The Sune algorithm is R U R' U R U2 R': seven moves using only the R and U faces. It twists three corners of the top layer and leaves the bottom two layers alone. Antisune is simply Sune done backwards. Both algorithms turn up in the beginner method and in CFOP, so once you have solved the cube for the first time, this is the pair most worth getting the hang of. This guide shows you how to recognise each case from a picture, how to hold the cube, and the variants you will come across online.
Find your case fast
Look at your cube from above and tap the picture that matches it to see how to solve it. Grey cells are stickers you can ignore.
Every algorithm in this post was tested on the EasyRubic cube simulator.
What is Sune?
Sune is the name of a case and also the name of the algorithm that solves it. According to the SpeedSolving Wiki, the Sune case is when the four top-layer edges are already oriented (you have the yellow cross) and three corners are twisted the same way (SpeedSolving Wiki).
The name comes from Lars Petrus, for the method named after him. Sune is a Swedish boy's name that originally means "son". Swedes say it roughly like "SOO-neh", while cubers usually just say "soon" (SpeedSolving Wiki). On his guide page, Petrus uses Sune to finish the corner-twisting step and describes it as a sequence that twists three of the four top corners (Lars Petrus).
In the table of 57 OLL cases, Sune is OLL 27 and Antisune is OLL 26. Both belong to the OCLL group: the cases where only the corners need twisting because the edges are already oriented (SpeedSolving Wiki). Ruwix also puts Sune in this group and calls Antisune the "opposite" of Sune (Ruwix).
How to hold the cube and read the pictures
- Yellow on top. The bottom two layers are solved, and the top already has the yellow cross.
- Green at the front. In the pictures, the right face is orange.
- Each picture shows two cubes: the left one is the case you have, the right one is after the algorithm. Only the top layer is coloured.
- The pictures only show the top, front and right faces. Yellow stickers on the left and back faces are described in the text.
Only look at the yellow stickers. The other top-layer colours do not matter yet: on a real cube the sides are often still mixed up after Sune, and the next step sorts them out. If you are not yet familiar with R, U, R' and U2, see Rubik's Cube notation for beginners.
Four moves.
One at a time.
Tap each symbol and follow one piece. This is an exercise in watching the movement.
The Sune algorithm
How to spot it: you have the yellow cross, and exactly one corner has its yellow sticker on top. The other three corners have their yellow stickers on the sides.
How to hold it: turn U so the corner with yellow on top is at the front left. If the front right corner has its yellow sticker facing the front, it is Sune. (The back right corner then faces right, and the back left corner faces the back.)
R U R' U R U2 R'
See it in 3D, before and after
- You start with (input)
- After the formula
A way to remember it: "up, turn, down, turn, up, turn twice, down". Your right hand does R and R', and your right index finger pushes U. The algorithm only uses the R and U faces, so you never have to change your grip halfway through.
The Antisune algorithm
How to spot it: just like Sune, only one corner has yellow on top, but the other three are twisted the opposite way.
How to hold it: turn U so the corner with yellow on top is at the back right. If the front left corner has its yellow sticker facing the front, it is Antisune. (The front right corner then faces right, and the back left corner faces left.)
R U2 R' U' R U' R'
See it in 3D, before and after
- You start with (input)
- After the formula
Read Sune from the last move to the first and reverse each move, and you get exactly Antisune. So if you already know Sune, there is almost nothing new to memorise: it is just "up, turn twice, down, turn back, up, turn back, down".
How to tell Sune and Antisune apart
The quickest way is to use one grip for both. Turn U so the corner with yellow on top is at the front left, then look at the front right corner:
- Its yellow sticker faces the front: Sune. Do R U R' U R U2 R' as above.
- Its yellow sticker faces right: Antisune. Turn U2 so the yellow-top corner moves to the back right, then do Antisune:
U2 R U2 R' U' R U' R'
See it in 3D, before and after
- You start with (input)
- After the formula
If you only know Sune, you can still solve Antisune: from that same grip, do Sune, turn U2, then do Sune again. This is also the way the beginner's guide to solving the 3x3 shows it.
R U R' U R U2 R' U2 R U R' U R U2 R'
See it in 3D, before and after
- You start with (input)
- After the formula
This is twice as long, so once your hands are used to it, switch to U2 and then Antisune.
Sune in the beginner method
In the yellow-face step of the layer-by-layer method, Sune is the only algorithm you need. Every yellow-face case is solved with Sune one, two or three times, with a U move in between. The picture below is that step in the EasyRubic step-by-step guide:
- You start with (input)Yellow cross on top
- Result you will get after finishing this stepWhole yellow face on top
All seven cases, each with its own picture, are in Step 5 of the guide and in the beginner's guide to solving the 3x3. On the 2x2 cube, the yellow-face step also uses only Sune; see how to solve the 2x2 for beginners.
Sune and Antisune in 2-look OLL
When you move on to CFOP, OLL is usually done in two looks: flip the edges to get the yellow cross, then twist the corners. The corner step has 7 cases, and Sune and Antisune are two of them. J Perm counts 10 algorithms in total for 2-look OLL and advises against taking on too many at once, because they are easy to forget (J Perm).
We counted on the simulator: once you have the yellow cross, the four corners can be oriented in 27 equally likely ways. Sune is 4 of those 27, and Antisune is also 4 of 27, so each case comes up about 15% of the time. Together, roughly one solve in three gives you Sune or Antisune at this step.
The 2-look OLL post has all 9 algorithms, each with a picture.
Sune and Antisune variants
Online, you will see plenty of other sequences also called Sune or Antisune. Most of them are the same case, just held differently. Below are the variants listed on the SpeedSolving Wiki (Sune, OCLL), each one checked again on the simulator.
Antisune starting with R'
Many sites give Antisune as R' U' R U' R' U2 R. This is not wrong: it solves Antisune when the corner with yellow on top is at the back left (the front left corner faces the front, the front right corner faces right).
R' U' R U' R' U2 R
See it in 3D, before and after
- You start with (input)
- After the formula
Sune starting with R'
In the same way, R' U2 R U R' U R solves Sune when the corner with yellow on top is at the front right (the front left corner faces left, the back right corner faces right).
R' U2 R U R' U R
See it in 3D, before and after
- You start with (input)
- After the formula
Left-hand Antisune
L' U' L U' L' U2 L is a mirror image of Sune, done with the left hand. Hold the cube as a mirror image of Sune: the corner with yellow on top is at the front right, and the front left corner has its yellow sticker facing the front. The SpeedSolving Wiki notes that many right-handed cubers still use it, because it is almost as fast as Sune (SpeedSolving Wiki).
L' U' L U' L' U2 L
See it in 3D, before and after
- You start with (input)
- After the formula
"Fat" Sune and "fat" Antisune
Swap the R at the start and end for Rw (turn the two right-hand layers together; many sites write it as a lower-case r), and you get fat Sune and fat Antisune. The corners are twisted exactly the same way, but two edges are flipped too, so these are algorithms for cases without the yellow cross. You only need them for full OLL.
Fat Sune: the corner with yellow on top is at the front left, as in Sune, but only the back and left edges have yellow on top.
Rw U R' U R U2 Rw'
See it in 3D, before and after
- You start with (input)
- After the formula
Fat Antisune: the corner with yellow on top is at the back right, as in Antisune, but only the back and right edges have yellow on top.
Rw U2 R' U' R U' Rw'
See it in 3D, before and after
- You start with (input)
- After the formula
Double Sune and Triple Sune
Insert an extra "R U' R' U" in the middle of Sune, and you get longer algorithms for two other cases of the corner step.
Double Sune solves the H case (OLL 21): no corner has yellow on top, with two yellow stickers on the left face and two on the right face.
R U R' U R U' R' U R U2 R'
See it in 3D, before and after
- You start with (input)
- After the formula
Triple Sune solves the L case, also called the bowtie (OLL 25): two corners with yellow on top sit diagonally, at the front right and back left. The front left corner faces left, and the back right corner faces the back.
R U R' U R U' R' U R U' R' U R U2 R'
See it in 3D, before and after
- You start with (input)
- After the formula
These two are easy to remember once you know Sune, but they are long. The 2-look OLL post uses shorter algorithms for the H and L cases.
Summary table
Each algorithm comes with a picture of the case it solves.
- Sune (OLL 27): R U R' U R U2 R'
See it in 3D, before and after
- You start with (input)
- After the formula
- Antisune (OLL 26): R U2 R' U' R U' R'
See it in 3D, before and after
- You start with (input)
- After the formula
- Antisune starting with R': R' U' R U' R' U2 R
See it in 3D, before and after
- You start with (input)
- After the formula
- Sune starting with R': R' U2 R U R' U R
See it in 3D, before and after
- You start with (input)
- After the formula
- Left-hand Antisune: L' U' L U' L' U2 L
See it in 3D, before and after
- You start with (input)
- After the formula
- Fat Sune: Rw U R' U R U2 Rw'
See it in 3D, before and after
- You start with (input)
- After the formula
- Fat Antisune: Rw U2 R' U' R U' Rw'
See it in 3D, before and after
- You start with (input)
- After the formula
- Double Sune (H): R U R' U R U' R' U R U2 R'
See it in 3D, before and after
- You start with (input)
- After the formula
- Triple Sune (L): R U R' U R U' R' U R U' R' U R U2 R'
See it in 3D, before and after
- You start with (input)
- After the formula
Beginners only need the first two lines. The rest are here so you recognise them when you see them online.
How to get faster at Sune
- Set up the case with the opposite algorithm. From a solved cube, do Antisune: you now have the Sune case. Do Sune: you now have the Antisune case. Then solve it again.
- Go slow and steady first. Do it ten times in a row without pausing between moves, and only then speed up.
- Say the name before you start. Look at the cube, say "Sune" or "Antisune", and only then turn. The goal is to know it at a glance, without counting.
- Time full solves. Once you are comfortable, solve the whole cube on the 3x3 timer to see whether the yellow-face step is still slow.
Common mistakes
- Holding the wrong corner. Sune needs the yellow-top corner at the front left, Antisune at the back right. Hold it one U turn off and the algorithm gives you a different case.
- Only looking at the top. Sune and Antisune look exactly the same from above. You have to check the yellow stickers on the sides.
- Mixing up U and U'. Sune only has U and U2; Antisune has U'. If the top still has just one yellow corner when you finish, you have most likely mixed up the two directions.
- Worrying when the sides are messy. Sune only takes care of the top. The sides of the top layer get sorted in the next step.
Video
Want to see it in motion? The short video below from the YouTube channel Z cube tv:))))) shows more of what this post covers. The video belongs to that channel and is embedded directly from YouTube.
Sources
Frequently asked questions
What is the Sune algorithm?
It is R U R' U R U2 R', seven moves using the R and U faces. It twists three corners of the top layer and leaves the bottom two layers alone. In the Sune case, one go makes the whole top face one colour.
How is Antisune different from Sune?
Antisune (R U2 R' U' R U' R') is Sune done backwards, and it solves the case where the corners are twisted the other way. Hold the yellow-top corner at the front left: if the front right corner's yellow sticker faces the front, it is Sune; if it faces right, it is Antisune.
Which OLL numbers are Sune and Antisune?
Sune is OLL 27 and Antisune is OLL 26 in the table of 57 OLL cases.
Why do other sites give Antisune as R' U' R U' R' U2 R?
That sequence is also Antisune, just with a different grip: the yellow-top corner is at the back left instead of the back right. Pick one sequence and stick with it so you do not mix them up.
Do beginners need Antisune?
It is not required, because doing Sune twice also solves the Antisune case. But Antisune is just Sune reversed and half as long, so it is well worth adding.