# F2L and lookahead guide - example solves - not a video.



## Escher (Oct 21, 2010)

So I've been thinking of making something like this for ages and now I have to actually do some work here it is.

For brevity's sake a couple of these solves will not be my normal approach and include way more tricks, but I'll make sure a couple are genuine speedsolves.

Most of these tricks are things I've intuited, but any multislotting guides you can find and advanced f2l pages will probably have similar or the same algs.

solve 1:
(scramble WCA position)
L2 D2 R' L' F' D L2 R' D B' L2 D' B R F2 L2 D2 R2 L2 D B R2 L' F' B 

Upon inspection I'm basically looking at either white or yellow and quickly checking which is better (I haven't thought or codified how I check, I just do it...), planning a safety cross (in this case D' L' D L' D2 y' U R' F R), then either looking ahead into f2l (I'll describe that process next solve), or planning an x-cross, OR creating/preserving a free pair in the U layer. At the same time as all this, I'm thinking about the moves I'm going to do and which angle they would be fastest from.

The cross in this case is D' U2 L' D' R2 U u' L u.

The U2 at the beginning connects that f2l pair, and the U means that it will end up in a relatively easy to solve position. Since I've noticed that orange/blue corner in DR, I can look around the rest of the cube for the orange/blue edge - which is revealed by that u' cross move.

Next I'll do L R2 U' L2 U L to solve both pairs. This trick combines the effects of L U' L2 U L (which inserts whatever is in the UB position), and just doing a simple R2 to join up the orange/blue pair. My favourite thing about this is that with just 2 extra moves (R2 (x) R2) you solve a case that would take at least 6 with the normal approach, and that the f2l alg for the BL pair returns the cross edge to it's correct position without any extra AUF. 

I'll next do R U' R to free up that green/red pair, luckily the next pair cancels with it (though I probably wouldn't notice it and do it - it's just convenient for hand position). I'll insert it with a sledgehammer too; there are 3 misoriented LL edges and orienting them increases the chance of an OLL skip. So: R' U' R2 x' U' R' U x 

Then a 3 move Winter Variation case, plus I notice that block in UFR that will be preserved - it will be any of a V, J or A perm. In this case you can actually predict it will be a V or A (but I wouldn't in a speedsolve) because this case joins up the misoriented U layer corner with the block, in UBL, and since the sticker is blue and the UR edge is green it's thus placed diagonally from it's home position.

So, U2 y L' U L. It's a V perm - U (pushing with LH index on LBU to save using the RH index and let it get into position for the R' U R') etc etc.

full solve: 
L2 D2 R' L' F' D L2 R' D B' L2 D' B R F2 L2 D2 R2 L2 D B R2 L' F' B 

D' U2 L' D' R2 U u' L u (9)
L R2 U' L2 U L (6|15)
R U' R (3|18) (this could cancel - R U2 R2 x' U' R' U, giving a 25 move f2l & 40 move speedsolve)
R' U' R2 x' U' R' U x (6|24)
U2 y L' U L (4|28) 

U R' U R' Dw' R' F' R2 U' R' U R' F R F (15|43)

So, a pretty good solve. Whether I would do this in a speedsolve depends on how much I'm warmed up and what cube I'm using; with a very high tps I'd probably do something more standard.

Solve 2:

B' R2 D L2 U2 L' F2 U B F2 D B L' D' B2 L B F2 U2 F2 B D2 F' R' U2 

A cruel scramble on inspection.

Cross: y2 x U' R F' U R2 D x'

Notice how the order of putting cross edges in affects stuff: I could just have easily done U' R F D' U R2 and broken up that pair... Usually on this kind of cross I would never bother with looking ahead, it's just not that nice.

Since I know that pair is going to be there I can ignore it for the moment. While executing my cross I notice that the orange/blue edge is in a slot and flipped. I'll know to try and change the rest of my f2l slightly so that the corresponding corner ends up in a better position, perhaps in UBL. The corner appears after that R2 so I can go straight into it after the orange/green pair.

R U' R2 U R. Now I'm presented with a hell of a lot of options - I can either insert the made pair, or join up the red/green with four moves preserving the made pair (but 'generating' two rotations) or just carry on with what I saw earlier. 

The first option is probably the best in this scenario - we can insert the made pair using F' L F L' to kick out the edge that is stuck in the FL slot (and also avoid a rotation for this particular slot), and we might be able to do something fun with the next two pairs if it's freed up. So we do: 
U2 F' L F L'. 

This has left us with a nice 3 move insert in FR slot (albeit with a rotation), but at the same time if you look ahead you'll see that this will leave us with a bad f2l case for the green/red pair (joined up but edge flipped), and it would be especially bad in this case since the nicest way to execute the usual alg for it (R' U2 R2 U R2 U R) is another rotation again after the 3rd pair.

So instead we use a trick from multislotting: 
y' L' R' U' R 
and then to setup a nice little 3 move case we insert an extra U' in there to move around the corner, and then we rotate again and insert:

(y' L' R' U' R) U' L y' U2 R U R'

And f2l is done! Luckily we've also oriented edges, which we wouldn't have using a more normal approach.

Complete f2l:

B' R2 D L2 U2 L' F2 U B F2 D B L' D' B2 L B F2 U2 F2 B D2 F' R' U2

y2 x U' R F' U R2 D x' (6)
R U' R2' U R (5|11)
U2 F' L F L' (5|16)
y' L' R' U' R U' L (5|21)
y' U2 R U R' (4|25)

(LL is 18 moves inc AUF - 43 move solve)

Solve 3: 
Scramble: L' R' U2 F B D U2 R B' U' L2 R' U2 D' R' D' L' U' F' R2 D' F' L D B' 

Okay, so on this scramble I notice that if I do y2 L then I'll join a pair, so I'll try to change my cross about a bit to accomodate it.

cross: y2 L F R' D U' L* B' U R'
*at this point I notice the corresponding edge for the green/orange corner is at UB - and I know that by doing that 2nd to last cross edge it will be oriented nicely in relation to it's corner, and that by doing that extra U turn I can set up a 3 mover...

Now the situation is irritating - it looks like it has potential but I really can't see anything to solve both the BR and FR pairs at once. The best I'll do is make sure that when the orange/blue pair gets taken out it also gets broken up; I can use a nice little trick to do this:
y L R U' R' U L'

then an easy 3 move insert (that was quite predictable during that trick):
U' L' U' L

And then a cool, kinda intuitive alg for the last pair: U2 R2 U2 R U R' U R2, then a 6 move OLL and G perm (20 moves in total inc AUF).

So all together: 
L' R' U2 F B D U2 R B' U' L2 R' U2 D' R' D' L' U' F' R2 D' F' L D B' 

y2 L F R' D U' L B' U R' (9)
y L R U' R' U L' (5|14)
U' L' U' L (4|18)
U2 R2 U2 R U R' U R2 (8|26)

(46 move solve)

I actually have to go and do some work now - but I *will* edit more solves in later, along with stuff on pair prediction and making extended crosses - I just wanted to get this started and posted so that I actually would do it. 

Hopefully this will inspire you to play with Fridrich f2l a bit more and see that it isn't just one spammy alg after another at all...

As soon as I can, which unfortunately will probably be around xmas, I'll make a video (plural if I cba) with more of this sort of stuff in - it's a bit easier to follow than this behemoth.

Cheers,
Rowan.

(Btw, I wrote this while still drunk/with a massive hangover so excuse typos and bad formatting for now)


----------



## Kirjava (Oct 21, 2010)

zomg you made it

time to learn some cool tricks ^_^


----------



## Krible (Oct 21, 2010)

Nice guide, i have been waiting for something like this!


----------



## FatBoyXPC (Oct 21, 2010)

Oh man Rowan, you know I'll enjoy this quite a bit!


----------



## amostay2004 (Oct 21, 2010)

Just went through the first solve and I'm already 'wtf-ing' @[email protected]


----------



## Sin-H (Oct 21, 2010)

beautiful.


----------



## Sa967St (Oct 21, 2010)

amostay2004 said:


> Just went through the first solve and I'm already 'wtf-ing' @[email protected]


 
ya same. The first solve is O_O.


----------



## Cubenovice (Oct 21, 2010)

CFOP for FMC!


----------



## ElectricDoodie (Oct 21, 2010)

I know this is going to sound like a complete noob of me, but...
What is the WCA position for scrambles? Is it White on U and Green on F?

Also, when he gives the solve, which way is he holding the cube? White cross on D? Green on F?
He gives the cross, but I don't know what way I'm supposed to be holding the cube, when following that cross...


----------



## joey (Oct 21, 2010)

He would give you all the rotations to get the cross.. just try the scrambles.


----------



## Sa967St (Oct 21, 2010)

ElectricDoodie said:


> What is the WCA position for scrambles?
> He gives the cross, but I don't know what way I'm supposed to be holding the cube, when following that cross...



white U, green F 
white U, green F


----------



## ElectricDoodie (Oct 21, 2010)

Sa967St said:


> white U, green F
> white U, green F


 
Sweet, thanks!
I just didn't know if I was supposed to hold the cube in the exact position as when I scrambled it.


----------



## StachuK1992 (Oct 21, 2010)

I don't even have a cube with me, but I've been looking through this and my mind is a little like this:
"wat."

Visualizing scrambles turns out to be pretty hard.


----------



## teller (Oct 21, 2010)

Much to learn, I still have.


----------



## Cride5 (Oct 21, 2010)

Very nice trix! .. thanks for sharing :tu

A couple of these multislotting tricks reminded me of some of the stuff I do in ZZF2L. Has ZZ provided any inspiration/ideas? The cool thing about taking advantage of slots in ZZ is that they don't need to be returned to their original state. When I have a 1x2x2 block I normally prefer to store it in the back position, but it may switch (regardless of where it belongs) if I need to use the slot. Also, it's nice to have 2 'non-diagonally-opposite' slots available as it allows for slot tricks to be used in any situation - this mainly applies to ZZ, but maybe also a little to Fridrich if you're trying to avoid y-rotations and F/B moves.

BTW, the moves (y L R U' R' U L') from your third solve, I find myself doing these kind of L,U,R-sequences from time-to-time, but don't like having to rapidly switch from RU-gen to LU-gen. Are there any tricks you can use to improve this, like z rotations maybe?


----------



## Escher (Oct 21, 2010)

@Cride5:

Yes, I think practicing with ZZ did open my eyes a little to how Fridrich was really just restricted blockbuilding rather than just a set of cases one after another... That and learning stuff from Breandan over msn was really helpful.

I'm not sure how to solve execution problems in terms of <L, U> and <R, U> switching, perhaps adopting more of a <R, r, U> approach to L moves might be more appropriate (like in the 'lefty' J perm: x r' U' r U r' U' L U r U' r2 F r) in certain situations.


----------



## oprah62 (Oct 21, 2010)

Rowan, your style is amazing. My inspiration for f2l.


----------



## Robert-Y (Oct 22, 2010)

I haven't seen such a great thread in a while!

On the third solve, the last two pairs could be done like this:

Use the empty FL slot to your advantage to solve the green and red pair, and preserve the orange and blue easy L' U' L insert case.

By doing L' we have made the green and red pair slightly easier to solve, so:

L' (U2 R' U' R U' R' U' R)

Then to return the orange and blue pair to the easy L' U' L insert case, we simply do L.

Now we simply do U' L' U L for the last pair.

It's two more moves than your solution, Rowan, but a bit more fingertricky


----------



## Escher (Oct 22, 2010)

Ah yes, good thinking and nice solution, I probably shouldn't have made this thread while off my tits on jaegerbombs from the night before.


----------



## Robert-Y (Oct 22, 2010)

Btw I only just found out that if we solved the green and red pair normally, it would leave us with an easy L' U2 L for orange blue (11 moves in total) 

However I didn't know this would happen, I think maybe I should learn about the effects that F2L algs have on other pieces in the future...


----------



## bluedasher (Oct 22, 2010)

Wow very thorough. Nice job.


----------



## amostay2004 (Oct 22, 2010)

Them Brits think about F2L too much


----------



## FatBoyXPC (Oct 22, 2010)

Man, those were very nice to see. I'm not going to do quite a bit of slow F2L solves and see if I can't get anything tricky like that. I like how you attempt to solve two pairs at once using the L2/R2 way of inserting the second pair.

When I was following along, I saw something else. Instead of doing F' L F L' to the Red/Blue pair. Instead I did U L' U' L U L' U L y R' U' R2 U' R' to insert the Orange/Blue and Red/Blue pairs. That leaves you with U' L' U' L U' L' U L. This is quite a bit higher move count though. You're left with U (AUF) then R' F R U R' U' F' R for OLL then a Ja perm. I had a total move count of 38 just for the last 3 pairs / OLL / PLL. So the 15 moves for Cross + first pair and my 39 turns = 54. I really need to slow down and try to come up with optimized F2L. I guess I've known that for awhile but I know my look ahead needs far more work.


----------



## Escher (Oct 22, 2010)

Robert-Y said:


> Btw I only just found out that if we solved the green and red pair normally, it would leave us with an easy L' U2 L for orange blue (11 moves in total)
> 
> However I didn't know this would happen, I think maybe I should learn about the effects that F2L algs have on other pieces in the future...


 
Now I had noticed that, but who wants the usual approach in a 'show off your f2l tricks' thread? 

EDIT: @fatboy: glad you liked them  I'll make some more asap, this is definitely not the extent of my tricks - I have tons more I just didn't get a chance to show in only 3 f2ls.
I think whats probably more appropriate is just making f2l as seamless as possible, then adding tricks as you go along - I didn't know any of this until I was at least 12 average.


----------



## oprah62 (Oct 22, 2010)

Would you recommend learning these at a 15 secs average?? I already know some tricks. 
Also, do you have a collection of these tricks?
How do you keep a flawless f2l with fast recg., while doing these complicated tricks?


----------



## Escher (Oct 22, 2010)

oprah62 said:


> Would you recommend learning these at a 15 secs average?? I already know some tricks.
> Also, do you have a collection of these tricks?
> How do you keep a flawless f2l with fast recg., while doing these complicated tricks?



Well, if it helps you get better times 

I've not written anything down except here, the rest is in my brain.

My f2l isn't flawless yet... plus - keep in mind these solves are optimised for trickiness. In an actual 2h speedsolve I would probably do half as much as I have written here - look through any posts of single solves of mine in the accomplishment thread and you'll see that they're more commonly only optimised in terms of pair order selection rather than move optimised like here (I'll write more about pair order later).


----------



## Robert-Y (Oct 22, 2010)

amostay2004 said:


> Them Brits think about F2L too much


 
Not too surprising if you consider the fact that Breandan, Rowan and I are the top 3 cubers in the UK 

(Who knows? Simon/Thom/etc. could easily change this in the future )


----------



## oprah62 (Oct 22, 2010)

Escher said:


> you'll see that they're more commonly only optimised in terms of pair order selection rather than move optimised like here (I'll write more about pair order later).


 
This I am interested in. Thanks for the guide.


----------



## Joker (Oct 22, 2010)

I'll check this out later.
Too lazy to whip out my cube and read all that text now 

EDIT

OP: I find the words in your sig inspiring =D


----------



## teller (Oct 22, 2010)

See...I've known all along that there was more to speed than just "practice." Practice doesn't make perfect, practice makes permanent. But permanent what? First Weston, and now this--I'm starting to see the multi-slotting landscape, and man...it's a deep subject.


----------



## FatBoyXPC (Oct 22, 2010)

I do some multislotting tricks, but usually only to hide a pre-built pair. I don't know why but I haven't thought to do it to hide the easy RUR' trigger either. I'm very much interested in pair order too. I'm guessing it's got something to do with filling FL/LB slots then FR/RB? I try slot in the back to help my look ahead, but I won't waste a cube rotation to do it


----------



## Forte (Oct 22, 2010)

This was awesome Rowan! Rate good!


----------



## Tim Major (Oct 22, 2010)

Escher said:


> Solve 2:
> 
> B' R2 D L2 U2 L' F2 U B F2 D B L' D' B2 L B F2 U2 F2 B D2 F' R' U2
> 
> ...



z2 L' D' L D L' U R' U' x U R' U' x' L U' L'
This just seemed extremely obvious to me. 14 move double X-cross, meaning, I don't need to look at any of this, so I can lookahead to next pairs. You could even rotate y2 at the start of the solve.
z2 y2 R' D' R D R' U L' U' x' U L' U' x R U' R'

Interesting... I'll look more into these in a bit. I do a lot of multi slotting myself (just intuitive really). Some of the cases I've seen so far, I use different things. Longer, but with less double turns. Faster for me to execute.

Thanks.


----------



## Faz (Oct 22, 2010)

> This just seemed extremely obvious to me. 14 move double X-cross, meaning, I don't need to look at any of this, so I can lookahead to next pairs.


Yeah, because you can totally see that 2nd pair in inspection... ^^

Pretty cool stuff Rowan


----------



## Escher (Oct 22, 2010)

ZB_FTW!!! said:


> z2 L' D' L D L' U R' U' x U R' U' x' L U' L'
> This just seemed extremely obvious to me. 14 move double X-cross, meaning, I don't need to look at any of this, so I can lookahead to next pairs. You could even rotate y2 at the start of the solve.
> z2 y2 R' D' R D R' U L' U' x' U L' U' x R U' R'
> 
> ...



Actually I'm pretty sure that's just an 11 move x-cross.


----------



## joey (Oct 22, 2010)

I'd also find it useful if you could provide a few actual speedsolve solutions.


----------



## Tim Major (Oct 22, 2010)

Escher said:


> Actually I'm pretty sure that's just an 11 move x-cross.


 
I'd consider a double X-cross as the fact I planned for that, it wasn't just lookahead to the next pair 
I don't get how to explain. IMO, if I expected, did the X-cross then did the next pair, sure that's just an X-cross. But when I saw in _inspection_ that there would be a free pair at the back, that meant I could just execute the 14 moves like an alg, while looking ahead to the 3rd pair.


----------



## Faz (Oct 22, 2010)

How the hell did you see that 2nd pair from inspection.


----------



## Escher (Oct 22, 2010)

fazrulz said:


> How the hell did you see that 2nd pair from inspection.



Yeah this^

Quick speedsolve solution:

B U' R' L F L' B U L2 D2 R' F2 L' U2 F2 L2 R' F B2 R U F U' L F 

y x U' D x' D' R D' L (6)
U L' U L2 U' L' (6|12)
U2' y R U R' L' U' L U' L' U L (11|23)
U2' y R' U2' R U R' U' R (8|31)

(then I'd use the two gen COLL to get an EPLL)

Very normal solve, no tricks, but a reasonable example of pair order selection. An approach I used before my lookahead good enough was just 'solve whatever appears first'. In this case the solution would have looked a lot more like:

(Identical cross and first pair) (12)
U' y' R' U2' R U' R' U R (8|20)
U' y' R' U2 R U' R' U R (8|28)
U' y' R U R' U2 R U' R' (8|36)

When I have time later I'll explain more and do more examples...


----------



## joey (Oct 22, 2010)

You know the best thing about ordering is when you instinctively do the non obvious pairs first and you get left with a better pair but you don't know how you knew that!


----------



## Weston (Nov 18, 2010)

I've been trying some Rowany stuff :3

F D' R' B' F' U B2 L2 F B R' L2 U F' U' F D2 L B F' U' R F2 U2 F' 

Cross: F U' R U' R2 U ' x2 
First F2L pair + pairing up second: U [R] L U L' [U R'] 
Insert second pair: U' R U2 R' Insert second pair.
Last two pairs: y U L U' R U R' U L' 
25 moves


----------



## Escher (Nov 18, 2010)

Very nice, pretty much exactly what I would have first thought to do 

My solution, in order to get out a few fun tricks:

F D' R' B' F' U B2 L2 F B R' L2 U F' U' F D2 L B F' U' R F2 U2 F'

x-cross: z2 R2 F' D R' y' u L' u' (7)
1st pair: R U' R' (10)
2nd pair: u U L U' L' u' (16)
Kinda intuitive ZB: U2 L U y' R U' R' U F' (24)


----------



## Toad (Nov 19, 2010)

I just had a great read through all the examples in this thread then was inspired to turn to qqtimer and give it a go myself. This is what I came up with:

Would really appreciate opinions as I think it's really nice.

*B D L U2 R2 U F2 U L' F U D' L D2 F2 U R2 L U' F' U F2 B2 R B2 *

*y' D' L2 D' U' R L'* // The U' connects the pair, I then notice a great possibility of a double xcross while still preserving the pair:
*L' U L2 U' L' y' R U' R' D2 *// Now I see that I can setup a 3 mover for the next case with a simple pre-move before inserting this one:
*B R U' R'* // insert last pair with edges oriented:
*y U R' U' y L' U L* // Anti-sune to R perm, not a bad LL.

F2L, when cancelling the L' L' for the xcross, is 23 moves.


----------



## rishidoshi (Jan 21, 2011)

This was good stuff Rowan! i liked it.. btw i feel that text description shudnt be discontinued if ur making videos. ur stuff can become like a "handbook of tricks". I printed this and "spent quality time"  looking fwd to more solves.
Cheers!


----------



## Pachonk (Nov 28, 2013)

*Just can't seem to get F2L lookahead*

I've been cubing for many years, but I just started getting serious about August.

No matter how much I try, I just can't seem to get lookahead at all. I get it only when I move really extremely slow.

I have read/watched just about every tutorial I've been able to find and just can't get it.

Am I missing something? What's the best way to practice look ahead when I just can't get it?

I average about 45 seconds, 30-35 seconds is Cross+F2L. The rest is 2-Look OLL and 2-Look PLL.

Thank you,
Pachonk


----------



## uyneb2000 (Nov 28, 2013)

practice moar. That's really all I can say, honestly. It may take a while until you get the hang of it. Don't time your solves, just analyze how you solve it.


----------



## ScottyDoesntCube (Nov 28, 2013)

It's something I've been working on for a few months now myself and I'm just now starting to get good solves where I don't, or rarely, pause during F2L. Usually my downfall is a lack of focus or I'm turning too quickly to look ahead. Going a bit slower and making smoother transitions between pairs will help reduce your time and eventually you can speed it up a bit.


----------



## Bunyanderman (Nov 28, 2013)

I don't think looking ahead is important at your solving times, if you try to solve the cube with fast moves/better fingertricks than you can improve to 18-22 seconds with out needing to look ahead. When you have a high move count for a F2L case look on the wiki for the lowest move count(an algorithm,) to solve that case and many others. There are 42 different F2L cases (standard cases) and i bet you 30 of the cases could definitely be improved. Just try to improve recognition of each case and finger tricks/lower move count to solve them, and when you are in the low 20's then you can improve on look ahead.


----------



## TheOneOnTheLeft (Nov 28, 2013)

Practise at that extremely slow speed, making sure you can consistently solve F2L without pausing, and then slowly speed up from there, always making sure you don't have to pause during F2L before increasing your turning speed.

Also, I gather most people don't start working on lookahead until at least sub-30, so maybe what you need is the familiarity with F2L cases that more practice brings. Try solving cross, and then finding your first corner and edge, then trying to pair and insert those two pieces with your eyes closed. If you can't do that for all F2L cases, I'd recommend just starting to learn full PLL instead. Once you're done with that, you should be more familiar with your F2L cases, and starting to look ahead should be easier.


----------



## applemobile (Nov 28, 2013)

IMO don't bother untill you are faster. You an only look ahead once you can do each F2l case without thinking about it, and I would suggest that you are not at that point yet.
When you are ready, I would suggest you don't look at individual pieces, rather almost starte through the cube, not concentrating on one part, at some point you will be able to see all the pieces rather than just the one you are staring at. I am much better at looking ahead when I am tired, because my brain doesn't try to focus on one part if the cube.


----------



## Bhargav777 (Nov 28, 2013)

<3


----------

