What’s next in your speedcubing journey?
To solve more efficiently you can solve a first layer corner and middle layer edge together rather than in two separate steps. This is called F2L which is short for First Two Layers.
This process is intuitive meaning you can figure it out through trail and error.
The process is as follow:
- Move a corner and edge in the top layer if they are not already there.
- Pair the edge and corner together without disturbing other completed pairs.
- Insert the pair into the correct position (F2L Slot)
At a beginner level there are three cases for F2L
Case1: The corner and edge pair has two different colours facing up. This is the easiest case and can be paired and inserted in only three moves! (3 move insert.)
Case2: The corner and edge pair has the same colours facing up. In the picture orange is facing up for both the corner and edge.
Case3: The corner has the white side facing up.
For all the cases above the algorithms used will not disturb any other parts of the first two layers. You can pair and insert quicker depending on how many F2L slots you have completed and where the empty F2L slots are. This process is intuitive and you will probably make mistakes along the way. Be patient and have fun with this concept.
F2L can be executed intuatively or you can learn the F2L Algorithms.