Inferno tactics.

Yes, indeed, Ifrits are built without Hellhounds and Fiends, but you still build 3-4 structures (the Ifrit lake, demons, magic, and if not, the Palace of Vice). The time required is the shortest – 3-4 days on a map with sufficient money and resources. This is without building a Town Hall or a Fortress. Does anyone really play like that? Let's not idealize the situation and say that this sometimes happens. Usually, there aren't enough resources on the map to use building Ifrits and gathering resources with them as a tactic. It's better to use Golems somehow.

Added a few months later.
Investing in troops early on – I now play that way too, and not always on a resource-rich map.