Learning F2L

Even though, The Easiest Method to Solve the Rubik's Cube is not so bad, if you want to become better, solving the first two layers of the cube with just one step is pretty much a must. Mastering F2L - brief for First 2 Layers - takes some time to learn. Therefore, we will tackle it first on our road to CFOP (Cross, F2L, Orient Last Layer, Permute Last Layer), the method that almost all leading speedcubers use.

Solving the Cross

That is normally not considered part of F2L but there are some things that you should know about it.

Solving the cross is the first step in CFOP and also in our simple method. But that should not fool you into thinking that it is the easiest step. It is actually very hard because - unlike the other steps - there are no fixed recipes for it.

In speedcubing, you have an inspection time (mostly 15 seconds) for analysing the cube. You should use this time for two things:

1. Pick the side to begin with.
2. Plan the cross ahead.

In the beginning, don't waste too much time deciding which side to begin with but rather pick a side that looks promising, that has at least one edge already in place.

Use the rest of the time for calculating the moves necessary for solving the cross. At first, start with planning just one edge, then two, then three, and usually there is no four because one edge is almost always already connected to a centre piece.

Then go ahead! And don't forget that the cross should be at the bottom of the cube. You want to see the parts that are not yet solved, not the solved ones.

Good tutorials on YouTube for solving the cross:

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IWXpkfwimo0&list=PLI24ciRbl8BWbmb42GW5BDinKfKVq79WD (Playlist by J Perm)
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sboeo7DM5PU (ParadoxCubing)

About F2L

Strictly speaking, there are 41 different cases how a corner from the first layer and the corresponding edge from the second layer can be positioned to each other. And you can definitely learn these 41 cases and their respective solutions in the future.

For starters, you should just follow three simple steps:

1. Bring the corner and the edge to the top layer so that they are separated.
2. Position them correctly to each other.
3. Insert them as a pair.

For step 2, you need to know just three basic cases.

We will start with step 2. Yes, funny, but that is easiest to understand. We will also assume that the corner and the edge are already in the top layer and separated.

Now look at the corner piece. Where does the white sticker (the bottom colour sticker) face to? Upwards or towards one side?

Bottom Colour Sticker Facing Upwards

If the bottom colour sticker of the corner faces upwards, proceed like this:

• 1/8: Rotate the upper layer until the side sticker of the edge matches the centre piece.
• 2/8: Tilt the layer with the edge downwards so that the slot where the pair should go, is in the top layer.
• 3/8: Turn the top layer so that the corner sits above the edge. The pair is now connected.
• 4/8: Tilt the layer with the pair back up.
• 5/8: Turn the top layer so that the edge is now on the other side of the slot.
• 6/8: Tilt the layer with the pair downwards.
• 7/8: Turn the top layer so that the side stickers of the pair match the centre piece.
• 8/8: Insert the pair.

Top Stickers of Edge and Corner Match

If the stickers of the edge and the corner facing upwards have the same colour, rotate the cube so that the target slot is facing towards you and proceed as follows:

• 1/8: Turn the top layer so that the corner is not over its slot but you still see the sticker with the bottom colour (here white). Try it out in the other two positions! You no longer see the white sticker!
• 2/8: Hide the corner so that its bottom colour (white) sticker is still visible.
• 3/8: Turn the top layer so that the edge is next to the corner but you can only see the top sticker. Try it out in the other direction! You will see both stickers!
• 4/8: Tilt the layer with the corner back up. The edge and the corner are now connected.
• 5/8: Turn the top layer so that the pair moves over the target slot.
• 6/8: Tilt the layer on the other side so that the target slot moves to the top layer.
• 7/8: Align the pair with the corresponding centre piece.
• 8/8: Insert the pair into its slot.

Top Stickers of Edge and Corner Do Not Match

If the stickers of the edge and the corner facing upwards have different colours, the initial two turns are the same as above but you have to move the edge to a different position.

• 1/8: Turn the top layer so that the corner is not over its slot but you still see the sticker with the bottom colour (here white). Try it out in the other two positions! You no longer see the white sticker.
• 2/8: Tilt the layer parallel to that sticker downwards.
• 3/8: Turn the top layer so that you can see both stickers of the edge but it is not in the same layer as the corner.
• 4/8: Tilt back the layer of the corner.
• 5/8: Turn the top layer so that the corner is over it's slot.
• 6/8: Turn the side layer so that the edge and the corner are connected to a pair.
• 7/8: Align the pair with the corresponding centre piece.
• 8/8: Insert the pair into its slot.

Attention! In 50 % of the cases, the edge is already in the correct distance from its corner. You can then skip the first 5 turns simply "catch" the edge with the corner:

This case is a little bit difficult to describe, and you will often miss it at first glance.

One way to recognise it is to ignore the bottom colour sticker of the corner as if it was an edge. If that edge can be put into the place of the real edge without flipping it, you have that case and you just have to catch the edge with the corner.

Bringing Pieces to the Top Layer

So far, we have only looked at cases where the corner and the edge are already separated in the top layer. But most of the time, either one or both of them are either in one of the other two layers, or they are connected.

You should not really need detailed instructions for solving these cases. Although, they are given here, you should first try to think of a solution yourself, before clicking on the arrow or +-sign for seeing the solution.

Hint! The first three moves of the solution always follow the same pattern: You first tilt one of the side layers so that one "slot" travels to the top layer. Then you turn the top layer. And then you tilt the side layer back into its original position.

The slot that you move must not contain a solved F2L pair. You want to preserve this. Solved means that the edge and the corner match colourwise. If the F2L pair is solved but in the wrong slot, you should first insert it into its right slot before you proceed with the other pairs.

Furthermore, at the end of that maneuvre, you neither want to end up with an incorrectly connected pair or with the other corresponding piece being moved from the top layer to one of the other two layers.

Another hint is to search corners and edges in the top layer, not in the other two layers. That way, you will rather see the good cases, where both corner and edge are already in the top layer, than the bad ones, where you have to bring one or even both of them up to the top layer.

Bring a Corner to the Top Layer

Let's first look at how to bring a corner to the top layer:

You tilt the right layer, so that the corner is in the top layer. Then you move it out of the way, and tilt the right layer back. The corner and the edge are now both in the top layer and not connected. We now have the case, where the sticker in the bottom face colour faces upwards (the white sticker faces upwards).

The complete solve could look like this:

Beware that moving the corner out of the way to the other side would be a mistake because it would be incorrectly connected with the edge:

Boum! The corner and the edge are both in the top layer, but incorrectly connected. That can be fixed but it costs time.

A different case would be this:

The corner and the edge are also not both in the top layer. But the difference to the case above is that they fit and can now be easily inserted. See the complete solve:

However, in the beginning, it is hard to see that the two pieces would end up being correctly connected. In doubt, when you are bringing a piece up, move the corresponding piece out of the way. That may cost a couple of turns but trying to detect the "good" case costs time and probably a couple of failures.

Bring an Edge to the Top Layer

You bring an edge to the top layer in the same fashion:

You should see yourself now that turning the top layer in the other direction would move your corner from the top layer to the bottom again.

Separating Corner and Edge

Again, you need three turns that follow the same fashion: You tilt a side layer, then turn the top layer, and tilt the side layer back to its previous orientation.

Separating in the Top Layer

That should be easy to understand.

You just "cut" the pair by temporarily tilting the corner down.

Separating in the First Two Layer

That should be even easier to understand. You move the corner out of the way and take the edge out:

Pitfalls

The most common error is that in the course of solving an F2L pair, an already solved pair gets destroyed.

There is a simple rule that prevents that: Never bring an already solved pair to the top layer!

Videos

If you like to learn from videos, here is a choice:

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ar_Zit1VLG0 (Full intuitive F2L tutorial by J Perm)
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hx9ZbPdX8zM&t=626s (Another intuitive F2L tutorial by ParadoxCubing)
• https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLI24ciRbl8BUTnnzmJIIn3Ts_6-mKMBP7 (Complete playlist for advanced F2L by )

You can also learn the solution of every possible F2L case, see for example this PDF tutorial by the Australian speedcuber and long-time World Champion Feliks Zumdegs on his excellent website cubeskills.com.

Conclusion

Solving the first two layers - including the initial cross - can be done completely intuitively. But that does not mean that these are the easiest phases in solving the cube. It is actually the other way round. You will find that the cross and F2L are the phases that you struggle with most. That is why we have introduced that first, so that you have time to practise them.

Posts in this Series

This post is part of a "from zero to hero" series of posts about solving the cube. The other parts are:

1. The Easiest Method to Solve the Rubik's Cube
2. Improving the Easy Cube Solving Method
3. Learning F2L
4. Advanced F2L
5. Permuting Corners of the Last Layer
6. Orienting Edges of the Last Layer
7. Orienting Corners of the Last Layer
8. Permuting Edges of the Last Layer

As long as not all posts are written, you can solve the missing step with the algorithms shown in The Easiest Method to Solve the Rubik's Cube.