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Hazel

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Apr 1, 2017
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in your walls :3
There is a little bit of misconception about back slots of f2l. What you should be capable of doing is executing all your f2l algs from both front and back left and right sides(as in the alg and its mirror) . What you should do for your first pair if you can execute and pair it in the front or back without cube rotating then do so, however if you have to rotate to perform your alg then rotate to have it in the back therefore your front slots will be empty. Your goal is to simply keep as many front slots empty as possible while not ever having to do a y2 in your f2l the only allowed cube rotations for f2l are y and y' as long as you can't do your pair from your current spot(if you can do it from your position front or back then don't rotate). In doing say the 3rd pair and you find yourself in need of a rotation, turn the cube so that the forth pair's location is on the front even if that means making the 3rd pair on the front too.

I hope this helped you better understand how to do f2l pairs in the back.
This is good. Also, don't use algs for everything - only the especially difficult cases that can't really be efficient without algs.
 
Joined
Jul 4, 2019
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Hi my name is kaden I'm new to the cubing cumunintity and "please don't say practice" but how do I get fast at f2l I'm sub 40
 
Joined
Sep 14, 2018
Messages
355
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WCA
2018BRUM01
PRACTICE. while practice really is the most important thing, it is also very useful to find efficient ways to pair things up, and implement them into your solves. Lazermonkey has a pretty good video on all of the f2l cases. One thing that can really help, is doing slow solves and trying to pair things up in a different way.At first I would avoid learning algs, but once you get to about sub 20, I would start finding f2l algs to prevent rotations. Hopefully that helps, and tell me if you need help with anything else.
 

beartima

Member
Joined
Aug 7, 2019
Messages
1
How should I approach each f2l pair?
Im trying to figure out how to speed up my time, which is currently in around 1 minute :(.
I spend a lot of time on f2l and I want to find how the next step for getting a better time.

1. How should I choose which pair to insert each step? Should I be looking for a random corner piece and then trying to find its match? Looking for an edge piece and trying to match it's corner? Looking for anything white? Looking for the pair matching my current position? Etc.

2. When I find a pair, what is the first thing I should be doing/thinking of?

Obviously I can't do anything too advanced yet, looking for anything that would make me pause less
 

Wish Lin

Member
Joined
Jun 18, 2019
Messages
673
Location
Taipei, Taiwan
WCA
2018LINW02
1. How should I choose which pair to insert each step?
anything that would make me pause less

Since you are a 1 minute solver, let's be honest....... Don't choose!!!!. Do the first exact pair that you see! When you pause for choosing, time is lost via that.

(Following content may seems ridiculous to sub-30 people but I think is useful to you.)

Which pair you may ask? Well, after you finished the cross, look for any corner/edge piece that come into your eyes first and than find another piece that pairs up with it by holding your finger on the first piece to keep track of it than rotate the entire cube to find another. Than, do the solution you like. Even a bad, intuitive solution can get you in the 40s.

2. When I find a pair, what is the first thing I should be doing/thinking of?

The first thing you should think of now is which case that actually is. Do something like U or U' moves to find out if you can't see it right away.

Feel free to ask any questions if I am not clear.
 

Solvador Cubi

Member
Joined
May 4, 2016
Messages
178
Location
USA
Here's a tip if any corner has White facing up (since it will stand out pretty well)

Find it's corresponding edge:
if it's already in the E-layer, do some U turns to put it on top of the edge
if the edge is oriented correctly, it's a pair! pull out the pair and insert it wherever
if they don't pair up, do 2.5 sexy moves in a row to pair them on U. Then insert it.

If the edge is on U and not next to the corner do a quarter turn on it so U turns can place the corner on top of it correctly.
then reverse the quarter turn... voila, a pair on U!

whew, that's wordy :( Cube videos are better at providing instruction than I can describe.
See if anything in this F2L tutorial helps you:


-= Solvador Cubi
 

Iwannaganx

Member
Joined
Aug 7, 2019
Messages
464
Location
Victoria, Australia
F2L - Intuitive or alg based?
So I'm sorta kinda not really learning F2L at the moment but I do it intuitively. By this I mean I use sexy and unsexy to orient a corner to pair it with an edge and insert the pair. That's my F2L.
I want to get faster and my friend says it's meant to be intuitive. But I have seen algs for F2L? I am wondering if I should try and learn a billion algs or see if I can somehow figure out how to do it intuitively without just sexy for every case.

Algs or intuition?
 
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alexiscubing

Member
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Jun 18, 2019
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627
WCA
2018HIRS04
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I am the opposite of a good cuber as I use beginners F2L and still haven't transitioned. I average 16-17 with beginner F2L lol. I think that intuitive with lots of practice can be very good though. My current PB without good F2L is 8.47 and with good F2L is 9.7x
 

Iwannaganx

Member
Joined
Aug 7, 2019
Messages
464
Location
Victoria, Australia
8.47 seconds?!!
I average 45 sec lol

Ty for the the vid, I will get around to watching it soon enough. I guess. I hate learning stuff but I do really want to improve.
 

Krerey

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Joined
Oct 8, 2018
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WCA
2018CREE01
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When you’re starting out, do everything intuitive. As you start getting faster, look up algs for cases that you feel are slow intuitively. Then try to understand the alg intuitively. You can also watch example solves to find better ways to do certain F2L cases.
 

pjk

Administrator
Staff member
Joined
Mar 13, 2006
Messages
6,686
WCA
2007KELL02
SS Competition Results
Ty for the the vid, I will get around to watching it soon enough. I guess. I hate learning stuff but I do really want to improve.
I think you'd like learning - many get caught up in getting better and learning as it is fulfilling and fun. Don't think you hate learning - be optimistic. Learn, improve, and enjoy the ride!
 
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