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Two different Minecraft speedrunners have now accomplished a sub20 minute run in 1.9-1.15, achieving a significant milestone that once stood as a barrier for a considerable amount of time.
For months, Minecraft speedrunners could not break the sub20 minute barrier for Minecraft Any% Random Seed Glitchless in the 1.9-1.15 category.
That has all changed, as recently, two different speedrunners have achieved this impressive milestone. The first to pull this off was a runner named Dimeax, thanks to his exceptional play and strategy.
As speedrunning records often go, a longtime decorated member of the Minecraft speedrunning community named Korbanoes eked out a time that was 15 seconds faster.
This article breaks down this momentous occasion in Minecraft's speedrunning history and discusses what made these sub20 minute speedruns possible.
Disclaimer: This article is likely to become outdated rather quickly, as new speedrunning records are accomplished all the time. The information here reflects what the ladder rankings currently are on speedrun.com as of the date of this article's publication.
Minecraft 1.9-1.15's sub20 minute speedrunning barrier has been shattered twice
For individuals unfamiliar with Minecraft speedrunning, YouTuber Karl Jobst offers a tremendous video explaining the subject and the sub20 minute milestone.
A full article that serves as an introduction to speedrunning in Minecraft can also be found here.
Something that can be tricky about understanding Minecraft speedrunning is that players can pursue multiple different categories.
Minecraft has already been beaten in under 15 minutes by Couriway, but that was completed in the 1.16 version.
Each updated version of Minecraft requires players to pursue different strategies and routes based on what is available to players in the game.
As a note for impressiveness, Korbanoes now holds the world record for Any% Glitchless Random Seed 1.9-1.15 and the second place for 1.16.
In all Minecraft speedruns, players need to get their hands on eyes of ender to activate the End Portal and slay the Ender Dragon. This item can only be crafted by combining ender pearls and blaze powder.
How players get these precious items, particularly ender pearls, is different depending on what version of Minecraft that each runner is playing.
In pre 1.9, Minecraft players need to get ender peals the old fashioned way by killing Endermen mobs. As can likely be guessed, this is an incredibly time-consuming process dependent on both locating them and drop rates.
For the 1.9-1.15 category, players can make use of villager trading changes made in the 1.14 update. Expert-level cleric villagers have the potential to sell ender pearls for emeralds, which players can use as their method for obtaining ender pearls.
In 1.16+, Minecraft players can trade with piglins to get ender pearls. This extremely RNG dependent requirement was, in a way, the root cause of the entire Clay "Dream" cheating scandal.
The available methods in-game for acquiring ender pearls are among the primary reasons why each category of the game has significantly different times for completion.
Hopefully, this sorts out the confusion that interested parties may have with understanding Minecraft speedrunning and the sub20 minute milestone.
The sub20 minute milestone
Dimeax was the first to break the sub20 minute barrier but has since been overtaken by Korbanoes.
To trade with those expert-level cleric villagers to get ender pearls, players need to get their hands on emeralds.
Emeralds are the main source of currency among villagers in Minecraft and are the item that players need to buy ender pearls. To get the emeralds that players required for this, Dimeax acquired a massive amount of wood logs to sell to a different type of villager for emeralds.
Instead of chopping down each tree individually, he utilized TNT that he acquired from a desert temple. This allowed him to save a considerable amount of time. This strategy, along with his high-level play and luck, allowed Dimeax to seize the world record.
However, a brand new strategy for speedrunning in this category has been implemented to great success. Dimeax's reign in the category was ended in a matter of weeks because of it.
Players can use the "pirate strat," which focuses on finding and utilizing shipwrecks, buried treasure, and ocean monuments. This allows them to access an iron pickaxe and get the resources they need at a much faster pace.
As with most speedrunning records, Korbanoes broke the record initially set by Dimeax rather quickly. Only time will tell how much longer it will take for someone to dethrone Korbanoes and claim the world record for themselves.
