Stage I: Corners

1. Orient Top Corners

top corners oriented

You should be able to manage this on your own. Do not worry about positions - all corners will be permuted in step 3. You should be able to orient top corners in 6 moves or less. For the greatest speed and efficiency, try to do this in one look. For smoother cubing you should try to orient these corners on bottom face, because the next step can be done faster then (no cube rotation afterwards, easier looking ahead).

(average number of turns for this step ... 5)

2. Orient Bottom Corners

bottom corners oriented

Rotate the whole cube so that bottom face becomes top face. Orient the corners depending on which of the seven patterns below you see:

T pattern

T pattern:

R U R' U' F' U' F
L (F) pattern

L (F) pattern:

F R' F' U' R' U R
MI pattern

MI pattern:

R U R' U R U2 R'
PI pattern

PI pattern:

R U R2 F' R'2 U R'
U pattern

U pattern:

R' F' U' F U R
H pattern

H pattern:

R2 U2 R' U2 R2

(average number of turns for this step ... 7)

3. Position All Corners

all corners positioned

A pair here represents two adjacent corners on the top or bottom layer. Such a pair is considered to be solved correctly if the two corners are positioned correctly relative to each other. A solved pair will be easy to identify because the two adjacent facelets on the side (not top or bottom) will be of the same color. A layer can have only zero, one, or four correct pairs.

The number and location of correct pairs can be quickly identified by merely looking at two adjacent side faces (that is, not top or bottom). For a given layer, if you see one correct pair and one incorrect pair, then there is only one correct pair on that layer. If you see two correct pairs, then all four pairs are correct. If you see no correct pairs but both pairs consist of opposite colors, then there are no correct pairs on that layer. If you see no correct pairs and only one pair consisting of opposite colors, then there is one correct pair on that layer, and it is opposite to the pair with the opposite colors.

Proceed with one of the following sequences depending on how many solved pairs you have:

0 pairs solved

0 (no pairs solved):

R2 F2 R2
bottom-back pair solved

1 (bottom-back pair solved):

R U' F U2 F' U R'

1 (top-back pair solved):

R' U R' B2 R U' R
back pairs solved

2 (top-back and bottom-back pairs solved):

R2 U F2 U2 R2 U R2
bottom solved

4 (bottom pairs solved):

F2 U' R U' R' U F2 U R U R'
bottom and top-back pair solved

5 (bottom and top-back pairs solved):

R U' R F2 R' U R F2 R2

(average number of turns for this step ... 8)

Go to Stage II: Edges to continue.