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Pond / Cortex / Economy first / OBSERVED BUILD

Shuriken air support

Pond builds an Aircraft Plant by 3:52 and goes air instead of boosting, using drops of Hephaestus to ferry Shurikens and Valiants to the front from around 4:39 to support the push in the middle.

Usually goes air (86%)

#air #push · 14 distinct matches · 6 players · 5% of Cortex Pond games · team won 64% of 14 · Recently observed

THE CATCH, AND WHAT COMES WITH IT
  • ShurikenT1 air support from 4:47 · 9% of role by thenFrom the Aircraft Plant. Only 9% of Pond games have it by then; others who build it get it around 4:55
  • Aircraft PlantAircraft Plant in 100%15% of all Pond games by then
  • HephaestusHeavy transport in 93%11% of all Pond games by then
  • ShurikenShuriken in 71%4% of all Pond games by then
  • ValiantValiant in 71%6% of all Pond games by then

Where those units first fight, in 14 games with kill data: in the middle 86%, on their own side 14%.

Then transitions into valiant (18% of army), grunt (9% of army).

HOW TO PLAY IT

Key timing: Aircraft Plant by 3:34

  1. Open tidals and wind, get mex up, boost eco as usual for Pond.
  2. Build Aircraft Plant well before the role norm.
  3. Get a heavy transport (Hephaestus) to drop units behind enemy lines.
  4. Lead with Shuriken paralyzer drones out of the Aircraft Plant.
  5. Add Valiant fighters and transition into T2 constructor as normal.

Phase by phase

TYPICAL OF ITS 14 GAMES · AGAINST STANDARD POND
  1. 1
  2. 2
  3. 3
PLAY THE OPENING

Follow the example game's first 6:00 step by step: what to build now, what comes next, and where it goes. At 1× it keeps pace with your own game.

  1. 1

    Up to the Aircraft Plant

    Economy
    • Metal Extractor4Mex
    • Tidal Generator8Tidalfor allies
    • Wind Turbine8Wind+3 vs standard
    • Energy Storage1Energy storage
    Order
    1. Aircraft PlantAircraft Plant after 4 mex, 8 wind, 1 energy storagedone ~3:55, middle half 3:30–4:34

    Some games also: tidal (36%)

    The standard build makes here, this one skips: 2 tidal

    By 3:37 in all: 4 mex · 8 wind (standard 5) · 1 energy storage

    The example game in this phase · 25 steps
    1. Tidal ×6for Suicide front
    2. Tidal
    3. Tidal ×2for Front
    4. Mex ×3
    5. Wind ×4
    6. Energy storage
    7. Wind ×5
    8. Mex
    9. Wind
    10. Energy storage
    11. Con turret
    12. Converter ×4
    13. Wind ×3
    14. Wind
    15. Wind ×2
    16. Wind
    17. Wind
    18. Wind
    19. Wind
    20. Wind
    21. Wind
    22. Wind
    23. Wind
    24. Wind ×2
    25. Aircraft PlantAircraft Plantdone 6:11 · typical 3:55
  2. 2

    Aircraft Plant to T1 air support

    Order
    1. ShurikenT1 air support after 4 mex, 9 wind, 1 energy storage

    Some games also: heavy transport (50%)

    By 4:43 in all: 4 mex · 9 wind · 1 energy storage

    The example game in this phase · 2 steps
    1. Wind
    2. ShurikenShurikendone 6:17
  3. 3

    T1 air support to 10:00

    Economy
    • Wind Turbine14Wind+11 vs standard
    Builders
    • Construction Turret3 Con turret +3 vs standard
    Army
    • Shuriken12 Shuriken +12 vs standard
    • Valiant4 Valiant +4 vs standard
    • Hercules1 Light transport

    Some games also: converter (36%) · con aircraft (36%)

    By 10:00 in all: 4 mex · 23 wind (standard 15) · 2 converter · 1 energy storage · 3 con turret (standard 0)

    The example game in this phase · 43 steps
    1. ShurikenShuriken ×8
    2. Wind ×2
    3. ShurikenShuriken
    4. Wind ×2
    5. FinchFinch
    6. Wind
    7. ShurikenShuriken
    8. Wind
    9. ShurikenShuriken
    10. Wind
    11. ShurikenShuriken
    12. Wind
    13. ShurikenShuriken
    14. Wind
    15. ShurikenShuriken ×2
    16. GuardGuard
    17. Wind
    18. ShurikenShuriken
    19. Con turret
    20. GuardGuard ×2
    21. ShurikenShuriken ×3
    22. GuardGuard
    23. ValiantValiant
    24. GuardGuard
    25. ValiantValiant ×2
    26. GuardGuard
    27. ValiantValiant ×2
    28. GuardGuard
    29. ValiantValiant ×5
    30. Advanced Metal ExtractorT2 mex ×2done 11:04 · typical 8:54
    31. FinchFinch
    32. ValiantValiant
    33. Advanced Metal ExtractorT2 mex
    34. ValiantValiant
    35. Naval Radar / Sonar TowerNaval Radar / Sonar Tower
    36. ValiantValiant
    37. CitadelAnti-nukedone 14:23
    38. ValiantValiant
    39. Con turret
    40. ValiantValiant
    41. Advanced Metal ExtractorT2 mex
    42. Naval Radar / Sonar TowerNaval Radar / Sonar Tower
    43. ValiantValiant ×11

Counts are medians over the build's games: half of them build more, half fewer. The example game is Boozha's (37 OS, 22/09/2026); pick another.

Team trades

IN AT LEAST 30% OF ITS GAMES

You hand over

  • Tidal Generator8 Tidal to Suicide front or Frontfirst at 0:18 · in 79% of games

You get

  • Advanced Construction Bot1 T2 con bot from Techfirst at 7:01 · in 79% of games

How it plays out

Typical game of this build against the role’s standard build, running totals by minute

  • This build
  • Standard pond

Metal produced

010k20k
0:005:0010:0015:00

metal

Enemy metal destroyed

02k4k6k
0:005:0010:0015:00

metal

Own metal lost

02k4k6k
0:005:0010:0015:00

metal

14 games.

Show as table
ByMetal produced: This buildMetal produced: Standard pondEnemy metal destroyed: This buildEnemy metal destroyed: Standard pondOwn metal lost: This buildOwn metal lost: Standard pond
1:001151150000
2:003022760000
3:008848160000
4:00155215090000
5:002222221511000
6:00292929552580470
7:00366438103742935730
8:004422461942710631034176
9:005502553560315451388591
10:006844667083321711579899
11:0086238250833266621411350
12:001037310156887308533871664
13:001207912495977343233872143
14:0013169144711129382033872786
15:0015476168511418419042103392
WHAT THE NUMBERS SAY

Won more often than the standard build despite producing less metal by 15:00 and destroying far less enemy metal.

  • + Team win rate 57% vs 52% for standard build.
  • + Higher metal produced by 10:00 (7120 vs 6657).
  • − Enemy metal destroyed by 15:00 far lower (1418 vs 4391).
  • − Own metal lost by 15:00 higher (3798 vs 3271).
THE EXAMPLE YOU ARE READING

Boozha

37.1 OS · 22/09/2026

Open source match ↗

5 received units · includes a constructor
1901 metal received · 109086 energy received

Allied construction assistance is unknown. Timings are observations, not a promise of solo reproducibility.

Typical milestones

Aircraft Plant3:55Middle 50%: 3:30–4:34 · n=14
Advanced Metal Extractor8:54Middle 50%: 7:51–9:41 · n=11

Played most by

zeus_on_god4games of this buildBoozha3games of this buildkrtf3games of this buildRysica2games of this build[Grump]Grumpiness1game of this build