Ancient and Anubis share a prep folder but not the same opening ledger. Slope timing on Ancient and Main–Connector geometry on Anubis define what you can read—and spend—in minute one.
Ancient and Anubis often land in the same mid-thickness prep stack, yet the default round’s first-minute ledger is not one spreadsheet. On Ancient, mid is a ramp with real elevation: when T-side hugs A slope or mid doors, legal pixels usually arrive half a beat later than on Anubis—not because the rifle is slow, but because of slope tax. You are still settling your footing while a CT in Donut already owns the vertical cut.
Anubis trades that for a different problem: after the standard Main line smoke, a right-angle gap opens at Connector. Who takes second contact there decides whether T-side owes a thickness trade in mid for free.
Ancient: Donut smoke as a stopwatch, not a blanket
In pro defaults, T-side rarely opens with a triple-flash mid ramp smash. The common script is light A-slope info + mid door hold window. The first smoke tends to sit on the Donut lip or under mid window—not to erase CT vision, but to break the first info chain of a CT jumping Donut toward B hall. During those semi-transparent seconds at the smoke edge, T-side is really buying static phase from ramp crest to Donut mouth: can you read mid thickness as one or two before CTs re-anchor B hall?
CT elasticity usually sits between Donut + mid door back anchor. Donut occupied means back site pays the first mid fight; empty Donut means a late B hall CT must refract footsteps into position. If T-side dumps everyone on A slope in minute one, the default round accrues B hall rotate tax—Ancient’s B path is not a Mirage short rotate; red ramp to mid doors then B hall makes the second beat costlier than the map “feels.” Split prep into mid default chain and B hall default chain instead of one generic mid smoke order.
Anubis: Connector gap after Main smoke
T-side defaults here buy Main corridor width. After the front-line smoke pops, Connector mouth gets a brief right-angle window. If CT holds Main front, T-side cutting from Fountain tends to shoulder-level duels, not Ancient’s chin-up ramp peek. Teams often pay single-flash debt: one flash to peel Main front half a step, no second chase—budget goes to late Temple read. Hard second-beat Connector pulls stack CT thickness behind the Fountain arc; the steadier T script is Main smoke + mid silent angle, forcing CT to guess Main heavy vs Temple light.
CT defaults rotate Main back + Connector fill. After Main front dies to flash, Connector CT need not instant re-peek—count Main steps, then decide Temple smoke. Unlike Donut-to-B on Ancient, Anubis rotates on 90-degree bends; a late Connector fill can still catch the thin Temple-to-B leg. Copying Ancient’s slow mid push leaves T-side one tile too long in mid and gifts CT the Fountain–Main cross phase.
Same force-buy tier, different first-contact phase
Under the same force half-buy economy, first-fight gaps are terrain-driven pixel order, not gun stats. Ancient: ramp crest sees Donut lip first; B hall info often books on beat three. Anubis: Fountain cut after Main smoke makes mid contact earlier, but Temple side defaults thinner. Self-check at minute end: how many of “mid thickness count” and “rotate leg exposed” can you answer? Ancient defaults forgive more thickness, less rotate; Anubis inverts—rotate leg must be read before mid thickness.
Bundling both as one “mid-thick map” in a rotation week mixes ledgers. Log defaults by slope tax vs right-angle hall so BO1 clock time does not spend Ancient’s second beat on Anubis geometry.