Genesis is a special expansion, do you know why?

You've probably heard of Genesis, the first card expansion for Gods Unchained. It's even possible that your card collection will include, to a greater or lesser extent, cards from this expansion. The truth is that this expansion is very special and is, to a large extent, a Challenge for the future development of the game . If you want to find out why, read on.

The genesis of Gods Unchained

The video game market is incredibly competitive. Hundreds of titles are released every year and standing out is not easy. The Immutable team identified an opportunity , the use of blockchain technology to make NFTs the heart of its proposal, in a context in which it makes all the sense in the world: a trading card game (TCG).

As I have pointed out, launching a video game is a great challenge with a high risk threshold. We could consider that the Immutable team bet on a Model of Crowdfunding to achieve various objectives Through this pre-sale exercise:

• Validate the product , confirming the existence of real demand before starting its development.
• Financing its development , obtaining the necessary resources to put the machinery into operation.

The result of the above? One Important support for future investment rounds , since it is not the same to propose an investment round with an idea as with a product under development and with verified demand.

All of the above sounds good, right? However, we must not forget that those initial investors were taking considerable risk in a scenario of enormous uncertainty: a video game proposal in the crypto environment, a volatile and incipient market. Considering this, and knowing that without that initial impetus it would be much more difficult to bring this idea to fruition, the Immutable team chose to offer a A very attractive incentive for its first customers, an extraordinary first expansion: Genesis .

What makes Genesis an unrivaled expansion?

I didn't witness the release of Genesis, as I learned about Gods Unchained much later. However, talking to veteran players and consulting official sources (here you will find statements about it from Chris Clay himself, with which The prestiging option is ruled out for this expansion … Read carefully: "State of the Beta – Q3 2020" ), I have achieved the following Conclusions :

1. In theory, Genesis is an expansion designed to be especially Powerful . That said, the reality is that there are a handful of cards in Genesis that are indeed very powerful. Too much, in fact. And a wide range of normal cards, tending to mediocre or simply dreadful.
2. Genesis is a collection "Non-perishable" ( Evergreen ). What does this mean? It means that:
   1. Their letters (or rather their texts and statistics) are immutable ; they can no longer be altered, as is the case with any Gods Unchained expansion whose balancing period has ended.
   2. Its use in official competitive formats cannot be banned .
   3. Is imnune to future rotations . In case you are not very clear about what "rotating" is, I will explain it briefly. This is a common dynamic in TCGs, which is that as new expansions are released, the older ones are only available in some competition modes.

Genesis has a limited number of cards . And, due to the circumstances of the development of a pioneering project like Gods Unchained, many of them are in the hands of large investors ("whales" in crypto jargon) or have been lost (you can't imagine how many wallets are inaccessible because their access data is irrecoverable). Which is to say that the volume of Genesis cards is what it is, and as long as the whales do not begin to "let go of ballast" it will not be increased... But of course, whales will want to maximize the return on their initial investment, so they're not going to allow prices to plummet either.

Genesis as a challenge for the future of Gods Unchained

If you've read me this far, I'm sure I don't need to clarify where the problem is: the number of Genesis cards that exist is not going to be enough for all players to access them , so that their prices will tend to increase in proportion to the increase in demand. This circumstance will reduce the appeal of the game for many players, limiting their growth.

Was the Immutable team right to make these commitments with Genesis? On a personal note, I think not too much. The reason is that it compromises the future development of Gods Unchained. But of course, this is easy to say now... At that time his bet was to move the project forward, to make it a reality. Perhaps they could have considered other options (even if it was a system of the same stock-options ), but Reality is what it is .

Which Genesis cards are most problematic?

The truth is that, at least in my opinion, the Genesis cards that can be really problematic are very few . Here is my list of cards that, from my point of view, will be cannon fodder sooner or later. And for the record, I am the lucky owner of many of them, but that does not prevent me from being aware that they are going to become a problem in the medium and long term.

Jason

The version of Jason the Argonaut , in Gods Unchained is a card value difficult to overcome. Very difficult. And that in decks Control can play a decisive role.

Demogorgon

Demogorgon it is an unparalleled card, almost irreplaceable in Control decks. The reason is that it comes into play on turn 9, when its holder already aspires to stabilize the game as the decks Aggro and Midrange They are "losing steam", and it fulfills a triple objective: it sleeps the game for a turn (never better said, since it sleeps all the creatures on the board), leaves stats worth 10 (4/6) in the form of a creature and, in addition, it has an immediate impact by causing 3 damage that heals, since it has Leech . Oh, and not forgetting possible tribal synergies, since it is a Nether. Who gives more?

Apocalypse Now

There is no doubt that Malissus is the goddess of destruction, no other god has so many resources to eliminate enemy creatures and benefit from the sacrifice of their own. However, there is no card that can compete with Apocalypse Now to "clean" the board. The reality, for practical purposes, is that nothing survives when it sees the light. Or perhaps we should say darkness.

Pyramid Warden

Pyramid Warden it is a double-edged sword. In the early game it can be decisive and, in contrast, at the end of the game it can become a weakness that causes irreparable damage. In any case, there is no doubt that a value of 8 stats (2/6) in exchange for two mana, with frontline, is not something to be overlooked.

Siren of the Grave

Siren of the Grave it is not a problem in itself, but it is with the synergies that Malissus, goddess of Death, has with the world beyond the grave. In other words, the problem is that its effect Afterlife is susceptible to being activated over and over again through other creatures, spells and relics, making possible one of the most toxic mechanics, in my opinion, in the GU universe: the well-known Permasleep .

Options so that Genesis never becomes an insurmountable obstacle

However, let there be no discouragement. There are different odds so that Genesis does not become an insurmountable obstacle to the success of Gods Unchained. Let's take a look at them.

Increase card availability

Increase the offer It should be useful for moderating prices, right? To this end, options such as the following could be considered.

1.- Defusing

As you know, in Gods Unchained there are cards of different qualities. You're probably familiar with The Forge, which allows you to merge two "plain" cards from the Core collection to get a unit of that card in meteorite quality (i.e., generate an NFT). Theoretically The "forging" will be reversible . Thus, the player who has a Gold quality card can "split" it into five Shadow quality units and, in turn, each of those Shadow quality cards can be divided into five meteorite units.

2.- Card rental

One feature that other p2e games have available is the Letter Leasing . Players who wish to rent their cards give them for a certain time to an exchange, to which players interested in becoming tenants go, and obtain a proportional part of the income generated by this activity, according to different criteria.

Measures of this type are not a panacea, obviously, but they can help increase supply. Consequently, they are Options that can't be ignored .

You may be thinking... what if solutions were used to increase the supply such as generating non-NFT copies of the cards, which could be earned by playing, or releasing new cards that were "clones" of the existing ones? It would be possible, of course, but this type of practice would call into question the seriousness of the Immutable team, as it would damage the interests of the players who have invested in these assets and, in addition, it could be counterproductive because players who had the original card could play both the original and its copy, so the imbalance would still be there. I believe, in all sincerity, that the existence of non-NFT copies of those cards would not be a good idea .

Alternate Game Modes

The fact of having Additional game modes It should be helpful in reducing pressure. For example, players who prefer to avoid the potential disadvantage of playing decks with cards they don't have might choose to play "sealed" (where players build their decks from a randomly generated collection) or "blitz" (where the amount of time available per turn is very small, so it's not suitable for decks that require long games or very complex decision-making.)

Obsolescence

Many of the cards in Genesis will eventually lose their appeal as each new expansion releases more powerful cards. They will thus become "obsolete" (this is the result of the dreaded and popular Power creep ). Not only in terms of stats, but also with the emergence of new mechanics that didn't exist in the game when Genesis was released. The Power creep it is like inflation in a video game, if it gets out of control it can mortally wound you; however, in small doses it is as effective as it is unavoidable.

However, it is undeniable that there are some Genesis cards that will probably be almost impossible to neutralize with mere Power creep and it will be necessary to resort to other strategies.

Teching

It's usually not the best solution, but there is a chance to create Cards designed to dismantle very specific cards . An example of this is Munossian Infiltrator, a card that seems designed to deter the use of Pyramid Wardens (look at the card's art and you'll see in the background the Pyramid Warden that is going to be attacked).

Evolution

One of the challenges of a game like Gods Unchained is combat excess demand for certain assets . An example is the Core Collection cards, which are generated unlimitedly. One of the solutions to "drain" this excess resources from the game is a mechanic that allows them to be "burned". How? By offering something in return. And this is what is called "Evolution" in Gods Unchained.

For example, in exchange for giving up a certain number of cards from a set and a certain quality, a player could get card packs. If demand is maintained and supply is reduced, you know what happens to prices. This resource could be used to eliminate part of the Genesis cards... for example giving the holders of these letters other assets : Promotional cards of great rarity, unique cosmetic elements of great value to collectors ( boards, card backs, trinkets ...), etc.

Vetoes

In extreme situations, extreme measures may be necessary. And the most radical measure that exists is that of prohibit the use of a card because it has become an unsolvable dilemma for the meta of the game . In an ecosystem like Gods Unchained, with an essential economic dimension, cards are true investment assets for which, in many cases, very significant sums have been disbursed in their acquisition.

If a card is banned ( Ban ), its owner must be compensated in a reasonable way (and the concept of "reasonable" is subjective, as is the case in expropriations in the public interest). For example, a "light" version of the card could be created, usable in competition formats, and provide some additional asset of great value. This is still a kind of Evolution , to put it simply, but forced; it imposes itself on the player.

This decision could be submitted, at a given time, to the will of the community on the basis of the Governance instruments that are enabled by strike of the in-game cryptocurrency, $GODS. However, without overlooking the fact that whales will have a specific determining weight and that they will never want to harm their own interests, which poses a dilemma: perhaps they will be interested in sacrificing some cards knowing that, if Gods Unchained succeeds, their other assets will be revalued; on the other hand, if Gods Unchained falls into oblivion, nothing will retain its value.

An additional comment on this scenario. It must be treated with great delicacy since, like breaching the commitments made, it can cause irreparable damage. If the gaming community lost confidence in the value of their assets, everything would collapse like a house of cards. And the Immutable team knows it, obviously. In any case, they have always defended that only issues related to the management of $GODS will be submitted to the discretion of the community, not with the cards, their mechanics, etc. So this option seems very unlikely.

Conclusions

As you have seen, there are many measures that, combined with each other, should ensure that Genesis will never become an unsolvable problem for Gods Unchained. Surely the passage of time will clear up our doubts so, for now, let's enjoy the game.

I'm JFA, from GU Masters, and I hope this information has been of interest to you. If you want to keep up with the latest news about Genesis in particular and the Gods Unchained universe in general, it's very easy. You just have to subscribe to the GU Masters newsletter , you have it just a click away. Take another step towards mastery and join all the game enthusiasts who already receive The Herald .