Will Feliks’ GOAT status be challenged?

[FenTheGoat]

Is it Yu or Maki who still has some Japanese NRs? (Or high ranking national times, idk)

GOAT is a strong word and don't make justice to anyone. Maybe GOHT (Greateast of His/Her Time) is a better title.

for me Yu Nakajima will always be the Gresteast of His Time and I don't care mainstream opinion.

Yu was a legend when Rubik's DIY were the state of the art speedcubes and he has done sub7 singles with that cube.

Feliks broke tons of records and started a new era in cubing, I think his time has ended.

 

[Filipe Teixeira]

Is it Yu or Maki who still has some Japanese NRs? (Or high ranking national times, idk)

nakajima has nr4 for 2x2

 

[ProStar]

I feel like this is just gonna be a Michael Jordan vs Lebron James debate, where it comes down to peak vs longevity. Feliks stayed dominant for a much longer period of time than likely anyone will ever again. Max has set a ridiculous amount of records, and his sheer dominance in some categories give him a case for being the GOAT. There will be arguments for both, but I feel like there will never be a consensus.

Except right now Feliks has both peak and longevity on his side

 

[Garf]

I don’t think dominance should really be considered due to the optimization of the sport

Not true in my eyes. Imo, Felik’s 10 years or so of dominance is way cooler than what any Cuber has done 2020 onwards, simply because of what was offered back then. Yiheng even pondered how cubers were so fast with the hardware back then, when he did that video of him trying old cubes.
The thing is that cubers nowadays have it good with hardware. You can a good magnetic 3x3 for only 35 dollars, but it took a lot more than just money to be fast back then. You had to modify the puzzles to be fast, such as with the V cube 6 and 7. The VCube6 is notorious for having bad turning with the terrible clicking mechanism, and it took a lot of modding to have it stop doing that. You can argue about the Meilong 7m v2 needing some mods to be faster and the best cube, but the Meilong is way better than a lot of cubes back then.
Yet cubers were still frickin fast with what they had. I basically use all the best puzzles as my mains, and if you were to give those to a Cuber from 2010, they would be in awe of how good they are compared to what they had back then.

 

[SpeakCuba]

My view on Feliks:
He broke 121 WRs and podiumed who knows how many times.
He’s a two time world champion.
He broke barriers that no one could’ve ever imagined, such as sub-6 seconds on 3x3 and sub-1 minute on 5x5.
He did coaching and critiques of many solvers
He has a website dedicated to teach cubers how to get faster across 3-7, OH and mega
He took part in two speedcubing documentaries, possibly more.
He’s had one of the best friendships and rivalry with Max Park. Feliks could’ve been cold with him, due to Max’s autism and the way he functions. Instead, Feliks bonded with him and made way more memories than what could’ve been imagined.
He’s one of the most humble cubers out there, and enjoys meeting new cubers and inspiring everyone around him.
AND he did all of that while being in school, being with his fiancé (now wife I believe), and managing a job in accounting.

Everyone points out that people are faster than him, and this is true. However, you can’t stay on top forever, and Feliks knew his time was coming. Being able to accept shows that he has a lot of heart for it and wants other people to push times down farther than what he could’ve done. He owned it, yet continued to push people in ways no one could’ve imagined. So yes, in my eyes, Feliks is truly the GOAT of speedcubing, and there will be many more that inspire future cubers.

What is great to see is that still to this day Feliks is getting Oceanic and National Records.

 

[qwr]

At the risk of repeating myself:
Feliks was a whole era of dominance. Ten years at the forefront.

121 WCA WORLD RECORDS

Max Park is the only one who's close.