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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 · 10% of role by thenFrom the Aircraft Plant. Only 10% of Pond games have it by then; others who build it get it around 4:51
  • Aircraft PlantAircraft Plant in 100%15% 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 · 1 step
    1. Aircraft PlantAircraft Plantdone 0:13 · 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 · 7 steps
    1. Solar
    2. HephaestusHeavy transportfor Pond
    3. Solar
    4. HephaestusHeavy transport
    5. Construction AircraftCon aircraft
    6. Mex
    7. ShurikenShurikendone 2:57
  3. 3

    T1 air support to 10:00

    Economy
    • Wind Turbine16Wind+12 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 16) · 1 energy storage · 3 con turret (standard 0)

    The example game in this phase · 70 steps
    1. ShurikenShuriken ×5
    2. Construction AircraftCon aircraft
    3. Con turret
    4. Construction AircraftCon aircraft
    5. Wind ×4
    6. HerculesLight transport
    7. Wind ×8
    8. Con turretfor Geo sea
    9. Wind ×7
    10. Con turret
    11. Wind ×7
    12. Advanced Metal ExtractorT2 mex ×2done 9:06
    13. Con turret
    14. Advanced Metal ExtractorT2 mex
    15. Wind ×5
    16. Con turret
    17. Wind
    18. Con turret
    19. Wind ×2
    20. CastroCastro
    21. Wind ×2
    22. Advanced Metal ExtractorT2 mex
    23. Wind ×5
    24. Con turret ×2
    25. Wind
    26. Con turret
    27. Wind
    28. Con turret
    29. Aircraft PlantAircraft Plantdone 11:56
    30. Wind ×5
    31. WhirlwindWhirlwind ×4
    32. Energy storage
    33. WhirlwindWhirlwind
    34. Energy storage
    35. WhirlwindWhirlwind ×12
    36. Wind
    37. WhirlwindWhirlwind
    38. Wind
    39. WhirlwindWhirlwind
    40. Wind
    41. FinchFinch
    42. Wind
    43. FinchFinch
    44. Wind
    45. FinchFinch
    46. Wind
    47. FinchFinch
    48. Wind
    49. ValiantValiant ×2
    50. Wind
    51. ValiantValiant
    52. Wind
    53. ValiantValiant
    54. Wind
    55. ValiantValiant
    56. Bot LabBot Labdone 14:17
    57. Wind
    58. ValiantValiant
    59. Wind
    60. ValiantValiant
    61. Wind
    62. ValiantValiant
    63. Wind
    64. ValiantValiant
    65. Wind
    66. ValiantValiant
    67. Wind
    68. ValiantValiant ×13
    69. GruntGrunt
    70. ValiantValiant

Counts are medians over the build's games: half of them build more, half fewer. The example game is PRO_Rerory's (51 OS, 05/09/2026); 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
2:003022780000
3:008928160000
4:00155415100000
5:002221221721000
6:00289429622760730
7:00361238263672884220
8:004406462340110701023189
9:005658553560015071202591
10:007202665178821711327899
11:0086698250788269317191360
12:001079810194884313432301695
13:001289012574884345432302159
14:0013121146681069382132302820
15:0015046170041373427440513392
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

PRO_Rerory

51.4 OS · 05/09/2026

Open source match ↗

88 received units · includes a constructor
846 metal received · 48003 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

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