The box at the beginning is annoying to optimize. This isn't a final record. *Edit* done for now. I don't really see any more major cuts in this.
*2022 edit* I cannot believe this level still has cuts in it. I thought it was close to optimal at 1288 years ago and alazeh and YFKD cut 2 off each from there. Never imagined I'd find another 4 trying to catch up to the 1284.....
Tricky level but I was able to get it relatively quickly - 5 major attempts in one session to get 1284. The middle of the level felt quite logical, so the hardest part was deciding how to start and how to pipeline the box of blocks. Took a bit of experimenting but the solution made sense to me.
Insights