[Help Thread] F2L Discussion and Help

[SpeedCubeReview]

The biggest thing that helped me was blind solving. Not the whole cube, but instead look at a pair, figure out the moves and do it with your eyes closed. Soon you will start to transition into muscle memory instead of tracking each piece. It is also a big help in looking ahead... Once you open your eyes again of course.

 

[RedFirePratham]

Learn to execute the cases from different angles

 

[MM99]

Thanks i watched his tutorial its 7 parts just wondering why do you prefer zz

I just sorta got bored with CFOP and was tired of the "brain dead" feeling I had whilst solving with it so I switched to ZZ mainly because of the freedom it has and solving just feels well more fun!

 

[Devin Palacios]

I just sorta got bored with CFOP and was tired of the "brain dead" feeling I had whilst solving with it so I switched to ZZ mainly because of the freedom it has and solving just feels well more fun!

I agree ive learn all methods except zz hiese synder but zz seems the most fun i also love roux

 

[joaquinniembro]

hey whats up i just want to hear your opinion about my f2l haha, i average around 24 secs and i know full pll and im learning oll i know the most important thing at the stage that i am at is to improve my f2l but since i have a lot time right now i decided to start learning oll, im doing joseph skyler´s cn method and im about to finish im in red and im just missing orange (doing very well with cn) so my cross and f2l takes me like 15-18 secs im precticing with a metronome but it becomes frustrating after some time so i prefer to do slow solves i di f2l intuitively but i know some f2l tricks (westonian´s tricks) ive been cubing for like 2 months now so i think ive improved a lot. so how long dou you think it´ll take me to see progress or to get sub 20, my pb is 18 secs but since that solve i havent gotten sub 20.

 

[SpeedCubeReview]

hey whats up i just want to hear your opinion about my f2l haha, i average around 24 secs and i know full pll and im learning oll i know the most important thing at the stage that i am at is to improve my f2l but since i have a lot time right now i decided to start learning oll, im doing joseph skyler´s cn method and im about to finish im in red and im just missing orange (doing very well with cn) so my cross and f2l takes me like 15-18 secs im precticing with a metronome but it becomes frustrating after some time so i prefer to do slow solves i di f2l intuitively but i know some f2l tricks (westonian´s tricks) ive been cubing for like 2 months now so i think ive improved a lot. so how long dou you think it´ll take me to see progress or to get sub 20, my pb is 18 secs but since that solve i havent gotten sub 20.

24 second in 2 months is great. I was still around a minute at that time. It's hard to say without a video, but looking ahead and not pausing is key. Keep up the good work!

 

[joaquinniembro]

ill keep and ill try to upload a video with a5 or something hhaha

 

[Newcuber02]

Suck at f2l

Hi so I'm new to speed cubing I can get solve the cube in 40 seconded with the beginners method and 1 minute with f2l I want to lean how to get fast so please help

 

[theROUXbiksCube]

Practise and just solve a lot

 

[sqAree]

To be honest when I averaged 40 seconds what brought me to 25 seconds was just practice, nothing else.

But for F2L there are two things you could do:

Check out http://algdb.net/ for optimal or at least fast F2L algs, because sometimes intuitive solutions suck.
Train your look-ahead, i.e. plan your next F2L pair while solving one.

 

[IAmAPerson]

When I first started learning F2L, I averaged over 3 minutes. I now average sub-20. I use intuitive F2L with only 3 or 4 learned algorithms (for cases I sucked at). If you don't like learning algs, play around with one specific F2L case and solve it different ways until you figure out which way works best for you. For the longest time, my alg for this one case was U' R U' R' U2 y' R' U2' R U2 R' U R, but without learning any algs and just playing around with that case for a while, I now solve it with R U' R' U2 y' R' U' R. Also, lookahead is important, but above all: practice.

 

[Jaden Rosard]

Improving F2L

Hello,

I've been cubing for about 2 months now and I have gotten VERY into it, often practicing several hours a day. Currently I average about 25-30 seconds, and I feel like the number 1 thing holding me back is F2L. Currently I solve F2L completely intuitively, and while I recently watched cubeologists video on sledgehammer and I plan to incorporate that, I was hoping for some advice on what/how/where to learn faster f2l techniques. I am already working on Lookahead, so my main focus is getting faster at pairing specifically.

Thanks in advance!

 

[youSurname]

Have a look at some walkthrough solves. Also, take a look at some F2L tricks. I really love Chris' series https://m.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLRZHt_6umybxv_9KUEBhI-UwNbONqC6ya. Even though you do intuitive pairing, sometimes it can be quite hard to find the best solution. You may not use all the tricks, but you'll definitely get a better understanding of how pieces are affected.

If you're still on 2 look OLL, I found it helpful at the time to learn lots of different ways to orient the edges while inserting the last pair. You're not just limited to sledgehammer.

Don't worry about your time. You'll be getting sub 20s shortly with consistent practise as your turn speed naturally increases.

 

[mark49152]

Make sure you know move-efficient solutions to every case and can solve each case equally comfortably at all four slots. It's surprising how many people use 11-12 moves to solve a case with a 7-8 move solution. Learn to make use of open slots other than the one you're solving to. Try to avoid rotations but not at the expense of awkward M slices or too many extra moves.

Practise solving cases blind to help lookahead. Look for the pieces of a pair, shut your eyes, and solve them. You should be able to do that without hesitation or slowdown for all cases to all slots.

(Be careful with F2L "tricks" videos - by "tricks" some people mean neat, efficient solutions, but others mean fancy algs that mess up lookahead and are difficult to do except at front right.)

 

[shadowslice e]

https://speedsolving.com/wiki/index.php/F2L.
Compilation of F2L resources that I made

 

[DanielTuttle]

What F2L cases should I learn algs for?

Basically I know full PLL and 2 look OLL but my f2l sucks, I average 29-33 seconds, my f2l taking up 20 or more of those seconds. I don't cube rotate that much and I think the problem is my look ahead and some cases. So I'm gonna learn some algs for cases. Anyone know any good ones?

PS: anyone going to the Cubetoberfest competition October third at University Central Florida?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[sqAree]

Hm, you should learn algs for the cases that you solve inefficiently intuitively.

I just throw some nice algs in:
R2 u R2 u' R2
R2 U' R' U R2
triple sexy
R U R' U2 R U R' U' R U R'

 

[mafergut]

Hm, you should learn algs for the cases that you solve inefficiently intuitively.

I just throw some nice algs in:
R2 u R2 u' R2
R2 U' R' U R2
triple sexy
R U R' U2 R U R' U' R U R'

I don't recommend learning algs for F2L cases but instead looking for more efficient intuitive ways to do them. The issue is that if you use an alg and try to do it as fast as you can, that's going to block your lookahead and, if you execute it at a speed that does not block your lookahead then you will not be faster than with the intuitive way, if boths ways have more or less the same number of moves.

E.g., I sometimes use triple sexy for either right-front or left-front slots but most of the time I do something like U' R U R' U' R U2 R' U R U' R' (for right-front slot). Both ways are 12 moves long and, even though I could do triple sexy much faster, I cannot do it if I want to keep looking ahead so, in the end I don't think it's worth to learn an alg for this case (unless it's as simple to learn as this one).

If the alg is significantly shorter than any intuitive way you can think of then I'd say use the alg but execute it at a speed that allows you to lookahead. And do NOT learn any fancy algs that imply moving your hand all over the cube because, no matter how slowly you execute them, your hand is gonna block your view.

 

[sqAree]

I think an advantage of using algs for certain F2L cases is that you don't have to think about it and can actually look-ahead. Of course after enough practice any intuitive way becomes an alg anyway.

So essentially, if you learn algs, learn good algs, and the quality of an alg is not only decided by the move count or its speed, but also by other factors like enabling look-ahead (to summarize).

Apart from that, I find the triple sexy to be very convenient for look-ahead as it almost changes nothing on the top layer.

 

[mafergut]

I think an advantage of using algs for certain F2L cases is that you don't have to think about it and can actually look-ahead. Of course after enough practice any intuitive way becomes an alg anyway.

So essentially, if you learn algs, learn good algs, and the quality of an alg is not only decided by the move count or its speed, but also by other factors like enabling look-ahead (to summarize).

Apart from that, I find the triple sexy to be very convenient for look-ahead as it almost changes nothing on the top layer.

I basically agree with all that you say here.
In fact, when I find the pair right in the position to do triple sexy (the corner on top of the flipped edge in the slot) I usually do that (but at a slower pace than I could). If the corner is already a U, U' or U2 away from being on top of the edge / slot then I usually just extract the edge and do something similar to what I mentioned before.