5.69 Reconstructions and Commentary

Hi everyone - it's been a little while since I've posted on here, been rather busy with other things. This is a long overdue post, reconstructions and commentary for my 5.69 WR average. I've done posts for the last two sub 6 WRs, so I definitely had to do one this time!

I got this average in the third round of Koalafication Brisbane 2019 - the rest of my solves that competition were pretty terrible, but a combination of reasonably easy solutions, good execution, and a tiny bit of luck helped get this average over the line.

Big thanks to Stewy on Reddit for these reconstructions!

Scramble 1: D2 F D2 B' U2 F2 L2 B L2 B U' R2 B' D L F' U2 B2

This scramble had a pretty nice extended cross on red. I could solve the first 3 cross edges and preserve the red-white-blue corner, and then finish off the last cross edge and white-blue edge. 

Inspection: z y2

X-Cross: U R' F R2 (U' D) L2' D2'

In inspection, I could see that the white/green pair was going to end up in the top layer, and the quickest way to insert it at that point was to do:

2^nd pair: U R U2' R' L U2 L'

So, I'd solved the first two pairs really quickly into the left hand side of the cube without any rotations at all. Normally this is an excellent position to be in, however I got a bit unlucky with the next two pairs and the number of oriented edges. The first thing I saw at this point was the blue-yellow F2L pair, which I solved with:

3^rd pair: U' R' U2 R d' L' U L

Ideally, I would have inserted the last pair with d' U' L' U2 L, which would have connected the final pair and been a good multislotting solution, but I missed that solution during the solve.

Last pair was a bit weird - I decided to insert it with U2 R U2' R' to give myself a slightly easier OLL case for which I am indifferent between 3 different OLLCP algorithms, but wasted a bunch of time and moves in the process.

4^th pair: U' R U R' U R U' U R' U R U2' R'

OLLCP was very messy, recognised the case incorrectly and wasted some moves yet again.

OLLCP: U F F' r U' r' U' r U r' y' R' U R

PLL: R U' R U R U R U' R' U' R2 U'

6.90 seconds, 64 moves (ETM), 9.28 ETPS

Scramble 2: D' U2 L2 F U2 F R U' B' R F2 D2 U2 L' B D2 B2 U'

In inspection here I saw a lot of options - decided to go with the blue cross as it enabled me to easily insert two pairs into the back of the cube to start my F2L.

Inspection: y' z'

Cross: R' U' F R' (U' D)

First two pairs were fairly standard.

1^st pair: R U' R' y' L U L'

2^nd pair: L' U2 L R' U R

Here's where it gets a bit more fun. At this point, it's fairly easy to see the remaining two F2L pairs. I knew that if I solved the red-white pair first, it would give me a pretty bad F2L case for the last pair, so I decided to solve orange-white.

After setting up the orange-white pair with the initial sledgehammer, I also knew that a standard insert would give me a terrible last pair case. Fortunately, inserting with sledgehammer not only oriented my remaining last layer edges, but also served to connect the final F2L pair for a simple 4 move insert.

3^rd pair: U R' F R F' U' R' F R F'

4^th pair: U' L' U L

Uhhh, I don't know a good ZBLL alg for this case. Recognition was kinda bad, but the execution of my very long LL solution was decent.

ZBLL: U' R2 D R' U2' R D' R' U' R' U' R' F R2 U' R' U' R U R' F' U'

5.64 seconds, 57 moves (ETM), 10.11 TPS

Scramble 3: B' R2 F' U2 B U' F2 U2 R' F2 D' U B U' F2 R' D2 U'

Green cross on this solve is by far the easiest option. The only choice here is to decide between solving the white/green or red/green piece first. Solving the red piece first means that the white/orange pair gets paired up and can easily be inserted into the back left slot.

Inspection: z'

Cross: R U' r' D'

1^st pair: L U2 L'

At this point, the best thing to do would have been to insert the white/red pair starting with L' U' L U and get most of the LL edges oriented. However, during inspection I planned the orange/yellow pair instead, so quickly rotated to solve that one fairly easily.

2^nd pair: y U' R U' R' U R U' R'

Decided to do a y2 rotation here in order to a) execute the third pair more quickly, and b) leave the FR slot open for the final pair in order to give myself a bit more flexibility with regard to how I solve the last two pieces.

Conventional wisdom is to avoid this y2 rotation, but there are certainly special situations like this where it can be viable.

3^rd pair: y2' R U' R2' U' R

Had a reasonable suspicion that I could orient two LL corners if I did EO + 2gen last slot to give myself a shot at a ZBLL here. I wouldn't normally do this sort of solution for the last pair purely for the sake of orienting edges, I only did it here because I was pretty sure I could get either a U or T ZBLL, based on gut feel and how the LL corner orientation was looking at that point.

EO: U' R U R' y'

4^th pair: U' R' U R U' R' U R

The slight risk paid off, and I got a ZBLL with no AUF. Recognition could have been slightly better here but no complaints.

ZBLL: U R2' F2 R U2' R U2' R' F2 R U' R' U R

5.57 seconds, 49 moves (ETM), 8.80 TPS

Scramble 4: L R' B D R F2 D' U B D F L D' L2 F2 U' L B'

Red cross pieces are in a slightly annoying position here, but there was a pretty nice solution I found to preserve the first pair, with the second pair also presenting itself very nicely.

Inspection: z

Cross: r U' r' U2' R U R u

Dream first two pairs here 

1^st and 2^nd pair: U' R U' R' U R' U' R

Third pair was also very straightforward and allowed easy lookahead into pair 4.

3^rd pair: y' R U' R' U R U' R'

Solve was going very smoothly here, just needed to orient edges and hope for a decent LL and it was very much on track to be at least a sub 6.

4^th pair setup + EO: U' L' U L d

Summer Variation (OLS with disconnected pair): R U' R' U' R U R' U' R U' R'

Really cooked the PLL here though... doing a U instead of U' would have given me a much faster alg and avoided a U2 AUF, definitely panicked a bit on this one.

PLL: U' R2 U R U R' U' R' U' R' U R' U2'

5.79 seconds, 53 moves (ETM), 9.15 TPS

Scramble 5: D2 B F L2 R U' L2 U' B U2 L2 B2 L D B' L2 F'

Nerves set in big time here, thankfully I was bailed out by a pretty easy start to the solve. Just needed to do one setup move to preserve a free pair in addition to a very easy cross.

Inspection: x2 y

Cross: r R' F D F'

1^st pair: U L U' L'

Second pair was fairly simple as well, managed to insert it into the back left slot and leave the two slots open on the right.

2^nd pair: d R U2' R' U L U L'

At this point I was fairly screwed. I had to go for the blue/white pair, but I knew it would leave me in a terrible position going into the last pair, with none of my LL edges oriented

3^rd pair: R U R' U' R U R'

Had to go for the absolute hail mary move here, and try to get myself either directly to PLL or to an easy ZBLL. Doing last pair and OLL + PLL definitely wouldn't have given me the WR.

Also didn't really think do do the R' D' r U r' D R2 U R' solution, which also would have given me a pretty easy LL case.

4^th pair + EO: U' y U' R U' R' U R U' R2' F R F' U2' R' F R F'

Saved!!! PLL execution was very clunky, but got the job done.

PLL: M2' U M2' U2 M2' U M2'

5.63 seconds, 49 moves (ETM), 8.70 TPS