GM

Welcome to the 8 new subs who joined this weekend.

Hmm

"NFTs are dead" and yet we might see nearly $50 million spent on two mints this week.

So, pray tell, what will it look like when NFTs come "alive" again?

In today’s edition:

• The biggest drop of the year

• Two new drops make the Mint List

• And another makes the Watch List

More info on Mint/Watch lists HERE.

Did you know?

We have a premium pass that gives you access to a directory of every drop we cover, complete with detailed information on how to get on every whitelist (including those underrated ones that aren’t already full).

And for those curatooors out there, you can get free NFTs just by finding drops that end up on the Mint or Watch list.

Lastly, hang with me and the MoS team in a private discord with weekly voice chats. The vibes are great.

The biggest drop of the year

Context

Azuki announced Elementals, a new 20,000 PFP collection set to launch on June 27th.

The details:

• Every Azuki holder received 1 free Elemental

• Azuki and Beans holders can mint the other 10k at 2 ETH

• Any leftovers will go to public sale Dutch Auction

• Public DA starts at 2 ETH and drops every 5 mins.

• Presale buyers get a partial refund on the final DA price

Our take

I’m just going to get right into it.

One of the biggest NFT brands announced a new drop that’ll probably generate over $30 million and capture all the attention in the space.

And it’s launching tomorrow.

Here are five things (good and bad) you should know before minting:

1. This is Azuki’s moment of truth

Azuki’s game plan over the last year can be described as “do less, but do it well”.

And it worked. They were able to squeeze a lot out of very little: polished microsites, beautiful graphic design here and there, dope parties, hype soundtracks. They do this better than arguably anyone else in the game.

But NFT collectors have that TikTok attention span. Staying near the top means constantly evolving, growing into new metas, creating new stories – anything to keep people interested.

So what does Azuki look like in the second half of year 2 and year 3?

Like, what even is Elementals? Is it leading to a game? A social experience? Merch?

I think we’re about to learn a lot more about what Azuki’s vision is, and it could be make or break.

Some extra spice: the other big story this week was BAYC’s continued downward spiral. Does this set up a heated flippening narrative where Azuki can take the top spot?

2. Anime trailers go hard

It’s official: making anime trailers will end up being the most lucrative career of the 2020s.

Forget trad boomer jobs like doctors or lawyers – teach your kids how to mix animated fight scenes with EDM music and set them up for life.

On Friday we saw why. Azuki paired their announcement with a hype animated trailer that went viral on NFT Twitter.

That 74-second trailer might make a huge difference on mint day. Given that it maybe only cost ~$400k, I’m guessing it’ll pay for itself many times over.

And if you’re the kind of person who watched this clip more than 10 times, I have some good news. Tomorrow we’ll be getting yet another six-figure trailer – this time from Ether, another upcoming anime collection on our Mint List.

3. The controversial mint price

Some people are riled up about the auction’s 2 ETH starting price.

They’re writing threads.

They’re calling it extraction.

They’re saying it’ll kill NFTs…again.

Idk how these people navigate the real world. Have they ever left their homes? God forbid they walk near a shopping center or log onto amazon dot com – aka the holy temples of “extraction”.

What we have here is a product company selling products, no more, no less. It’s called revenue, and they’re using a Dutch auction to let collectors decide the price they’re willing to pay.

Now, are they gamifying the drop to drive some fomo? Yes, for example by limiting each mint stage to just 10 minutes. But that’s the game, unfortunately, and every industry has its marketing tricks.

You could argue we shouldn’t be spending this much on JPEGs in the first place, especially when we basically don’t know anything about their purpose, but that’s a broader topic for another day.

4. This probably mints out fast

The Elementals mint is overallocated by 3:1. In other words, between Azuki and Beans holders, there are 30,000 allocated whitelist spots for only 10,000 NFTs.

The consensus seems to be that this sells out immediately after opening phase 2 (Beans holders). If so, that would mean collectors spending 20k ETH or ~$38 million.

Maybe. People are definitely feeling the hype and there are a lot of collectors on the sidelines that seem to pop out of nowhere for these major events.

But it’s worth noting that this is the largest attempted mint raise since Yuga’s Otherside drop over a year ago. And the market is far less liquid today than it was in summer 2022.

Either way – I think it’s a safe bet that this mint won’t be making it to the public phase (sorry).

5. The risk level is high

So here's how the mint whitelist works:

1. There will be a WL snapshot of all Azuki/Bean wallets

2. You can mint one Elemental for each Azuki/Bean you own.

The problem?

Most people hold their Azukis and Beans in their vaults (aka their cold wallets). These are wallets that should never connect to minting pages.

And yet it's the only way you can mint Elementals unless you move everything during the short period before the snapshot.

This annoyed holders. We already have wallet delegation options in 2023 that can and should be used for major drops like this, so it’s weird to see such an experienced NFT team miss this one.

I’m already seeing Azuki scam accounts flood my Twitter feed, so stay safe friends.

✨ Added to Mint List #2 ✨

NOTE: These drops are lightly curated. Our only requirement is that they have recognizable founders. As usual, DYOR. To learn more go here.

COLORS COLLECT – Fame by Rema

Two months ago I speculated about Capture the Moment (a free, month-long open edition by YouTube studio, COLORS, and ZORA) and how this might lead to a bigger collectibles program down the line.

Well, looks like this speculatooor has been proven right as COLORS COLLECT was unveiled last Friday. The platform allows fans to collect individual shows as NFTs and create a curated profile with their favorite music.

If you collected Capture the Moment you’ll be on the presale list for the first drop this Wednesday featuring Fame by Rema.

Above the Noise by Cath Simard

Cath Simard, a renowned photographer whose ethereal landscapes have captivated many a influential collector, will be launching her next limited edition, Above the Noise, on Manifold this Friday.

This piece features an awe-inspiring Peruvian mountain view and marks the artist’s first editioned release since her 6529 Meme Card, Freedom to Explore, dropped back in January. However, a fairer comparison might be the one-and-a-half-year-old Trillion Star Hotel, her last Manifold edition.

As Simard's releases are rare and generally admired by art connoisseuoors, we've…

✨ Added to Watch List ✨

6529 Meme Card – Botto

Botto’s first-ever high-supply edition is dropping this Friday as a 6529 Meme Card.

Initially teased as a project proposal 10 days ago (hinting at a range of 300-500 pieces), this will be the decentralized artist’s second-ever edition after March’s Seaport Subject on verse.

Although it’s mintable only by previous 6529 or Botto collectors, this is Botto's first truly affordable piece, so we’ve…

✨ Added to Mint List #9 ✨

Skyborne Legacy

Skyborne Legacy is a cozy web3 social game from Revolving Games, a US games company founded by brothers Saad, Ammar and Shayan, which boasts up to $25M in funding from market players like Animoca and Pantera Capital.

Although the game operates on Polygon for scalability, their first mint for free PFPs will take place on mainnet Ethereum this July.

If that’s too long of a wait for you, don’t worry, as there’s plenty of content to consume on the project’s Youtube and Medium pages while we await further mint details.

The Mint List

1. Taproot Wizards. OG Bitcoin meme inscribed as ordinals

2. Azuki Elementals. New collection from the premier NFT brand

3. Project Animus. RTFKT's biggest launch since Clone-X

4. Symbiogenesis. Square Enix's upcoming gaming NFT

5. Garbage Friends. New PFP from the creator of Invisible Friends

6. Dimensionals - EVE. Free gaming PFP from doxxed studio

7. 10KTF PFP. Drop from a team that includes Yuga and Beeple

8. Ether. Anime PFP collection by viii, an artist with a cult following

9. 6529 Meme – Botto. Affordable edition from the decentralized artist

10. Tony Babel x Typical Friends. Limited edition from the popular artist