CubingUSA Heartland Championship 2025

2025-08-22 ~ 2025-08-24

I’m so happy to finally beat 22.67! 21.00 is pretty good for me, so I don’t think I’ll beat it for a while. 20.33 potential on my DRs is insane too! Time to fill in the gap between 21.00 and 22.67 now :)

Final

#1Mean21.00Single20 (21 / 22 / 20)

Attempt 1

Scramble

R' U' F U2 B2 F D2 F D2 L2 D2 F' D' U' F L' B' R' D' U R' U' R' U' F

Results

B' U' R' B R' D2 B2 L B2 L2 U R2 B2 U R2 F2 R2 U' D R' F2

B’ U’ R’ B // EO (4)
(F2 R), R’ D2 B2 L // DR 4b2 4e (10)
B2 L2 U R2 B2 [D // HTR (16)
B2 R2 B2] // leave slice (19)
[] = U R2 F2 R2 U’ D // +2 slice (21)

I had another DR which give 20 opt (mallard), but I didn’t check it:
(R U’ B) // EO (3)
(D2 R’), D2 B2 L’ D’ L // DR 2c4 (10)
(F2 U’) U’ R2 U’ B2 R2 U’ // HTR (18)
L2 B2 // finish (20)

Not too annoyed with missing this though, as I already had the 21. 

Other DRs:
(U’ R2 B, U’, D2 L’ R D L2 D) // 10 4c4, 21 opt
(R U’ B, R, U D’ L2 F2 D L) // 10 2c3 4e, 23 opt
D R B’, L, (R2 U L2 D’ R2 U R) // 11 idk, 24 opt
B’ U’ R’ B’, R2 U2 R U2 L U // 10 4c4, 25 opt

February 28, 2026 3:41 AM

Attempt 2

Scramble

R' U' F U2 R2 D' U R2 U2 F2 R' D2 F' D' L' B' D' L' F U R2 D' R' U' F

Results

D2 L' U' L' F2 D2 F U' F R2 F2 L2 F2 U2 L2 U2 B' R2 L2 D2 F' D2

D2 L’ U’ L’ // EO (4)
F2 D2 F U’ // DR 2c3 2e (8)
F (D2 F D2 R2 L2 B) // HTR (15)
(U2 L2 U2 F2 L2 F2 R2) // finish (22)

Missed 21:
(R2 F D2 F U2 L2 B’) // HTR (15)
(F2 R2 B2 U’ D’ B2 U’ D) // finish (8-2/21)

This was a fairly mixed-emotion attempt. As I’ve been struggling with competing in FMC recently, I knew this was a good opportunity to get PR. Unfortunately, A1 and A2 were scheduled many hours apart, so I was fairly nervous for this attempt. This scramble ended up being the best of the three. There were lots of short DRs with good subsets, so I knew that I needed to spend more time than normal to get a result I would be happy with. I started finishing my DRs at around 25 minutes, and I found this 22 shortly after. Despite having a 13 move HTR, I felt that 22 could’ve been optimal (it was 21 opt). I moved on and found two other 22s from different DRs, but nothing better. I was not really pleased with this result, but I felt some comfort that I only needed 24 to beat 22.67. 

Other DRs:

F L2 D’ F, (L’ D2 R L’ D) // 9 4c3, 21 opt
L’ U’ L’, F, (D2 R2 U’ B’ D2 B) // 10 4c3, 21 opt unfindable
L2 F2 D’ F’, D’, U2 L’ U L2 U // 10 4b2 4e, 22 opt
D L’ U’ L’, B2 U D’ B2 U F // 10 4b2 2e, 22 opt
(F2 R D’ R, D, F2 B’ D’ F D) // 10 2c4, 22 opt
(U F2 U F, R’, D’ U2 R2 D R) // 10 2c3 6e, 23 opt
(F’ B2 L U, L’ D2 L B2 L’ F) // 10 4c3, 23 opt
(R2 D L2 B’, L U2 R’ D2 R D) // 10 2c4, 23 opt
(R2 D L2 B’, L’ U2 R’ D2 R D) // 10 idk, 24 opt

February 28, 2026 3:42 AM

Attempt 3

Scramble

R' U' F L' R D2 B2 L' D2 F2 B' R2 B F L D' R D2 U F R' U2 R' U' F

Results

U2 D F B R F' L F U2 F D2 F' B' U2 L2 F2 D' B' L2 D2

D (D2 L2 B D) // EO (5)
U2 F B R F’ L // DR 4b2 2e (11)
F U2 [B // HTR (14)
R2 B2] U2 L2 F2 // leave slice (19)
[] = F D2 F’ B’ // +1 slice (20)

Wow. This was the first EO I checked. After checking the rest of the D + () EOs, I switched and found the base DR. 

D (D2 L2 B D), B F’ L’ F’ R // 4c4 (10)

I figured there was a good extension due to the base DR having blocks and a bad subset, but I didn’t expect the DR to be that good. I found this 19 to slice at around 15 minutes, but it took over 10 minutes for me to actually solve it 💀. I submitted this solution around 30 minutes into the attempt.

February 28, 2026 3:43 AM