path: root/src/speedcubing/euros-2133.txt

1.
Scramble: R' U' F L' B2 U D2 L' F2 L F L' B2 D L2 B2 D B2 U' R2 F2 R' U' F
Solution: U2 L D2 L2 U2 D' R2 D2 F B' L2 F' U2 D F U' D F' L D2 (20)

U2 L (D2 L') //EO (4/4)
(F) //RZP 3-3 aka 3c6e (1/5)
(D' U F' D' U2 B [3e]) //DR 4a1 (6/11)
(R2 D U2 L2 D2) //All but 3 edges (5/16)
[3e] = B' F L2 B F' D2 (6-2/20)

This scramble was a nightmare unless you found the right DR, in that
case it was really easy.  This EO was the only 4-mover I had, I missed
(F) F D' B and its variation with F'.  There were a total of 14 linear
5-movers, 58 if you include NISS which is extremely few.  The DR trigger
is also non-standard, but I am familiar with it.

I found this solution at around 20 minutes, and then spent most of
the attempt trying to improve on it. There were many slice moves - the
"corner skeleton" of this solution is ony 12 moves.  So I am quite bummed
that I missed Jan's 18. It could have been found like this:

[3e] = S' R2 U2 S U2 R2 (8-6/18)

Or by slicing away the L2 B F' D2 in my final solution:

L2 B F' D2 R2 D U2 = D2 R2 F' B D (-2)

Skill issue I guess. I am not too mad about this because in the fantasy
world where I found this replacement then Radek surely does too, and he
still gets ER + 1st place while my 20.67 would just be NR + podium.

Good job Jan for finding an amazing solution, well deserved :)

I had a few other DRs in 12 on this scramble, nothing worth
noting. Literally tunnel visioned on the one good thing, easily the
right call.

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2.
Scramble: R' U' F L F' U2 B' R' U2 F2 U2 F2 R2 D2 B' D' U2 B2 F2 R' D R' U' F

My working sheet is a bit of a mess but I think this is what I submitted:

Solution: D L' F' R B F2 L2 B2 L2 U' F2 U2 L2 U2 R2 B2 R2 U' L2 F U' F' U D (24)

D L' F' R //EO (4/4)
B (D' U' F U F') //DR 4a2 (6/10)
(L2 U) F2 L2 B2 L2 U' //HTR (7/17)
F2 U2 L2 U2 R2 B2 R2 //Finish (7/24)

A boring solve. I was not feeling good during this attempt, both mentally
and physically: I was stressed about wasting my first chance in ages to
get a good mean at a big comp, it was too hot in the room and I needed
to pee throughout the attempt. From this point of view, I am actually
happy that I could pull out a somewhat average result.

I could have easily found this 23 from My DR:

(L2 D) F2 R2 B2 R2 D //Basically my HTR, I tried this one too (7/17)
F2 U2 R2 F2 L2 F2 //Finish, not that hard to see but I missed it (6/23)

And there was also a 22 with 4qt, not easy at all IMO:

F2 U B2 R2 U2 L2 D' R2 D' F2 B2 U {F2} (13-1)

I had this other DR that I worked on quite a lot:

(U F' R D') //EO (4/4)
(B' R' B' L B') //DR 4a3 (5/9)

And in the last minute I found this:

L (R2 U2 L) F2 B2 D2 B2 R //HTR (9/18)
F2 U2 R2 B2 U2 R2 //Finish with suboptimal leave slice (6/24)

Which I thought could be sliced to 23, but It does not look like. Anyway,
I was close to this 23 that I think Tommaso found:

L (L2 D2 L') U2 B2 L //HTR (7/16)
F2 U2 L2 U2 F2 D2 F2 //Finish (7/23)

I had multiple ways to find a 23, if not for skill issues and a subpar
mental / physical state. But after finding out about other people's
result, I knew I still had a shot for podium.

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3. 
Scramble: R' U' F U2 F2 U2 B2 F' U2 F2 L2 R D' B R' L2 D U2 B D F' R' U' F
Solution: D R F B' U R U2 B2 D' R2 D U' F2 R' F2 R2 L' U2 L2 D2 (20)

D R F B' //EO (4/4)
U R //JZP (2/6)
U2 B2 U' * //DR 4b2, one of the many variations (3/9)
(D2 L2 U2 {L' B2 R}) //HTR (6/15)
(F2 B2) //Leave double slice (2/17)
{} = L R2 F2 R //Solve M slice (+1/18)
* = U D' R2 D U' B2 //Solve E slice (6-4/20)

Although not quite as bad as the first scramble, this scramble is not
good either *unless* one finds the good DR. And once again I was blessed
that I found it early on, and I wrote down my 20 before the 20 minutes
mark. Regardless of what everyone else did, at this point I had already
reached my goal of showing that all the work I put in the last months
has been useful, and that I can still get an NR.

Once again the solution is very slicey (15 move corner skeleton), so I
tried to look for a simplification not to repeat the show of the first
attempt. If I submitted the 20, Kai "just" needed a 19 to beat me and
sneak on third place, while Jay and I think Louis-Marie needed an 18.
In the end there was a 19, but I honestly would have not seen it, even
if I decided to try the righ 4qt HTR - why trying to insert a 2e2e in
18 when I already have a 20? For reference, here is the 19:

D R F B' //EO (4/4)
U R //JZP (2/6)
* U2 B2 U //DR 4b2 (3/9)
(R U2 R' F2 L' B2 U2 R) //HTR with fixed slice (8/17)
(F2) //2e2e (1/18)
* = B2 U2 B2 U2 B2 U2 (6-5/19)

Congrats to Jaye for finding this sub20, very cool solution!

As people pointed out, the first U after EO changes a 4-2 aka 4c4e RZP
into another 4-2. I did not even think about it, not sure if I was dumb
or smart :P

I had a bunch of other promising RZP from the 3- and 4-move EOs,
but nothing worth noting. This is the only other DR I had, again with
3c6e RZP:

R F D' B' //EO (4/4)
U //RZP 3c6e (1/5)
R U' L R2 D //DR 2c4 (5/10)

I started working on HTRs from (L' U2 L') but then moved back to finding
DRs and found the good stuff.

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Comments.

Very weird scramble set: 1 and 3 and *one good think* and I was lucky to
find it, while scramble 2 is your average scramble where there is a bunch
of decent stuff but nothing stands out. I am somewhat surprise few people
got sub23 on it, and not at all surprised that I panicked and got a 24.

I practiced a lot this year - almost 200 solves since January, more
than 100 of which after FMC 2024. But I was very frustated because I
could not get convincing results at home.  For reference, I recently
got new PBs for Avg25 (23.00), Avg50 (23.39) and Avg100 (23.70), but my
last 25 solves were back to the 23.9 range. Almost every attempt felt
like I was randomly smapping things and that I always missed something
stupid. Definitely not what I wanted after practicing DR for 5 years. So
going into Euros I was not expecting to do well at all, although I was
hoping to get something good, like a sub23 mean, and then perhaps close
my FMC adventure with a positive note instead of ragequitting.

Obviously I am very happy with this result. I was able to get an NR and
major championship podium 5 years after reaching my peak. I am also
incredibly happy to hear many people saying that they are happy for
me. Not just congratulating, multiple people said they were cheering
for me and that they are *happy* for me to get a good result. This fills
me with joy :)

FMC changed a lot with the DR revolution, and I am not sure I have the
right mindset for it. It feels like a completely different event. My
solves rarely feel more skill-based that luck-based, and when I can use
JZP / AR + double slice shenanigans (like in the 3rd attempt at Euros)
is one of the rare times when the opposite it true.

So, am I going to quit now? I definitely do not want to keep practicing
like I have done recently, with 1-2 solves per day where I constantly feel
frustrated for missing solutions that seemingly everyone else finds. I also
want to get back into blindsolving, which is likely going to kill off most
of the free time I have been dedicating to FMC.

But I am still going to compete of course. I still enjoy discussing
FMC with other people and sharing what I know. In the future I may work
on making nissy more usable and maybe try to develop some new theory -
AR + double slice solving might be the DR killer, and who knows if I'll
ever understand how to make Corner First consistent. (Although on this
last part I suspect DR *is* the way to make "Corner First" consistent,
becuase the trick is "aligning edges and corners" so that solving corners
with HTR drags edges along.)

Up to you whether you call this quitting or not.
At least it is not a ragequit :)