# Mixed Last Slot - F2L Trick and Blockbuilding option



## oll+phase+sync (Mar 24, 2011)

[cube scramble="R2URUR'U2R2U2"][/cube] EDIT: Whats the correct syntax to get an cube drawn?

Consider the case when just two F2L slots are left, an edge of on slot and an corner of the other slot is already filled.

Doing a D-layer move , doing XLS (mixed last slot), undoing D move : is an obvious strategy to finish F2L with just one slot operation instead of two.

While being more of a lucky case in Fridrich this can be used actively during blockbuilding in ZZ or Petrus (there it is even simpler to do the recognition because edges are oriented)

When I first tried this (at the beginning of my cubing career) I thougt xls-recognition is impossible to do. But when I revisited this idea a month ago, I was surprised that my recognition time is as fast as normal. But there is only one edge and one corner left so matching colors are not so importend any more.

I still had some problems because for some F2L cases I only knew the first moves, and continued "as obvious" - but with a mixed slot obvious doesn't look obvious any more. 
So using xls forced me to get better at F2L execution in general. 

I solve the mixed slot at FR or BR position so I only use R and U moves , I think it really helps to have oriented edges when you start trying this, but it si not necessary at all later.

If you already use this (it's not that much genial) please post, because I'm interessted in your experiences. 
If you don't use it already - try it - it's for free 

If you believe it's too difficult to use, make a comment what's you F2L style is, please.

P.S.: This can also be used as a cheap way to prepare L2L4's CO step.


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## Kirjava (Mar 24, 2011)

This is called slanting. Welcome to 2004.


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## oll+phase+sync (Mar 25, 2011)

Kirjava said:


> This is called slanting. Welcome to 2004.


 
2004 that's far in the past. - what did people say about slanting in former ages? Is there a reason it's mentioned nowhere? (considered google is everywhere)


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## irontwig (Mar 25, 2011)

http://homepage.ntlworld.com/angela.hayden/cube/speed4.html


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## Dennis (Mar 25, 2011)

irontwig said:


> http://homepage.ntlworld.com/angela.hayden/cube/speed4.html


 
Thanks for reminding me of this method. I tried it 5 or 6 years ago but did'nt really got any good at it, now perhaps my recognition is better and do more things intuitive


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## Mike Hughey (Mar 25, 2011)

irontwig said:


> http://homepage.ntlworld.com/angela.hayden/cube/speed4.html


 
Interesting. It's a little like how you think when you do match-the-scramble with straight CFOP, so I'd think it would be something I might be able to get used to doing. I'm kind of disappointed that I never thought of doing this before - it's almost the same as keyhole, but more flexible. I'd think this could be very useful for FMC as well.

I'm sure this means I'm going to have a very bad fewest moves result next week, since I'm certain I'll be looking for nothing but non-matching pairs for the whole hour. I was the same way when I first discovered premoves. 

When you just got a nifty new hammer, everything looks like a nail.


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## teller (Mar 25, 2011)

Mike Hughey said:


> When you just got a nifty new hammer, everything looks like a nail.


That's for sure. Right now I'm inserting OH flicks into EVERYTHING. My solve is ruined!!!


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## macky (Mar 27, 2011)

particularly useful examples:
Uw'R'FRF'RU'R'Uw
DR'FRF'RU'R'D'


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## oll+phase+sync (Mar 27, 2011)

irontwig said:


> http://homepage.ntlworld.com/angela.hayden/cube/speed4.html


 
From that site:

"First align the slot using D moves so the hole for the corner is under the hole for the edge, then 
(i) if both the colours on the edge piece are the opposite colours to the colours on the corner piece, imagine the colour and its opposite colour are the same colour and do the corresponding Jessica algorithm 
(ii) of one colour is the opposite colour and the other isn't then you want to do the Jessica algorithm that you would do if the edge piece was flipped 
(iii) if both edge colours are the same as on the corner piece then do the corresponding Jessica algorithm "

Using this rules it might be even possible to solve more than just the last slot using non matching pairs. since I currently use it for the last slot only. I just check edge orientation and d-sticker of the corner and think thats faster. 


A new way to apply this could be the following:

You see a non matching but otherwise correct corner-edge pair in U-layer , this could be a fast slot in, but the rest of F2L will be non-matching, though I would prefer this as 3rd slot.

I also should make a rule (opp-colorbases) to distingish good and bad CE-pairs.

P.S. anyone knows the


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## qqwref (Mar 27, 2011)

The idea of using D moves to do non-matching F2L pairs is not new, but I haven't seen 2gen algorithms (with no D moves) before. Do you have a list of the ones you use?


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## oll+phase+sync (Apr 18, 2011)

oll+phase+sync said:


> I also should make a rule (opp-colorbases) to distingish good and bad CE-pairs.


 
It was suprisingly easy to distingish "slotable" from "unslotable" non-matching CE-pairs.

All you must do is take a solved cube, do E moves and watch what pattern you can identify on FR slot.

slotable: two straight stripes (a matching color CE pair), exactly one diagonal stripe, two straight opposite colored stripes.

unslotable: a single straight stripe, checker pattern (tow diagonal stripes), opposite color checker pattern.


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## Godmil (Apr 18, 2011)

Is this actually usable? It seems needlessly complicated to me.


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## Dennis (Nov 17, 2011)

So, I was sitting doing some practice on mixing ZZ and non-matching pairs and I realized that you could actually use Winter Variation on the non-matching pairs to both insert the two last slots AND orient the LL corners. I think that is kind of sweet, my first cubing revelation for several years!


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## oll+phase+sync (Nov 18, 2011)

Dennis said:


> So, I was sitting doing some practice on mixing ZZ and non-matching pairs and I realized that you could actually use Winter Variation on the non-matching pairs to both insert the two last slots AND orient the LL corners. I think that is kind of sweet, my first cubing revelation for several years!



To learn an alg it is very helpfull to remember the way certain blocks move during the alg. When the last slot is a mixed pair this kind of "block help" is not there any more. You must be "blindly" sure about your algs. And obviously knowing <RU> -F2L is much more common then perfecting WinterVariation.

CLS in my opinion would be a great addition since there the mix is solved naturally.

Personally I do F2L + COLL most of the time, but also solving just the "last corner" + COLL + "Last 5 edges" works as a shortcut, but I'm not speed drilled enough on that


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## the_chad (Sep 1, 2022)

Sorry for the bump but this sounds suspiciously similar to Tymon's "pseudoslotting". How we should call this technique? Someone mentioned that it used to be called "slanting" back in 2004, but the link doesn't work anymore.


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## Imsoosm (Sep 1, 2022)

The fact that Tymon uses something from 18 years ago just blows my mind. It's amazing how almost 2 decades ago people have thought up some advanced techniques we use today. I might be wrong but I think it might be @Athefre who popularized the idea on 2x2 (pseudo layers), then moved onto 3x3.



Godmil said:


> Is this actually usable? It seems needlessly complicated to me.


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