Color Neutral: Is It Worth It?

This article was written in 2019. Cubers' titles and records are given as they stood at that time.

Search the internet for "how to solve a Rubik's cube" and you will find lots of different tutorials. They vary in how they explain things, how detailed they are and which method they teach (e.g. LBL, sexy method). In the vast majority of them, though, the authors make things simpler by starting the solve on one color, usually white. Hardly anyone says you have to start on a particular face, but a speedcuber who learned from these guides (which is almost every speedcuber) will subconsciously always solve on that one color. So is it worth starting your solves on different colors?

What is color neutral?

Color neutral is the ability to start a solve on any face without significant time differences between solves on different colors. This applies to various puzzles, but in this article I will focus on the 3x3x3 and the most popular method, CFOP.

What does this mean in practice? During inspection, a CN cuber doesn't look only at the pieces of one chosen color. They look at all of them and pick the color that gives the best start to the solve. A common mistake, especially while learning, is choosing or randomly drawing a color before the solve begins. Color neutrality is about optimizing the moves at the start of the solve, not about picking a color.

Pros and cons of color neutral and solving on one color

First, let's look at this from a statistical angle. I generated 6 random scrambles with one of the popular timers and used a tool that shows the shortest cross solutions for every color.

On average, cubers who solve the optimal cross on any color save about 1 move in the first step of CFOP. The cross is usually the step with lots of moves on different faces (e.g. M, D, u2), so TPS is much lower there than in the other steps. Still, 1 move out of a 50-move solve is only 2%, which isn't much.

Switching from white to CN takes time. For some people it takes a hundred solves, for others several thousand. The number depends on how long you have been solving on one color. The time needed to master color neutrality can put some people off, which is a significant drawback of CN. Problems show up mainly in look ahead, because the white piece shouldn't always end up on the bottom. At first you may also mix up F2L algorithms (which is why I recommend intuitive F2L, but I'll write about that another time, as it's a complicated and debatable topic).

Color neutral has one big drawback: it "shortens inspection". You have to spend the first few seconds choosing a color instead of planning your first moves. This is a big problem, especially for beginners.

The argument I find convincing enough to switch to all colors is that it makes you look beyond the cross. The cross accounts for about 10% of the moves in CFOP. The longest and most important step is F2L. To recognize the following cases faster, it pays to predict the first pair during inspection.

The fewer moves at the start, the easier it is to predict more than just the cross. Here, the 1 move I mentioned earlier makes a huge difference, especially with difficult scrambles. Another big help is spotting pieces that stay in the same position after the cross is built. For example, a cross solved with R’ D2 R D F’ doesn't affect 4 pieces: a corner and the 3 edges around it. If 2 of those pieces form a pair, it's worth noticing and flowing smoothly into F2L. If this happens on orange, someone who isn't CN and always picks the white cross will need more time to find their first slot. At a higher level the same applies to the 2nd pair, but few cubers predict it during inspection.

Color neutral also helps you learn xcrosses: blocks, free slots and so on are much more likely to appear on any of the colors than on just one.

Color neutral among top cubers

Does CN win among the best cubers? The answer isn't as simple as it seemed before the 2019 World Championship.

Let's start with the world record holder at the time: Feliks Zemdegs is CN without exception. He uses various interesting techniques, including at the start of his solves.

Unofficial reports say that the world's number two, Max Park, solves on 5 colors. That's not complete CN, but 5/6CN is probably not very different from full color neutrality.

Patrick Ponce, the current US champion, switched from 2 colors to full CN in just one week. It took him several thousand solves and many hours, but he showed that it isn't very difficult. Since then he has improved a lot (his best solve, a 4.24 NAR, started on blue).

So why did many people change their minds in 2019? Philipp Weyer, the 2019 World Champion, solves on only 2 colors: white and yellow. Philipp wasn't the top favorite to win Worlds (Park and Zemdegs were given better chances), but he showed that DN (the 2-color equivalent of CN) is no obstacle to becoming World Champion.

Other DN cubers include Sebastian Weyer (Worlds bronze medalist) and Mats Valk (European Champion). Fun fact: Mats doesn't solve on white and yellow, but on green and orange. Importantly, it's hard to find a great speedcuber who sticks to just 1 color.

Other events

How worthwhile CN is depends on the event. In 2x2x2 it's essential, but in 7x7x7 the difference isn't noticeable.

The faster the event, the more useful CN is. "Speed" can be measured by the world record average.

The 3 fastest events, 2x2x2, Pyraminx and Skewb, are so fast that even 2 moves matter a lot. There aren't many pieces, so choosing a color doesn't take long and shouldn't eat into the time you need to plan the whole solve.

The bigger the NxNxN cube, the less useful color neutrality is. On 4x4x4 it's worth learning, but on bigger cubes you're better off focusing on other parts of your training.

In blindfolded solving, top cubers hold the cube in one orientation of their choice. On the other hand, FM is an event that requires looking at the cube as a whole: you can't ignore a 4-move yellow-blue-red 2x2x2 block just because it has no white pieces. If the same step takes 6 moves at best on white, you can lose 2 moves right at the start.

Megaminx requires CN not only at the start of the solve but also later, especially in S2L. Most of the world's top cubers follow a set pattern, e.g. they always solve yellow only after dark blue, and only then purple.

Summary

On the 3x3x3, learning color neutral isn't essential. Most speedcubers who win major competitions solve on every color, but that doesn't mean you can't become World Champion solving only on white and yellow. It is important to learn DN, because it gives you twice as many options for your cross and first pair.

If you're a beginner and want to solve on every color in the future, start training CN as soon as possible so you don't get used to white or any other specific color. Many cubers have learned color neutrality (Patrick Ponce, mentioned earlier, and also Michał Rzewuski, for example). It took them thousands of solves, because they had spent too long solving on 1 or 2 colors.

Personally, I think switching to CN is worth it. It gives you more options, xcrosses become easier, and fast events or FM attempts are no problem, because color neutrality becomes "natural". In short: CN can help you get better times, but it isn't essential.

Article written by Cyprian Kalbarczyk