I'm here with felix them bags nice to meet you felix You say that we have met once at a competition even then I went to the sydney competition last year just just to spectate And you were in the competition and at the time you did not have the Rubik's Cube world record? no. And you now have the Rubik's Cube world record. So what was your time for the current world record? So the current world record that I set was in December last year 4.7 30 seconds for a single solve. And you beat the previous world record by point zero one of a second? yeah, yeah So I have an interwiev on my channel with Matt volt when he set the four point seven four World record and he will set next to you actually I would have I would be the map in that situation Cut on when you broke the record kind of kind of the fighting about that without the competition so you win on your average soul Time right so even though the last part of the competition I got the world record. He still won mcLeese you won the competition yet on average. Yeah, but you just had one Here Outlier faster. Hole - that was kinda funny. I've been that with minimal consolation for him Okay, I guess so actually so this this is the scramble that you faced when you set the world record you want to talk us through how you Are able to solve that in 4.2 them three seconds. Yes, okay? Well, I'll do my best So essentially I started The sole by doing a green cross so the cross is the first step in a lot of major speed cubing methods From like the beginners method to cuz I do beginners method yep, you know I always do the white cross bone okay, and if you already you later amateur right, so your color neutral, right? Do you look at it and go which one is the closest yeah? or I look at it and try in the limited time that I had to try and figure out which one is the closest and Muslim looks around and saw that the green one was quite easy and also in Doing the green one I can I planned out the first two F2L pairs over that actually The first three really looks very more inspection time you had the green cross my first two repairs so the first two layers So if the green your bottom layer you can do first, yes F2L is where you solve corner and edge personal tasting and you already had the first three steps Yeah, all roughly. I hope I'm giving you weather where the pieces were so the first four moves that I did Essentially inserted so we had the two green pieces cold already yeah two of them solved already and the other two green cross pieces are there and Up here my first four moves essentially inserted these two yeah Like that yep after they're in so you got across and all you need to do is align it and along with this cross We had this Corner 4x corner, and it's correct Edge the indicates like it's just waiting oh my God, so that was four mgile And I think you got lucky with that yes, so it was quite an easy scramble So those four moves set up across again I did one move to just align later and align the corner in the edge Just five moves, and you get across then F2L Katmai that was quite nice Then I guess the next thing they did was basically well. I think was what probably made the soles so We see here we've got this F2L tip which We know these guys already paired up really guys already paired up And we can easily get it in and enter that into that slot like that I reckon even like to do but I'm do that. No you can do something a little forward for that Yeah, exactly so you can do something a little bit more fancy and save yourself a bit more time So instead of what I consider what I would have being drawn in by these guys yeah Instead of initially inserting them straightaway. I did a you crime right to bring these over here So that when I brought up this next slot right yet like that. Yeah, it actually paired up these two Right next so I kind of had a vague idea that It was likely that if I did that Like in my head in inspection that this would happen right so you didn't know that would definitely happen But I increase your likely yeah, so that's what I plan to do and if it messed up well worst case I guess hey we're going to get the to it well tuck them in right? Yeah So brought up that to pair these two ones up. Yes And inserted this then now that's in and then you can over-rotate oh Okay, I didn't serve that one Into the honest line and dump it back in yeah see this over twist So those those are the first three F2L pair and then the rest of the solar is pretty standard So once you don't you plotted that out vaguely in your inspection time? Yeah once you get here? Are you then just hoping that what you see? What's left is Gonna. Be pretty straightforward Yeah, kind of okay, and I think on this last steps welfare I'd like joked a little bit and had a couple of lock ups and messed up So I think I did something like a lot of human high twisting optimal, and then I went again I So cleave in better alternative No, it's good enough We're now the world record was good enough at under so yeah like a few if I do the first two pairs like okay Like trying to get myself back in a zone like what do I do now? Yes? I've already have been concentrating so hard and like trying to get that perfect and didn't really think about what to do after that So yeah, I went in and yet these two pairs. I mean these two pieces intermountain get bigger and then I've just got last layer so lL and pll so you do that into two looks moves or you plan them both now and Be the last layer yeah Here I had a reasonably easy or little case To orient do you're already taking the last layer? Yeah, and then pll you're mutating you're moving around the last layer, right? Yeah, so what was your ruolin? So now all oh is This nine move case okay, and then the pll I had with Au permutation which is a three cycle of edges, right? so the last pair in the Ol Ellen Pl Reasonably like straightforward pretty pretty middle-of-the-Road It's easy easy cases but nothing Tremendously tremendously lucky the limelight was in the scramble rather than the first couple year and planning out the first kind of three pairs at What point did you realize this could be a very fast time? It happened so quickly that only when I put down the tile is okay. That was a good salty What goes do I wonder how I did then you look at the time and like yeah? That was a good so I guess in inspection when I saw like how easy it was A clicker cave with a because we weld is not as a chance You know it could be a five-second soul or something and then I think because lastly with the Sydney company You've got a 5 point something that's happened to 0.3. Yeah yeah, yeah, and that was amazing I mean, that's just phenomenal times yeah under five Something else so you've got that you see up now that the when did you first get the world record the world record single? average single Mm. End of 2010 okay? I got 7.03 right that was the original single world record that I had alright. How many times have you had it since a Broken it trying to think Maybe seven or eight times, but most of them most of them came in 2011 right so probably I think a broken maybe five or six times in 2011 And gradually got it from the 7.03 yep had a few sixes and then got a five point six six So that's good from middle of 2011 until early 2013 when laughs so if you look at yep with a five point five five and then Yeah After that everything you're like right? I got to get back on it after that there was an American Column we've got a 5.25 in 2015 right it was I think I'm really bad at remembering and then and I was another American Lucas got a four point nine Then Matt's got a four point seven for my thermal and then I got a four point seven and here We are today and you now have the world record for single 3X3 and Average through but written, but you've also brought some other cubes along here, right? Do you have you got the record for all of these a half from the two? Not the mega Mega table, not the mega leagues. Where you rank The top ten first it that's our average It's all right. I think I'll just a single base a single okay talk I remember off the top of my head, and you're very dismissive about the two by two Oh, it's it's too quick. It's a lot of encounters very luck break. Yeah, that's very true I guess you've got so few pieces that you can just get lucky and that's it You're never going to lovely on the 3x3. Yeah, you like the turbo to having very scrambled attendant Whereas Scrambles don't have a huge influence on Any other cubes right no right because I guess you get a lot of extra combinations Just going up to tell you exponentially exponentially and you can do the math, but always believe me I will and oh you you have the single end Average for all the others except average for which one I examine except average for the core left or right? but the magic as of early 2017, but that Os2 as we're recording yeah, I feel excited as that is likely to be broken in the world of speed queuing you reckon that especially Especially for therefore single remember are they're all Reasonably beatable really top someone has a good girl puts a lot of effort into one of these they could take it. Yeah I survived sevens up for grabs six. I fix little bit upper grabs. Do you surgically like practice a particular one if you think? People getting too close. I strategically practice the one where I think I can easily beat the record got it That's why you have so many right you take another onesie, you make are you you getting ready for a megaminx take over? Notice though is middle of last year where I said, okay, the megaminx record hasn't been beating for a little while and the average is around 43 seconds and This state they came up with a new mega means some new hardware people's time started dropping for like okay? If I practice this and I go I can get in on this I can get in on this so the record was Low 43 average 42.0 yeah, yeah and I managed to get a forty three point two at a competition than wasn't able to compete too soon after that and by the time I got my next comp it was down to 37 ah Someone else has gotten the interview wins this because I've got one on my desk in my office which I'm not very good at and it's so much harder to move in this one that is yeah, and hardware makes a big difference Especially for these some of the bigger puzzles as well like improvements in hardware can drop like five ten seconds of someone's time really Yeah, just because they're not stroke I guess with me the engineering going on inside there, so it's not locking up the same when you're doing it yeah exactly and Just a more stable cube and some of your tears a lot of eyesight makes a bit of a difference now something like the mega makes Together solve this because I've got a lot of clubs got one on my desk And I've got everything solid apart from the last two phases, and I've just been using the Normal three by three algorithms And right so for this do you need to know a lot of extra stuff Like am I stuck or can I work it out with the same algorithms? You need to have a bit of an experiment right so get a salt if you can get a solved Megaminx five times yeah Try and do or you can you can flip it over and do the next two? I've got I've got I've got two and it's all done Go and do some of your 3X3 algorithms, and if you have a affect the pieces around the last layer But mainly for the last layer and the megaminx yep, I do it in four steps Which is still pretty basic, so I would just orient the edges right orient the corners permute the Edges and then preview the Corners right which is why I do one one three one three yeah exactly, so If you experiment, and do some algorithms see how they affect for example Edge permutation on on your megaminx Then it should be reasonably straightforward and corner permutation is not too bad because you can just go Take out a corner Like so oh yeah. I miss align top face and keep going around kind of just replace them and then put that back in yeah So you can just kind of do that manually such a teacher But you didn't just say we can see you later when you get home Get you get your cube turn over work it out in the back. Well, I'm going to do it now You know actually I was very first prize too at the competition Because you obviously competing but yet you had a string of people coming up say hi So you there you'd be there in your 12 at a time? Then you got a gap while you're waiting for your cube to get scramble the back and then you say hello to a few kids And plants and Rubik's cubes and take some photos here and then back to the competition I'm very impressed that's how that's kind of how it is. It's not like it's cool in queueing that like everyone's in there together It's not like Another spectator sport where you know you're there to watch Get to competitors and just kind of separate everyone's comparable being the same conversation vertical everyone's like even if they're you know? best in the World Like World championships You know he's got all these top guys to the best in the world who being heats with you my dad Yeah, you have entered. I saw the is she where two bunches. What was his time? He gets like a minute 32 minutes for sake I'm better than that yeah, yeah Yeah, because I went to the moment of the uk one so the video went to the uk it was two championship I'm useless right I average about a minix I use a very simple But I haven't even got I concluded next to or anything and so I get about a minute the yes They would though everyone was you know there was a little patronizing occasion. We thought for the most part It's very kind and fine and they and that giving it a go and joining in yeah And troy everyone would be giving you advice and yes, they were tips and stuff I got some great tips from a 12 year old girl. Yeah, who taught me how to get bad like thanks though? She acted I told in my time and she laughed in my face, and then relative group that was right And then it gave me gave me some tip so they were right so and the bigger ones yet can I? have a couple of these at home, but I've never I've mentioned with a fullback for What more would I need to know if I wanted to do these more complicated ones is a brief filter 3x3 from the four left or to a 5x5 you think if you can solve Hmm Compare with a couple of there's a couple of one parity situation on a side by side, right? Where you have four examples among two edges to Edges swaps? when you're doing the 4x4 and you're doing if you do reduction method Which is solve it from the inside to outside Which is solving that is solving the edges basically you turn it into a 3X3 Exactly you can throw on the 4x4 because of because there is no like six center Yeah, you run into situations such as oh. Oh and pll parity right? Which is where can you mix it up into a parody problem? Yeah, I? Can do both of them of course? Right so one of you what have you done here? To cause a parody problem, so here we've solved essentially the house is done now Yeah, most of the most of the former whore pretending that we're on the 3X3 stage So we've solved our centers, and we've paired up and kind of related pieces. Yes And we're doing the last layer And we have three of our edges oriented and one of them is missing which you would never get You can never get that on a 3 by 3 you can we have a multiple of two Edges, Miss orient Yeah, you either get in my naive way of doing a line or you and then I switch it to the cross Yeah, exactly that's exactly but here we have three and one miss oriented which with that I would know what to do which it arises from the problem. We we there's no fixed center essentially I Don't really fully understand it probably should nothing something math. Yeah, exactly yeah So essentially you have to kind of brute force memorize an algorithm that which is x is that yeah, you can't intuitively Design to it is are there is if you like? Miss Align A Center like that so if you break a center If something something involving breaking it and then you have to resolve everything then you just just let it you just learning Algorithm my solution just to mix it up and try again. Yeah. I keep doing it until I don't get a parity issue yeah, and then I'm fine, so then so then you go ahead do your parity algorithm, and Then you run into another problem Are you proposing? Oh my goodness, right? So now you've never on a 3X3 have the two opposite edges swap. You can give again You need to have a multiple of two swaps. We have multiple to number you can never just want to pieces yet We're these are two pieces. They're four pieces in reality exactly well, then you pair them up and pretended answered so again You just you just learn and I'll go over the recipe already, so there's the whole om appeal parity when you're fixing that yeah I do you do you fix a path to that? I can watch do you break the pair the part while you're fixing it or do they stay together? They get that laughs together yeah, there you go It's pretty short out of it, right So that's the only reason You the reason you can get that on the 4X4 is You can't the pants bit apart obviously if there's one piece of fruit like three yeah. Yeah, this is a whole new possibility You're going to fit my part and put it back together Pretty much, and then the five five five thousand senses yes, so you don't run into this oh, El Paradis Peeler patty and issue in the same way right, but you can still have a parody problem where? you have All right where you're calling the edges, but you've kind of got the auto parity issue right okay, okay? So that's that's the one that you can get but the way I solve it is I solve all the edges like I sold this before before even starting 3X3 because Like if you're dealing with that sort of thing doing through three right it's confusing less annoying right see if you fix that first Yeah, and then I go and do the three by three Then four six by six you can run into that problem and that problem and both the others yeah, right So ideally could now you've got everything can possibly go wrong. So these two tourism you took a street for through three and install Yes, but some people kind of preserve that messed up parity Edge until the end and it'll be a mess because there's a way you can be played more efficient about it, but For meetings or maybe when I can cost you more time than any saving probably not I just later baby Yeah, as the world record holder. I think you're a bit lazy. Yeah, you should up your game And finally is this is this where Rubik's cube like? Speak giving competition caps, Napa 7x7 yeah Because otherwise any Cube speaker in that a very broadly similar to a six and seven like six and seven are similar enough that now already the Top guys in seven of the top guys can see I very much So if you learn wine, you're pretty much about the other one yeah and Beyond semi seven takes way too long As the weekend is that very few competition? What's your record on the semester in competition two minutes eighteen okay? They're single or average single single right and what's your kind of personal best friends? 207 okay, so not a huge amount ahead No, okay, a little bit and actually the so what's your personal best at home on the freeway 33.5 two for a single self 2.5 - I page at a point two point two of a second isn't one point two. I'll say three points Sorry my brain didn't even process the first digit. That's insane. I mean, so obviously again. It would've been a lucky case I think I did it. Maybe two years ago or so right like it's like a paper writing can happen in a competition Get to count but yeah exactly the thing is you only get a certain number of souls in every competition so you get? How many competitions a year? On last Few Years I go into about ten to ten year ok how many souls are the competitions you normally play around so 15 Okay, right 150 attempts a year yeah, right, and where's at home. You're doing Pal Yeah, exactly right. Ok ok so all of the magnitude more likely to get lucky at home. Oh, no competition. Oh. Yeah, it's just Let's do when you actually reckon the world record will eventually plateau out at do you have a Java sensor? When we're going to hit the absolute fastest first Single Souls I can't see it getting too much faster than like a low three seconds of like if 3.5 is possible like I think I've done then maybe a Couple of others ok night on a really lucky frame or like if it's possible at home It's possible visual addition to online Asana Literature is very very low code building So I imagine like I mean it could feasibly get under three seconds But I'm very very low probability so it's not like it's only a freak smell like a hundred meter Sprint. We're Usually like down by you know muscle Yeah, everything like that. They're like you can't get lucky in like 100 meters I can I get like being in a Rubik's Cube Right so it's harder to Define a limit so you get a honeybee to Sprint where you roll a dice to see where you start? right Yes, okay? Yeah, and sometimes you you know get to skip the last 20 meter thing it is if you give yeah, right You just get the final layer of running. Yeah, good point exactly so it's harder to Define like a Strict barrier for something like this. Yeah because I redo is that like a specter yeah, and Technology-wise, so this is a very good speaker you, but this is one of the ones with magnet in it Yeah, we do like logotype that one is yet okay, and to that. So inside this there are how many mates I guess there's one on each class I think there's another queue part where expert imagine that you've got people for that This I think is three in each corner in okay, unhh something like so when they line up they don't snap into place But they they like to sit in the correct spot. Yeah Injecting that the directing isn't many notes will difference to your times not to my times no it's just some kind of different feelings were youTube The main thing I think for me that I've noticed is a little bit more stable so particularly in competitions If you've got a cube that isn't as solid and stable you more you're more prone to like slipping up in errors and that sort Of thing okay, which if you have something a little bit more reliable that's actually good So it makes you be more consistent. Yeah, I think so okay, but again. It's marginal and some people don't like them I initially couldn't stand it really and then I got used to it and then and now you're alright with it Yes, let's all right shall We finish with you doing a solve on one of these cubes Shot what we work with your favorite one like what do you enjoy the most other three by three people three over three and you? Mind if I scramble to run through that Vieira which one would you like magnet or no magnet we get no magnet let's go traditional? They speak old-school right and you've even got the timer yeah back edge you want to fire that up I'm going to see I am they are they asked if I would go on the scrambled table well at the competition, but I can't quite read the Notation Heather although, I do know sing Master. Don't know should I should I should learn it okay? Anyway, isn't the man not the notation okay? So I'm going to give that to you for your inspection time What color cross syria can you go with the whole range challenges? I'm making them 12 what we're doing everything Okay, Gumpa Donnie ready there we go All right where we get another eight point three six, and you're disappointed tigers. It's not good. It's not good. What went wrong? Hold up. No that is a good one. That's a good point. You come in calm. Let's go You can consistently get under ten seconds and then be disappointed for yourself tip okay? Hey, I feel like all about it's been amazing I will go and learn the other half of this and we'll reconvene once I master bath cool sounds good. Go doing it cheers
Summoning /u/standupmaths
Its pretty cool to see someone who knows what they're talking about interview a Cuber. It feels like all too often interviews with Cubers are treated as some sort of IQ test.
Planning three pairs during inspection? Holy shit.
Pretty sure it's a parker cube
Is that Matt Parker of the Parker Square fame? /u/standupmaths
Two of my Heroes together! What an amazing video! Also, holy damn 3 pairs in inspection
His video interviewing Mats Valk and going to a UK cubing competition is what made me start messing around with my old Rubik's cube and getting interested in speed cubing.
Feliks' record for one-handed single could have been mentioned in the video as well. It's really quite baffling that he has several times - in competition - solved the 3x3 faster OH than he did with two hands in this video.
Matt parker and trey stone