Zagorec method

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Zagorec method
Zagorec method.gif
Information about the method
Proposer(s): Damjan Zagorec
Proposed: 2012
Alt Names: none
Variants: none
No. Steps: 8
No. Algs: 5
Avg Moves: 70+
Purpose(s):

The Zagorec method is a 3x3 method created by Damjan Zagorec in 2012.

The Steps

The following steps describe an approach suited for beginners, more advanced users might combine steps 4 and 5 and for 7 and 8 steps use a Fridrich type last layer and do PLL.


1. Orient edges

2. Build up and down cross (Permute U and D edges)

3. Orient corners

4. Put middle layer edges in the right place (Solve E-Slice)

5. Build proper down cross (Fix D Edges)

6. Put corners with down color in right place (Solve D Corners)

7. Permute up corners (CPLL)

8. Permute up edges (EPLL)

How to hold the cube

How to hold the cube (for easier understanding of examples):

White center on down face

Yellow center on up face

Blue center on front face

Green center on back face

Red center on the right face

Orange center on the left face


Orient edges

EO Detection

Looking at the edges on the U face, D face, F face of the E-slice, and B face of the E-slice:

  • If the sticker has L/R color it's a bad edge.
  • If the sticker has F/B color, look at the sticker on the other side of the edge.
* If the side sticker has U/D color, it's a bad edge.

Orienting 2 Bad Edges

Place one bad edge on F/B using <R, U, L, D, F2, B2> and then do a F/B quarter turn. Repeat with Orienting 4+ bad edges approach.

Orienting 4 + Bad Edges

Place four bad edges on F/B using <R, U, L, D, F2, B2> and then do a F/B quarter turn. Repeat until there are no more bad edges.

Orienting 6 Bad Edges

Often, 6 bad edges can be oriented more efficiently by placing 3 bad edges into F/B using <R, U, L, D, F2, B2>, performing an F/B quarter turn, and then using the 4 + approach to correctly orient the remaining 4 bad edges.


We need cube with all 12 good edges.

If we have 4 good edges on the F face, with F or F' turn we will transform 4 good edges into 4 bad edges and the other way around.

How to turn a bad edge into a good edge:

Case 1:

If we have 2 bad edges then we have to put one bad edge in front face, perform F turn and now we have 1 good edge and 3 bad edges on the front face. Now put the other bad edge on the place of that one good edge in the F face and perform another F turn. Now we have 0 bad edges.

Case 2:

If we have 4 bad edges, we have to put all bad edges into front face but without F, F' and B, B' turns and then make F or F' turn.

Case 3:

If we have 6 bad edges then we do Case 2 one time and Case 1 one time.

Case 4:

If we have 8 bad edges then we do Case 2 two times.

Case 5:

If we have 10 bad edges then we do Case 2 two times and Case 1 one time.

Case 6:

If we have 12 bad edges then we do turn F and B and Case 1 one time.

Build up and down cross

This step is done intuitively.

Now build cross on up and down face with up and down colors. You can put edges with down or up color (white or yellow) on up or down face. It doesn't matter if you put down color on up face or up color on down face.

Orient corners

In this step you have to orient all corners. You can have down layer corners on top layer and up layer corners on bottom layer. Only important thing in this step is that corners are oriented properly. For this you will use just one algorithm.

R’ D L2 D’ R


Place incorrectly oriented corners in UFL (up-front-left) position with up or down face color sticker on left side and second corner on DFR (down-front-right) position with up or down face color sticker on front side. Now perform algorithm. For placing corners on UFL and DFR position you can use only U, D, R2 and L2 moves and you must not rotate the cube. When you are left with 3 unoriented corners you will not be in position to orient 2 corners in same time. In case like that you need to perform algorithm and it will orient just one. Now you have 2 unoriented corners and you need to perform algorithm just once more.


After finishing this step cube will have on up and down face just up and down color stickers mixed up, middle layer will have in front and back face just front and back colors stickers mixed up and on left and right side Left and right color stickers mixed up.

Put middle layer edges on right place

This step is done intuitively.


Place middle layer edges in right position using just R2, L2, B2 and F2 moves.

After that step you should have in middle layer on front face only front face color (blue), on back face only back face color (green), on left face only left face color (orange) and on right face only right face color (red).

This section can also be done with Roux L4E, but on E instead of M. Bear in mind you can still have an EP parity because the rest of the edges / corners are not solved.

Build proper down cross

This step is done intuitively.


Now build down color (white) cross using only R2, U and D face turns. You have to color match down cross edges with centers.


Note: Step 4. and 5. can be performed simultaneously.

Put corners with down color in right place

In this step you will need one algorithm: R2 U R2 U’ R2 (puts UFR piece in DFR position)


Through entire step you must not rotate cube, use only U and D moves to position pieces. Piece that you need to put in DFR position (down-front-right) you must place in UFR (up-front-right) position and then perform the algorithm. For placing pieces in UFR position use only U move. If there is no more bottom layer pieces in top layer you need to put incorrectly placed piece from bottom layer in top layer using algorithm and then place it back in proper position in bottom layer.


Every time when you perform R2 U R2 U’ R2 algorithm your cube will end up with FR (front-right) edge switched with BR (back-right) edge. Just ignore this. It is only important that you don’t rotate cube trough 6., 7., and 8. step.


At the end of this step your bottom and middle layers are solved or your bottom layer is solved and middle layer has FR (front-right) edge switched with BR (back-right) edge.

Permute up corners

In this step you will need one algorithm: R2 U R2 U’ R2 U’ D R2 U’ R2 U R2 (switches UFR and UBR piece). (You can use CPLL instead.)

You need to put top layer corners on proper positions using only algorithm for switching adjacent corners. For putting corners in desired position you can use only U move.

In the end of this step you will have headlights on each side of top layer.

Permute up edges

In this step you will need two algorithms:

1. R2 U2 R2 U2 R2 (switches opposite edges, UF (up-front) and UB (up-back) edge)

2. R2 U R2 U R2 U2 R2 U2 R2 U R2 U’ R2 (switches adjacent edges, UF (up-front) and UR (up-right) edge)

(You can use EPLL instead.)

You need to put top layer edges on proper positions using only algorithms for switching adjacent edges and switching opposite edges. For putting edges in desired position you can use only U move.


P.S. For permuting corners and edges in top layer you can simply use PLL.


Cube is solved!

Pros

Just 5 easy algorithms to remember.
Can be performed very fast.

Cons

Large Movecount
Lookahead is limited

Example solve

Up face yellow:

Front face blue:

Scramble: L2 B2 U' B2 R2 U' B2 F2 L2 F2 U B L D' U L U' F2 U2 F L'

1. Orient edges : L R' F U F R2 F'

2. Build up and down cross: R' L' U L R D' R' L' D2 L

3. Orient corners: U D' (R' D L2 D' R) U D2 (R' D L2 D' R) U2 D (R' D L2 D' R) U' R2 D' (R' D L2 D' R)

4. Put middle layer edges on right place: R2 L2 F2 B2

5. Build proper down cross: D2 U R2 D' R2 D2 R2 D2 R2

6. Put corners with down color in right place: U D (R2 U R2 U' R2) D2 (R2 U R2 U' R2) D'(R2 U R2 U' R2) D2 (R2 U R2 U' R2) D2 (R2 U R2 U' R2) D

7. Permute up corners: U' (R2 U R2 U’ R2 U’ D R2 U’ R2 U R2) U2 (R2 U R2 U’ R2 U’ D R2 U’ R2 U R2) D2 U'

8. Permute up edges: (R2 U2 R2 U2 R2) U' (R2 U2 R2 U2 R2) U2 (R2 U R2 U R2 U2 R2 U2 R2 U R2 U’ R2) U'




External links