[Help Thread] F2L Discussion and Help

[conor]

yes i'm inserting F2L pairs, and yes JyH, i am using solved slots to hide the pieces, but i'm lost, i can't seem to understand how to solve F2L without doing this.

 

[5BLD]

Instead of 'hiding' your pieces with solved slots, put the only UNsolved slot where the solved slot you were using was, make the pair, then insert it.

 

[Bapao]

Please watch this. I watched it twice and had F2L down pretty well afterwards.

 

[conor]

Please watch this. I watched it twice and had F2L down pretty well afterwards.

thanks, i'll watch it

 

[Bapao]

thanks, i'll watch it

Cool, you'll be happy you did.
I initially tried learning F2L purely alg based. That didn't work. Tried to figure it out for myself intuitively too, but kept having the same issues that you are ie. pulling out solved pairs and messing them up again. This made it click for me and after watching, all loose ends met. I could have saved myself hours of "wasted" time if I had watched this earlier But yeah, no practice is really wasted practice I guess.

 

[conor]

Cool, you'll be happy you did.
I initially tried learning F2L purely alg based. That didn't work. Tried to figure it out for myself intuitively too, but kept having the same issues that you are ie. pulling out solved pairs and messing them up again. This made it click for me and after watching, all loose ends met. I could have saved myself hours of "wasted" time if I had watched this earlier But yeah, no practice is really wasted practice I guess.

does part 1 and 2 cover all cases and possible positions?

 

[5BLD]

Most cases you'll be able to do intuitively. In fact, you should be able to do all cases intuitively. So you shouldn't have to learn how to solve each case; more work out how to do each one. It's easy when you grasp the basics.

Get two pieces of the pair on top, with your cross colour not on top on the corner. Move them around until they pair up. It's that simple. Don't worry... you'll get it.

Have a go at doing intuitive F2L, alongside watching as many videos as you feel you need.
Doing intuitive F2L, and working out many different ways pairs are made will give you a good understanding of the cube.


edit: If you're confused, just watch the videos to grasp the basics

 

[conor]

Most cases you'll be able to do intuitively. In fact, you should be able to do all cases intuitively. So you shouldn't have to learn how to solve each case; more work out how to do each one. It's easy when you grasp the basics.

Get two pieces of the pair on top, with your cross colour not on top on the corner. Move them around until they pair up. It's that simple. Don't worry... you'll get it.

Have a go at doing intuitive F2L, alongside watching as many videos as you feel you need.
Doing intuitive F2L, and working out many different ways pairs are made will give you a good understanding of the cube.


edit: If you're confused, just watch the videos to grasp the basics

great thanks very much, i'll give it a go.

 

[Bapao]

does part 1 and 2 cover all cases and possible positions?

The two parts cover basic intuitive F2L. After you learn what's in the vids, you should be able to solve all possible cases intuitively. At first, you're solving won't be very efficient move-count wise based solely on what is shown in the vids, but you will be able to solve all cases with ease.

Just learn what's in the vids for now and then play around with what you have learned. Refinement of what you learn from the vids is something you can work on for yourself later though, it takes time to master efficient F2L (i'm not there just yet either). A few of the F2L cases are best done using algs. You'll figure out why that is for yourself after messing about with the basics for a while.

Don't worry, I'm dense as hell and could solve all cases after watching this. I almost abandoned cubing because I thought I was too dumb to learn intuitive F2L. If I can do it, so can you . If you don't get it at first, just watch the vids again.

 

[collinbxyz]

lol

Did you watch the vid yet?
And if so, did it help you?

 

[conor]

lol

Did you watch the vid yet?
And if so, did it help you?

yes it did help, but i'm still stuck on a few positions, trying to do them now.

 

[StachuK1992]

If you can't figure out a certain case, look through some solutions on opticubes
http://www.opticubes.com/cubing/f2l/
and find the one that 'makes sense' to you.

 

[Bapao]

yes it did help, but i'm still stuck on a few positions, trying to do them now.

You'll get it soon enough. Once you do, you'll be wondering what all the fuss was about Have fun though

 

[conor]

If you can't figure out a certain case, look through some solutions on opticubes
http://www.opticubes.com/cubing/f2l/
and find the one that 'makes sense' to you.

but isn't F2L not meant to use algorithms?

 

[StachuK1992]

Algorithms are your friend.

 

[Bapao]

but isn't F2L not meant to use algorithms?

You don't need algs for intuitive F2L. Algs will reduce the move count on some F2L cases though. I think StachuK1992 is suggesting trying the algs for the cases you are struggling with to get a better view on how F2L works.

 

[DaveyCow]

And in addition to what everyone is saying, I personally found RiDo's tutorial (a nice intuition-aid to F2L) *very* helpful to get started with intuitive F2L: http://rishidoshi.blogspot.com/

 

[Jaxon Peterson]

F2L has around 42 cases with algorithms with each case. I tried memorizing each case etc, but then learned intuitive and it has solved each case without any memorization (wahoo)
Someday I might try memorizing, but for now intuitive works like a charm.

 

[5BLD]

Yeah. Find your style though. Like for me, I like rotationless insertions/pairing with Ms, when doing cross on bottom (this is fairly rare I believe), and for cross on the left, double layer moves...

For the moment while learning, do try to also optimise your solutions rather than turn fast and get confused.

 

[Cubetastic]

F2L Tips and Tricks

Well, I know some people out there wouldn't want to look at tips and tricks for F2L from a guy who gets times around 1 min and less than 10 posts, but i think i have a few tips that really helps me with my speed for F2L. I'm sorry if this is a repost, I could not find any other thread that would have this kind of information.
If it is, I will gladly delete this thread if there is a way to.

Feel free to add any additional information to help with peoples F2L and even mine as you can see is not the greatest

I've figured out a little trick for when the 2 colours are the same from when you are trying to create F2L pairs,

When the white corner is on the left and the same colour is on the top in the right position, to pair them up, you must look for an open spot on the bottom and for example, put the corner in the right postition of the face opposite from the open corner slot, pull it down and slide the edge piece in to pair them up, I find it much easier to first find all the open corners then look for the edge and corner and place it accordingly.

When the white corner is on the right, hold the white face of the corner to you and put it in the top left, with the open corner slot on the bottom right, pull it to the left and slide the edge into place and then they are paired up.