehta and want some competition, here's a weekly comp that I run.
 
Last edited:

RyanSoh

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So I started cubing last year, during the COVID lockdown (I already know how to solve the cube with the beginners method then). I learned the popular CFOP method and got faster at it. With 4LLL I got to sub 30. However, I then hit a speed bump. I knew I had to learn some more algorithms to get faster. But I did not have to motivation to learn the PLL algorithms at all. Soon I lost interest in CFOP, and switched to the Roux method. I quickly fell in love with Roux. I loved the intuitiveness of the first 2 steps, and the fact that the last step could be done 2 gen. Most importantly, Roux has less algorithms that CFOP. I found the motivation to get faster again. Currently, with 2-look CMLL, I am already sub-20.
 
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I started by learning the beginner's method. While I was learning it, at some point I decided it would be a good idea to straight up learn CFOP, because less steps=easier and less algorithms, riiiight? Alright, I hadn't thought very much about it, but in the end I decided I'd just start with beginner's then see about CFOP later.

When I finally started CFOP, I learnt intuitive F2L using Z3Cubing's tutorial. It was great, I mastered F2L in less then an hour. My times were around 1 minute and thirty seconds. I kept practising with that (cross, F2L, beginner LL). I might want to add here that when I first learnt to do the cross and the corners, I pretty much figured it out on my own and used a more straightforward method instead of the "daisy" method they suggested and spamming sexy moves for corners.

This is about when I found out about roux. I liked the way that you solved it in less moves with less algorithms. What's not to love? I found a beginner's document based on waffo's site and learnt it from there. I was solving very inefficiently, (my blocks were basically CFOP F2L with some extra M-slice edge hiding, my CMLL was 2-looked with outdated algorithms from 2013. I guess my LSE was ok though) but I managed to get down to an average of about 35 seconds. This is also around the time that I joined the forum.

Then I found out about waterman. I "switched" to it, but basically all I was doing was only solving with roux and procrastinating about learning its algorithms. I had to make a decision: either I learnt the algs, sticked to roux, or switched to another method. To make a decision, I counted moves in my own example solves with roux, waterman, cfop and zz (which I had also learnt, just for fun). ZZ had the lowest movecount, so I decided to stick to that.

(There were also some other barely mentionable times where I switched to some other methods like petrus for one or two days, but this post would never end if I talked about those)

My progress with ZZ was tremendous. I got sub-30 in only a couple of weeks of using it, and sub-20 came very soon as well. After practising for about half a year I was sub-15 at some point. These days, since I practise a lot less, I only average about 16-17, but I'm happy, it's still pretty fast. I'm currently working with @BlobinatiCentral on developping waterman, I don't main the method but I find it very interesting and underrated nonetheless.
 
Last edited:
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ok here's my story:

I started (speed)cubing exactly 362 days ago i.e on May 22 2020(I solved it for the first time on the day before but I did my first ao5 on May 22). I used to use keyhole(yes, keyhole because I figured it out by myself) with the R' D' R D last layer. A few weeks later, I learnt 4LLL and got down to sub 30 without F2L. Then, I learnt CFOP and got down to sub 20 with it. In December, I took a 25 day break from cubing only to see that I find cubing boring. Then, @Nir1213 mentioned me on the Mehta thread. That's when I got to know about it. I found it fun and switched. I struggled for the first month or two but I got down to sub 30 easily. Now I average 21-22 with Mehta and 19-20 with CFOP(well, I don't do CFOP anymore lol). I love it's heavily algorithmic approach and it's efficiency(46-53 moves vs 60 moves CFOP). My long term goal is to somehow get sub 8(preferably sub 7) with Mehta and show that it can be better than CFOP. My short term goal is to get sub 20 and beat CFOP times. If you're bored, want a change of methods and like algs, you can learn Mehta and if you're stuck, I and the good folks at the Mehta Discord are really happy to help.

E: If you know Mehta and want some competition, here's a weekly comp that I run.
UPDATE: I average 17 now lol
 

porkyp10

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I switched from CFOP to ZZ 3-4 months ago. Before that I was a devout CFOP user that was slowly improving. Unfortunately, my wave of improvement stopped once I reached sub-15. When I finally learned full OLL and PLL, I ran out of things I wanted to learn.

Then I thought of learning full COLL (yuck) and started doing that, but thought that it would be hard to learn because I'd have to always get a cross case. then I remembered that ZZ always ended up with a cross case for last layer, so I initially learned it just to learn COLL.

At first I hated ZZ. EO was just absurdly hard (for beginner me) and EOLine F2L was painful. But I practiced it anyway. After a couple days of practicing ZZ, PapaSmurf invited me to the ZMS Discord. That server taught me about the existence of EOCross, and the other variants of ZZ (and why I don't have to learn them).

I then realized that ZZ was much more interesting than CFOP, and how much I hated CFOP F2L, so I practiced it even more. I had doubts on if I should main it, since CFOP was still the faster method for me. But when I averaged sub-20 on ZZ, I just decided to choose it as my main method anyway. I just accepted that I wouldn't beat my overall PBs for a long time (or so I thought).

My improvement on ZZ was faster than I thought. I thought I would average sub-15 on ZZ within a year, but it turned out to be 2 months. Now, I average sub-14 with ZZ, and both my PB single and Ao5 are ZZ solves.
 

abunickabhi

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I've only been cubing for roughly a year.

As everyone does, I started with the beginner's method.
Discovered CFOP/F2L and began trying to hone my chops on F2L.
From here, I got lost in a sea of different block-building methods... primarily Heise and Petrus.
(At this point, Roux SB was too difficult for me to do without destroying FB, so I ditched Roux.)

I would say that for a little while, I used my own version of Petrus as my main method. I simply liked block-building at the beginning more than anything else I'd tried (cross, EO, etc...). After 223, I would do Petrus-W style EO only to (usually) mess it up during the final F2L pairs. Some version of O(C)LL/PLL to finish.

(Side note on LL methods: I went through a lot of LL methods. phasing/OCLL-EPP/PLL -- OCLL/OLLCP-A/EPLL -- 2L OLL/2L PLL -- OCLL/CPLL/LSE -- LLEF/CPLL.)

Wanting to get faster (because my son was consistently beating me at F2L), I returned to the basics with CFOP. Relearned all of the F2L cases-- learning as many intuitively as possible in order to minimize the number of algorithms cluttering my head. Practiced hard for months with CFOP, improving very little. From ~1:00, I got down to low 40s ao10 (PB of 27 sec.).

That's when I realized I never really liked CFOP. It just felt too rigid/structured/unimaginative. (This was just as I had finished learning full OLL as well.)

I now use my own version of Roux/LEOR. It is simple and suits my needs (which is not speedsolving). It allows me to be creative at the start of my solve or to take a number of guided/shepherded starts if I am speedsolving (usually against my sons). LSE to finish (specifically 4c) is my favorite way to finish. Only gripe is learning COLL which has been daunting. EOLR/BF right before LS gives me more triggers to utilize and has been teaching me how to solve all of the F2L cases <RU> (for LS). I am still VERY slow, but I'm hoping that improves with solves and practice. One thing I've quickly come to terms with is the fact that I am not fast at solving and probably never will be; having picked up the cube at a MUCH older age than most, I am just happy to solve it.

I still love to learn new methods or new ideas for existing methods. But I definitely think I've finally stumbled upon the method I will use for the foreseeable future.
Your solutions in the 3x3 example thread are really good. I try them out and learn new ideas from the solution.
Also your pace for writing solutions is fast.
 

abunickabhi

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I switched from CFOP to ZZ 3-4 months ago. Before that I was a devout CFOP user that was slowly improving. Unfortunately, my wave of improvement stopped once I reached sub-15. When I finally learned full OLL and PLL, I ran out of things I wanted to learn.

Then I thought of learning full COLL (yuck) and started doing that, but thought that it would be hard to learn because I'd have to always get a cross case. then I remembered that ZZ always ended up with a cross case for last layer, so I initially learned it just to learn COLL.

At first I hated ZZ. EO was just absurdly hard (for beginner me) and EOLine F2L was painful. But I practiced it anyway. After a couple days of practicing ZZ, PapaSmurf invited me to the ZMS Discord. That server taught me about the existence of EOCross, and the other variants of ZZ (and why I don't have to learn them).

I then realized that ZZ was much more interesting than CFOP, and how much I hated CFOP F2L, so I practiced it even more. I had doubts on if I should main it, since CFOP was still the faster method for me. But when I averaged sub-20 on ZZ, I just decided to choose it as my main method anyway. I just accepted that I wouldn't beat my overall PBs for a long time (or so I thought).

My improvement on ZZ was faster than I thought. I thought I would average sub-15 on ZZ within a year, but it turned out to be 2 months. Now, I average sub-14 with ZZ, and both my PB single and Ao5 are ZZ solves.
Good to know that you have liked the ZZ method.
There are not that many ZZ solvers out there.

How active is the ZMS server?
Good luck improving in ZZ, U M U' R' F R U M' U' L' U' L !
 
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