Agilo's Speedcubing Journey

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Progress Tracking: Interactive charts tracking my Personal Best (PB) history
Algorithm Engine: Animated 2D and 3D algorithm players for all my PLL and OLL cases
Timeline: A full timeline of my cubing milestones
Bilingual Support: Full support for both English and Dutch
3D Visualizer: An interactive, scroll-driven Rubik's Cube visualizer

The Core Philosophy

I don't learn algorithms. I fix annoyances.

That one inefficiency that breaks your rhythm? That's where I start. I don't start with a plan to learn everything. I start with the thing that bothers me most. I didn't set out to learn CFOP. I set out to stop doing Sune twice. The rest followed on its own.

How It All Started

My cubing journey started somewhat unexpectedly with a 2×2. I had owned a 3×3 for 15+ years but never managed to solve more than one layer (with matching side colors). When my 5-year-old son became interested in the 3×3, I bought a 2×2 for him, assuming it might be easier. It turned out to be more challenging than I expected.

To help him, I decided to learn how to solve the 2×2 myself using the beginner method. From there, moving on to the 3×3 felt like a natural next step. After reading and watching some tutorials, I learned to solve it using the beginner method as well.

The beginner method worked but it felt tedious and repetitive. I started to get annoyed by the process itself and began wondering what a more advanced solve looked like. Then I discovered "intuitive F2L": solving the first two layers in one go? I was fascinated! This felt much more efficient. Suddenly, solving felt more skillful and satisfying. That's when it clicked. "Cubing" stopped being a trick and started to become a hobby.

My Approach

I approach cubing in a structured and methodical way. I focus on proper finger tricks from the start and learn algorithms slowly until they fully stick. I prioritize recognition and clean execution over raw speed. A well-executed solve at a moderate pace teaches more than a rushed one with mistakes.

Learning CFOP

I solve using CFOP. I learned full PLL first, then added 2-look OLL, which makes my last layer "3LLL" (three-look last layer). For F2L, I use intuitive solving supplemented by a growing set of specific cases. I learned everything step by step, prioritizing recognition and clean execution over raw speed.

My path to CFOP didn't start with the desire to learn a new method, but to fix a specific annoyance: swapping two opposite last-layer edges in the beginner method required doing Sune twice. I hated that. It felt long and inefficient. I searched and found that the Z-perm solved it in one step. That small addition opened the door to everything that followed.

After Z, curiosity took over. I learned H-perm because it's another distinctive M-slice algorithm, and Jb-perm because I kept hearing about it and wanted to see what the hype was about. From there I decided to continue more systematically, mostly following PLL probability order. I was aware of 2-look PLL but I chose to go straight for the full set. It felt like the right way to build a solid foundation, even if it meant more work upfront.

After completing PLL, the remaining annoyance was the beginner corner orientation step, which required flipping the cube upside down mid-solve and solving each corner individually with the same repetitive sequence. Learning 2-look OLL let me keep the last layer on top throughout the solve and fixed that annoyance completely. The full OLL set felt too large and overwhelming to take on all at once, so 2-look OLL was a more manageable step.

Working through PLL and then 2-look OLL felt like a grind but looking back it was absolutely worth it. What once seemed impossible at the start eventually became familiar.