If you want to transition from
The Beginner's method to CFOP, the go-to speedcubing method,
it means you have to learn F2L. F2L is the step where you solve the
first two layers simultaneously. Initially, it will be super difficult, but
once you get used to it, and I promise you will, your times will get much faster
because F2L requires a lot fewer moves. F2L is the second step of the CFOP method, so
make sure you already know how to solve a cross. When we're doing F2L, we want to solve
two pieces simultaneously into their slot. This is a slot. This is a slot. This is a slot. And this is a slot. As you can see, this slot is solved. This is our end goal for each of the four slots. Now, a corner edge pair is a corner which
has the cross color in it, like this one, and its matching edge, which are the remaining
colors green and orange, which is right here. So these two pieces would be
a matching Corner Edge pair. One quick tip: F2L pieces
never have yellow in them, so you can kind of forget about all of
the yellow pieces when you're doing F2L. The entire idea of F2L is to
find matching Corner Edge pairs, like these two pieces, and to
turn them into an "easy insert." Right now, we have an easy insert that we just
solve into its slot so both pieces are solved. Don't worry if you don't get this
yet because this entire video will talk about all the techniques you need to do this. But let's first take a look at these
easy inserts we're trying to create. There are four possible cases we want to set
up to, and they're all very simple to solve. The first one is this one right here,
and we call this a "right pair." The reason it's a right pair is because
when we face a slot where it needs to go, the side colors match to the right side. If that happens, we hold that pair
to the right and do U R U' R'. That solves this pair. But let's try to make this
case a bit more intuitive. We push the pair aside so that we can
open the slot where it needs to go, we insert it, and we close it again. Just like that. Now the second case is a "left pair," and
we see that because the left side matches. This time we hold it to the left
and do the same thing: U' L' U L. A bit more intuitive: put it to the side, open the slot where it needs to go,
insert the pair, and realign the cross. The third pair we're going
to call the "right insert." We have this blue-red corner above
the spot where it needs to go, and we have the matching
edge right here in the back. Now notice that we have
different colors facing up. This is red, and this is blue. Because white faces to the right, we
hold it to the right and we do R U R'. That solves the two pieces. Let's try to make this a bit more intuitive. We hold it to the right. Now the first turn, the R move, already
makes the pair, and we're in a position right now where we can just insert a
pair with one move and realign the cross. And finally, we have the "lefty insert." We have the blue-red corner above
the spot where it needs to go again, and this time the matching edge is right here. Different colors facing up. Because white faces to the left, we
hold it to the left and we do L' U' L. And that solves the two pieces. A bit more intuitive this time:
first turn this into a pair, insert it where it needs to
go, and realign the cross. Sometimes when you're doing F2L, you will already
find one of these cases, for example right here. Going to the correct spot, I have a right pair, so we can just insert it the
way that I showed before. It will happen pretty often because right
now these two pieces, if I bring the corner to its correct spot, is also a case
we've seen before: a righty insert. But more often than not, we have to turn
corner edge pairs into an easier insert. Now step one to do that is to get both
pieces into the top layer and disconnected. For example, this corner edge pair. I can work with these two because they're
both in a top layer and they're disconnected. But this corner edge pair, the blue-orange one, I cannot work with yet because
they're not both in a top layer. If you have a corner edge pair both in a top
layer disconnected, work with those first. But I'm going to show you what you
need to do if that's not the case. For example, these two. If there's an edge in the middle layer
and the corner is in the top layer, you just hold the edge on the right side, put
the corner in the front left, and do R U R'. This takes both pieces into the top layer. This is actually pretty intuitive
because we just put the edge up, take it out of its slot, and realign the cross. If the edge is in the top layer and the corner is
in the bottom layer, we hold the edge to the left, right here, and we do the same moves: R U R',
or just intuitively taking out the corner. This puts both pieces into the top layer. If your corner edge pair is stuck in the first
two layers and they're not solved yet, we don't do R U R' because this way we'll just take
out the pair and they will still be connected. Instead, what we do is R U' R'. This also takes both pieces into the
top layer, but now they're disconnected. And finally, what do you do if your corner
edge pair are connected in the top layer? Well, you just hold the corner on the right side,
make sure it's above a slot that isn't solved yet, like this green-orange pair is not
solved yet, and we can do R U2 R'. This keeps both pieces in the top
layer, but they're disconnected now. This also works if the edge
is on the left of the corner. So, corner on the right, R U2 R'. And now both pieces are
disconnected in the top layer. So let's now finally take a
look at how we can use these corner edge pairs in the top layer
and turn them into an easy insert. Well, the first step is looking where
the corner edge pair needs to go. Right now I'm working with the blue-orange pair, which needs to go in between the
orange and blue center right here. Then we take a look at the corner. Either white, or the cross color, faces
to one of the sides, or it can face up. If white faces to the side, we hold
the corner above the slot where it needs to go and turn the upper layer once
so that we can still see the cross color. I can still see white right now, so turning it
this direction is wrong because, where is white?? I don't know. So once again, turning it once, and then we take
a look at the top colors of the corner edge pair. Right now both are orange. If they are the same color,
we want to create a pair. In other words, we want to bring
this edge next to the corner. The way we do this is by bringing down
the corner by putting the slot up, and this way this corner is
safe in the bottom layer. We can turn the upper layer and
put the piece where it needs to go. If I now realign the cross,
we have created the pair, and we know how to solve this pair
because we've seen that before. Ta-da! So let's do a quick example for the other side. Matching corner edge pieces
in top layer right here. I put the corner above the
spot where it needs to go. We turn the upper layer once so that
I can still see the white color. Now looking at the pieces we're solving:
the top colors are the same color, so I want to bring the edge next to the corner. I can bring the corner down this
time using the left side like so, put the edge next to it,
and bring the corner back. This creates a pair, and
because the left side matches, it's a left pair, which I can solve like so. But what if the top colors are not the same? Well, once again, we put the corner
above the spot where it needs to go, turn it once so that we can still see the
cross color, and this time we don't want to get the edge next to the corner piece,
but we want to get it across from it. In other words, the matching edge piece either
needs to go next to the corner or across from it. If it's the same color, you put it next to it. If it's a different color,
you put it across from it. It's a different color, so I can once again
hide the corner by bringing up the slot, putting the edge where it needs
to go, and realigning the cross. Right now, I set up this lefty insert like that. Quickly an example from the other side. So this time, white faces to the right, so we're not going to put it that
side because, where is the white? I do not know. So bring it that side. So right now the edge either needs to go next
to the corner or here, but because the colors on the top are different, we want to get
the edge right here, not here, but here. So we can hide the corner, put
the edge where it needs to go, realign the cross, and this time we
have a righty insert, just like that. And then finally, what if, looking at the corner,
the cross color, or white in this case, faces up? Well, this is actually the
easiest case because now we just line up the edge to the correct center. So we're doing the blue-orange pair, so we're connecting the blue-orange
edge piece to the blue center. And in the same way that we hid the corner
before, we're going to hide the edge this time. So we're going to bring the slot up. Right now, we can bring the
corner above that edge right here. And if we now realign the cross, we will have
a pair that we can insert just like that. Same from the other side: aligning
the edge, bringing down the edge, putting the corner above it, realigning
the cross, and we can insert this pair. So now we know enough to solve F2L. I'll do an example with you. So looking at the top layer right now, this is
the easiest case, so let's start with that one. We put it above the spot where it needs to go, and this is a right pair,
which we can solve like that. Now looking at the top layer,
I see this corner right now, but its matching edge is not in the top layer. So let's look for it. It is right here. So we put the corner right here. We do R U R', which takes both
pieces into the top layer. Now because white doesn't face up, we put the
corner above the spot where it needs to go, and we're going to turn the top layer
once so that I can still see white. And looking at the pieces we're
solving, they have the same color, so I know the edge needs to go next to the corner. So let's hide it, then we can move the edge
next to the corner, bring the corner back, which creates a pair, so let's insert the pair. Looking at the top layer right
now, I see these two pieces, and we're pretty lucky because this is already
a righty insert, which we can do just like that. Okay, so the last case: we have the
edge right here, corner right here. The edge needs to be on the left,
so I can take it out R U R'. This time white faces up, so we
align the edge to the correct center, turn it away from where it needs
to go, or bring up the slot. Then we can put the corner
above it, realign the cross, which creates the left pair,
and we can insert it like that. If you understood this and you can do this,
congrats dude, cuz you're now a speedcuber. If you need more help, check this
video where I do three F2L examples. Just be patient, take your time,
and try to understand what you do. And if you're done with F2L, check one of
these videos, and also don't forget to go to thecubicle.com and use discount code "CUBEHEAD"
for a HUUUUUUUUGGGGGGGEEEEEEEEE discount.