Colour Neutrality is king (but not necessarily the best)

Yep, that's right, I don't know for absolute certain that CN is the best, even for 3x3 2H CFOP

"B-but Jay, you just s-said"

Yeah I know what I just said, and I know how ridiculous I sound right now but hear me out

I'm going to hit you with a mostly reasonable counterargument to CN being better than white only for CFOP

Not even white-yellow dual, just basic white cross only

Philipp Weyer, a 3x3 solver from Germany who in the last 2-3 years has really made a big name for himself outside of Europe where he's been a known top dog for many years

As of the time of me writing this, he’s the 3x3 World Champion and also the ER average holder

People often talk about whether or not switching to CN is worth it depending on what your speed is, or whether or not you're coming from single cross only, or dual cross

People will often reference Feliks as "proof" of CN being the best, and to a lesser extent Max Park

Anyways, people generally like to talk a lot more about the benefits of CN

Rarely however do I hear much discussion of the benefits of being used to one colour only 

And I think there are a number of hidden benefits, and these are just the one's I can think of off the top of my head (For reference, I've always been CN and for the most part don't really know what it's like to solve on a fixed colour except for some other events like Megaminx and BLD)

Anyways...

Benefits of CN

• 1. Cross is one move shorter on average

• 2. Your choice of cross isn't limited to one or two sides, giving you anywhere from 4-5 more crosses you can viably use

• 3. #1 and #2 means your ability to plan first pair should be much better than a non CN solver, given that you could feasibly choose a 6 move cross on red that has a better/easier to track first pair than a 6 move cross on white

• 4. Something something cross cross+1 inspection etc etc

Noticing a theme here?

ALL OF THE BENEFITS OF CN STOP EXISTING AFTER THE INSPECTION RELATED PART OF YOUR SOLVE IS OVER

"What does it matter though? Surely the rest of the solve is the same anyways right?"

I really don't think so, and here's why

After watching enough of Philipp's solves, there's one skill I've always noticed he has that other high level solvers really don't have

Near perfect look ahead

Whether it's cross>F2L, F2L>OLL, or OLL>PLL, the dude basically doesn't know what pausing is

Personally I can't help but wonder if only knowing his F2L/LL cases from one colour scheme has given him some higher level recognition filtering skills and cube awareness that CN people simply don't develop

Think about it, when you're a white only solver, it makes sense that you would be a lot more familiar with your 4 F2L pairs

Familiar to the level of knowing how the stickers go around the corner clockwise, and being able to see an F2L corner immediately without even seeing the white sticker

Depending on the angle and the visibility of his yellow pieces, I wouldn't be surprised if after over a decade of white only solving, he's able to find white corners based on one sticker, or by pure deductive reasoning

With CN, it is IMPOSSIBLE to develop this high level of awareness in my opinion

Why not?

Because when you're CN, the way you practice and think about the cube is in terms of "what is easy" when it comes to your inspection...

...and, you filter in terms of "what isn't your LL colour" or "what colours need to go in your F2L"

In order to get that level of awareness with CN, you would need to be doing 100s of solves in a row on one colour only, then switch again, then again etc

I don't even think most dual cross solvers can take advantage of the level of recognition Philipp can

The fact that he uses the brightest colour, white, as his cross, also probably gives him some benefit in that his LL colour is yellow, and because those two colours "pop" much brighter than the other 4, his recognition gets an additional buff

So, what do I think the advantages of one colour only are?

White privileges for single cross CFOP

• 1. Beyond the inspection part of your solve, everything is the same as for a CN CFOP solver except you can take advantage of higher level piece filtering and better recognition, which leads to better and faster look ahead/recognition throughout your entire solve

• 2. Because planning a good cross is much harder for you much earlier on, you're forced to learn how to deal with much worse cross cases on average than a CN solver. Even though your cross is one move worse on average, your ability to deal with bad crosses can be a very real equaliser

Far, far too often I've seen CN solvers who average as low as 12 seconds who are straight up ass at solving cross. They'll be given a scramble with like 4 different 4-6 move crosses and still pick some easy yet sup-optimal bullshit 

I honestly think CN spoils a lot of cubers and stunts their ability to plan a good cross, because they've never really had to actually struggle with a cross often enough for them to want to work on it

Really, CN solvers get handed cross on a silver platter most of the time

So yeah, when it comes to CN vs Dual vs Single, it's a very nuanced topic

Depending on the event things can change very quickly as well. For example, with Fastest-Hand in the Red Bull Tournaments, Bill Wang, a CN CFOP solver said he would only do white cross for the event because inspection was cut

Different parameters can mean the world of difference to what is and isn't viable

Another example I can think of is the Rubik's Nations Cup that was held at 2017 Worlds. In that category you're only given 8 seconds to inspect, and I think it makes sense that on a scramble where nothing stands out at all, it might just be best to default to white

I could go on and on, but I think you get the idea...

...and yet, I still think CN is king

"What the HELL Jay?!?!"

Yep, CN is king because adaptability is king

I don't think we're ever going to fully "solve" whether CN vs nonCN is best for every individual category any time soon

However one thing that is very anecdotally well known is that switching from one colour cross to CN after a certain point is basically impossible

Legitimately, it's harder for someone to go from one colour to also solving on the opposite, than it is for someone to go from true dual neutral all the way to CN

Patrick Ponce and Seung-Hyuk Nahm are living proof, as both went from Dual>CN after already being sub 8 official for average

Philipp on the other hand, as far as I can tell, is still slightly worse on yellow despite practicing it for many months after Euro2018

(For reference, Patrick has stated that a week of 1000 CN solves per day for a WEEK was enough for him to switch to CN)

Adaptability is king

If somehow the WCA fails and Red Bull comps take over, and inspection rules change drastically, I'll be able to adapt if CN is no longer the best

Will you?