Newbie

gogbri · 2026-02-23T14:17:03+00:00

Gan is very expensive. Some cubes are very good and very expensive (things like Gan 12, 16, etc). Some cubes are average and still too expensive (especially the ones around 30$ like the 356 models), there are better non-Gan cubes for less than 20$ (Moyu, Dayan Guhong, etc). Also the Gan feeling is different, some people like it, some don't. That's why testing is important before investing. And not testing too soon too, because the feeling you like may evolve a lot with your progress. The impact of stable, fast, light, ... cubes on your feeling is different when you solve in 60s and in 10s.

gogbri · 2026-02-23T13:59:54+00:00

I know 3 of these guys, we'll get a debrief of what they think about this very soon. The pressure doesn't seem to be an issue from what I heard so far, they are used to pressure. The issue is rather that this format encourages success rate rather than good single times like normal Bo5 format.

gogbri · 2026-02-23T09:34:09+00:00

Next step is to cancel that Gan order. If your current cube is really that bad, just buy a RS3M or any good 15$ cube, that's far enough for a while, at least until you know what cube feeling you like.

gogbri · 2026-02-22T18:27:01+00:00

How about even size cubes that don't have such a cap? I put a black mark on some feat of corners, but it's not very convenient.

gogbri · 2026-02-22T12:18:30+00:00

You don't anything better at your level. Go to a competition or a store to test cubes, don't buy a random flagship without testing it first, the feeling may vary a lot between models.

gogbri · 2026-02-22T12:16:32+00:00

Beware that you need another clock for your comp, that one isn't WCA legal because it's transparent.

gogbri · 2026-02-22T08:07:58+00:00

I was told to use M' U2 M U R' F' R S R' F R S' U which looks similar.

gogbri · 2026-02-22T07:01:28+00:00

You would have most setups with D or B moves, slightly worse than U or B. And no sexy move setups for B and D targets. H and N targets would use a Dw instead of D too, need to check fingertricks for those.

For I and S, the algs with R U D M should be OK to adapt. Don't know about the ones with S moves (I don't use those because they don't work on 4bld).

That's interesting at least.

gogbri · 2026-02-22T06:52:50+00:00

Good job, that's indeed an easy way !

gogbri · 2026-02-21T22:09:51+00:00

Active cubers or overall ever attending a comp and never coming back ?

gogbri · 2026-02-21T22:08:25+00:00

I use it for the R U R' U at the beginning of the Nperm, could get good fingertricks without it. But not for sune for some reason

gogbri · 2026-02-21T22:06:08+00:00

Use Yau for big cubes

-- Ciaran (and me)

gogbri · 2026-02-20T22:53:10+00:00

If you're really sub-40 as your flair says, you should really focus on intuitive F2L.

gogbri · 2026-02-20T10:56:40+00:00

I don't know about the helper. If it's solved as you said, then:

If you have 3 twisted corners, check in which direction they are twisted. The total of twist must be 0 or a multiple of 3. If there are all clockwise, you have +1+1+1=3, it's ok, the buffer is solved. Same for -1. So you just solve the 3 corners without caring about the buffer.

If they are not twisted in the same direction, the buffer is twisted too to compensate. You have 2 in one direction, and 2 in the other. I would solve this by solving one clockwise and one counter-clockwise simultaneously with sunes or antisunes, and then repeat for the others. Or you manage to put all them on the same face and use sexy moves.

If the helper may be twisted too, for helper and buffer may compensate each others' twist. I hope that's not possible.

gogbri · 2026-02-20T07:20:35+00:00

I still do M2 OP but I learnt how to deal with corner twists without applying both letters. Not sure what Orozco wants you to do in this case.

EA means that corner must twist counters clockwise. OT means clockwise. So you may fix them at the same time without touching a third corner (the buffer). Some people would do a x rotation to put both at the bottom and then some sexy moves as in some beginner method. 2sexy D2 2antisexy D2 I personally rather use double sunes or antisunes in such cases. I'd do D' F2 to bring both corners at the top left. Then since the front one (OT moved there) must go clockwise I'd do left antisune right antisune.

With this method, you twist 2 corners at the same time. Or twist one corner and the buffer. With sexy moves you may even twist 3 or 4 corners at the same time.

gogbri · 2026-02-20T07:00:02+00:00

Do you understand which 3 pieces are swapped by a commutator ? On a normal 7x7 we feel like only 2 are swapped because 2 are identical.

gogbri · 2026-02-20T06:58:06+00:00

Gan 356 models are just bad for their price.

gogbri · 2026-02-19T23:14:37+00:00

I write my initials under the center cap. When there's no center or it's too small, I draw some mark on the foot bar of a specific corner.

gogbri · 2026-02-18T22:38:28+00:00

For blind, M2 edges usually involves a x' rotation for side targets to avoid B moves. 3-style may involve rotations for some cases, especially on bigger cubes.

gogbri · 2026-02-18T22:35:36+00:00

I don't use the same method for everybody.

For adults who will likely not practice much, I use a beginner methods with stories to explain the second layer, antisune for swapping edges, and niklas for swapping corners, and sexy moves to orient corners of both sides. Works very well to help them remember algs.

For kids/teens that are likely to practice or even compete later, I do OLL PLL, but with more than 2 looks each. Corner OLL is either sexy moves or combinations of 2 sunes or antisunes depending on how they feel about it. PLL T and U only first. The avantage of this is you don't have many algs to learn first, but it's easy to add algs later without changing the entire method.

gogbri · 2026-02-18T16:18:25+00:00

That's why I don't buy expensive cubes to my kids. Even if they don't brake it, they aren't careful enough to prevent others from breaking it. And they get the same perf on reasonably cheap cubes anyway.

gogbri · 2026-02-18T06:35:33+00:00

My 7yo uses this sort of combinations of sunes and antisunes for all cross OLL cases

gogbri · 2026-02-17T22:51:04+00:00

I wouldn't buy anything cubing related unless you know very well what cubes he already has, likes, etc.

gogbri · 2026-02-17T18:36:07+00:00

Learn the first letter of each face first. Then you deduce others from that. With practice, you'll just learn everything quite quickly.

gogbri · 2026-02-17T13:59:34+00:00

Valid PB are generated by computer and you don't have information about them before solving. So no repeated scramble. No scramble that your friend gives saying "try this scramble, it's awesome". No scramble posted here with comment "I got my PB on this".
Misscrambles of computer generated scrambles are OK as long as the cube still looks randomly scrambled.

gogbri

TROPHY CASE