GreenBlocks
Member
Hello!
Let me ramble at ya,
I started cubing maybe 15 years ago, and recently rediscovered it as my old friend who I cubed with back then started solving again and gave me a couple cubes (YJ MGC 4x4 + 7x7). Am 29 now.
I dug out my cubes, have some old zhanchi, guhong, and found a tengyun v1 I seem to have bought around covid times. Love the Tengyun, feels like a big upgrade from those guys. Magnets are wild. Amazed how much cube tech has evolved. Have not tried maglev yet, not in a rush. Bought some lube for the first time, learning how to setup cubes. Cleaned my poor cubes. Lots of trial and error, but finally got 3x3 feeling decent. Got FZ Glide, mystic, FZ Calm, and weight 5. Took a bit to figure out how to actually use them right... And did not get a simple fast water or silicone based lube - but FZ glide and mystic seem to work well now that understand them a bit.
In terms of solving, the part that matters - I'm about ~45 seconds on 3x3. Using CFOP, started learning 1 look PLL algs for fun, but still need to work on my fundamentals. Been training on cross planning, as that is the area I feel like shakes my confidence the most. Started with trainer for 4 move solutions, then onto 5. Made a bit of progress.
But everything changed when the(fire nation) 7x7 cube I was given attacked. Turns out I really like big cubes. Haven't spent as much time on 4x4 as my old shengshou 4x4 is like a brick, but learned Yau on the YJ 4x4. Then got brave enough to try 7x7 and it has enamoured me and stolen my focus away from 3x3 going on at least a month. Got to 20min with yau, then 18 with bit of practice. I appreciate the early cross build on Yau a lot for edge solve, decided to lookup Hoya. Hoya is very cool. It feels like there are a lot of tools to master, and less intuitive on cross build - but having fun studying it. Shout out to Jake Brown / https://www.youtube.com/@PieceByPiece1046 for the detailed Hoya learning materials.
YJ MGC 7x7 is a great cube, but struggled to turn it easily, decided to set some goals and reward myself with new cube. I did clean the silicone lube out it was given to me with (and dripping), and tried to set it up with lubes I had. Got it much better, re tensioned, still a bit funky at times, but much better. The blue screw does seem to be kind of bent coming out of core, maybe could fix it, but it seems mostly ok. Couldn't tell if it was messing up tension or if I am just bad at balancing it. But not ready to fully re assemble a second time. Anywho - I told myself if got under 12 min would get another cube. Then surprised myself hitting that, moved to 10min. Then said AO12 under 10min, and hit that goal too. So ordered a Moyu Aofu 7x7 V5 (Picube SE, double track, mag core). Should show up in a few days. And some fz honey, xmt 10, and fz rush. Will see if I can get used to the smaller cube, hopefully like it!
Now solving 7x7 between 9 - 10.5min. Thrilled with the progress! Hoping as I keep practicing and do my slow solves can break 6min in next few months.
Let me ramble at ya,
I started cubing maybe 15 years ago, and recently rediscovered it as my old friend who I cubed with back then started solving again and gave me a couple cubes (YJ MGC 4x4 + 7x7). Am 29 now.
I dug out my cubes, have some old zhanchi, guhong, and found a tengyun v1 I seem to have bought around covid times. Love the Tengyun, feels like a big upgrade from those guys. Magnets are wild. Amazed how much cube tech has evolved. Have not tried maglev yet, not in a rush. Bought some lube for the first time, learning how to setup cubes. Cleaned my poor cubes. Lots of trial and error, but finally got 3x3 feeling decent. Got FZ Glide, mystic, FZ Calm, and weight 5. Took a bit to figure out how to actually use them right... And did not get a simple fast water or silicone based lube - but FZ glide and mystic seem to work well now that understand them a bit.
In terms of solving, the part that matters - I'm about ~45 seconds on 3x3. Using CFOP, started learning 1 look PLL algs for fun, but still need to work on my fundamentals. Been training on cross planning, as that is the area I feel like shakes my confidence the most. Started with trainer for 4 move solutions, then onto 5. Made a bit of progress.
But everything changed when the
YJ MGC 7x7 is a great cube, but struggled to turn it easily, decided to set some goals and reward myself with new cube. I did clean the silicone lube out it was given to me with (and dripping), and tried to set it up with lubes I had. Got it much better, re tensioned, still a bit funky at times, but much better. The blue screw does seem to be kind of bent coming out of core, maybe could fix it, but it seems mostly ok. Couldn't tell if it was messing up tension or if I am just bad at balancing it. But not ready to fully re assemble a second time. Anywho - I told myself if got under 12 min would get another cube. Then surprised myself hitting that, moved to 10min. Then said AO12 under 10min, and hit that goal too. So ordered a Moyu Aofu 7x7 V5 (Picube SE, double track, mag core). Should show up in a few days. And some fz honey, xmt 10, and fz rush. Will see if I can get used to the smaller cube, hopefully like it!
Now solving 7x7 between 9 - 10.5min. Thrilled with the progress! Hoping as I keep practicing and do my slow solves can break 6min in next few months.
