Lesson 23 18 min Intermediate

Two-look OLL

Make the whole top face one colour with ten algorithms instead of fifty-seven: three for the edges, seven for the corners.

By the end you will be able to

Orient the last-layer edges with one of three algorithms
Orient the last-layer corners with one of seven, and hold each one the right way round
Say how likely each case is, and which ones to learn first
Explain what two-look costs you against full OLL

The first two layers are done and the top is a mess. OLL — orientation of the last layer — turns the whole top face one colour in a single algorithm, ignoring where the pieces end up. There are fifty-seven cases. You are not going to learn fifty-seven algorithms today.

Instead you split the job in two: get the four edges showing yellow on top, then the four corners. Three algorithms for the first half, seven for the second. Ten in total, and seven of the ten are genuine OLL cases that stay with you when you learn the full set.

The edges first

Look at the top face and ignore the corners completely. The yellow edge stickers make one of four shapes: a cross (nothing to do), a straight line, a bent pair, or nothing at all.

FRUR^'U^'F^' 6

The line. Two yellow edges opposite each other. Hold the line running left to right, across the cube rather than towards you.

FwRUR^'U^'Fw^' 6

The bent pair. Two yellow edges next to each other. Hold them pointing at you and to the right. Fw is a wide turn: the front face and the layer behind it, together.

FRUR^'U^'F^'FwRUR^'U^'Fw^' 12

The dot. No yellow edges at all. This is the other two algorithms one after the other, so there is nothing new to learn — it is the same six turns twice, once narrow and once wide.

Shape	How often	What to do
Cross already	1 in 8	Nothing — go straight to the corners
Bent pair	1 in 2	The wide-turn version
Line	1 in 4	The plain version
Dot	1 in 8	Both, one after the other

Half of all solves give you the bent pair, so that is the one to make automatic first.

Then the corners

Now every edge shows yellow on top and the corners do not. Seven cases cover it. The first thing to count is how many corners already show yellow on top: none, one, or two. That splits seven cases into groups of two, two and three, and the rest is where the remaining yellow stickers point.

RUR^'URU²R^' 7

Sune. One corner shows yellow on top; hold it at the front-left. Check the front-right corner: its yellow sticker faces you. Seven turns, and the most useful algorithm on the cube — it turns up again in COLL, in Winter Variation and in half the last-layer tricks you will meet later.

RU²R^'U^'RU^'R^' 7

Anti-sune. Again one corner shows yellow on top, but with it at the front-left the front-right corner points its yellow to the right instead of at you. Turn the top half a turn so the correct corner sits at the back-right, then this.

RU²R^'U^'RUR^'U^'RU^'R^' 11

H. No corner shows yellow on top, and the four yellow stickers are two on the front face and two at the back. Two sunes back to back, near enough.

RU²R²U^'R²U^'R²U²R 9

Pi. No corner shows yellow on top either, but here two yellow stickers sit side by side on one face. Hold that pair on the left; the other two stickers face front and back.

R²DR^'U²RD^'R^'U²R^' 9

Headlights. Two corners show yellow on top, both at the back, and the two yellow side stickers sit side by side on the face towards you. The D turns feel odd at first; they are what lets the algorithm hold the back corners still.

RwUR^'U^'Rw^'FRF^' 8

T. Two corners show yellow on top, both on the right. The front-left corner points its yellow at you and the back-left corner points its yellow at the back.

F^'RwUR^'U^'Rw^'FR 8

Bowtie. Two corners show yellow on top, diagonally opposite each other — that diagonal is the giveaway. Hold it so the yellow stickers you can see are on the front face and the left face.

Case	Yellow corners on top	How often
Already done	4	1 in 27
Sune	1	4 in 27
Anti-sune	1	4 in 27
Headlights	2	4 in 27
T	2	4 in 27
Bowtie	2	4 in 27
Pi	0	4 in 27
H	0	2 in 27

Every case except H and the free one comes up equally often, so there is no clever order to learn them in. Sune and anti-sune first, because they are short and they recur elsewhere.

What this costs you

Against full OLL, two-look costs about five extra turns and one extra pause per solve — a second or so once you are quick. Against not knowing OLL at all it saves far more than that, and ten algorithms is an evening rather than a season.

The seven corner algorithms are OLL cases 21 to 27, kept exactly as they are in the full set. When you come to learn all fifty-seven, these seven are already done.

The ten two-look OLL algorithms Every case with a diagram generated from the moves, and a cube that will run them. Wide turns and slice turns What `Fw`, `Rw` and `M` mean, and how they relate to the turns you already know.