The QiYi QiDi S 2x2 Carbon takes the QiDi S, QiYi’s entry-level 2x2 (QiYi is also known as MoFangGe), and dresses it in black stickers with a carbon-fibre texture. At first glance it looks like an almost entirely black cube: the colours of the plastic show mainly along the edges of the pieces.

• BrandQiYi
• Type2x2
• Size50 mm
• MagnetsNo
• FinishCarbon-fibre stickers over coloured plastic

Design

The base is a stickerless cube, meaning the colour is in the plastic itself. On top of that, each face carries black stickers with a carbon-fibre pattern that cover most of the surface. This style, which some shops call phantom, means you have to recognise the pieces by the strip of colour left visible, which changes quite a lot about the way you look at the cube.

How it works

Inside is the QiDi S mechanism: a light, non-magnetic 2x2 that turns easily. In a 2x2 every piece is a corner (eight in total), and it is solved with the same methods as any other cube of this size. As with all 2x2s, it’s best not to force a corner to twist on itself, as a piece can break.

What level is it for?

The mechanism is entry-level, but the decoration makes identifying colours harder than on a normal cube. It tends to appeal most to people who can already solve a 2x2 and want a visual variant or a recognition challenge; for learning from scratch, a stickerless 2x2 with solid colours is clearer.