Colour Neutrality

7 years ago

Speedcubing Advice

Colour neutrality - the ability to begin solving a puzzle on any colour.

 

I’ve always thought that being colour neutral (CN) gave me and others a very slight edge over those speedcubers who solve on just one or two cross colours. Simply put, if you are truly colour neutral, your potential cross solution is always equal to or better than someone who solves one cross. However, looking at all six crosses does come at a cost - as you have to spend time making a decision about your starting colour, where single colour solvers can spend this extra time planning the start of their solve. Additionally, picking a cross colour can sometimes be a bit more stressful than it should be, and it’s easy to spend way too much time deciding on your starting colour.

 

Lars Vandenbergh ran a frequently cited cross study over on his website. He found that on average, the move-optimal colour neutral cross solution is 4.81 moves, compared to 5.81 moves for a single cross colour. People sometimes quote this statistic and say that the benefit is marginal compared to the cost. Looking at these numbers alone, it may appear so.

 

However, I don’t think that’s the most important number to be looking at in this study. If we take a look at the probability of a cross solution being 4 moves or less, there is a big difference. For single colour cross solvers, the probability of a cross which is 4 moves or fewer is 5.99%, as compared to 29.17% for colour neutral solvers. That is, when you are colour neutral, you are almost five times more likely to get a really easy cross, when compared to a single colour solver, assuming you can correctly identify these optimal solutions. (Which shouldn’t be too hard if it’s less than or equal to 4 moves).

 

The main takeaway from this is not that you only get easier crosses on average, but that there is a significantly larger proportion of time when colour neutral solvers get a very easy cross. For advanced solvers, it becomes much easier to look ahead into the F2L stage with a shorter cross, and even 1-2 moves can make a big difference with regard to tracking pieces during inspection time. This greatly improves Cross-F2L transition because you get a <5 move cross in 1 in 3 solves, as compared to 1 in 17 solves. The advantage is more significant for top speedcubers, and probably not as pronounced for beginners. Max Park, Bill Wang, Seung-Hyuk Nahm, and myself are all examples of colour neutral solvers. Although in the long run the difference in optimal move count is only 1 turn, there is the potential for a set of scrambles to provide an even greater advantage than that because an official 3x3 round is only 5 solves, quite a small sample.

 

So then, how does someone become colour neutral? This is quite a difficult question for me to answer because I actually don’t have experience switching from a single cross colour to all six, I started out colour neutral. So without the experience of switching myself, I’ll just try to give intuitive advice that makes sense and advice that has worked for others.

 

The first tip is to try it out as soon as possible. If you’re a newer cuber and only solve on one cross, the habit won’t be too ingrained in your mind and it will be relatively easier to learn how to solve on all 6 colours. If you’ve been cubing for years then it may be really hard to change your cross-solving habit and any attempts to try colour neutrality may prove very difficult or completely useless.

 

This brings me to my second point, which is that you don’t NEED to switch. As much as I like talking about the benefits of neutrality, it’s not the thing that’s going to make you improve incredibly quickly or make any magical difference to your times. It just provides a marginal advantage over single cross solving. For many people, the months that may be required to completely switch could be far better spent practicing other parts of your solves. If you’ve put in serious effort to try and get used to more colours but it’s just not clicking, then my advice (as strange as it may sound) is to give up and move your focus elsewhere. After hearing experiences from many different people over the years, it seems to be an individual thing - some people are able to get used to solving with new colours, whereas others struggle a lot. There’s no reason you can’t break world records using just one cross colour.

 

My third piece of advice is that opposite colour cross solving is a really great compromise. It brings you approximately 50% of the benefits of full neutrality (well, it's hard to quantify) for only a fraction of the work. For example, if you solve on the white cross, it’s probably easier to get used to solving with the yellow cross as compared to the blue cross. This is because the colours of the F2L pieces are the same and the only major difference is the relative position of the center pieces around the F2L - which can certainly be confusing at first.

 

So, if you’ve decided to try switching to CN, then what sort of approach should you take? Personally, I think that if you’ve just started out cubing, then it’s fine to jump in and try solving on all 6 colours, because you haven’t formed too many habits yet and it should be relatively easy to get used to it. If that doesn’t work for you then perhaps try one of the more structured approaches that I’m going to outline below.

 

Because solving on different crosses can be very difficult, I think that it makes sense to get used to solving on each colour one at a time. For example, if you solve the white cross at the moment, spend time practicing just solving on yellow until you’re used to it and it becomes automatic. After that, try switching between white and yellow on alternate solves until that becomes subconscious. Following this, it’s time to add in the more difficult colours - try solving on blue cross and see how long it takes you to get used to the pair colours and the positions of the centers around the F2L. If you can get comfortable with solving F2L starting on blue, then try and do averages where you solve on white, yellow, and blue. You can repeat this process until you’re confident with solving on all 6 colours. It may take a while and be quite challenging, but I think this is one decent way of incorporating more cross colours into your solves.

 

An alternative is to do individual (separate) colour practice and then combine it all at once at a later stage. Seung-Hyuk Nahm (who switched to CN when he was sub-10 seconds) told me that he simply did 100 solves each day on every single cross colour (so 600 total) until he was comfortable with them, and then eventually began to do full colour neutral cubing sessions. 600 solves a day is probably not realistic for most people, this can certainly be scaled down. Essentially the point is that you practice only one colour at a time whilst you’re getting used to it, and only once you’re ready, do full CN solves. It might also be handy to practice opposite colours at the same time because the F2L colours are the same - eg: do practice sessions with both the orange and the red cross at the same time.

 

The hardest part about switching to colour neutrality after doing one cross for a long time is becoming familiar with seeing *patterns* as opposed to *colours*. For example, if you ask any full colour neutral solver what colour cross they did right at the end of a solve, in most cases they won’t be able to remember. This might seem strange, but it’s because after doing colour neutral solves for so long, it becomes so subconscious that they’re actually not even thinking about individual colours, only the patterns that come up during the solve. This is your end goal, but obviously when you start learning CN you’ll need to intentionally decide and think about which colour cross to do.

 

Personally, I have never actually deliberately memorised the order of centers around the cube for each cross colour, probably because that requires too much thinking and it can be easy to make a mistake or mis-remember the order of the colours. Instead what I do is figure it out during inspection. If I need to solve the green cross for example, I'll simply look for the green cross edges and then plan out how to insert them into the bottom layer by holding the green face on the bottom and take note of relative positions of the center pieces around the middle layer. This is a subconscious process by now, and it definitely takes practice to get used to it - easy for me to say when I’ve been doing it for 9 years.

 

Lastly, people often ask me about big cubes and whether I am colour neutral on those. On the 4x4 I only solve with the white and yellow cross, I haven’t yet spent effort to try and solve on the other colours - I’m not sure that the advantage is big enough to justify spending a lot of time to get confident with Green/Blue/Red/Orange crosses - perhaps I should have taken my own advice and started out colour neutral using the Yau method, it’s a bit late now! For other big cubes I am completely colour neutral and solve centers starting on any colour. I don’t see any reason why this isn’t achievable for everyone, because it’s not like F2L whereby you have to get familiar with a whole new set of colours - you’re literally only solving pieces which have a single colour on them. For 2x2 it’s essential and for megaminx I think it’s ridiculously hard, but there are a few brave souls that are actually colour neutral on megaminx - I’m pretty amazed by that.

 

TLDR; Colour neutrality is fun, challenging, but certainly not essential. As always, keen to hear your opinions - have you tried either successfully or unsuccessfully to switch to colour neutral solving? Do you disagree and perhaps think that the costs don’t outweigh the benefits for 3x3 solving? What are your thoughts on colour neutrality and its usefulness for big cubes and other puzzles? Other questions or thoughts about things not covered in this blog?

Cheers!

Feliks


Thoughts on this blog

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Ben Adcock

Ben Adcock Posted 7 years ago

I want to be colour neutral and I've tried a few times (halfheartedly) but I always find something else to practice instead. I currently average 10 seconds on 3x3 and I solve on white and yellow. I agree that the best way to do it is to just focus on one colour at a time until you are comfortable. I will try it again soon so wish me luck!

For other puzzles I'm pretty much the same as you - colour neutral for 2x2, 5x5, 6x6 and 7x7, but white only for 4x4 (Yau method). I think everyone should be colour neutral on big cubes, especially 5x5 and 7x7 as the have fixed centers it's easier because you don't have to memorise your colour scheme.

Anyway, great blog!

 


Mikael Soh

Mikael Soh Posted 7 years ago

Thanks Feliks for the great blog post once again! I am a white cross solver and I average sub-20, but I have only been cubing for 5 months. I have been trying to be a yellow cross solver at the same time, but I can't quite get the hang of it. However, my Friend who averages 40 seconds, is completely colour neutral. So I agree that beginners can be colour neutral really quick, but people that are sub-20 and below, it can be very hard. I don't think that being colour neutral helps you a lot, but it can certainty bring your times down by 1-2 seconds. For example, Mats Valk is a green/blue solver and he is still a world-class cuber. But this is because he is colour blind. Once again thank you Feliks for the wonderful advice and I will try to be colour neutral again!


Feliks Zemdegs

Feliks Zemdegs from CubeSkills Posted 7 years ago

Cheers Ben! Definitely agree with your comments. After getting comfortable with the colours, deciding which colour to choose is a whole different art. A part 2 colour neutrality blog post is definitely something that could be made.

Thanks Mikael - like I wrote in the blog, it's certainly not essential and for some people it's actually more trouble than it's worth to switch over. It shouldn't take you too long to figure out whether you're one of those people though :)


shubham Kumar

shubham Kumar Posted 7 years ago

That's a great blog and hope that it will help me to become colour neutral. Thanks for the blog.


Jordan Lee

Jordan Lee Posted 7 years ago

I want to be color neutral but I dont feel like it lol. My friend is always like "what side you solving?" (I solve on red btw) and ill just reply "red" and he sits there and laugh and says "Just become color neutral already..." and its just like that wont really effect my times right now, so I dont really care.

I just want  quick tip from a pro, should I become color neutral? (I just recently become sub-1 minute)


Aaron Guo

Aaron Guo Posted 7 years ago

Hi Jordan, I feel that you should become color neutral as soon as possible, because me being sub-20, it's quite difficult to switch (although I'm almost there ;). For you to become color neutral shouldn't take too much effort and is quite beneficial later on. I sometimes get quite jealous of my friends who spend 2 days switching to color neutral simply because white cross isn't a habit for them.

I'm not a pro, but I feel as that you should switch to color neutral because it's easy for the moment and is highly beneficial later on

 


Pablo Cuber

Pablo Cuber Posted 7 years ago

Feliks, do you subconsciously start on the easiest cross and don't even realize what color you are solving, or do you deliberately search for the best color out of them all during solves?

 

Also, would the opposite be hard for you? Solving always on the white cross for example, or would it be hard for you to start on white when another color is easier?


Pablo Cuber

Pablo Cuber Posted 7 years ago

In addition, this blog has inspired me to become a white/yellow solver for now, I'm normally just a white cross solver, but I'm going to adapt to white and yellow since I have only started learning F2L recently


Feliks Zemdegs

Feliks Zemdegs from CubeSkills Posted 7 years ago

Hey Pablo - I think that might be part of a colour neutral part 2 blog, choosing your colour in inspection. Essentially I scan the cube and try to pick a side within a few seconds as opposed to completely planning each cross and deciding after that. Sometimes this means I don't choose the move-optimal cross. It would be interesting to know how often my crosses are move-optimal!

Solving always on white all the time would be annoying for me because it means giving up on a potentially easier start :p


Pablo Cuber

Pablo Cuber Posted 7 years ago

Nice, amazing job on this website overall

You are putting lots of effort into this and I appreciate it


Ben Adcock

Ben Adcock Posted 7 years ago

@Feliks Yeah, deciding which side to start from once you are colour neutral is something else to be learned. I guess it's just whichever colour looks good at first glance. You don't really want to be scanning every side trying to figure out the optimal move count during inspection. :P

The Part 2 blog sounds like a good idea!


Tomasz Kartasiński

Tomasz Kartasiński Posted 7 years ago

Hi all,
I have switched 6 years ago from white/yellow to color neutral and it taken me 5 months to make it real.
For one month i have been solving on blue/green for next month I have been solving on red/orange and then 3 months for practicing and "consolidating".
After 5 month my avg of 100 is similar to this on white/yellow. I do not know if this is good practice but this is how i have done it.
I guess it was worth because after tat 5 months of training I have beaten my all PB's on all cubes(2x2 - 7x7).
Now when I am back after 5 years break from speedcubing I have re-learned all algs and CN is not a problem for me.
Sometimes I am struggling with colour patterns(i.e. wile doing cross on green i do not remember which colour is on the right side of red colour etc.) and i guess I will overcome this with time.
Anyway great advice. Keep it up!


sai pataskar

sai pataskar Posted 7 years ago

@Tomasz Kartasiński yes ir right i have done the same it helps a lot


Cooper  Chen

Cooper Chen Posted 7 years ago

Hi Feliks. I'm colour neutral on 4x4 with yau method.  

Is it faster than only solve on one colour cross? 

I always think if I only solve on one colour cross I can do the first 3 cross edges(and maybe centers) faster.

Should I became to solving the white cross on 4x4? 


Viljo Elo

Viljo Elo Posted 7 years ago

I averaged around 27 with white cross only. I switched to CN over the course of 2ish weeks. I practiced with each cross color for a couple days until I got comfortable with all of them. Then I started doing color neutral solves. It took me just a few days to get to my regular times. I think it was definitely worth it. CN solving is so much more fun.

IMO full CN is useful for CFOP. For Roux I am x2/y neutral and I think it's enough. 15 seconds of inspection isn't enough to take advantage of full CN. For ZZ I always do white top green front. I've heard y neutral might be good.

 


No  Name

No Name Posted 7 years ago

Hi commmunity,

I totally agree with Aaron. Now I'm a sub 25 solver and I really regret not being colour neutral. Now I plan to change that.

 In my school (I'm 14) lots of other students decided to start with speedcubing.

Thank you Feliks Zemdegs for your mouch EFFORT you put in this website here.

Here I have a direct question to all owners of the Gans 356 air UM:Would you recommend it?

Thank you for your answers.;-)


John Appleseed

John Appleseed Posted 7 years ago

Hi everyone, I've learnt being Color neutral and my times are a few seconds behind my times solving the white or yellow cross. However, I have this problem that stops me from actually always being Colour neutral. The problem is when I find a good Color to start my cross that only takes a few moves, when I finish solving the cross, I forget which Color cross I solved so I have to do a cube rotation to check for the cross Color then look for F2L pieces, reducing my look ahead. When I start solving and start telling myself the Color I started with, I get distracted and can't look ahead properly. Can anyone give a suggestion to fix this problem? Thanks!


John Appleseed

John Appleseed Posted 7 years ago

Oh and btw the Gan air um is definitely worth it! If price is not a problem you can go for it! I've had a few cubes in the mid range category but all didn't fit my style. I was very frustrated. I told myself that if I wanted to cube for quite some time I ought to get an excellent cube at a high price so I need not buy another cube anymore. I bought myself a Gan 356 air um and I have not regretted it! It is highly customisable and also magnetic so you do not need to worry about overshooting.


No  Name

No Name Posted 7 years ago

Thank you Bill

 


No  Name

No Name Posted 7 years ago

Bill ,

you can also take a look on the U-Layer the opposite colour is your cross colour.


John Appleseed

John Appleseed Posted 7 years ago

No problem! I've tried your suggestion for a few minutes now and it really did the trick! Thanks Daniel!


No  Name

No Name Posted 7 years ago

I'm glad, that I could help you.

Happy Cubing!


Liam Gerard

Liam Gerard Posted 7 years ago

Bill, I have recently purchased a GAN Air UM. I agree, it is the best cube I have used, and definitely worth the money.

 


Tung Nguyen Xuan

Tung Nguyen Xuan Posted 7 years ago

hi


Christopher Nowicki

Christopher Nowicki Posted 7 years ago

I'm solving on white cross, and is easier to me solve on for example blue cross than yellow cross (I don't know why)


Helphy Lieby

Helphy Lieby Posted 7 years ago

I hope you can be cuber's friends.


Quinn Quinn

Quinn Quinn Posted 7 years ago

I'm not color neutral and my solve times are about 1.5 minutes, but in trying to become color neutral it made me think a lot more about F2L, and I think it has been very beneficial just to improve my F2L.


Cuberious The SpeedCuber

Cuberious The SpeedCuber Posted 7 years ago

If I want to become Color-Neutral and my current cross is white, should I try to avoid solving in white and focus on the other colors when solving slowly? Is it considered Color-Neutral if I solve in all colors, but white cross is the easiest to solve? Is it Color-Neutral when I inspect, choose my cross color, and know what the opposite color of the cross would be?


Carl La Hood

Carl La Hood Posted 7 years ago

Great advice, I just became color neutral and sub 20 a week ago. I decided to learn it early on because I knew it would be harder to learn the faster you are. 


David Pearce

David Pearce Posted 7 years ago

It is essential to be colour neutral on Pyraminx and Skewb also, right?


Feliks Zemdegs

Feliks Zemdegs from CubeSkills Posted 7 years ago

David - yes, pretty much. 

Cuberious - I guess one way of thinking about it is that you're truly 'colour neutral' if doing any different colour makes no difference to your times or the way you think during your solve. I'm not sure that's an accepted definition though.


zahid hasan

zahid hasan Posted 7 years ago

but the fact is first u need to be good in one cross right?


Tien Tran

Tien Tran Posted 7 years ago

Can you still be sub 8 with color neutrality ?


Tien Tran

Tien Tran Posted 7 years ago

Can you still sub 8 with white cross?

 

 


Zion Panz

Zion Panz Posted 7 years ago

Tien tran... there is a rather large amount of cubers who are sub 8 on just one color, but most who are sub 10 are dual/opposite color neutral like myself


Aaron Li

Aaron Li Posted 7 years ago

haha, "tldr." who won't read this whole blog that FELIKS wrote?


Charlie van Ooran

Charlie van Ooran Posted 7 years ago

i switched to being CN around the sub30 mark, and after i switched i looked back and thought only white cross solving was more boring than being CN, but thats just me ahah


Charlie van Ooran

Charlie van Ooran Posted 7 years ago

maybe a fun game to play with your friends if you were becoming CN, would be to do the same scramble then you each pick the cross colour the other person needs to do (the worst one you can see aha) and then race. idk i've done it with my friends despite being CN and found it fun ahah


Aaditya Sikder

Aaditya Sikder Posted 7 years ago

Is cross from the down face is important for speedcubing?Can't I do it with upperface?Now,I am having about 39 second average on my 9 months of cubing.


Isaac Chen

Isaac Chen Posted 7 years ago

Aaditya Sikder  

The cross on the bottom face is for the ability to switch from finishing the cross to f2l without the hassle of doing a full 180 with the cube and also the ability to look ahead for the next f2l pair while finishing the cross makes it a must have for faster times and I would recommend starting to practice like so. - Hope this helps!


Tung Duong Ngo

Tung Duong Ngo Posted 7 years ago

I am the person who switches from green/blue cross to CN, from 10/2015 up until now, and from 15 to 13 on average. 2 seconds at level sub 15 is not a huge progress, but I think I can do more, because I didn't practice much at that time. Personally I think I'm almost truly neutral now. I agree with Feliks that to switch you need to practice in a way that only using one color cross for a specific time, for example, solving with red cross for a week, then Orange on the next week, etc. It's not impossible if you are sub 15 or sub 10, it's just hard to take time to see how it's more effective and optimal. I will give full description about time I practiced to switch one day.


谢 鹏

谢 鹏 Posted 7 years ago

Website can have Chinese? Or the Chinese subtitles? Most fans are Chinese oh


Aalok Kumawat

Aalok Kumawat Posted 7 years ago

Thanks Friend.


Alex Chung

Alex Chung Posted 7 years ago

Nice


Idris  Sentjurc

Idris Sentjurc Posted 7 years ago

Quite a difficult thing to do...


Chris Choi

Chris Choi Posted 7 years ago

I average around 9 seconds and i use only white cross. im thinking of switching to color neutral and seems very daunting. I'll do what seung hyuk nahm did and do 100 solves for each color a day, 600 in total. although i think i need to do 500 since im already used to one of the colors.


Zac Jamison

Zac Jamison Posted 7 years ago

I have tried a few times but never fully switched. I feel that it would be really easy for me to switch because I am able to solve on non White-Yellow crosses and average almost as fast as i do on white-yellow crosses. I average about 11 seconds on white-yellow crosses, and about 14 seconds CN. I feel like I might start to make the switch but I'm not going to make it my main focus. 


Shawn Ericksen

Shawn Ericksen Posted 7 years ago

I think it's a fair idea to pair the transition phase of switching to CN from single-cross with one or more other goals, such as learning some algorithims or improving your F2L efficiency and look-ahead tricks.  Really making the transition fully can take weeks or months, so I've planned to switch this summer so I can practice and also finally learn full OLL while doing so.


Ron Allen

Ron Allen Posted 7 years ago

I'm a sub-20 solver and within a month after practicing CN I'm comfortable solving starting with any color.

I also did the advice of SpeedCubeReview to learn new things while practing being CN. Being cn is totally worth it.

Thank you FAZ for this blog.


Paul Shepley

Paul Shepley Posted 7 years ago

I'm colour neutral when playing chess (poor joke, sorry). At my level, the advantages of colour neutrality aren't noticeable. I've only recently started work on solving the cross on the down face instead of on top. Likewise, just started trying to learn the basics of proper F2L. At the moment, I'm not sure I'd even recognise which cross would be easiest from any given scramble. I'm hopeful that my pattern recognition skill will develop...


Juliette Sébastien

Juliette Sébastien Posted 7 years ago

I'm a sub9 cuber and I switched to CN 9 month after I started cubing, when I was averaging 20. I kind of did a 1 month schedule where I started practicing on 1 color, then the opposite, then the 2 at a time and so on until I could do all 6. However being truly CN took me almost a year, and I even though at some point about giving up and coming back to w/y :p

Still, my times after switching improved relatively faster (jumped from 20 to 16 at once, and 6 month later I was sub10), and now I think it's a huge benefit, not only to have a shorter cross but especially to look far ahead into the F2L stage and very often preserve pairs and make Xcrosses.  I'm quite used to pick quickly the cross color during inspection, so even tho sometimes it can be a little more stressing out in competition it doesn't really affect me.

Anyway thanks a lot for this blog, I find it very interesting even though I'm already CN, and I think it is going to help a lot of people. In a while I might do a (French) video on this topic and I will link to this blog for sure!

 


Ryan Rivera

Ryan Rivera Posted 7 years ago

I spent about a week trying to be CN, and gave up. Constantly inserting f2l pairs into wrong slots and seeing my times go up and feeling like I wasn't making any progress was discouraging. But after reading this I feel inspired to try again. Thanks for taking the time to write this, Feliks


Philip Lauer

Philip Lauer Posted 7 years ago

I solved on yellow cross for about a year and a half, wherein I learned the beginner's method, basic (intuitive) F2L, and 4-Look Last Layer.  I first figured it wouldn't hurt to try being bi-color neutral (solving white as well as yellow), but quickly realized that I found the idea of solving any cross to be much more satisfying.

jskyler (Joseph Skyler) posted a transition method where you can practice different cross colors (aside from your own) for a full month, solving on a single color for a few days before combining all the colors you've practiced... and repeating the process. After that month, I was able to comfortably solve any cross first, though I sometimes had trouble with recognizing F2L pairs and Last Layer patterns.  Within a couple more months, I became very comfortable with color-neutral solving, and now I indeed don't even think about what cross color I solve(d)! Once I have a scramble, I simply look for a good cross, find the best cross I can, and start planning an efficient cross/first F2L pair.

I believe that transitioning from yellow cross only to color neutrality was very successful for me due to a few factors:

  • I attempted to switch very early-on.  I hadn't been cubing for very long, and I hadn't learned anything terribly advanced (let alone become very fast!).  I averaged on the higher spectrum of Sub-20, and was still Sub-20... though consistently a second or two behind when doing those solves on unfamiliar crosses.
  • The method I used to switch was well-made.  For me, at least, jskyler's approach to switching made a lot of sense: don't solve your original cross color until the very last day of the transitional month, and learn the opposite color of your original cross last; spend between a few and several days solving on an unfamiliar cross color, and learn said cross colors in opposite pairs (in my case: solve red and orange, than green and blue, then finish with white); finally, spend occasional days doing solves using all of the cross colors you've learned so far, allowing you to practice the freedom of choosing between different crosses on a single scramble. And all of this in the time frame of a month? It seemed perfect for avid practice without forgetting what you learn.
  • Most importantly, color neutrality is something that interests and benefits me.  This is not the case for everyone; solvers like Lucas Etter will probably always be better solving only one color of cross (and that's fine, in fact it's really good, because it's simply a choice of preference... when it all comes down to it, color neutrality is not necessarily good or bad, but rather differentiates people's solving styles even further!).  The idea was appealing, I looked up to Feliks, and I solved a lot each day to properly practice each cross color.  Motivation is key.

On the flip side of things, jskyler sort of insisted that his method for switching to become color neutral was essentially fool-proof, and that a transition to color neutrality was without a doubt not only possible for any cuber, but also worthwhile. This is obviously not true, as no one approach works for everyone. That being said, whether it is "worth it" to be color neutral or not is entirely up to the solver, as its pros and cons currently appear to be quite personal.  I am definitely of the opinion that color neutrality is more akin to a method: something that can be used, but doesn't have to be used, as alternative methods exist (in this case, single- and dual-color neutrality) that will be more beneficial to solvers.


Aaditya Sikder

Aaditya Sikder Posted 7 years ago

Hey,Feliks.Are you good in maths?


Kavin Malmarugan

Kavin Malmarugan Posted 7 years ago

i am sub-35 solver with the beginners method and stuck what to do next can anyone suggest and help me out

 


Aurora Pratt

Aurora Pratt Posted 7 years ago

I'm think if you are a great solver with Xcross then it won't be really hard to learn CN


Peter Wu

Peter Wu Posted 7 years ago

I found a interesting thread in a Chinese cube forum. It is also about the benefits and losses when one chooses multiple cross colour. It involves two colour neutral solvers: Lin Chen (7x7 and 3oh AsR) and Yiqun Fan (3x3 around 10 secs). The conclusion is interesting as it suggests another approach for those who do not want to choose colour neutrality -- double cross colours, such as white and yellow. This has a 0.5 moves disadvantage comparing to colour neutral, but the rate to successfully identify the least move cross between 2 colours is nearly 100%, while among 6 colours it decreases to 75%. Also, using two colours have more time for you to look forward for the upcoming 1st pair of cross, or do a x-cross.

I was deeply influenced by this discussion. Formerly I am a white cross solver, and I converted to white and yellow. But I only use a yellow where there is a big disadvantage in white comparing to yellow. It has similar efficiency comparing to colour neutrality and I think it is a method easier for a single colour solver to adopt.


Caleb Draper

Caleb Draper Posted 7 years ago


Xinhui Liu

Xinhui Liu Posted 7 years ago

how do you get this thread ? Peter Wu


Jesus Fonseca

Jesus Fonseca Posted 7 years ago

Feliks, I remember watching one of your example solves videos on YouTube and noticed that you were using other colours besides just white and yellow.  At the time I had never given a thought to solving on other colours untill I saw you and others doing it.  I thought that it was pretty cool so I just started doing other colours and about a month later I could solve on all colours in about the same times.  To me it really does make a difference because of the way that CN cuts your cross times.  I feel like its not as important as learning other stuff but it certainly does help out alot.  


Jimmy Chan

Jimmy Chan Posted 7 years ago

cool


Jimmy Chan

Jimmy Chan Posted 7 years ago

  • Now I am trying to change to CN, and I just find an interesting fact: besides white that I've been using, I can solve a cube using yellow cross no worse than before, but among the other 4 colors, I find it easy to use blue while green, red and orange seem rather difficult. That's confusing. I will continue giving it a try. Thanks for this blog, Feliks

Hunter Carles

Hunter Carles Posted 7 years ago

I avg about 30-35 with CFOP, and I tried one solve on blue cross... That was the day I decided that I was never being color neutral.


? ?

? ? Posted 7 years ago

SWITCH TO CFOP 

 

Kavin Malmarugan it takes some time but it will reduce your time alot


Kieren Marsh

Kieren Marsh Posted 7 years ago

I'm a fairly new cuber. I started with the beginners method on white and continued for a few months. Then I decided to try CN. Over the space of a week I practiced on yellow then Orange as I found those edge pieces easier to find. I then added red blue and green. My times are around 50 so I'm not a "speed" cuber yet. Going CN has certainly increased my times but while practicing CN I have stopped timing myself while I learn how to find the pieces quicker. I do occasionally get the cross colour wrong on F2L and insert the wrong piece but I guess this will get better with time. 

I do find it hard sometimes picking the best colour. Sometimes the best one will jump out at you, other times I spend most of my inspection trying to work out the best colour and then just randomly choosing one (usually white or yellow!!!). I'm not seeing all the offsets yet though, i.e. setting the edges on an offset then finishing with a D or D2.

So as a beginner I haven't found it that hard to go CN although a small part of me gets excited when I see white as the best cross! Like Felix says, it's best to try it out when you're still a noob.


Julian  Segar Reid

Julian Segar Reid Posted 7 years ago

Hey Feliks, I had a question regarding magnetized speedcubes. I recently purchased a Gan Air UM and I instantly loved the magnets. I was wondering if you have noticed them weakening over time? Or if this is a problem I don't have to worry about. 

 

Thank you! Can't wait to see more records being broken. 


Matthew Martelli

Matthew Martelli Posted 7 years ago

The only thing hard about this is that you are not used to seeing other colours in the position 


James Davis

James Davis Posted 7 years ago

I started cubing later then a friend who I was rather competitive with at the time, and so in order to get an edge on him, I skipped learning beginners method and went straight to f2l for the first 2 layers, as well as being color neutral. It paid off, as now a year later, I average faster than him.


Isaac Chen

Isaac Chen Posted 7 years ago

What about CN on bigger cubes like 4x4 and 5x5 or with Yau? 


Philip Chiang

Philip Chiang Posted 6 years ago

For the question in your blog of how does someone become colour neutral, I can answer that. I started off as a white/yellow cross solver and I was actually inspired by you to become colour neutral roughly a year after I started cubing. It definitely was not the easiest thing to do and I don't remember exactly how I became colour neutral but I think it went along the lines of picking out the best cross colour for a scramble and just memorizing the cross piece positions in relation to each other. And if there were any cross colours that were harder for me to recognize, I simply just practice solving on that colour more often until I can start a solve on any side without issue.


Ace Daniel

Ace Daniel Posted 6 years ago

I am a color neutral solver but i still encounter some cross cases that are difficult and sometimes i mess up my cross solution because of that. Does that also happen to you?


Ace Daniel

Ace Daniel Posted 6 years ago

I average about 18-15 seconds.


Phạm Quốc Việt

Phạm Quốc Việt Posted 6 years ago

what is TLDR?


Carlos Fernández

Carlos Fernández Posted 6 years ago

What about being dual colour, like Mats?


William Yang

William Yang Posted 6 years ago

Too long Didn't read


Justin Ong

Justin Ong Posted 6 years ago

Feliks may i ask which megaminx speedcubers are colour neutral?

 


William Yang

William Yang Posted 6 years ago

Yu Da-Hyun is the only one I know of


Ryan Seth

Ryan Seth Posted 6 years ago

I average about 15 seconds on the green cross, which is my main because of the guide I originally learned how to solve it with. I'm getting used to the white cross. The white cross and f2l are my lacking points, as ll comes easier to me. My first solve on white, I had almost no problem with ll on white. (also btw I'm buying premium tonight!)


sun yifan

sun yifan Posted 6 years ago

Hello Feliks! Now I average about 20s, and can I learn CN quickly? I want to practice it, but each time when I use yellow, green, red or blue cross, I averaged about 25s. Do you have any advices for me?


Jan Ochmannek

Jan Ochmannek Posted 5 years ago

i am 40 years of age and solved my very first cube one week ago. it is quite hard for me to really get into this. thinking of CN does it make even harder and confusing. i will probably focus on F2L first and i`d be happy if i can get this! am i the only old noob here lol?


Master Jamin Hendricks

Master Jamin Hendricks Posted 5 years ago

when you do get around to learning color neutrality, i suggest starting with yellow, then slowly branch out from there. it helped me. good luck on your cubing journey!


Arav Jain

Arav Jain Posted 5 years ago

A really nice blog Feliks.

This is good for my solves and would be very useful for cubers on cubeskills.

Thanks

By the way I am one of your biggest fan and you are my speedcubing inspiration

 


Paul Meka

Paul Meka Posted 5 years ago

I am almost sub-10 .Does it make sence to start learning CN?because I started it maybe 2-3months ago and my times really went bad and then I stopped it.

 


Paul Meka

Paul Meka Posted 5 years ago

 

 


matthew lim

matthew lim Posted 5 years ago

mind blown

 


matthew lim

matthew lim Posted 5 years ago

yeet


roman tettoni

roman tettoni Posted 5 years ago

good job mate me family would be proud


Leo Vm

Leo Vm Posted 4 years ago

I am color neutral and average around 25 seconds it is so difficult to get quicker. Any tips.

Thanks if anyone does


bob bill

bob bill Posted 4 years ago

no way you got sub 10 in 2 months!!

I've been solving almost a year and I'm not even sub 20 yet!


Skewb Cube

Skewb Cube Posted 3 years ago

He didn't get sub-10 in 2-3 months, in that post he mentions being sub-10 and that he started practicing colour neutrality 2-3 months before that post.


A SpeedCuber

A SpeedCuber Posted 3 years ago

 

 


Akash Sreedharan

Akash Sreedharan Posted 3 years ago

For some reason, I found becoming CN very easy. Becoming CN on Mega was also super easy for me, even though I am terrible at it. Maybe colour neutrality is my strength?? Though i cant seem to get cn with yau4...


bob bill

bob bill Posted 3 years ago

It depends on how comfortable you already are with the method you are using. I almost never use mega and I had no problem becoming cn because I decided to learn it that way. What time do you avg rn


Akash Sreedharan

Akash Sreedharan Posted 3 years ago

for 3*3 about 12s

meg about 4min 10sec i am super bad. my cube is also really bad


Akash Sreedharan

Akash Sreedharan Posted 3 years ago

my meg. i mean


Akash Sreedharan

Akash Sreedharan Posted 3 years ago

I became CN when I learnt 4LLL, so I started learning F2L when I was already CN. If you are a beginner, you should become CN, before you learn F2L. I think learning all the OLL, PLL, and other add-ons(COLL,OLS) CN is still easier than learning F2L CN.


bob bill

bob bill Posted 3 years ago

yeah i can do oll and pll easy f2l is the only hard one for cn


Akash Sreedharan

Akash Sreedharan Posted 3 years ago

2sided pll recog. is slightly hard for cn but i got used to it


Peter Hugosson-Miller

Peter Hugosson-Miller Posted 3 years ago

I was just directed to this post from the "Senior Cubers Worldwide" group on Facebook, and I must say it was very encouraging to read it. I thought I'd share my comment from that thread.

I guess I'm trying to weigh up the use for me personally. I've been cubing for 40 years (only white cross), my Ao100 is 37 seconds and my PB is 31.16 seconds. Also to take into account is my age: I'm 58 years old, and learning new things does take longer than it used to.
In the case of CN, I also would have to unlearn a bunch of stuff that is on the instinctive level, and I guess I'd be looking at 60 second solves for the foreseeable future. I'm just afraid that the investment in time and effort might suck the joy out of something that I love, and in the end result in maybe the occasional sub-30 solve. My feeling is that if I fixed my ridiculously slow F2L I would get there faster, and enjoy it more.

So in other words, you give me hope that it's OK to wait with becoming CN and maybe even skip it altogether. Big thanks from me!

 


bob bill

bob bill Posted 3 years ago

yeah it's really not too big a deal if your not CN and since you've been cubing for 40 years it would be INCREDIBLY hard to make the transition I bet


Akshaj Agarwal

Akshaj Agarwal Posted 3 years ago

It was useful...I am doing one color as of now, but using your advice I am going to start with yellow color.  Will let you know how it works out.



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