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Pond / Cortex / Economy first / OBSERVED BUILD

Shuriken air support

Pond goes air instead of the usual ground boost, building an Aircraft Plant by ~3:30 and dropping in a transport, then sending Shuriken and Valiant to fight forward in the middle from under 5 minutes.

Usually goes air (85%)

#air #drop #push · 13 distinct matches · 6 players · 5% of Cortex Pond games · team won 62% of 13 · Recently observed

THE CATCH, AND WHAT COMES WITH IT
  • ShurikenT1 air support from 4:39 · 9% of role by thenFrom the Aircraft Plant. Only 9% of Pond games have it by then; others who build it get it around 4:51
  • Aircraft PlantAircraft Plant in 100%14% of all Pond games by then
  • HephaestusHeavy transport in 92%11% of all Pond games by then
  • ShurikenShuriken in 69%4% of all Pond games by then
  • ValiantValiant in 69%7% of all Pond games by then

Where those units first fight, in 13 games with kill data: in the middle 85%, on their own side 15%.

Then transitions into valiant (16% of army), grunt (10% 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 13 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 Turbine7Wind+2 vs standard
    • Energy Storage1Energy storage
    Order
    1. Aircraft PlantAircraft Plant after 4 mex, 7 wind, 1 energy storagedone ~3:52, middle half 3:29–4:24

    Some games also: tidal (31%)

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

    By 3:34 in all: 4 mex · 7 wind (standard 5) · 1 energy storage

    The example game in this phase · 8 steps
    1. Tidal ×9for Suicide front
    2. Tidal ×3
    3. Mex ×4
    4. Wind ×5
    5. Con turret
    6. Wind
    7. Wind
    8. Aircraft PlantAircraft Plantdone 4:14 · typical 3:52
  2. 2

    Aircraft Plant to T1 air support

    Order
    1. ShurikenT1 air support after 4 mex, 9 wind, 1 energy storage
    Army
    • Hephaestus1 Heavy transport

    Some games also: con aircraft (31%) · wind (31%)

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

    By 4:39 in all: 4 mex · 9 wind · 1 energy storage

    The example game in this phase · 2 steps
    1. Wind ×9
    2. ShurikenShurikendone 5:14
  3. 3

    T1 air support to 10:00

    Economy
    • Wind Turbine16Wind+13 vs standard
    Builders
    • Construction Turret3 Con turret +3 vs standard
    Army
    • Shuriken11 Shuriken +11 vs standard
    • Valiant3 Valiant +3 vs standard
    • Hercules1 Light transport

    Some games also: converter (38%) · con aircraft (38%) · energy storage (31%) · Guard (31%)

    By 10:00 in all: 4 mex · 22 wind (standard 15) · 1 energy storage · 3 con turret (standard 0)

    The example game in this phase · 42 steps
    1. Wind ×3
    2. ShurikenShuriken
    3. Wind ×2
    4. ShurikenShuriken
    5. Wind
    6. ShurikenShuriken
    7. Wind ×2
    8. ShurikenShuriken
    9. Wind ×2
    10. ShurikenShuriken ×22
    11. GuardGuard
    12. ShurikenShuriken ×5
    13. Advanced Metal ExtractorT2 mexdone 9:47 · typical 8:40
    14. ShurikenShuriken
    15. HerculesLight transport
    16. Advanced Metal ExtractorT2 mex
    17. ShurikenShuriken ×4
    18. Advanced Metal ExtractorT2 mex
    19. ShurikenShuriken ×6
    20. Advanced Metal ExtractorT2 mex
    21. ShurikenShuriken ×9
    22. HerculesLight transport
    23. ShurikenShuriken ×9
    24. Con turret
    25. ShurikenShuriken ×2
    26. Wind
    27. ShurikenShuriken
    28. Wind
    29. ShurikenShuriken
    30. Wind
    31. ShurikenShuriken
    32. Wind
    33. ShurikenShuriken
    34. Wind
    35. ArmageddonArmageddonnot finished by 15:00
    36. Wind
    37. ShurikenShuriken
    38. Con turret
    39. Wind
    40. ShurikenShuriken
    41. Wind
    42. ShurikenShuriken

Counts are medians over the build's games: half of them build more, half fewer. The example game is Boozha's (36 OS, 20/09/2026); 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 77% of games

You get

  • Advanced Construction Bot1 T2 con bot from Tech or Airfirst at 6:53 · in 77% 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

13 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
2:003022790000
3:008928160000
4:00155415090000
5:002221221621000
6:00289429612760730
7:00361238223673054220
8:004406462240110651023180
9:005658555160014951202615
10:007202668378821591327903
11:0086698204788267717191360
12:001079810138884308232301680
13:001289012446884342732302144
14:0013121144341069381832302791
15:0015046168431373417740513299
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

36.5 OS · 20/09/2026

Open source match ↗

3 received units · includes a constructor
1 metal received · 7550 energy received

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

Typical milestones

Aircraft Plant3:52Middle 50%: 3:29–4:24 · n=13
Advanced Metal Extractor8:40Middle 50%: 7:48–9:44 · n=10

Played most by

zeus_on_god4games of this buildkrtf3games of this buildBoozha2games of this buildRysica2games of this build[Grump]Grumpiness1game of this build