NAC Prediction Trends: Locks, Toss-Ups, and Chaos Events
The community has made its picks. Now NAC gets to prove them right or wrong.
The NAC 2026 Podium Prediction Challenge is closed, and the community has spoken.
Before competition begins, we wanted to take a look at where the predictions landed.
These are not results, nor are they our official picks.
They are a snapshot of how the community sees each event heading into NAC.
To make the trends easier to follow, we used a simple consensus score:
First-place pick = 3 points
Second-place pick = 2 points
Third-place pick = 1 point
That gives us a cleaner picture than only looking at first-place votes. Some competitors may not have the most win picks, but still appear on almost every podium ballot.
The Biggest Locks
The clearest trend is in blindfolded.
Stanley Chapel was picked first by 100% of respondents in both 4BLD and 5BLD. That is the strongest possible consensus, and easily the most decisive result in the entire prediction challenge.
Tommy Cherry was nearly as dominant in 3BLD, with 97% of first-place picks.
Max Park also received overwhelming support in big cubes. He was picked first by 99% of respondents in 5x5, 98% in 7x7, and 96% in 4x4. Even in 6x6, where Henry Lichner drew more support than in the other big cube events, Max still leads comfortably.
The community may disagree on plenty of events, but it was not overthinking the obvious favorites.
The Closest Races
The tightest event is FMC.
Levi Gibson leads by consensus score, but Brian Johnson is close enough that this feels like the most open event on the board. Chris Chi is also clearly in the mix. With eight other competitors receiving at least one 1st place vote, FMC is less of a one-person race and more of an open discussion.
3x3 One-Handed is also fascinating. Luke Garrett received more first-place picks than Max Park, but Max leads the overall consensus score because he appeared more consistently across podium ballots. Neo Cuares is close enough to make this one of the strongest three-person races in the challenge.
3x3 is the headline event, and the picks reflect that. Matty Hiroto Inaba leads the community consensus, Max Park is close behind, and Luke Garrett is the clear third name in the field. After that, the field drops off quickly.
Event-by-Event Prediction Board
3x3 Cube
Community Favorite: Matty Hiroto Inaba, 41% first-place
Top Five
Matty Hiroto Inaba
Max Park
Luke Garrett
Dylan Miller
Luke Griesser
2x2 Cube
Community Favorite: Sujan Feist, 83% first-place
Top Five
Sujan Feist
Zayn Khanani
Ethan Zhuang
Matias Marcantoni-Nunez
Luke Garrett
4x4 Cube
Community Favorite: Max Park, 96% first-place
Top Five
Max Park
Matty Hiroto Inaba
Luke Garrett
Ari Randers-Pehrson
Henry Lichner
5x5 Cube
Community Favorite: Max Park, 99% first-place
Top Five
Max Park
Henry Lichner
Matty Hiroto Inaba
Arhaan Sareen
Jack Pfeifer
6x6 Cube
Community Favorite: Max Park, 88% first-place
Top Five
Max Park
Henry Lichner
Jack Pfeifer
Omar Ellabban
Kevin Hays
7x7 Cube
Community Favorite: Max Park, 98% first-place
Top Five
Max Park
Omar Ellabban
Jack Pfeifer
Henry Lichner
Ethan Cho
3x3 One-Handed
Community Favorite: Max Park, 36% first-place
Top Five
Max Park
Luke Garrett
Neo Cuares
Brian Johnson
Alejandro Daniel Salceda Corvera
Clock
Community Favorite: Brendyn Dunagan, 60% first-place
Top Five
Brendyn Dunagan
Volodymyr Kapustianskyi
Aaron Jake Wong
Fiona Bao
Alessandro Diomampo
Megaminx
Community Favorite: Alexei Sinyavin, 70% first-place
Top Five
Alexei Sinyavin
Zeke Mackay
Nicolas Naing
Lucas Kuczaj
Matthew Liong
Pyraminx
Community Favorite: Michael Nielsen, 49% first-place
Top Five
Michael Nielsen
Parker Trager
Clem Tucker
Andrew Mao
Simon Kellum
Skewb
Community Favorite: Dominic Redisi, 62% first-place
Top Five
Dominic Redisi
Carter Kucala
Zayn Khanani
Brayden Wroten
Quinn Maloney
Square-1
Community Favorite: Hassan Khanani, 70% first-place
Top Five
Hassan Khanani
Brendyn Dunagan
Max Siauw
Brian Johnson
Ryan Pilat
3BLD
Community Favorite: Tommy Cherry, 97% first-place
Top Five
Tommy Cherry
Noah Swor
Stanley Chapel
Jeff Park
Liam Chen
4BLD
Community Favorite: Stanley Chapel, 100% first-place
Top Five
Stanley Chapel
Tommy Cherry
Graham Siggins
Liam Chen
Joshua Gao
5BLD
Community Favorite: Stanley Chapel, 100% first-place
Top Five
Stanley Chapel
Graham Siggins
Tommy Cherry
Alvin Cheng Hiu Yeung
Noah Swor
FMC
Community Favorite: Levi Gibson, 35% first-place
Top Five
Levi Gibson
Brian Johnson
Chris Chi
Carter Kucala
Krish Shah-Nathwani
MBLD
Community Favorite: Graham Siggins, 61% first-place
Top Five
Graham Siggins
Rowe Hessler
Andrew Tao
Joshua Gao
Stanley Chapel
What Stands Out Most
The community is extremely confident in a few names:
Stanley Chapel in 4BLD and 5BLD.
Tommy Cherry in 3BLD.
Max Park in big cubes.
Sujan Feist in 2x2.
The middle ground is where things get more fun.
Clock has Brendyn Dunagan leading, but Volodymyr Kapustianskyi is still getting serious support.
Skewb has Dominic Redisi ahead, but Carter Kucala is close enough to make it feel like there are two fan favorites.
Pyraminx has Michael Nielsen on top, though Parker Trager is clearly viewed as a major threat.
Then there are the true chaos events.
FMC does not have anything close to a lock. OH has a split between first-place confidence and overall podium consistency. 3x3 has a clear top three, but the order at the top is still very much in play.
That is what makes these prediction challenges fun. Some events feel obvious until they are not. Others look wide open from the start.
The picks are locked.
Now NAC gets to tell us how much the community actually knew.