• Welcome to the Speedsolving.com, home of the web's largest puzzle community!
    You are currently viewing our forum as a guest which gives you limited access to join discussions and access our other features.

    Registration is fast, simple and absolutely free so please, join our community of 40,000+ people from around the world today!

    If you are already a member, simply login to hide this message and begin participating in the community!

Older cubers discussions

pglewis

Member
Joined
Sep 23, 2016
Messages
1,268
Location
Cincinnati
WCA
2016LEWI07
Ok, I have been inspired and motivated to start tracking solve times and preparing for competitions

Personally, I think the main thing for that first competition is finding out how you react to the adrenaline and setting personal marks to beat at your second one. I had no idea how adversely I'd be affected under comp conditions until I experienced bizarre OLL and PLL amnesia in my first couple solves. Everyone is different: some people thrive at comps, some see little difference from any other session, and some find themselves significantly slower than at home. I've been a lot slower at comp so far but I was much closer to business as usual at my most recent one in Sept. The two most important things to prep for IMO: get comfortable solving in front of people and with distractions. There is a lot of motion, noise, and chatter going on than the typical practice environment.

If I had a really good day right now under comp conditions I might hope for a mid 20s average and a low 20s single on 3x3. From a competitive standpoint that might as well be 2:00, I'm just another also-ran, but I'd go home very happy. "Sub Me" is my primary goal.

One wrench in the works: when I'll have to learn a new method to break a barrier. Most of my solves are kind of a mishmash of intuition, beginner algs/steps, and the like. When to pull the trigger, bite the bullet and just do it?

I'm a firm believer that if you've decided on a method/substep to use then you should always be working to incorporate the next most important piece of it. I think the faster you get the harder it is to accept the regression something new will cause. You're as slow as you're gonna be right now, so now is when it hurts the least and the sooner you learn new things the sooner you'll trust them in timed solves. I know lots of stuff that I completely ditch when the timer is running (looking at you, COLL H and Pi).

And then, just going to have to accept the fact that the going will be slow, cuz I won't be able to lay off the non-WCA puzzles entirely, just learning a solve for the fun of it. For instance, I'm pretty sure my next purchase/project is going to be a 3x3 mirror. I really dig the 2x2 mirror.

It really is all about what you want to get out of it of course. Some people are happy just learning to solve if it takes them five mins. Some are more interested in bigger cubes and/or blind events without much regard to 3x3 progress. I'm primarily interested in 3x3, 3bld, and mbld right now so my 4x4 and 5x5 rarely get picked up but they're here for me if/when I get the itch. So go for the variety if that's what strikes your fancy or focus on a few events if you're more inclined to maximize progress. If you change your mind next week, do that :D
 

Mike Hughey

Administrator
Staff member
Joined
Jun 7, 2007
Messages
11,304
Location
Indianapolis
WCA
2007HUGH01
SS Competition Results
YouTube
Visit Channel
Which 4x4 did you decide to get? Do you like it so far?
Sorry, I should have listed here what I got. I got the following, all Cubicle Labs:
Skewb: X-Man Wingy Magnetic
3x3x3: Valk M
4x4x4: WuQue M
5x5x5: WuShuang M
6x6x6: Red M
7x7x7: WuJi M

And I also got 20 MF3RS2s for multi.

And I'd say that I love them all.

I wasn't sure at first about the Valk M. When doing just untimed practice solves, it seemed slow; quality, but slow. But once I started doing timed solves, it was like the lube in it instantly broke down and suddenly it was the fastest cube I've ever solved on. I do like the MF3RS2s too, though - there's a bigger improvement between any other 3x3x3 I've ever owned and the MF3RS2s than there is between the MF3RS2s and the Valk M. So while I'd say the Valk M is nicer, I'm not sure if it's worth the money difference. Still, I'm glad I have it.

The WuQue M is wonderful. I was actually pretty happy with my old 4x4x4 - it was one of the nicest cubes I owned. It was one of my most recent purchases before this - an Aosu from a few years ago. So I was surprised to discover how much improvement the new WuQue is. I did set new PBs for average of 5 and average of 12 with it in my first session with it, so it is noticeably helping me. Now I think I just need to get used to the speed.

The biggest improvement of all is probably the Red M. I had a ShengShou 6x6x6 and 7x7x7 before. The new 6x6x6 is so nice it's hard to believe it's possible.

I'm not quite as happy with the WuJi as I am with the others. I think the problem is that the pieces are so tiny, it's not able to be quite as stable as the others are. It's still pretty good, but I did have the pieces get twisted up once in a solve, and it seems like the edges between the pieces are a little sharp and can catch your fingers causing a lockup sometimes. Still, it's a massive improvement over the old ShengShou; I certainly would not want to go back. I guess all I'm saying here is that it feels like there's still room for improvement on 7x7x7s; I'm not sure it's possible to improve on the Red M for 6x6x6.

For 5x5x5, 6x6x6, and 7x7x7, the speed difference is incredible. I'm probably at least 25% faster with these cubes than I am with my old ones, at least using freeslice. I don't think I'm going to try AvG; I'm going to make myself get good at freeslice, now that I can do so without having my times get worse on the way. :)

I haven't tried my cubes for multi yet; I'll give them a try this weekend. I have a lot of sticker moving to do to apply my color scheme to them first.
 

mark49152

Premium Member
Joined
Oct 29, 2012
Messages
4,719
Location
UK
WCA
2015RIVE05
YouTube
Visit Channel
@Eelephant : I agree with Phil here. The best way to approach your first competition is to go along with an open mind, have some fun, and meet people. It's unlikely to enhance your experience if you put yourself under pressure to meet targets. If you decide competing is for you, there will be plenty more opportunities for pressure :)
 

kbrune

Member
Joined
Feb 6, 2012
Messages
668
Location
Cornwall, On
WCA
2012BRUN02
Does anyone know if the wuque 4x4 is the exact same cube as the wuque M only without magnets?
Wuque M doesn't seem to be available at the store im ordering from but the Wuque is.
 

Jason Green

Member
Joined
Aug 18, 2015
Messages
1,144
Location
Fort Worth, TX
WCA
2016GREE02
YouTube
Visit Channel
One thing to consider when comparing your times to world class times is that the smaller the puzzle the more of the solve is done in inspection time. The WR 2x2 and pyraminx averages, for example, were almost certainly one-looked, so the recorded time is really just execution. I run roughly 7.5x the WR average for 2x2, but only about 3.5x the WR average for 7x7. You might find this thread interesting for a perhaps more accurate estimate of where you might rank.
Also the smaller puzzles benefit more from insane TPS at the world record level I think. That's a bad way to put it probably, not really accurate .What I mean is I think a lot of us could have TPS sufficient to average sub 10 on 3x3, which would seem world classish, even though it's not anymore. :)

I hear you, absolutely, but I would be afraid that even if you liked the puzzles you were working on, the lack of variety might be a problem? Must consider. Thank you...
My biggest advice to stay motivated and improve is do whatever seems the most fun for you. I prefer to mainly focus on one event at a time. I care nothing about non WCA (that's just playing with toys to me, hahaha) but I know a lot of people like them. I did nothing but 3x3 for a year probably. For now I have quit pyraminx and skewb, just because I don't practice and to try and warm up for a comp (relearn parts I forgot) is just not fun right now. I used to do that just to compete in max events, but I'm not now because I don't have fun with it. I probably won't compete in 2x2 for a while either for same reason. Again those are just my preferences because I have the most fun that way.
 

h2f

Premium Member
Joined
Oct 10, 2013
Messages
2,402
Location
Poland
WCA
2014PACE01
YouTube
Visit Channel
Does anyone know if the wuque 4x4 is the exact same cube as the wuque M only without magnets?
Wuque M doesn't seem to be available at the store im ordering from but the Wuque is.

As far as I know Wuque M is magnetized by shops where you buy. So yes.

I do like the MF3RS2s too, though - there's a bigger improvement between any other 3x3x3 I've ever owned and the MF3RS2s than there is between the MF3RS2s and the Valk M. So while I'd say the Valk M is nicer, I'm not sure if it's worth the money difference. Still, I'm glad I have it.

Yeah. When I showed magnetized version to my brother he thought it's the one of the top cubes regarding the price. He's not a cuber but he does few solves sometimes and he cant belive it's only around 9$.
 

mitja

Member
Joined
Dec 22, 2015
Messages
232
Location
Ljubljana, Slovenia
WCA
2016POPO02
There are 2 now. Both are unofficial as ages are not public
https://github.com/Logiqx/wca-ipy/blob/master/README.md
https://goo.gl/nvwyfG
Managed to do some new PB's today. Finally two sub 20 singles 17.41 and missed sub 20 avg. Good, it still stays a goal. I have no time for afternoon round, have sleepover with my students ,but very satisfied with the results. Have never done official sub20.
http://m.cubecomps.com/competitions/2986/competitors/16
My younger daughter was not in the mood, but still made 21.55 single
 

openseas

Member
Joined
Oct 11, 2015
Messages
425
WCA
2015PARK24
Managed to do some new PB's today. Finally two sub 20 singles 17.41 and missed sub 20 avg. Good, it still stays a goal. I have no time for afternoon round, have sleepover with my students ,but very satisfied with the results. Have never done official sub20.
http://m.cubecomps.com/competitions/2986/competitors/16
My younger daughter was not in the mood, but still made 21.55 single

Great job!

I've got 4BLD 11min (3rd), but the rest was meh.

My son got also his comp PB joined multi sub-20 club for 3BLD.

Still MBLD 2 attempts left, but completely exhausted :-(

Jeff checked my 5BLD dnf, looks like one turn off (all wings and midges) - turned out I one setup/unsetup move was off which caused the rest of edges fails.

All 3 4BLD we're 11mins. (2 DNF & 1 success) - still need cut couple of minutes for Nats qual.
 
Last edited:

newtonbase

Premium Member
Joined
Jan 4, 2014
Messages
2,952
Location
MK, UK
WCA
2015ADAM03
YouTube
Visit Channel
All 3 4BLD we're 11mins. (2 DNF & 1 success) - still need cut couple of minutes for Nats qual.
Well done. That's good progress. I'm trying hard to hold on to your coat-tails.
Got a 10:22 DNF today Memo was 3rd best at 4:52 but very solid. Then I had a lock-up and had to remove an internal mid comm which caused execution errors. Very happy with this solve especially as I started it within a couple of mins of realising that I had 20ish minutes to myself so no prep or focus. Maybe that helped.
 

mitja

Member
Joined
Dec 22, 2015
Messages
232
Location
Ljubljana, Slovenia
WCA
2016POPO02
Great job!

I've got 4BLD 11min (3rd), but the rest was meh.

My son got also his comp PB joined multi sub-20 club for 3BLD.

Still MBLD 2 attempts left, but completely exhausted :-(

Jeff checked my 5BLD dnf, looks like one turn off (all wings and midges) - turned out I one setup/unsetup move was off which caused the rest of edges fails.

All 3 4BLD we're 11mins. (2 DNF & 1 success) - still need cut couple of minutes for Nats qual.
Great work, In my country there is only one 4BLD result( around 20 min), so that is my goal, to do it in one month at next nationals. But tour progress is amazing.
 
Top