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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 · 7 steps
    1. Tidal ×9for Suicide front
    2. Wind ×2
    3. Mex ×4
    4. Wind
    5. Energy storage
    6. Wind
    7. Aircraft PlantAircraft Plantdone 3:29 · 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. HephaestusHeavy transport
    2. ShurikenShurikendone 3:55
  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 · 107 steps
    1. ShurikenShuriken ×2
    2. Converter
    3. ShurikenShuriken
    4. Converter
    5. ShurikenShuriken ×3
    6. Converter
    7. ShurikenShuriken ×3
    8. Construction AircraftCon aircraft
    9. HephaestusHeavy transport
    10. Wind
    11. Con turret
    12. Wind ×9
    13. Advanced Metal ExtractorT2 mexdone 7:45 · typical 8:54
    14. Wind ×3
    15. Con turret
    16. Wind ×4
    17. Advanced Metal ExtractorT2 mex
    18. Wind ×3
    19. Advanced Metal ExtractorT2 mex
    20. Con turret
    21. Advanced Metal ExtractorT2 mex
    22. Bot LabBot Labdone 9:33
    23. Construction BotCon bot ×7
    24. Wind
    25. Construction BotCon bot ×3
    26. TickTick ×2
    27. Wind
    28. TickTick ×8
    29. Wind
    30. TickTick ×8
    31. Wind
    32. TickTick ×7
    33. Wind
    34. TickTick ×5
    35. Wind
    36. TickTick ×5
    37. Wind
    38. TickTick ×4
    39. Wind
    40. TickTick ×4
    41. Wind
    42. TickTick ×5
    43. Wind
    44. TickTick ×3
    45. Wind
    46. TickTick ×5
    47. Wind
    48. TickTick ×2
    49. Wind
    50. TickTick ×5
    51. Wind
    52. TickTick ×3
    53. Wind
    54. TickTick ×4
    55. Wind
    56. TickTick ×2
    57. Wind
    58. TickTick ×6
    59. Wind
    60. TickTick ×2
    61. Wind ×2
    62. TickTick ×4
    63. Wind
    64. TickTick
    65. Wind
    66. TickTick
    67. Wind
    68. T2 converter
    69. Con turret
    70. TickTick
    71. Wind
    72. Con turret
    73. TickTick
    74. Wind ×2
    75. TickTick
    76. Con turret
    77. Wind
    78. Con turret
    79. TickTick
    80. Wind ×2
    81. TickTick
    82. Wind
    83. Con turret
    84. Wind ×2
    85. TickTick
    86. Wind
    87. Con turret
    88. Wind
    89. Fusion ReactorFusiondone 13:47
    90. TickTick
    91. Wind
    92. TickTick
    93. Wind ×3
    94. TickTick
    95. Wind
    96. TickTick
    97. Wind ×4
    98. TickTick ×2
    99. Wind ×4
    100. TickTick
    101. Con turret
    102. TickTick
    103. Con turret
    104. Wind ×2
    105. TickTick
    106. Wind ×2
    107. Con turret

Counts are medians over the build's games: half of them build more, half fewer. The example game is krtf's (42 OS, 11/09/2026); 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

krtf

42.4 OS · 11/09/2026

Open source match ↗

6 received units · includes a constructor
922 metal received · 66671 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