Rubik F2L

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This page is dedicated to solving the first 2 layers of the Rubik's cube.

Resources

• Bob Burton's F2L cases - cubewhiz.com
• Badmephisto's guide for F2L

• Tutoriel : Résoudre les F2L intuitivement - Youtube.com, Victor Colin

Intro

This page is dedicated to solving the first two layers of the Rubik's cube, after making the cross on the D face.

The principle is to always fall back in one of the 4 basic cases. A basic case is one that requires only 3 moves to solve:

• Case /R1/: R U' R' and case /L1/: L' U L (mirror)

Pair next to each other, horizontal and left (right) of target slot.

• Case /R2/: R U R' and case /L2/: L' U' L (mirror)

Corner above target slot, edge on UB. Corner white sticker facing right (left), front sticker same as edge up sticker.

Notes:

• Always put the corner above the slot, and solve from the right side first, then switch to left if necessary.
• In algorithm below, whitespaces indicate that we reached a basic case.
• We can always replace U2 R U' R' with U sledgeR'.
• Case solve are coded for fast reference. (R2, BR) means we want to get a basic case /R2/ by bringing the corner above BR corner. (R2, BR, rot) means we aim at obtaining a /R2/ case by using the BR corner, but this time with rotation of the corner; this means that the corner is moved above the BR corner not using a U move (followed by R ... R' that would preserve orientation of the corner), but with a R moves that changes orientation of the edge. So rot indicates that the solves change the F2L family.

We follow Bob's Burton classification.

Corner correct, edge not placed

01		(FR) (R' F R F') (R U' R' U) (R U' R' U2) (R U' R') (no rotation) (FR) (R U' R' U) y' (R' U2 R U'2) (R' U R) (faster, on GAN 356i) {{blue|note we do y', not y, because faster)
02		(FR) U R U' R' y U' L' U L y' (FR) FASTER Using inverse SH U R U' R' F R' F' R no y but re-grip (FR) (U R U R') (U' F' U' F) small re-grip (FR) (U R U' R') U2 (l R U' R' U l') no regrip (FL) (BR) FASTER (R U R U) R (U' R' U' R') TRAINME (See 2:30) (BL)	(FR) This move is called Le Belge. (FR) A faster option using an inverse sledgehammer, but requires a small regrip. (FR) (FR) (FL) (BR) (BL)
03		(FR) FAST (no y / y') (R U' R' U') (R U' R' U) (R U R') (see VC T4 15:35) (FR) FASTER (no y / y') [U'] (R' F R F') (R U R') (see VC T4 17:01) (FR) (R' U' R' U') (R' U R U) (FL) U' L' U L y' U R U' R' y (FL) FASTER Using inverse SH U' L' U L F' L F L' no y but re-grip (BR) (BL) FASTER (L' U' L' U') L' (U L U L) TRAINME (See 2:30)	(FR) (standard grip, LH pushes 2nd U) R U' R' to create a known F2L case (#29). (FR) (standard grip, RH index and thumb pulls the U) With a sledgehammer. (FR) Few moves but not fast because lots of regrip with the many R'. (FL) This move is called Le Belge (left). Mirror of 02. (FL) Mirror of 02. (BR) (BL)

Edge correct, corner slot free

• Case 05 can be easily inserted from any angle without cube rotation.

04		sexy sexy sexy	This is different from case 15 because corner and edge color mismatch.
05		FR: y U L' U L U2' L' U L y' FR: Faster, no y / y' U R U R' U2 R U R' FL: Faster, no y / y' U L' U L U2' L' U L BR: Faster, no y / y' U R' U R U2' R' U R BL: Faster, no y / y' U L U L' U2' L U L'	FR: (L1, FL) Get a /L1/ using FL corner, and U then L' move. FR: Create a /R2/ with U R. The rest follows naturally. FL: alt using sledge: U L' U L L F' L' F, F with thumb) BR: BL:
06		FR: U' R U' R' U2 R U' R' FL: BR: BL:	FR: (R1, BR) Get a /R1/ using BR corner. FL: BR: BL:

Corner in first layer twisted clockwise

White sticker on FRONT / RIGHT face

• First move edge on its color, then
  • If white sticker is on the SAME face → use a double sexy or sexyL.
  • If white sticker is on DIFFERENT face → use a TRUNCATED double sexy' or sexyL' , where first UP rotation is skipped.
• Cases are identified by the visible colors on corner and lateral color on the edge. This is useful when solving the F2L in the wrong slot.

07
08		(R F) U (R U' R' F') (U' R') (GAN 356i) (inverse RH grip so that to do 1st F with RH, and 1st U with LH)
09		y sexyL sexyL y'	col-white F-col — (alt. U2 R U' R' y L' U' L y')
10		R U' R sexy' (best grip, RH: front/back, index to prepare for U)	white-col1-col2 — (alt. R U' R' R' F R F' or y L' U2 L y' R U2 R')

Corner in first layer twisted counter-clockwise

White sticker on FRONT / RIGHT face

• First move edge on its color, then
  • If white sticker is on the SAME face → use a double sexy or sexyL.
  • If white sticker is on DIFFERENT face → use a TRUNCATED double sexy' or sexyL' , where first UP rotation is skipped.
• Cases are identified by the visible colors on corner and lateral color on the edge. This is useful when solving the F2L in the wrong slot.

11
12
13		y L' U L sexyL' y'	col2-col1-white — (alt. R U R' U' F R' F' R)
14		sexy sexy	col-white R-col — (alt. U2 L' U L y' R U R')

Corner in U-layer with cross-color on U-face

Not touching cases

There are four such cases. Get a basic base by

1. bring edge to its color
2. raise empty slot
3. bring corner above the edge, then
4. turn back slot.

15		R U' R' y L' U2 L Faster, FR: U' R' F R F' R U' R' Fast!!!, FR: R U' l U' R' U l' (LH thumb on U, 1st U' with R thumb). Faster, FL: Faster, BL: L U' L' y' L' U2 L (B with RH index). Faster, BR: R' U R' F R F' R	Get the pair out, then reinsert (alt. R U2' R' U' F R' F' R') FR: U', then connect with SH, then insert. FR: a combo R U' R' + l R U' R' U l' (Victor's video 7) FL: left SH, or y', the subcase FR above. BL: Victor's formula. BR: This is usual code. Victor uses R' U R d' R U' R' (d' = U' y).
16		FR: [y] L' U2 L U (L' U' L) FR: (R' F R F') (R U' R') (U R U' R') (no rotation!) FL: [U] L' U2 L U (L' U' L)	Orient correctly edge with SHR, then create a pair with (R U' R') (L2, FL, rot) create a /L2/ case by using BL corner with y L' move, and U2.
17		FR: y U L' U L U y' R U R' (R' F R F') FR: Faster R U R' U2' sexy sexy FR: Faster [U2] (R2 U2') (R' U' R U' R2') FR: Fastest sexy' (U' R U' R') sexy' TRAINME BL: Faster [U2] (L2 U2') (L' U' L U' L2')	FR: (LLLU1, FL) idem, fall-back using BL corner (with y U then L' ). FR: perso, using sexy moves. This is in fact reverse of case 26 (with the extra finishing U'). FR: Source: Bob Burton FR: Perso, very easy and fast. Ideally the first U' should be optimized out. BL: Source: Bob Burton
18		y U' L' U2 L L F' L' F y'	Not touching case — see above.
19		U2 R U R' R' F R F'	Not touching case — see above.
20		R U2' R' U' (R U R')	(R2, BR, rot) create a /R2/ case by using BR corner with R move, and U2.
21		FR: U' R U' R' U' y L' U' L (L F' L' F) FR: Fastest (U' R U R') (R' F R F') (R U' R') First U with LHTRAINME FR: F U (R U' R' F') (R U' R') (GAN 356i) TRAINME	FR: FR: Something I found, very easy. To setup, do inverse and mirror of case 17. My current fav. FR: Algo proposed on GAN 356i, might be faster than my favorite above. (LLBU2, BR) fall-back to case 22 using BR corner with U' then R, .
22		U R U2' R' R' F R F'	Not touching case — see above.
23		y U2' L' U' L L F' L' F y'	Not touching case — see above.

Corner in U-layer with cross-color on R-face

24		FR: y U L' U' L y' U' R U R' FR: Faster, no y / y' : U2 R' F R F' U2 R U R' TRAINME FL: Fast, standard grip, no regrip: [U2] L' U L' R B L B' M' BR: BL:	FR: (R2, FL) Get a /R2/ case using FL corner, and U then L' move. FR: Using a sledgehammer. First U² with LH, 2nd with RH. FL: BR: BL:
25		FR: L' U L THIS IS WRONG FL: BR: BL:	FR: (L1) We directly have a basic case /L1/ FL: BR: BL:
26		FR: y' U R' U2 R y U' R U R' FR: faster R U' R' U + case 06 (except 1st U') (no regrip) TRAINME FR: sexy' U' sexy sexy (with last U' optional) FR: (R U R' U) (R' F R F') (R U R' U') (with last U' optional) FL: BR: BL:	FR: (R2, FL) We want to get a /R2/ case. We can with FL corner (or y U L' U2 L U' y' R U R') FR: This is actually inverse of my variant for #17, with init. U moves optimized out. Standard grip. FR: Perso FR: Another perso w/o cube rotation FL: BR: BL:
27		FR: y' U R' U2 R U' U' R' U R y FL: BR: BL:	FR: (L1, FL) (alt: y U L' U2 L U' L F' L' F y'). FL: BR: BL:
28		FR: U' R U R' U R U R' FL: BR: BL:	FR: (R2, BR): we need to shift our edge by a single U move FL: BR: BL:
29		FR: U' R U' R' U R U R' FL: BR: BL:	FR: (R2, BR) we get a /R2/ case using BR corner and U' R move FL: BR: BL:
30		FR: R U' R' U2 y L' U' L y' FR: (R U' R' U) (R' F R F') (U' R U R') TRAINME FL: BR: BL:	FR: (L2, BR, rot) we get a /L2/ case using BR corner and R U' move FR: FL: BR: BL:
31		FR: R U R' FL: BR: BL:	FR: (R2): this time we directly get a /R2/ FL: BR: BL:
32		FR: y' U R' U' R U' U' R' U R y FL: BR: BL:	FR: (L1, FL): Here the best is to solve FR then send it to BR (alt: y' U R' U' R U' y F R' F' R or y U L' U' L U' L F' L' F y'). FL: BR: BL:

Corner in U-layer with cross-color on F-face

33		Setup:(R' F R F')(R U' R' U) U FR: U' R U R' U y L' U' L FR: Look fast, but badU2 R U R' F R' F' R FR: Faster, no y / y' [U'] (R' F R F') U2 (R U' R' U) (R U R') FL: Faster, no y / y' U2' L F' L' F U2' L' U' L BR: BL:	FR: (L2, BR) goal is to get a /L2/ using BR corner. FR: Using a SHL to insert the basic case, but SHL is actually hard to do. FR: We need a SHR to invert parity of the edge *and* the corner, then we obtain an easy case. FL: Obvious solution. The corner is well-oriented for a basic insertion, but we need a SH to invert parity of the edge. BR: BL:
34		FR: y U L' U L U' L' U' L FL: BR: BL:	FR: (R2, FL) we use FL corner to get a /L2/ FL: BR: BL:
35		FR: y L' U L U2' y' R U R' FR: (F' U F) U2' (R U R'), shortest FR: (R U R') (U2 R U' R') (U R U' R'), FAST + edge control! (Normal grip, 1st U with LH), TRAINME FR: R U' R' U' R U' R' (U R U' R') (U R U' R') Very FAST + standard grip! FR: R U' R U2' R2' U' R2 U' R2 RH like sexy move, LH grip to prepare the U2' as usual FR: R U R U2' R2' U' R2 U' R' U R' FL: BR: BL:	FR: (R2, FL, rot) we use FL corner to get a /R2/. This is the intuitive solution. FR: Same as above, but without y y' rotations. Shortest solution (7 moves). FR: Use this variant to avoid a dot OLL. Setup with (R U R' U') (R U R' U') (U' R U' R') FR: Actually R U' R' U2' then 3 sexy moves. Very fast and standard grip. FR: Shortest formula in RU (9 moves), but not standard grip. FR: Longer variant of previous formula, but probably faster. The start (R U R U2') is faster than {R U' R U2')The last (R' U R') can be done in one move like the R2 in formula above. FL: BR: BL:
36		FR: y L' U' L FL: BR: BL:	FR: (L2) We directly have a /L2/. FL: BR: BL:
37		FR: U' R U2 R' U2 R U' R' FL: BR: BL:	FR: (R1, BR). FL: BR: BL:
38		FR: U R U' R' FL: BR: BL:	FR: (R1) we have directly a basic case /R1/. FL: BR: BL:
39		FR: U' R U2 R' U y L' U' L FL: BR: BL:	FR: (L2, BR) Get a /L2/ using BR corner. FL: BR: BL:
40		FR: U' R U R' U2 R U' R' FL: BR: BL:	FR: (R1, BR) Get a /R1/ using BR corner. FL: BR: BL:
41		FR: y U L' U' L U' L' U' L FL: BR: BL:	FR: (L2, BR) Because U color are different, goal is to get a /L2/ case here using BR corner (alt. U' R U' R' U y L' U' L). FL: BR: BL:

Special cases

36U		FR: r' R2 U' R' U M'	FR: The first r' creates the pair, then next moves insert it.
36U'		FR: (R' F R F')(U' R U R')	FR: The SHR inverts parity of edge and creates a basic case. The last trigger inserts it.

• (U) R' U' R2 U R2 U' R (see [1] 01:38, itself from cyotheking [2]).

Tips

• When edge + corner are on the 1st and 2nd layer,
  • Pull them off with a sexy move if the edge is (R U R' U) correctly oriented;
  • Pull them off with a sledgehammer (R' F R F') if the edge is not correctly oriented;

Indeed, the SH is necessary in order to swap the parity of the F2L edge.

• A pair can be inserted w/o cube rotation using RU or LU moves only and only if edge top color (when on U face) matches the Front face color.

All other cases either require a cube rotation, or a move using F face (or R face).

This rule can be used to quickly see if a pair can be inserted without cube rotation.

This works for all cases! So if edge is on the 2nd layer, bring it up to U face such that to satisfy rule above either with a RU/LU move or a sledgehammer. An other solution is to use E moves

Tutorials

Tutoriel F2L avancés - Partie 1 (déconjugaison intelligente)

• Déconjugaison intelligente

Tutoriel F2L avancés - Partie 2 (Insertions sous différents angles)

• Avoid y2 moves, but solve the F2L cases as is (with empty slots in the back).

This is true for all "base" cases, both contiguous and not.

• y and y' is ok. When choosing between both, favor the one that leads to R and U moves.

For instance, better do y' R' U R than y L' U L to insert a base case.

Tutoriel F2L avancés - Partie 3 (Utilisation des slots libres)

• Use free slots

Tutoriel F2L avancés - Partie 4 (Eviter les rotations y et y')

• Goal of this part: Avoid y and y' move whenever possible.
• Introduce another commutator, the sledgehammer: R' F R F'

F' move must be done with the right thumb!

• Case: R U' R y L' U2' L y', white sticker UP, FR corner.

Subcase FR. Use sledgehammer U' R' F R F' R U' R'

Subcase FL. Use left sledgehammer, or y' then subcase FR above.

Subcase BL. Use L U' L' y' L' U2 L. Or sledgehammer also possible, but with re-grip (B with right hand index).

Subcase BR. Usual solution is R' U R' F R F' R, but R' U R y U' R U' R' (U' while y) is also ok.

• Case: U y L' U' L U' y' R U R'

Avoid cube rotation with sledgehammer: U2 R' F R F' U2 R U R'

• Case: U y L' U L U2' L' U L y'

Can be inserted from any angle. Either pick contiguous base case or separated.

If corner in FR or BL: U R U R' U2 R U R' or U L U L' U2' L U L'.

If corner in FL or BR: U L' U L U2' L' U L (alt using sledge: U L' U L L F' L' F, F with thumb) or U R' U R U2' R' U R

• Case: corner on D face

See my shortcuts above with sexy moves above.

• Case: le Belge

When corner in FRD, and correct edge on UR, two solutions:

• R U' R' U' R U' R' U R U R' (grip: LH F/B, index doing all U' and first U, RH U/D, index 2nd U) (R U' R' to create a known F2L case)
• U' R' F R F' R U R' (with a sledgehammer)

Tutoriel F2L avancés - Partie 7 (Eviter les regrips et les rotations de cube)

• r' U' R U M' (to solve L U L' U' y, normally solved with d L U' L)
• r' R2 U' R' U M' (to solve L' U L U y', normally solved with d' L' U' L)
• l R U' R' U l' (grip: LH thumb U face) (to solve L' U2 L y', normally solved with y' R U2 R')

Reverse formula, l U' R U R' l' (grip: LH thumb U face, RH thumb D face, or better LH thumb U face first, then U done by pushing with right ring finger, and U R' l' is executed like U R2' in the Ub PLL perm), is an alternative to R U R' U R U' R', where 2nd U must be done by pushing with left index.

• TRAINME — Sometimes a mere d or d' is the easiest way to get an easy pair to insert (instead of all the other tricks given here). But should see which one is the fastest.
• TRAINME — Insertion with F U' F' or F' U' F. Note that Victor does not like the left mirror, and instead do a d or d'.

Android - Fridrich Solver (Algorithms summary)

• This app shows solutions for all F2L cases.
• FAST: Use d and d' move instead of y' U or y U'. This happens extremely frequently, and is very useful to solve pair in any slot without turning the cube.

Fridrich F2L: Going Slow and Looking Ahead (PCwizCube)

• Do not pause! Turn slow instead and look aheak for the next pair (it's better to run slow without pause than racing like crazy with pause, The Turtle and The Hare).
• Always follow the next pair when solving the current pair. Your eyes must never follow the current pair.
• Dan Knights' quote: While solving the first two layers, pause halfway through inserting the first pair. Find the second pair, and then force yourself to watch the second pair as you allow your hands to complete the first pair. Repeat with the remaining pairs. The most important part is that your eyes are physically tracking other pieces on the cube, instead of the pieces you are solving.
• Use a metronome (http://www.metronomeonline.com/). Set it on 60 beats per second. Turn a face (1/4) on every beat, never missing one. Then when feeling confident, gradually increase the frequency, like 72/s, then 84/s, 96/s, etc).