mark49152
Premium Member
Here are my five favourite Advanced M2 tricks. I found these scattered among many sources, so I thought it useful to collect into one place. I hope they help.
What is Advanced M2?
Basic M2 solves one edge piece at a time. Advanced M2 adds some tricks for solving two pieces at a time, for shorter and faster solutions. M2 lends itself to this kind of extension very well, as this guide will show.
Many of the algorithms for solving two pieces at a time are commutators, similar to those used in 3-style edges. Sometimes people talk about “switching” to commutators. It’s important to realize that you don’t have to switch* to commutators, or switch to Advanced M2 – it’s not all or nothing. Given a sequence of letters you have memorized for a solve, you can solve some individually and some in pairs, depending on what tricks you know or like. Using basic M2 as a foundation, you can add Advanced M2 tricks at your own pace, and the more you add, the more you benefit.
This guide assumes that you are already proficient at M2, for solving one edge at a time, using the DF buffer.
(* = some people will say you should switch to using a different buffer for 3-style, for better algs, but it still doesn’t stop you adding commutators to your M2 solves for as long as you want to stick with M2.)
1. Avoiding those nasty FU and BD algs
I’ve ranked these tricks by how beneficial I think they are, which roughly equates to how many moves they save. My favourites are the ones that simplify solving those nasty M slice cases.
For the BD and FU targets, I use the algs recommended by Noah in his tutorial – D M’ U R2 U’ M U R2 U’ D’ M2 and its inverse. They are as good as any I’ve seen. Solving these targets individually is perhaps the most painful part of M2. Luckily there’s a much shorter way to solve these when they come immediately before or after a non M slice target.
For example, to solve BD-FL, do M2 (U’ L’ U) M’ (U’ L U) M’. You use the usual setups for the FL sticker, but replace the usual M2 as shown. Save yourself 9 moves! This trick works for any of the non M slice targets.
Tips for remembering: If the M slice target comes first, the M2 comes first, otherwise it comes at the end. If, like me, you swap the FU/BD stickers during memo when they come second in a pair, then an easy rule of thumb is that if you memorised the FU sticker the moves are M, and if you memorised the BD sticker the moves are M’.
FU-s = M2 s M s’ M (where s/s’ are the setup/undo for the s sticker)
s-FU = M’ s M’ s’ M2
BD-s = M2 s M’ s’ M’
s-BD = M s M s’ M2
If you’re interested in how these work, they basically do an M2 set up of the buffer into the UB position, and perform a commutator to cycle UB, FU or BD, and the target sticker.
2. Consecutive M slice targets
Occasionally, you don’t have the chance to combine FU or BD with an adjacent non M slice target, so it’s useful to know some tricks for combining M slice pieces as well. Here’s a nice simple one.
To solve FU-BD, do an x rotation, then do the alg for solving FU, but without the trailing M2. Likewise, to solve BD-FU, do an x rotation then the BD alg without the leading M2. These are nice and easy to remember. You can use M’/M setups if you prefer that to rotations.
FU-BD = x D M’ U R2 U’ M U R2 U’ D’ x’ (= [x D: [M’, U R2 U’]])
BD-FU = x D U R2 U’ M’ U R2 U’ M D’ x’ (= [x D: [U R2 U’, M’]])
For the UF and DB stickers, these have really nice short solutions anyway, and I have not found any really good tricks for combining these with adjacent targets, apart from the obvious cancellations like M' U2 M U2. You can of course set them both up to the UB target and use commutators, but the setups aren’t significantly shorter than the individual solutions. A couple of exceptions:-
UF-DB = M u2 M u2
DB-UF = u2 M’ u2 M’
I remember these as follows: UF-DB is like the DB alg (M U2 M U2) but with wide u turns, and likewise DB-UF is like UF. These don’t save many moves but are easy to remember.
3. Dealing with the BU sticker
In basic M2, this sticker is almost as bad as FU and BD. Although it can be solved with a regular setup, the setups are a few moves long. For basic M2, I learned (B’ R B U R2 U’) M2 (U R2 U’ B’ R’ B).
First up, there’s a quicker way to solve BU individually than by using setups. Try (U M’)3 (U M) (U M’)4. It’s an alg that flips both the buffer and target pieces, followed by an M2 with cancellation. It's still a lot of moves, but you might find it faster.
Another way to solve BU is to set it up to the FU or BD positions by U2 and B2 respectively, then use one of the solutions for combining those stickers with adjacent targets. So to solve BU-FL you can do B2 M2 (U’ L’ U) M’ (U’ L U) M’ B2, or U2 M2 (U’ L’ U) M (U’ L U) M U2, whichever you prefer. That way BU only costs you 4 moves.
However, there are two things to watch out for with this approach. First, take care not to move the other sticker by your setup. For example for BU-UL you could use a B2 setup but not a U2 setup, unless you want to remember you have moved UL to the UR position. Secondly, if BU is the second sticker in your pair, you must set it up to the opposite piece on the M2 slice – so to solve FL-BU you would setup to the FU sticker but then do the solution for the BD sticker, e.g. U2 M’ (U’ L’ U) M’ (U’ L U) M2 U2
4. Commutators on UB
I’ve seen this trick given the headline in at least two other Advanced M2 guides, but in my opinion it ranks below the preceding ones because typically it does not save as many moves. The principle behind this trick is that if you do a basic M2 solution for a non-M slice target, followed by an M2 to solve UB, you are doing a commutator to cycle 3 pieces and you do not leave the M slice off by 180 degrees like solving a single target does. Thus, you can put your setups for the second piece around the whole commutator, and they can be simplified because they don’t have to preserve the rest of the M slice.
For example, consider FL-LB. The basic M2 solution would be:-
(U’ L’ U) M2 (U’ L U) // solve FL
(L B L’ B’) M2 (B L B’ L’) // solve LB
Instead, you set up LB to the UB position:-
B’ // setup LB to UB
(U’ L’ U) M2 (U’ L U) // solve FL
M2 B // solve UB and undo setup
The same technique can be used to solve UB first of course. Take care that your setup doesn’t move your other sticker though! For example, LB-BR wouldn’t work.
Going back to the BU sticker, there’s a similar trick when BU is adjacent to LB, RB, UL or UR. When you set up one of those pieces to UB, you conveniently move the BU sticker to somewhere it can much more easily be set up from. For example, to solve LB-BU, just do a B’ setup, and then you can solve UB-BR and undo setup. This one’s definitely worth knowing.
5. TuRBo-style shortcuts
For anyone not familiar with the TuRBo edges method, it works by using algs to solve pairs of pieces in the upper left and right positions, in each combination of orientations. You then set up each pair of pieces to those positions. A couple of similar tricks exist for M2 (although these differ from TuRBo because TuRBo uses a different buffer).
To solve UL-UR you can simply use U M’ U2 M U. That saves 13 moves over the basic M2 solution. With one-move setups, and the inverse U’ M’ U2 M U’, this can be used to solve any pair of “outer” stickers on the L and R layers (not both on the same layer of course).
For example, you can solve UR-FL with this: L’ U’ M’ U2 M U’ L.
Similarly, although a bit less efficient, “inner” stickers of the L and R layers can be solved with M U M U2 M’ U M’ and its inverse.
Summary
One of the nice things about M2 is that it lends itself nicely to extensions like the ones above. You can create commutators on-the-fly for efficiently solving pairs of pieces, using simple patterns plus the basic M2 setups you already know. That's so much easier than learning a bunch of specific solutions for specific cases.
I hope this helps someone. If I missed any neat tricks, please post below!
What is Advanced M2?
Basic M2 solves one edge piece at a time. Advanced M2 adds some tricks for solving two pieces at a time, for shorter and faster solutions. M2 lends itself to this kind of extension very well, as this guide will show.
Many of the algorithms for solving two pieces at a time are commutators, similar to those used in 3-style edges. Sometimes people talk about “switching” to commutators. It’s important to realize that you don’t have to switch* to commutators, or switch to Advanced M2 – it’s not all or nothing. Given a sequence of letters you have memorized for a solve, you can solve some individually and some in pairs, depending on what tricks you know or like. Using basic M2 as a foundation, you can add Advanced M2 tricks at your own pace, and the more you add, the more you benefit.
This guide assumes that you are already proficient at M2, for solving one edge at a time, using the DF buffer.
(* = some people will say you should switch to using a different buffer for 3-style, for better algs, but it still doesn’t stop you adding commutators to your M2 solves for as long as you want to stick with M2.)
1. Avoiding those nasty FU and BD algs
I’ve ranked these tricks by how beneficial I think they are, which roughly equates to how many moves they save. My favourites are the ones that simplify solving those nasty M slice cases.
For the BD and FU targets, I use the algs recommended by Noah in his tutorial – D M’ U R2 U’ M U R2 U’ D’ M2 and its inverse. They are as good as any I’ve seen. Solving these targets individually is perhaps the most painful part of M2. Luckily there’s a much shorter way to solve these when they come immediately before or after a non M slice target.
For example, to solve BD-FL, do M2 (U’ L’ U) M’ (U’ L U) M’. You use the usual setups for the FL sticker, but replace the usual M2 as shown. Save yourself 9 moves! This trick works for any of the non M slice targets.
Tips for remembering: If the M slice target comes first, the M2 comes first, otherwise it comes at the end. If, like me, you swap the FU/BD stickers during memo when they come second in a pair, then an easy rule of thumb is that if you memorised the FU sticker the moves are M, and if you memorised the BD sticker the moves are M’.
FU-s = M2 s M s’ M (where s/s’ are the setup/undo for the s sticker)
s-FU = M’ s M’ s’ M2
BD-s = M2 s M’ s’ M’
s-BD = M s M s’ M2
If you’re interested in how these work, they basically do an M2 set up of the buffer into the UB position, and perform a commutator to cycle UB, FU or BD, and the target sticker.
2. Consecutive M slice targets
Occasionally, you don’t have the chance to combine FU or BD with an adjacent non M slice target, so it’s useful to know some tricks for combining M slice pieces as well. Here’s a nice simple one.
To solve FU-BD, do an x rotation, then do the alg for solving FU, but without the trailing M2. Likewise, to solve BD-FU, do an x rotation then the BD alg without the leading M2. These are nice and easy to remember. You can use M’/M setups if you prefer that to rotations.
FU-BD = x D M’ U R2 U’ M U R2 U’ D’ x’ (= [x D: [M’, U R2 U’]])
BD-FU = x D U R2 U’ M’ U R2 U’ M D’ x’ (= [x D: [U R2 U’, M’]])
For the UF and DB stickers, these have really nice short solutions anyway, and I have not found any really good tricks for combining these with adjacent targets, apart from the obvious cancellations like M' U2 M U2. You can of course set them both up to the UB target and use commutators, but the setups aren’t significantly shorter than the individual solutions. A couple of exceptions:-
UF-DB = M u2 M u2
DB-UF = u2 M’ u2 M’
I remember these as follows: UF-DB is like the DB alg (M U2 M U2) but with wide u turns, and likewise DB-UF is like UF. These don’t save many moves but are easy to remember.
3. Dealing with the BU sticker
In basic M2, this sticker is almost as bad as FU and BD. Although it can be solved with a regular setup, the setups are a few moves long. For basic M2, I learned (B’ R B U R2 U’) M2 (U R2 U’ B’ R’ B).
First up, there’s a quicker way to solve BU individually than by using setups. Try (U M’)3 (U M) (U M’)4. It’s an alg that flips both the buffer and target pieces, followed by an M2 with cancellation. It's still a lot of moves, but you might find it faster.
Another way to solve BU is to set it up to the FU or BD positions by U2 and B2 respectively, then use one of the solutions for combining those stickers with adjacent targets. So to solve BU-FL you can do B2 M2 (U’ L’ U) M’ (U’ L U) M’ B2, or U2 M2 (U’ L’ U) M (U’ L U) M U2, whichever you prefer. That way BU only costs you 4 moves.
However, there are two things to watch out for with this approach. First, take care not to move the other sticker by your setup. For example for BU-UL you could use a B2 setup but not a U2 setup, unless you want to remember you have moved UL to the UR position. Secondly, if BU is the second sticker in your pair, you must set it up to the opposite piece on the M2 slice – so to solve FL-BU you would setup to the FU sticker but then do the solution for the BD sticker, e.g. U2 M’ (U’ L’ U) M’ (U’ L U) M2 U2
4. Commutators on UB
I’ve seen this trick given the headline in at least two other Advanced M2 guides, but in my opinion it ranks below the preceding ones because typically it does not save as many moves. The principle behind this trick is that if you do a basic M2 solution for a non-M slice target, followed by an M2 to solve UB, you are doing a commutator to cycle 3 pieces and you do not leave the M slice off by 180 degrees like solving a single target does. Thus, you can put your setups for the second piece around the whole commutator, and they can be simplified because they don’t have to preserve the rest of the M slice.
For example, consider FL-LB. The basic M2 solution would be:-
(U’ L’ U) M2 (U’ L U) // solve FL
(L B L’ B’) M2 (B L B’ L’) // solve LB
Instead, you set up LB to the UB position:-
B’ // setup LB to UB
(U’ L’ U) M2 (U’ L U) // solve FL
M2 B // solve UB and undo setup
The same technique can be used to solve UB first of course. Take care that your setup doesn’t move your other sticker though! For example, LB-BR wouldn’t work.
Going back to the BU sticker, there’s a similar trick when BU is adjacent to LB, RB, UL or UR. When you set up one of those pieces to UB, you conveniently move the BU sticker to somewhere it can much more easily be set up from. For example, to solve LB-BU, just do a B’ setup, and then you can solve UB-BR and undo setup. This one’s definitely worth knowing.
5. TuRBo-style shortcuts
For anyone not familiar with the TuRBo edges method, it works by using algs to solve pairs of pieces in the upper left and right positions, in each combination of orientations. You then set up each pair of pieces to those positions. A couple of similar tricks exist for M2 (although these differ from TuRBo because TuRBo uses a different buffer).
To solve UL-UR you can simply use U M’ U2 M U. That saves 13 moves over the basic M2 solution. With one-move setups, and the inverse U’ M’ U2 M U’, this can be used to solve any pair of “outer” stickers on the L and R layers (not both on the same layer of course).
For example, you can solve UR-FL with this: L’ U’ M’ U2 M U’ L.
Similarly, although a bit less efficient, “inner” stickers of the L and R layers can be solved with M U M U2 M’ U M’ and its inverse.
Summary
One of the nice things about M2 is that it lends itself nicely to extensions like the ones above. You can create commutators on-the-fly for efficiently solving pairs of pieces, using simple patterns plus the basic M2 setups you already know. That's so much easier than learning a bunch of specific solutions for specific cases.
I hope this helps someone. If I missed any neat tricks, please post below!
Last edited: