Author: Terence Kwok
Time: October 24th, 2020
The year of 2020 has been a double-edged sword for the world of speedcubing. The COVID-19 pandemic has heavily affected the cubing world with all World Cube Association (WCA) competitions cancelled for 3 months and many major championships cancelled. However, the lack of competition and increase of time for other cubing related things has led to the increased innovation of many new puzzles. Today I will be talking about my 3 favourite releases of 2020.
Firstly, I have to give it to the Dayan Tengyun V2 M. Dayan went above and beyond with this cube. The Tengyun V2 is both speedy and smooth but still maintains stability. It has a great customisation system with tension adjustment, spring adjustment and magnet strength adjustment. At 30 USD, this cube can be customised to fit a wide variety of turning styles and the quietness of this cube is also remarkable. I am able to turn quickly without hearing any loud sounds and this cube is great for cubing in public when you don't want to disturb anyone. The corner-cutting of this cube is the best I've ever experienced and pretty much cuts at anywhere, even at a tight tension setting. This cube was my main for a period of time before I received...
The Meilong Magnetic 3X3 from Moyu's Mo Fang Jiao Shi is my second pick for the top 3 releases of 2020. 7 USD for this?? This cube is absolutely phenomenal! This cube turns really smoothly, and is super controllable! Although it's not as speedy as the Tengyun V2 M, it's still definitely able to hold up when you spam TPS on it! Although this cube does not have much customisation options, I find the factory spring and magnet strengths are already suitable and there is not much need for much changing. The only downside is the corner cutting is slightly less and sometimes (extremely rarely) the cube catches. However, this is most definitely made up for by this cube's amazing performance and I'm also a massive fan of the signature soft feeling of the cube. Everyone is super impressed by the RS3M 2020, but honestly? I find that cube too snappy and uncontrollable and this cube to be a much better pick. I can't believe Moyu pulled this off and sold it for only 7 USD! This cube is my current main over the Gan XS, Moyu WRM, and countless others and although it may not be for everybody, I love it and I think it's brilliant!
Ah. The Moyu MFJS RS4 M. What an amazing puzzle. Although this cube received negative reviews from The Cubicle, I personally think this cube's speed and fluidity is unparalleled by other 4x4s, most definitely budget ones. This cube costs 15USD but became my main only one day after I received it, over the MGC 4, Valk 4 and Aosu GTS 2M. This cube has insane corner-cutting and this cube just seems to flow really well between turns. I rarely lock up on this cube and pops are basically nonexistent. This cube has that unique soft feeling from the Meilong 3X3 M and in my opinion might actually be the best 4x4, matched only by the Aosu WRM or GTS2M. The only problem I have is its size/weight. It comes in at around 61mm and at a hefty 180g, more than 50g heavier than the MGC. I would have personally preferred a slightly smaller (0.5mm smaller) and a lot lighter (>50g lighter) but honestly, for 15 USD I can't find another cube more worth it.
As you can see, 2/3 of my favourite cubes of 2020 are budget cubes, and my 3x3, 4x4 and OH mains are all budget cubes. This leaves me feeling really hopeful for the future of speedcubing product prices, and I hope that companies like Gan will have their prices slowly start to go down to match these budget cubes with similar performance. Hopefully, you enjoyed my review, and I wish you the best of luck in your Cubing endeavours
