Introduction

ZZF2L is the 2nd step of the ZZ Method. After EOCross, complete the First 2 Layers (F2L) of the cube, which are the bottom two layers.

The rest of the article does not require any knowledge of CFOP.

To complete the F2L, we need to solve four corners and four edges around the EOCross.

Each pair of matching corners and edges is called an F2L pair. For example, this is the front-right (FR) pair, scrambled up:

And that "gap" where a pair belongs to is called an F2L slot. So the FR pair belongs to the FR slot, shown above as an empty spot.

We name the four pairs and their four slots by their positions. FR is front-right, FL is front-left, BR is back-right, BL is back-left.

Basic inserts

Many beginner methods for the Rubik's cube will complete the First 2 Layers, one piece at a time. This is easy to learn, but slow for speedsolving. Instead, we will learn how to solve both pieces of an F2L pair together, which is much faster.

Let's begin by looking at the two simplest ways to solve a pair together, using the FR pair as an example. We call these two simplest ways basic inserts.

Joined pair

This is the joined pair: the two pieces of this F2L pair are joined together with the colors aligned.

Moves: R U' R'

We can solve joined pairs in three moves with this general strategy (brackets have the moves for just this example):

1. Lift the slot to the top. (R)
2. Move the pair into the slot. (U')
3. Bring the solved slot back down. (R')

Press ▶️ above to see it in action!

Split pair

This is the split pair: it looks like a joined pair that was split apart by one move. We can also solve this in three moves with this strategy:

Moves: R U R'

1. Lift the slot to the top, while also joining the pair. (R)
2. Move the pair into the slot. (U)
3. Bring the solved slot back down. (R')

Intuition

F2L solutions make "intuitive" sense: you can see and understand how they work. This is powerful because we don't need to memorize these solutions as algorithms (R U' R', R U R'...). In fact, we shouldn't! You'd have to memorize all the variations for FL, BR and BL too.

If you remember the strategy of a solution, you can easily apply it for all four pair positions. Here's the same F2L case on both the FR and FL pairs.

Front-right pair:

Moves: R U2 R'

Front-left pair:

Moves: L' U2 L

They're solved with the same strategy, because they're just mirror images of each other. It's a good skill to see them as exactly the same thing.

This tutorial will mainly use the FR pair to show strategies, but they work for all pairs.

How to solve F2L

We'll solve each F2L pair, one at a time. There are four steps to solving a pair:

1. Move the pieces to the top layer.
2. Separate the two pieces if they're touching.
3. Set up a basic insert.
4. Do the basic insert.

Since EOCross is solved, we only need to turn the R, U, and L layers. No cube rotations are needed, so we will keep holding the cube at the same angle throughout.

Step 1

We want both pieces of the F2L pair to be in the top layer. Any F2L piece that is not in the top layer will be trapped in one of the unsolved F2L slots around the cube.

To move a trapped piece to the top, we'll learn a general strategy. As an example, the yellow-green-orange corner is trapped in the FR slot.

Moves: R U R'

1. Move the slot containing the piece to the top, using an R/L-layer move. (R)
2. Free the trapped piece with any U-layer move. (U)
3. Move the slot back down. (R')

This strategy still works if both F2L pieces are trapped in the same slot:

Moves: R U R'

However, if exactly one piece is already at the top, there's a chance that it will become trapped when we free the other piece! For example, doing R U R' here will just trap the corner.

Moves: R U R'. Oh no, corner's trapped now!

To avoid this, we can wisely choose a U-layer move, not just any. It should take both pieces out of the first move's layer.

Here, the first move is R, so then we move the pieces out of the R layer. U2 works. You could also do U'.

Moves: R'U2R'

This way, the third move has no chance of bringing any pair pieces back down.

Another example

This BR pair has both pieces trapped. Let's lift the edge to the top.

Moves: L U' L'

1. It's trapped in the BL slot, so the L will move that slot up.
2. Then U' (could be any U-layer move) to free the edge.
3. Then L' to move the BL slot back down.

Then we can lift the corner to the top, but be careful because we now have the edge at the top.

Moves: L' U' L

1. It's trapped in the FL slot, so the L' will move that slot up.
2. Then U' or U2 to free the corner. The first move is L', so we should move the pieces out of the L layer. U does not, and in this case would trap the edge that we just freed.
3. Then L to move the FL slot back down.

Step 2

The pair is now at the top, but if they're "touching" then we want to separate them.

The pair is touching if they're right next to each other like this:

This pair is separated, which is what we want:

To separate a touching pair, there are four easy moves:

1. Move the corner to above an unsolved slot, with a U-layer move. Skip if it's already like that.
2. Move that unsolved slot to the top using an R/L-layer move.
3. Do U2.
4. Move the slot back down, which will cut the pair in half.

For example, in this situation we can do:

1. U to move the corner to above the unsolved FR slot.
2. R to move the unsolved FR slot to the top.
3. U2.
4. R' to move the FR slot back down.

Moves: U R U2 R'

Another example

Here's the FL pair, the pieces are touching and the BL slot is also unsolved.

Moves: L U2 L'

1. This step is skipped, the corner is already above an unsolved slot (BL).
2. We do L to lift the BL slot to the top.
3. Then U2.
4. Then L' to bring the BL slot back down, which separates the pair.

Note: if your pair is touching and is also a joined pair, then you already have a basic insert ready! Skip to Step 4.

Step 3

Now we'll set up the pair for a basic insert. We can move the pieces around to form a joined pair or a split pair.

There are three types of cases, based on the way the corner is twisted:

Case A

Case A: The "D sticker" faces the top. The corner will always have a D sticker: a sticker that matches the color of the bottom (D) center. We'll setup a joined pair.

Here's the strategy alongside an example:

Moves: U2 R U R'

1. Align the edge with the center that matches its side color. (U2)
2. Lift the slot we're solving to the top. (R)
3. Do the U-layer move that stacks the corner on top of the edge. (U)
4. Bring the slot back down. (R')

Then we'll have a joined pair.

Another example

Here's the FL pair, the corner has the yellow D sticker on the top side so it's Case A.

Moves: U L U2 L'

1. We do U to line up the edge's orange side sticker with the orange center.
2. We're solving the FL slot, so L to lift the FL slot to the top.
3. Then U2 to stack the corner on top of the edge
4. Finally L' to bring the FL slot back down.

Case B

Case B: the top stickers match. The corner is twisted so that the stickers on the top of both pieces are the same color. The joined pair is also like that, so we'll set up a joined pair.

To do that, we'll temporarily hide the corner so that we can bring the edge right next to it. The hiding spot for the corner is the position that is an R2 or L2 move away from its solved position.

Here's the strategy for Case B:

Moves: U' R U2 R'

1. Move the corner to its "hiding spot". (Here it's the back-right, do U' to move the corner there)
2. Lift the slot we're solving to the top which will hide the corner. (R)
3. Move the edge to the front or back, whichever is next to the hiding spot. (Here, move it to the back with U2)
4. Un-hide the corner. (R')

Now we'll have a joined pair!

Another example

This is the BL pair. Both pieces have blue on the top, so this is Case B.

Moves: L U L'

Let's find the hiding spot of the corner. The corner's solved position is at the bottom-back-left. Imagine we did an L2. That position would move to the top-front-left. That's the hiding spot.

1. The corner is already at the hiding spot. This step is skipped!
2. We're solving the BL slot, so we do L to lift that slot to the top.
3. We need to move the edge to either the front or the back. The front position is right next to the hiding spot, so we'll move the edge there with U.
4. Then L' to bring the BL slot back down.

Case C

Case C: the top stickers don't match. The corner is twisted so that the stickers on the top are different colors. It's also not Case A, so we don't see a D sticker at the top. The split pair is also like this, so we'll set up to the split pair.

There are only two cases. It's either a split pair which is our goal (you can see that it's 1 move away from being joined).

Or, it's not a split pair. We'll follow a strategy very similar to Case B.

Moves: U' R U R'

1. Move the corner to its hiding spot. (U')
2. Lift the slot we're solving to the top, which will hide the corner. (R)
3. Move the edge to the left or right, whichever is furthest from the hiding spot.
4. Un-hide the corner. (R')

Now we have a split pair!

Another example

Consider this BR pair. The top stickers of the two pieces are red and blue. They don't match, and we also don't see a D sticker (yellow) so it's Case C.

We can see they can't be joined together with one move, so this is not the split pair we want yet. The corner's solved position is the bottom-back-right. Imagine we did an R2. That position would move to the top-front-right. That's the hiding spot.

Moves: U2 R' U' R

1. We'll do U2 to move the corner to the hiding spot (top-front-right).
2. Then R' to lift the BR slot up, which hides our corner.
3. We need to move the edge to either the left or the right position. The right would be right next to the hiding spot, so we'll move the edge to the left instead with a U'.
4. Then R to bring the BR slot back down.

Step 4

Finally it's time to solve our joined/split pair. We'll position the pair and then do the basic insert.

Solving a joined pair

To solve a joined pair, we need to position the pair so that it won't get split by the basic insert. The basic insert will be turning the R or L layer, whichever one contains the slot we're solving. So we need to move the pair out of that R/L layer, to prevent it from getting split.

For instance, this is a joined FR pair so we're solving the FR slot. The FR slot is in the R layer, so we can do a U2 to move the pair out of the R layer. U' also works.

Now it's time to do the basic insert. Here's the explanation from the basic inserts section again:

1. Lift the slot to the top. (R)
2. Move the pair into the slot. (U')
3. Bring the solved slot back down. (R')

Moves: R U' R'

Alternatively, if we chose U' instead of U2 to position the pair, our basic insert will be like this:

Moves: R U2 R'

Exact same strategy, but in step 2 we did a U2 to move the pair into the slot.

Solving a split pair

To solve a split pair, we need to position the pair so that it will get joined by the basic insert. The corner needs to be above the slot we're solving, and that's the only position that works.

In this case, do a U' to move the corner above the FR slot, which the pair belongs to.

Now it's time to do the basic insert. Here's the explanation from the basic inserts section again:

Moves: R U R'

1. Lift the slot to the top, while also joining the pair. (R)
2. Move the pair into the slot. (U)
3. Bring the solved slot back down. (R')

Now the F2L pair is solved!

Conclusion

Congrats! You've completed the ZZF2L tutorial. It may be a lot to take in initially, but because ZZF2L is intuitive it will become second nature. There are also a lot of patterns, for example you'll be lifting slots up and putting them back down. Solutions are generally alternating between R and U moves, or L and U moves. You'll get the hang of it!

The next and final step is Last Layer.