diff --git a/pipeline/pipeline.go b/pipeline/pipeline.go
index c2b3be8c..cdf053cd 100644
--- a/pipeline/pipeline.go
+++ b/pipeline/pipeline.go
@@ -215,22 +215,23 @@ func (p *Pipeline) initStoresFromQuickload(ctx context.Context, reqPlan *plan.Re
 	return true
 }
 
-func (p *Pipeline) InitTier1StoresAndBackprocess(ctx context.Context, reqPlan *plan.RequestPlan, noopMode bool) (err error) {
-	if p.initStoresFromQuickload(ctx, reqPlan) {
-		return nil
+func (p *Pipeline) InitTier1StoresAndBackprocess(ctx context.Context, reqPlan *plan.RequestPlan, noopMode bool) (bool, error) {
+	success := p.initStoresFromQuickload(ctx, reqPlan)
+	if success {
+		return true, nil
 	}
 
 	if reqPlan.RequiresParallelProcessing() {
 		storeMap, err := p.runParallelProcess(ctx, reqPlan, noopMode)
 		if err != nil {
-			return fmt.Errorf("run_parallel_process failed: %w", err)
+			return false, fmt.Errorf("run_parallel_process failed: %w", err)
 		}
 		p.stores.SetStoreMap(storeMap) // this is valid even if we don't have stores in the parallelProcessing but only a mapper
-		return nil
+		return false, nil
 	}
 
 	p.stores.SetStoreMap(p.setupEmptyStores(ctx))
-	return nil
+	return false, nil
 }
 
 func (p *Pipeline) GetStoreMap() store.Map {
diff --git a/service/tier1.go b/service/tier1.go
index ceec5353..d1716838 100644
--- a/service/tier1.go
+++ b/service/tier1.go
@@ -698,7 +698,8 @@ func (s *Tier1Service) blocks(ctx context.Context, request *pbsubstreamsrpc.Requ
 	if err := pipe.Init(ctx); err != nil {
 		return fmt.Errorf("error during pipeline init: %w", err)
 	}
-	if err := pipe.InitTier1StoresAndBackprocess(ctx, reqPlan, request.NoopMode); err != nil {
+	loadedFromQuicksave, err := pipe.InitTier1StoresAndBackprocess(ctx, reqPlan, request.NoopMode)
+	if err != nil {
 		return fmt.Errorf("error during init_stores_and_backprocess: %w", err)
 	}
 	if reqPlan.LinearPipeline == nil {
@@ -707,13 +708,14 @@ func (s *Tier1Service) blocks(ctx context.Context, request *pbsubstreamsrpc.Requ
 
 	var streamErr error
 	cursor := requestDetails.ResolvedCursor
-	var cursorIsTarget bool
-	if requestDetails.ResolvedStartBlockNum != requestDetails.LinearHandoffBlockNum {
-		// FIXME(abourget): how is that different from reqPlan.LinearPipeline being set?
-		// and what does the cursor have to do here?
-		// This will also be true when we've done backprocessing.. is the cursor affected
-		// in that case?!
-		cursorIsTarget = true
+	var processBlocksBeforeCursor bool
+	if !loadedFromQuicksave &&
+		request.StartCursor != "" &&
+		requestDetails.ResolvedStartBlockNum != requestDetails.LinearHandoffBlockNum {
+		// if we have a cursor and our linearHandoff is NOT specifically set to our resolved startBlock,
+		// we ask the pipeline to process blocks before the cursor (between the linearHandoffBlockNum and the cursor)
+		// so that the stores are correctly populated from the last boundary to our cursor
+		processBlocksBeforeCursor = true
 	}
 	logger.Info("creating firehose stream",
 		zap.Uint64("handoff_block", requestDetails.LinearHandoffBlockNum),
@@ -744,7 +746,7 @@ func (s *Tier1Service) blocks(ctx context.Context, request *pbsubstreamsrpc.Requ
 		request.StopBlockNum,
 		cursor,
 		request.FinalBlocksOnly,
-		cursorIsTarget,
+		processBlocksBeforeCursor,
 		logger.Named("stream"),
 		bsstream.WithLiveSourceHandlerMiddleware(metering.LiveSourceMiddlewareHandlerFactory(ctx)),
 		bsstream.WithFileSourceHandlerMiddleware(metering.FileSourceMiddlewareHandlerFactory(ctx)),