Virginia, USAThis is not really a strategy, per se, but it is definitely a way to save time. I discovered it during my last run, and while I am yet to submit a run with the new trick, I thought I would share.
Upon entering the Church, generally you have to wait about five-ish seconds for the text to come up, and only after can you advance to the key in the box. But what I have discovered is that when the level is loading in, the landmark next to the box becomes active for 1-2 seconds. While the screen is still black, you can travel to the box and spend the wait time taking out the key.
The trick is a bit difficult to hit, since you're doing it blindly, but there's an easy and effective setup to nail it relatively consistently. When you first load into the Church, you're facing at an angle to the gate where the key goes, as long as you don't drastically move your head from the time you line up the note in the Null. For reference, the gate is at about 11 o'clock relative to you. The landmark next to the box is around 10:30, so as soon as the pastor disappears while in the Null, you should have your arm extended in that position and you should be pushing forward on the joystick. Then, move your wrist around until you get haptic feedback: when the controller buzzes, you've found it, so immediately let go of the stick.
Granted, this should only save a couple seconds at best, but looking at the leaderboards these runs are getting really optimized, so it might become important later on. Hopefully this isn't a trick people already knew about, and hopefully someone finds it useful!
