Hello everyone! Today, we’re excited to write about how each of our staff members solved a particular scramble. Here it is. Make sure you scramble green front, white top if you want to follow along exactly.  

L2 D2 U2 B2 L' D2 B2 U2 F2 L' R D' F' R' D2 B F2 R2 D2 F2

Our staff members use a diverse array of methods, which made this experiment very interesting. Some background information on each cuber is included, along with their commentary. Moves are counted in Slice Turn Metric. 

Rowe

Rowe has been a competitive speedcuber for more than a decade. He currently averages around 8 seconds and his favorite event is multi-blind. 

Cross: z y2 L2 D’ F L (4)

Pair: y’ R’ U R2 U’ R’ (5)

Pair: U R’ U R U’ R’ U R (8) 

Pair: y’ U2 R U R’ y’ U R’ U’ R (8) 

Pair: U R U’ R’ U R U’ R’ U R’ F R F’ (13)

ZBLL: l U2 R D2 R’ U2 R D2 R2 (9) 

47 moves 

Comments: I was struggling to decide between the orange or blue cross here for a while, but I was fortunate enough to realize how easy red was at the last second. It was only 4 moves so the first pair was easy to spot. It flowed really nicely into the second pair in the back. The third pair and fourth pairs were pretty slow and not very move efficient, but the last pair gave me an easy opportunity for edge orientation with the sledgehammer. I don’t know much ZBLL, but I got one of the few cases that I knew, and ended the solve on a good note. 

Jules 

Rowe has also been a competitive speedcuber for more than a decade. He averages around 10-12 seconds and his favorite “event” is Rubik’s Magic. 

First block: U R’ D’ U M Rw’ U x’ (7) 

Second block: R’ U  M’ Rw U2 R U’ R2’ U’ R U R’ U R U R’ U’ Rw U R’ (20) 

CMLL: R U2 R’ U’ R U’ R2’ U2’ R U R’ U R (13) 

EO: U’ M U M’ U M U M (8) 

ULUR: U’ M’ U2 M’ U’ (5) 

Finish: E2 M’ E2 M (4) 

57 moves 

Comments: Rowe was watching me write out my solution, but once he left after my first block, I felt I became invincible from judgement and proceeded to produce a horrible second block. 2GEN CMLL is always nice though so I'll take it after that less than ideal second block. Moving into LSE, I'm sure there was a better way to approach EO, but I'm too lazy to find one which led to a pretty normal rest of the LSE with the expectation of a dots case which I abhor. 

Damian 

Damian has been competing since 2014. He usually averages around 14 seconds and he loves the 3x3. 

Cross: x2 y’ R’ F’ U2 L’ U L’ B (7) 

Pair: y’ U R’ U R L’ U L (7) 

Pair: L U L’ (3) 

Pair: U R U2 R’ r’ U’ R U M’ (9)

Pair: R U2 R’ U2 R U’ R’ (7) 

OLL: U’ R U R’ U’ M’ U R U’ r’ (10) 

PLL: y M2 U M U2 M’ U M2 (7) 

50 moves 

Comments: I tried to show the solve how I would actually do in competition. So I do yellow/white cross and that's why I ended up going with white. It had two pieces that were 1 move away and I dealt with the other two. First and second pairs were pretty straightforward. The third one was a bit different because I used (r’ U’ R U M’). Unfortunately, my 3 Chocolate --> snorkel transition wasn't up to standard. I do actually use this insert for the back right slot. It is very finger tricky and I believe it lets me look ahead better than rotating. Fourth pair is pretty standard, then OLL and PLL, nothing fancy. 

Phil

Phil has been a competitive speedcuber for more than a decade. He usually averages around 9-10 seconds and his favorite event is 3x3 one-handed. 

EO Arrow: x R’ D’ U R’ U’ L’ x (6) 

Pair: U2 L U L’ (4)

Block: R’ U’ R’ (3)

Pair: L’ U L U R’ U’ R U’ R’ U R (11)

Pair: L’ U’ L U’ L’ U L (7)

COLL (skip): U’ F R U R’ U’ R U R’ U’ R U R’ U F’ U2 (16) 

47 moves 

Comments: I did blue front, white bottom ZZ. There was a pretty creative EO Arrow, an EO Line plus one cross edge. It’s always tempting to orient a group of four wrong edges already placed on the F face, but oftentimes, you can place another wrong edge in to give yourself a better start. The solve after the EO Arrow went really well, with a very short pair followed by a very short block. The rest of the pairs weren’t ideal, but I can’t complain having saved so many moves in the beginning of the solve. The last layer was standard COLL alg that just happened to skip. This was a good solve for me. 

Angela 

Angela has been cubing for three years. She usually averages in the 15-16 second range and her favorite event is the 3x3. 

Cross: x2 y L’ B’ U’ R’ U’ F R2 (7) 

Pair: U’ L’ U’ L y’ L U’ L’ (7) 

Pair: y U L U’ L’ U L U’ L’ (8) 

Pair: U2 R U R’ U R U’ R’ (8) 

Pair: U2 L’ U2 L d’ L U L’ (8) 

OLL: U2 f R U R’ U’ f’ r U R’ U’ L’ U’ R F’ x’ (15) 

PLL: y R’ U’ R U D’ R2 U R’ U R U’ R U’ R2 D U’ (16) 

69 moves 

Comments: This was a pretty typical solve. I wish I had fewer rotations and shorter pairs, but the way I did my cross didn’t give me many opportunities I could see right off the bat. At least I’m glad I didn’t rotate much after my second pair. I’m also happy I didn’t get a dot case. Doing this solve (and many others) is a reminder that I need to improve my G perm and F2L efficiency. 

Maddie 

Maddie has been cubing for 11 years and averages in the 13-14 second range. Her favorite event is Megaminx. 

Cross: z2 y’ L’ B’ U2 R’ U R’ F (7) 

Pair: y’ U2 R U R’ (4) 

Pair: L’ U L R’ U2 R U2 R’ U R (10) 

Pair: L U2 L’ U’ L U L’ (7) 

Pair: y’ U2 R U R’ U R U’ R’ (8) 

OLL: F R U R’ U’ F’ U R U2 R2 U’ R2 U’ R2 U2 R (16) 

PLL: U R2 U R’ U R’ U’ R U’ R2 D U’ R’ U R D’ U2 (17) 

69 moves

Comments: I debated between the white and yellow cross, but ended up going with white since it was the more obvious solution. The first two F2L pairs were a throw up, but I ended up going with the 4 mover which made the rest of the pairs flow well. They were all set up nicely. I had to two-look OLL and then got a G perm, which was not ideal. My move count tends to be moderately high and I don't have great TPS, so this was a pretty typical solve for me but with slightly above average F2L.