First Layer Tutorial — Rubik's Cube (LBL)
Recap
The cross step flipped the four white petals into a white cross on the bottom — the four white edges each aligned with its matching side center. This step fills the four white corners into the cross's four corners: each white-down, side colors flush with the centers, and the whole first layer (the white face) is done.
Notation is the same as before: R / L / F / B (the four side faces), U (the top), a prime ' is counter-clockwise, and 2 is a half-turn; this step also uses the 7-move sequence R U2 R' U' R U R'. See Fundamentals if anything's unfamiliar; this step assumes your white cross is done (cross tutorial).
Goal
Insert the four white corners into the cross's four corners one by one: each with white facing down and its two side stickers flush against the matching side centers. Get all four home and the first layer (the whole white face) is done.
Find the home first: every white corner has exactly one
Every white corner has three stickers: white + two side colors. Those two side colors match the two adjacent side centers whose shared bottom corner is this corner's home. For example, a white corner with red and blue belongs in the bottom corner between the red center and the blue center. Always find the home before placing a corner: read the two side colors → find those two centers → the bottom corner they share is the home. Inserting into the wrong home is the most common mistake, so this is the rule to nail down.
How to get the corner home
Once you know the home, every corner follows this flow: first get it to the top layer (if it's stuck in the bottom in the wrong place, lift it out with one trigger) → turn U to align it directly above its home (the trigger drops it into the slot directly below, so mis-align and it enters the wrong slot) → insert by white orientation → leave any already-placed corner alone.
With the corner directly above its home, turn the face the white sticker is on — that opens the slot, the corner drops in, and white swings from sideways to down: white on the right face does R U R', white on the front does F' U' F; white-up is the exception (white on top, no side face to turn) and takes the 7-move R U2 R' U' R U R'. The five cases below cover every state a corner can be in. (The triggers are shown for the front-right FR slot; for any other slot, rotate the whole cube to bring that slot to FR and reuse them — see the fold below for why a rotation is enough.)
Directly above home, white facing right (on the right face). Do R U R' in one trigger: it lifts the corner over the slot and drops it back, swinging white from facing-right to facing-down into the slot.
Directly above home, white facing front (on the front face). Do F' U' F: lift from the front face, swinging white from facing-front to facing-down, dropping into the slot in one move.
Directly above home, but white faces up. A single trigger can't flip it (triggers only flip sideways-facing white), so do the 7-move R U2 R' U' R U R': it lifts the corner, re-orients it, and drops it back, swinging white from up to down into the slot.
The corner is stuck in the bottom layer in the wrong place or orientation — it can't be fixed in place. First lift it out with one trigger (e.g. R' U' R or L' U' L, depending on which slot it's stuck in), then follow the flow above: U-align and insert.
White faces down and both side colors sit flush against the matching centers — this corner is home. Leave it and move to the next one.
Why does a rotation let you reuse the same triggers? (cube symmetry)
The cube is rotationally symmetric about its vertical axis — there's nothing special about the FR slot. Turn the whole cube 90° / 180° / 270° and any bottom corner rotates into the front-right (FR) position, with every face and relation turning along with it, looking identical. So you only need to memorize the one FR set of triggers; for any other slot, rotate the cube to bring that slot to FR and reuse them — no need to learn four sets.
If you'd rather not rotate: each slot's triggers are a mirror of FR's — a left-right mirror (R↔L, U↔U') turns FR into FL, a front-back mirror (F↔B) turns it into BR / BL. For example, FR's R U R' mirrors left-right into FL's L' U' L. But rotating to FR is far less to memorize.
Recognition
Before turning anything, read each of the four white corners. For each one ask three questions: ① which home? (its two non-white colors → the bottom corner between the two matching side centers); ② top or bottom? (in the bottom and not placed = wrong bottom slot, needs extracting first); ③ which way does white face? (up / toward a side). Three answers and the handling is clear. Process corners already on the top first (saves an extraction), and leave the wrong-bottom ones for last.
Pitfalls
The three most common mistakes:
- Wrong slot — placing without finding the home first. A slot whose centers don't match the corner's two side colors is wrong; always read the home first (see "Find the home first" above).
- Inserting without U-aligning — the corner must sit directly above its home to drop in cleanly; insert off-center and it lands wrong.
- Knocking out a placed corner — the extract/insert triggers disturb the neighboring slot; if you dislodge a finished corner, put it back.
Practice
Once all four white corners are placed — white down, side colors flush with the centers — the first layer is done. Drill it: scramble → build the cross → insert four corners, until it's smooth. Then move on to the second layer (middle-layer edges).
Practice first layer