Super Method Step 1 — Solving Thick-V

The first step of the Super Method is to almost solve two layers of the cube, called Thick-V. Specifically, if we happen to be solving with the color Green on the bottom and the color Red in front, then after this first step the cube will look as shown. We accomplish this by block building. Block building basically just means pairing up pieces that should be neighbors gradually and then moving the connected blocks together for further moves. It doesn't use any memorization, you just have to practice to improve your intuition for how pieces move. Because this step is intuitive, I am just going to do an example solve for you to help show you some strategies you can apply to your own cube.

The Thick-V shape consists of 4 edge pieces belonging to the bottom color (and a side color) as well as 3 so-called corner-edge pairs. A corner-edge pair is a block of two pieces made of a corner piece of the bottom layer and an edge piece of equatorial layer of the cube. The full first two layers of the cube consists of 4 corner-edge pairs but in this step we leave the last pair unsolved so that later we can use the slot where those final two pieces of the first two layers should go to help us solve the rest of the cube in future steps.

The highlighted pieces are the 4 bottom layer edges.

The highlighted pieces are the 4 corner-edge pairs of the first two layers.

I will explain one reasonable strategy for solving Thick-V but as you improve you should explore building it any possible order. The best strategy is the one you can figure out! To start with our example strategy, we will first solve solve adjacent edges on one side. Pick an edge piece anywhere on the cube and move it around until one of its stickers is attached to the correct center piece. Then, turn the face on which you have that match until the other sticker of the edge also matches the appropriate center piece. As an example, suppose we have chosen to solve the Green-Orange edge and it looks as shown (we have the Green center on bottom).

	Do an R' move to match Orange to Orange.		Next do an F move to match Green to Green without breaking the Orange to Orange connection.
	This is what one solved edge piece looks like! Next we pick a different edge, say Green-White and solve it without breaking our first edge. This means no turning the F or D faces.		Imagine that the Green-White edge is as shown (with the Green sticker of it hidden on the L face in this perspective). Do a U then a B' to align White to White.
	Now just do an R move to align the Green of the Green-White edge to the Green center.		This is what two solved edges looks like! The Front-Right edge location and Down-Front-Right corner location together are called a slot, which is highlighted. Slot based thinking will be really important for the rest of the solve.

Next we will solve the pieces that belong in the slot between the edges we already solved. In order to take pieces in or out of the slot you need to know how to open and close that slot. The slot can be opened on the Right or in the Front.

Doing an R move opens the slot on the Right. We can then use U moves to exchange what pieces are in the slot. In the end we close the slot using an R' move.

Doing an F' move opens the slot in the Front. We can then use U moves to exchange what pieces are in the slot. In the end we close the slot using an F move.

We will now solve the Orange-White edge and Green-Orange-White corner together at once. If either of them are already in our slot then we first open the slot, as a U move to take them out of the slot, then close the slot again. I now assume you did that if necessary so that both of those pieces are out of the slot. To get them ready for solving, we are going to pair up those two pieces with their colors matching.

	Hold the two edges we have already solved so that they are in the Down-Back-Left area as shown. Now we can turn the Up, Front, or Right sides without destroying what we have built.		As an example, imagine the White-Orange edge and Green-White-Orange corner are as shown. We want to unite these two pieces so that their shared colors (White to White and Orange to Orange).
	From the example, apply an F' move then an R2 to pair up the slot-pieces, as shown.		Here are the paired slot-pieces seen from above.
	Now that we have made our pair, in order to insert it into the slot it is easiest to rotate the cube in our hands so that the edges we solved are in the front again.		Next we open up the slot in the front using an F' move.
	A U2 move inserts our pair into the slot.		Finally we close the slot with in F move. We have now finished a 2x2x2 block!
	Our solved block from below.		For further solving, it is helpful to hold the cube with our solved block in the back again. With the block in the back, we can freely use U, F, and R moves without destroying anything!

Next we will solve another bottom layer edge. Doing so will make a slot between it and our 2x2x2 block. We will then solve that slot, extending our block to a 2x2x3 block. To solve the next edge, we follow the same strategy we did before. We can freely use U, F, R moves to first match one of the edge colors to its appropriate side center and another such move to match its second color.

For example, take the Green-Yellow edge to be placed as shown (with the Green sticker hidden on the Left face). An F brings it to the top layer, a U matches it to the Yellow center, and finally an R2 solves it.

This is what we see after solving the third bottom layer edge. The new slot it created is highlighted.

To solve the next slot we follow much the same strategy as before. We first pair up the slot-pieces, then we open the slot, insert the pieces, and close. During pairing we can freely turn the U and F faces. We can still turn the R face as long as we don't break the connection between the Yellow center and the Yellow sticker of the Green-Yellow edge. That way, in the end we can always simply use an R face move to restore our new edge if necessary.

	Take the Orange-Yellow edge and the Green-Orange-Yellow corner to be placed as shown (the Green sticker of Green-Orange-Yellow is hidden on the L face). An F brings Green-Orange-Yellow corner to the top layer.		Continuing our example, a U moves the Green-Orange-Yellow corner off of the F face.
	From here, an F moves the Orange-Yellow edge to be paired up with the Green-Orange-Yellow corner. .		Now just a U' will pair up our slot-pieces.
	With our slot-pieces paired, we next want to put the pair in the top layer. We can do that with an F move.		We don't want any part of our pair on the same face as the side we will turn to open our slot, otherwise it will get broken or moved inconveniently. We move it away with a U.
	Now our slot is ready to be opened with an R' move.		We can insert our pair into the slot with a U2.
	We now close the slot with an R.		We have now built a 2x2x3 block!

We now have just one last bottom edge to solve. Solving it will form two new slots, but we will only solve one of them in this step. Again the strategy is similar to before but because we have built more we are slowly losing freedom of movement. We can freely turn the U and F faces. We can still turn the R face a little, provided we do moves of the form R, then some amount of U turn, then R', because this fixes our block. We also can do R', followed by some amout of F turn, then R. Mixing R moves beyond these two approaches will break what we have so far (so don't do it!).

	Let's take a hard example for the Fourth edge. To solve it, we need to flip the edge because current the Red sticker is facing away from the Red center. We do can this with an R move.		We can join the edge to the Red center with a U move.
	We can now restore our 2x2x3 block with an R'		With an F2 we can solve the final bottom layer edge.

All our bottom layer edges are done and the slot we will solve next is highlighted.

For solving the final slot, we use the same opening and closing strategies as before. Now the only moves of the side faces (L, F, R) that we are allowed to do are ones which open the slot, then follow with some kind of U move, then we must close the slot. This protects everything we have built.

	For our last slot, let's take the pieces to be in this tough configuration. The slot pieces are touching, but not aligned with each other properly. An R move separates them.		We need to turn the U face next before closing the slot and the only such turn that doesn't accidentally bring one of the slot-pieces incorrectly into the front slot is a U2, so we do that next.
	Now we close the slot with an R'.		Next we want to prepare the slot-pieces for pairing. We do this with a U2.
	An F move now brings the pieces closer to being paired.		U completes their pairing.
	F' closes the open slot on the left side.		U moves the pair out of the way of the slot.
	An F now opens the slot we want to solve.		A U' moves the pair into the slot.
	F' closes the slot and finishes Thick-V.		We did it!

The example solve here I did is just an example. You should solve Thick-V however works for you. As you get better at it, you will become very efficient and you can learn to solve several pieces at once.