Introduction
This blog is a brief improvement guide for the most important step in 3x3 CFOP solving: F2L
My experience as a coach has shown me what mistakes cubers at every level make, from turning mistakes to bad solutions, and I’ve helped many cubers overcome their hurdles and improve in F2L. I will be briefly sharing my knowledge in this blog for cubers of all levels.
This guide will be divided into 3 parts: Beginner (someone who has just learnt F2L), Intermediate (for cubers comfortable with F2L all the way till sup-15), Advanced (for cubers sub-15 and beyond).
However, I would recommend everyone to read the full blog as you will find something of value in each paragraph.
1. Beginner
Practice
This is the first and most important tip for someone who has just learned F2L. It is very important to do lots and lots of solves, preferably without a timer. This kind of practice helps you think, follow the steps properly and do the correct moves to solve your F2L, instead of putting you in panic mode due to a running timer. Do not worry if you are slower than you used to be before learning F2L, as this is part of the process.
Fundamentals
Many cubers try to piece together F2L on their own after learning a few basics, or by watching a tutorial just once. However, it is very important that you watch a tutorial at least once a day when you start learning, as your F2L basics need to be completely sound.
Even for a faster solver, this tip is useful, as I have seen many sub-15 solvers do long, drawn out solutions for cases which can be done quicker with a beginner’s F2L approach.
Finger tricks
Something I have noticed in beginner solvers is that they tend to change their grip everytime they need to do an R or L’ move. This is a mistake, and you should be doing R and L’ moves starting from home grip and using your other hand that is not doing the R/L turn to turn the U layer using flicks.
It is also important to learn the relevant finger tricks that will help you with this like double flick U2s and F2s with both hands and pinch turning for U and F moves. Pinch U moves are especially helpful for triggers like R U R’. An alternative for pinch U moves is the push U move with your left index. You need to use both alternatively depending on the situation and which fingers are free.
2. Intermediate
Optimize Solutions
Once you have done lots of solves and gotten a hang of F2L, it is important you refine your F2L by learning new solutions for pairs that usually take you many moves to solve. You can find tons of resources for this online, including YouTube videos. Once you find a good way to solve a case, you must learn it thoroughly, practice it and solve that case using your new algorithm each time you encounter it, even if it means getting a slower time at first due to a long recognition time.
While at first it may seem that there are too many cases in F2L to be able to memorize every solution, it is important to know that F2L doesn’t work like other alg-sets. The solutions are short and mostly intuitive, and slowly, brick-by-brick, your knowledge gets built, and you barely realize when you are done refining all your algorithms.
Keyhole
The Keyhole technique is very useful for when you have one piece of the F2L pair already solved and the other piece is in the top layer. This only works when you have an empty F2L slot somewhere else on the cube. The principle is to move that empty slot over, solve your F2L piece into its correct spot and then re-adjust the slot to solve your pair. It never takes more than 6 moves to solve a pair like this.
Solving pairs in the back
Once you are comfortable with your pair solutions for front slots, you need to be able to translate those solutions to slots in the back as well, and solve pairs into those slots as much as possible. This technique helps immensely with lookahead.
Solving pairs in the back gives you a much better look at what’s going in the front of the cube, where most of your other F2L pieces will be and help you transition to the next pair smoothly.
Look Ahead
Look Ahead, in my opinion, is one of the two most important aspects of F2L, the other being good turning. Let’s start by understanding what it means. As the name suggests, you need to be looking ahead to the next part of the solve instead of what you are currently solving, and that’s basically it.
A prerequisite of this technique ties into some points covered earlier in this blog. You must have a fixed way of solving each F2L case, and you must have practiced it to a point where you must be able to do the correct moves as soon as you see the case, and you don’t have to look at the 2 pieces while solving them. This allows you to look at other pieces and notice how they are moving around the cube.
You can practice solving single cases blindfolded to build your confidence with solutions. Once you get good with that, you can practice solving multiple pairs at once while blindfolded to improve your tracking skill.
3. Advanced
First pair
At the top level, Cross and F2L start blending into each other. So whenever you are not planning an X-cross, you need to plan your first F2L pair at the very least. This is especially important for breaking barriers like sub-10. So if you are not predicting your first pair already, start by giving yourself unlimited inspection time to do so. It may take a while at first, and you may even get it wrong lots of times, but once again that is part of the process.
Edge Orientation
In F2L, an oriented edge is one which can be solved into its correct spot without using the moves F, F’, B or B’, meaning it can be solved using ergonomic R U and L moves without rotating.
Being able to identify these edges quickly helps you choose the correct pairs to solve first and saves you from rotating. Understanding EO is also very important for pseudoslotting.
Pseudoslotting
Pseudoslotting is a technique that combines the principles of keyhole and edge orientation to help you solve two unrelated pieces at once, often eliminating the need to do an entire pair. This is a very advanced technique and it is important to know how and when to use it if you plan to learn it.
That’s all for this blog. Hope you explore these tips to reach your full potential in F2L.
Happy Cubing!
