Phase 2 left gaps: a diagonal corner swap cost you two T-Perms, and a wrong-direction edge cycle cost two Ubs. Four algorithms close them all — and finish the method.
Y-Perm: the diagonal swap, solved directly
Yellow face done, corners next. Check every side for headlights — two matching corner stickers on one face. Headlights: hold them at the left, T-Perm, as in Phase 2. No headlights anywhere: the corners swap diagonally, and Y-Perm solves that in one go.
Hold the cube however it already sits. A diagonal swap looks identical from all four sides, so there is no angle to hunt for. One algorithm replaces the chained double T-Perm.
F R U' R' U' R U R' F' R U R' U' R' F R F'
SolvingY-Perm
Starts at the case. Full colour is what this step solves, dim is already solved and has to survive it, grey is further down the method.
Open the full case page →The M slice
One piece of new notation before the edges.
M turns the middle layer — the slice between L and R — in the same
direction as L. M2 is the double turn. Drill M2 on its own: repeat it
until the two flicks feel like one motion and the cube stays square in your
hands. All three edge algorithms below are built entirely from M-slice and
U turns.
The M slice contains only edges and centers, so it cannot touch a corner — and in each algorithm below the U turns cancel out. That is why your finished corners are physically safe.
The edge set
Corners permuted. Turn U until the corners line up with the side centers, then count edges that match their face:
- All four — the cube is solved. Stop.
- Exactly one — hold it at the back. Front edge needs to go right: Ua. Needs to go left: Ub, from Phase 2.
- None — H-Perm or Z-Perm; recognition below.
M2 U M U2 M' U M2
SolvingUa
Starts at the case. Full colour is what this step solves, dim is already solved and has to survive it, grey is further down the method.
Open the full case page →
M2 U' M2 U2 M2 U' M2
SolvingH-Perm
Starts at the case. Full colour is what this step solves, dim is already solved and has to survive it, grey is further down the method.
Open the full case page →
M' U' M2 U' M2 U' M' U2 M2 U
SolvingZ-Perm
Starts at the case. Full colour is what this step solves, dim is already solved and has to survive it, grey is further down the method.
Open the full case page →H or Z?
No edge matches after any U turn — that alone rules out the U-perms. To split the last two, read any side face:
- Opposite colors facing each other (orange edge on the red face) — every edge has jumped straight across the cube: H-Perm.
- Adjacent colors facing each other (green edge on the red face) — the edges have swapped around the corners: Z-Perm.
H looks identical from all four sides — any grip works. Z needs one check: hold the cube so the front edge shows the right-hand face’s color (the front and right edges swap). A quarter turn off, the algorithm leaves an H-Perm instead of a solved cube.
That’s full 2-look CFOP
Count what you now hold: 3 cross cases, 7 corner orientations, 2 corner permutations, 4 edge permutations — every OLL and PLL case, one algorithm each. No chaining, no repeats, at most two looks per stage. The next speed jump is not more algorithms — it is F2L.