The idea: a pair
Understand why F2L is faster: you place a corner and its edge together, instead of doing the second layer after the corners.
Keyboard: Enter to continue, ← to go back. Keep your hands on the cube.
Read whole lesson on one page
With the beginner method, you place the 4 white corners, then the 4 middle edges: 8 small problems. F2L (“First Two Layers”) solves them in pairs: a white corner and the edge that goes right above it, so only 4 problems.
You recognize a pair by its colors: the white-green-orange corner goes with the green-orange edge. Their slot is between the green and orange centers, front-right when you hold green in front.
The work always happens in two stages: bring the two pieces side by side on top, then insert them together in 3 moves. The top is your workbench: you can turn it freely without breaking anything below.
Keep the white cross on the bottom. From now on, you no longer flip the cube after the cross.
Remember: Watch the “Direct insert on the right” animation: R U R' brings the corner and the edge down at the same time. That’s the whole idea.
The cases
- Direct insert on the right: R U R'. Corner top right, white facing right. Edge at the back, green on top.
Troubleshooting
- I don’t know which edge goes with my corner
- Read the corner’s two non-white colors: the edge with exactly those two colors is its partner.
- Do I have to do the cross on the bottom?
- Yes. If it’s still hard, do it on top like before, then flip the cube: you’ll learn the cross on the bottom in the next phase.