Ohio State Mental Madness 2026

2026-03-20 ~ 2026-03-20

Some nice scrambles balanced out by general sloppiness in my solving which made an overall fine comp (22.17 mo6), definitely could've been sub22 but I'll take low 22 with how much (little) practice I've done.

First

#2Mean22.67Single21 (21 / 22 / 25)

Attempt 1

Scramble

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

Results

F D' F2 B R D' R2 U2 R2 F2 R2 F2 R2 U2 D B2 D R' D' L2 U'

F D' B
F2 R (U L2 D R) // 4c3 (9)
D' (U' L2 U)
(L2 B2 L2 B2 L2 D2 R2) // slice (20)
+1
Optimal after DR

Had a bunch of other sub-11 DRs but most were bad subsets, the only one I spent more than a few seconds on was
(F2 U' R L)
B2 L2 D2 F' U B // 4b2 6e (10)
from which optimal is 20 and I even wrote the HTR for it: U (U2 R2 U) but then for some reason I thought it was bad and submitted early to shit oops

March 22, 2026 9:04 AM

Attempt 2

Scramble

R' U' F R' F U B R B2 L2 B2 F2 D L2 D' R' B2 L2 F2 U F U R' U' F

Results

B' U' F' R D2 F D' F' R2 F D' R2 U' B2 R2 B2 U2 B2 U2 L2 U' B2

B' U' F' R
D2 F D' F' R2 F // 4c3 (10)
(B2 D) U' B2 U
L2 B2 L2 U2 L2 U2 F2 // slice (22)
+0
Optimal after DR

Didn't really have much else to work with this attempt and got bailed out by basically another U (U R2 U) HTR off 4c3. Spent some time on this 2c4:
D2 F2 D'
(F' L) F L2 B R2 B R
but it sucked

March 22, 2026 9:14 AM

Attempt 3

Scramble

R' U' F L2 F U' B2 L U D B R2 F2 U' L2 F2 B2 U2 D' L2 B' U R' U' F

Results

L2 D R2 L2 F2 B2 U' R2 U2 D' L2 F2 U' D' F D' R2 L2 D' R2 L' D' F2 B' R

(R' F2 B D L)
(R2 D R2 L2 D F) // 4a1 4e (11)
L2 D (F2 D2 R2 F2 U' R2 U)
(F2 B2 R2 L2) // slice (23)
+2, optimal was +1 lmao
would've been optimal after DR if I didn't goof the slice

Not really sure what happened this attempt, I kind of just missed everything

March 22, 2026 9:24 AM

Final

#1Mean21.67Single20 (20 / 22 / 23)

Attempt 1

Scramble

R' U' F U F' B R2 U2 L D F B2 D2 F2 U2 R2 L' F2 L' U2 L2 D' R' U' F

Results

D' B2 L B2 D B' R2 B L2 F2 U2 D2 R2 U2 F R2 B L2 D' R

(R') D' B2 L
(D B2 D2 B) // 4c4 (8)
B2 D // fake HTR (10)
DR flip to get 4c4 in 7:
(R' D) D' B2 L B2 D
F' U2 B (L2 B' R2 B')
(R2 D2 R2 L2 B2 D2) // slice (20)
+0

7 move DR jumpscare lol, unfortunately it was 4c4 which I never remember how to solve properly so I spent a lot of the attempt just figuring out what the correct path was, thankfully I didn't miss anything because of this. There was also this funny 13 to T perm:
(R') D' B2 L
(D B2 D2 B')
(R2 D' F2 U2 D2)

March 22, 2026 1:03 PM

Attempt 2

Scramble

R' U' F U' L2 D F2 D' F2 U2 F' U B D2 U B2 R U L2 D B R' U' F

Results

R2 F' U' D R' U2 F2 U' B D' F' R2 L2 D' F2 U2 D' L2 U B2 U2 F2

R2 F' U' D R'
U2 F2 U' B D' F' // 2c3 2e (11)
R2 L2 U' R2 U R2 U
F2 D2 F2 // slice (21)
+1
Optimal after EO

This was probably the most annoying solve out of the 6. I somehow completely missed this DR:
(B2 D R)
U2 F' L2 F' L2 B' U
which gave an obvious 20 and I found this 21:
(D B2 R')
(D' B' L2 B U2 B' U) // 4b2 6e (10)
(F' U2 B) // HTR (13) but its just 2e2e2e2e with good insertions
6-3 8-2 -1 shorten for 21
but when writing out my 22 earlier in the attempt I miswrote a bunch of it causing me to have to restart writing the whole thing so I was like 30 seconds too slow to submit this 21

March 22, 2026 1:11 PM

Attempt 3

Scramble

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

Results

U D L2 D' R2 U2 R2 F2 L2 D' B2 D' F2 B D F2 D' L2 F2 U2 L D2 L2

(L2 D2 L')
(U2 F2 L2 D F2 D' B') // 2c3 4e (10)
D2 F2 U' (F2 U R2 U)
(R2 B2 L2 U2 L2) // slice (22)
+1
Optimal after DR

Another very frustrating attempt, I was definitely getting some flashbacks to last year starting with 21.0 mo2 and getting a really good third scramble (though this year's was way worse than solved EO+square). I also let the intrusive thoughts of "what if running out of time for the 21 costs me NAR/WR" get to me a little too much, but it turns out somehow nothing I checked gave better than 23 optimal and the best I could've reasonably gotten on this scramble is 20.

March 23, 2026 9:39 AM