GM

We added 146 new subs yesterday, which was up 60% from Tuesday.

If my math is correct, if we keep that same pace every day we’ll have around 14 billion subscribers in a month.

In today’s edition:

• Does anyone understand Yuga’s game?

• Nike’s big announcement

• All our latest NFT rankings

• New drops found in the last 24 hours

More info on Mint/Watch lists HERE.

Yuga’s Next Big Game Is Here

Context

The NFT world is getting a new 100k collection today.

Anyone who holds Otherdeeds, Yuga’s metaverse land, is now able to:

1. Claim an NFT called a Vessel

2. Decouple their Koda from their land (if they have one)

This is all in preparation for Yuga’s next upcoming game Legends of Mara, which is set to launch in May.

So far about 23k/100k Vessels have been claimed.

Our Take

Your friend walks in and watches you playing a new NFT game and asks, “What’s that?”

“I’m playing Legends of the Mara by Yuga Labs,” you respond.

“Oh cool, how does it work?”

A smirk appears on your face.

“Well you see, fragments can be fed to mara and are derived from sediments which can be harvested by Genesis Kodas and farmer Mara. A kodamara’s traits are affected by the fragments ingested as a Mara, and are revealed according to a celestial coordinate system called the Odiac”

“Uhh nerd alert, how do I play?”

“That’s easy, just buy a Vessel for $500 and an Otherdeed land for $2,200. ”

“You need to go outside more, man.”

--

Bottom line, Yuga’s latest game is (maybe too) complex.

We envision three groups of people in the world.

First you have the people who are invested in Yuga’s ecosystems, so anyone who holds BAYC or Otherdeeds or Kodas etc. They care a lot.

Next you have NFT collectors who just follow any big events in the space, they care a little I guess.

And finally you have everyone else, they don’t give a shit about any of this.

The goal for games like Otherside, I would think, is to bring more people from that second and third group into the first one. They want more people to care a lot, and ideally buy in.

But I’m not sure if these overly complex lorebuilding storylines do anything other than keep the first group entertained.

Of course complexity isn’t bad by itself, many popular games sound overwhelming if you just explain it to a newbie. However, it does make it harder to stick the landing.

But we’ll reserve any strong opinions until we see more Yuga gameplay.

And between Legends of Mara and the other Yuga Mech game, that moment is fast approaching.

Mint List #3

Nike Has a New Drop Coming

Recently we’ve had drops from Puma and Adidas.

But don’t forget the first sneaker brand that jumped into web3 in a big way.

Nike — who famously acquired RTFKT and Clone-x back in 2021 — announced a virtual goods platform back in November called .SWOOSH.

They’ve been mostly silent since then, until now.

This week Nike revealed that the first .SWOOSH drop is coming, and it’ll be called the Our Force 1 Collection.

This drop is an homage to one of the brand’s iconic series, the 41-year-old Air Force 1.

Here’s what we know:

1. It’s digital only, so don’t expect any physical sneakers.

2. We’ll see multiple designs in two boxes: Classic Remix and New Wave

3. You’ll have a typical pre-sale for .SWOOSH members followed by a general access mint.

Are we at the point where people buy digital sneakers just to have them?

Not sure, but according to Nike these are “more than a JPEG 😉”.

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

SOL3MATES

A project by Chalhoub Group, a Dubai-based luxury retailer.

SOL3MATES is a community-centric sneaker brand that aims to connect sneakerheads with designers, with their OG NFT being the first step towards that goal.

Among other holder benefits listed on the project’s website and discord, this token will grant holders pre-access to the brand’s physical pair of shoes.

Full details should be announced on April 12th.

Toons

A project by pseudonymous web3 dev, influencer and podcaster Bender.

This one has been teased on twitter for months and just recently revealed its official twitter account as well as its first limited-time round of puzzle-gated allowlists - more rounds to come.

AYAKASHI CLUB by Akiakane

New Factory Tokyo is the NFT-related branch of Transit General Office, a hospitality and operations-focused Japanese company.

They have just recently announced their second-ever project, “AYAKASHI CLUB”, which will feature the vibrant works of Akiakane, a singer and illustrator who originally gained notoriety through some of Japan’s digital art forums in the past and has gone on to do official artwork for various Japanese musical artists.

One for the artsy weeb types.

MOONLANGUAGE by GiselFlorez

A sovrn.art Curated drop for which some sneak peeks showing abstract space-themed work can already be seen on the SuperRare artist’s website and Twitter.

This Curated platform has had quite a few hits in the past, including Van Arman’s “byteGANs” most recently.

THE MINT LIST

1. Reddit Series 3. Third NFT drop from the massive social site.

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

3. Otherside Mara. Upcoming 2D strategy game from Yuga Labs.

4. FewoWorld. New PFP by Fewocious, a rising star in the art world.

5. Symbiogenesis. Square Enix's upcoming gaming NFT.

6. ZOGZ by Matt Furie. Open Editions from the creator of Pepe.

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

8. Moonbirds Mythics. The fourth collection in the Proof ecosystem.

9. Fellowship Show 1. Curated collection from Rope Rainisto.

10. Seaport Subject by Botto. 1st editioned work from an AI artist.