Ay yo! What did I miss?

I've been out of cubing for a while. Last comp was 2018. What has been happening in the world of cubing? Who are the best YouCubers now? What cubes are the best? What has changed? I just want to talk about cubing again :)
the 3x3 WR single and average are 2.76 and 3.51 respectively, which is very insane, anyway, welcome back!
 
I've been out of cubing for a while. Last comp was 2018. What has been happening in the world of cubing? Who are the best YouCubers now? What cubes are the best? What has changed? I just want to talk about cubing again :)
FTO is gonna be a WCA event and clock is being removed.GAN’s newest flagship is the GAN 17 Macdrive
 
Main topics I can think of:
- WCA is gonna remove Clock, but introduce FTO next year.
- WCA is gonna adopt / enforce 4-pad timers next year.
- Heated arguments and rivalry between top cubers (Yiheng Wang and Xuanyi Geng), but mostly because of their parents. Look up, it's a very lengthy topic.
- Yiheng was accused of cheating (timer sliding) across many competitions. WCA did much less than most people would wanted to. Again, it's a lengthy topic.
- Head-to-head format was introduced in some WCA competitions to make it more spectacular.
 
FTO is gonna be a WCA event and clock is being removed.GAN’s newest flagship is the GAN 17 Macdr

FTO is gonna be a WCA event and clock is being removed.GAN’s newest flagship is the GAN 17 Macdrive
No more clock? When is it going away? I need to get some results before it goes. What FTO is worth buying?
 
No more clock? When is it going away?
The last competition with clock is going to be Worlds 2027.
I was originally optimistic that it could get removed, due to the huge backlash and lack of consideration the WCA had for the community itself, but recently a delegate confirmed via a vote (which only those directly involved with the WCA could vote in) that the decision is final.
What FTO is worth buying?
FTO, which will appear in competitions from January 2nd, 2027 has a few decent choices. Note that I have not tried these, I am just suggesting what people say is the best.

Dayan FTO - Roughly £25 - What most claim to be the best
Diansheng NEO FTO - Roughly £18 - Also another good choice
 
QiYi is dead. Except for budget bigcubes. Most events are MoYu vs GAN. World Class 3x3 is now like mid 5. Heard of this Swagrid bloke who might be a decent youcuber
@josiah popp Try the QiYi Warrior big cubes, they're actually amazing for less than $20 USD. Their M Pro series is also pretty good but slightly more expensive. The Warrior cubes tend to be light and fast and the M Pro cubes tend to be heavier and more controllable.
 
Main topics I can think of:
- WCA is gonna remove Clock, but introduce FTO next year.
- WCA is gonna adopt / enforce 4-pad timers next year.
- Heated arguments and rivalry between top cubers (Yiheng Wang and Xuanyi Geng), but mostly because of their parents. Look up, it's a very lengthy topic.
- Yiheng was accused of cheating (timer sliding) across many competitions. WCA did much less than most people would wanted to. Again, it's a lengthy topic.
- Head-to-head format was introduced in some WCA competitions to make it more spectacular.
4 pad timers? What does that mean?
 
No more Qiyi is sad. Is there a good variety of cube brands or has it mostly consolidated?
There is a lot of convergence in 3x3 specifically. MoYu and GAN are the two real options, and GAN's latest release just has a MoYu mechanism with a different magnet layout.

edit:
4pad timers have little pads for your thumbs on the front of the timer, as well as the two on top. Recently we've had issues with people starting the timer by basically pushing their hands forwards without lifting them, which allows them to pickup the cube without starting the timer. People are saving sometimes up to 0.3 on their solve by doing this. By requiring your thumbs to be in a certain spot, this is prevented, since the moment one thumb moves off the pad the timer begins
 
I've been out of cubing for a while. Last comp was 2018. What has been happening in the world of cubing? Who are the best YouCubers now? What cubes are the best? What has changed? I just want to talk about cubing again :)
Cubing technology has introduced a lot of magnets. Flagship cubes come with magnets between the edge and corner pieces, magnets between the corner pieces and ball core, and sometimes repelling magnets in the centre pieces. The latter technology is called maglev, replacing spring tension with magnetic repulsion.

UV coating has also become fairly commonplace, making cubes extra glossy and supposedly easier to grip. The quality of UV coating can vary between cube brands.
 
I've been out of cubing for a while. Last comp was 2018. What has been happening in the world of cubing? Who are the best YouCubers now? What cubes are the best? What has changed? I just want to talk about cubing again :)
I am the best YouCuber ;)
Jokes aside, budget cubes are amazing. Magents are a trend. Lubes are amazing.
CLOCK HAS BEEN REMOVED FROM THE WCA!! 😭 😭 😭 #freeclock (pls sign the petition to bring it back (link in my signature))
 
No more Qiyi is sad. Is there a good variety of cube brands or has it mostly consolidated?
I think QiYi's sub-brand X-Man (idk if it was around in 2018) released a flagship cube, the Tornado V5, this year and I think it's amazing but there are a lot of mixed opinions on it. Just read some of the reviews on the cubicle and you'll see what I mean.
 
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