Wizard Wednesday Recap, 2024-01-17
Elf channels in from the Quantum Chaos, from the Shadow Downs, from the Gaping Maw, to start the show—surely a reference to the chaos that the Shadows mint has sewn in the Forgotten Runes community over the course of the last week.
Space With TIMEPieces
Elf mentions a Space he had with TIMEPieces, which is TIME's web3 Community Initiative. He asks Bearsnake and Dotta if they will be joining. Bear says he thinks so and that he's friends with Shira, one of the hosts. Dotta says possibly.
Cult Questions
When TV Show?
He then jumps into Cult Questions beginning with "when TV show?"
Elf defers to Bear, who says he's working on it, and that it takes a while. Bear notes to the newcomers that Derek Kolstad is writing the show's script and that Titmouse Animation were involved with the trailer. Bear and Dotta mention that an executive producer has been added to the team, and it's someone much of the Cult might know, but they can't reveal who just yet. Bear says everyone they talk is extremely interested in the show. Elf says they will give updates when they have them.
NFT NYC
Next, the team answers a question about this year's NFT NYC. Bear said he'd be hard pressed to say they won't have any sort of presence there, but he says it could be an opportunity to showcase the Forgotten Runiverse game.
Royalties
Following that, Dotta speaks to a question about moving Forgotten Runes collections to new contracts with enforced royalties. He says it's definitely in consideration, but we would have to figure out as a community how it would work and the appropriate royalty rate. Dotta says that the team has thought about contract options for Warriors and Athenaeum items to mitigate gas costs on Ethereum.
He says he thinks eventually the big collections will "join arms" and figure out something to do with royalties because they have aligned incentives. Elf says that when the royalty catastrophe occurred on Ethereum, it threw a major pipe wrench into every major NFT project's business plans. He clarifies that the team hasn't been making royalties in around a year.
Dotta says there are risks with major collections moving to royalties structures:
- Technical workarounds that circumvent the royalty regardless
- Will people who provide majority of NFT volume still participate?
Dotta says that for many projects without royalties, the only option for other revenue sources are new collections, inflation, or distraction. He says that anyone who intends to collect NFTs over a long period of time should see the aligning value of royalties for projects.
Favorite Magic Card
Then Dotta receives a question about his favorite Magic card, and he answers that loves some of the Revised Edition Mountains, and says he knows it's so simple. He says his favorites are the Lands from early editions.
Bringer of the End Times
Next, Elf answers a question about the Bringer of the End Times, and he recounts the lore.
The Shadows
Following that, Elf says that he has a lot of questions about Shadows. He says he wants to talk about their social impact, the lore, and their connection. Elf notes Discord's chaos in the wake of the Shadows Ordinals mint, stating he thinks it was an "orchestrated campaign." Elf says that many of these people were "locusts looking to devour" and didn't seem to be interested in any of the technicals or lore behind the collection. He says this is actually perfect for a collection about Chaos and Dark Magic.
Raccoons in the House
Dotta says that he wants to be careful about overgeneralizing, referencing his encounter with the Hall of Cats, and says that he doesn't feel like that majority of people who minted Shadows were involved in the antics. He clarifies that they're only speaking about ~10 people. Elf says he wants to apologize for opening the doors — that they intended to bring in new people, but not in this way that it happened. Bear says he feels like a raccoon got in the house, and we just have to open all the doors and windows and let them find their way out.
Dotta says he feels like there was a group of people who FOMO'd in without understanding the project. Elf says some people weren't ever interested in understanding the NFT community. Bear says some people are in it for other reasons, and that's an important facet of the space.
The Shadows' Lore
Elf then dives in to some of the lore of the Shadows collection. He says now that they're minted and the existing traits have more attention, he can dive deeper—beginning by noting that many of the trait names come from the 72 demons from the Lesser Key of Solomon. Elf notes that King Solomon is a fascinating character, making appearances in the Bible, the Torah, the Quran, grimoires, and represented in media across centuries. He notes the popularity of the Mothman's Gaze trait, mentioning that is not from the Lesser Key of Solomon.
Elf answers a question about a "Light" Ordinal collection to rival the Shadows. He says there aren't any plans for that, but it's a fun idea. He hypothesizes a transformation even to bring Shadows into the Light.
Does Food Taste Better With 120 BTC?
Then, Elf defers a question to Dotta, which was a reference from a community member to a particularly egregious bit of FUD:
"Does food taste better with 120 BTC?"
Dotta says, "Oh, geez. I wish I could tell you. I wish I knew."
Elf says that all of the funds from mint are accounted for.
"We're running a company here."
Bear says people ask if he's going to buy a boat. He says the Shadows mint just allows Forgotten Runes to keep doing what its doing. Dotta says people don't understand all the other things the team is doing "as responsible adults to try and accomplish something meaningful that lasts 100 years." He says people will get familiar with what Magic Machine is trying to do as time goes on.
White Hat Wizards
Then, SPZ asks if the White Hats are the antithesis of the Shadow Hats. Elf answers that yes, they pretty much are.
Adam Hollander Wins Sub 1k Shadow Hat Ordinal Auction
Why Magic Machine Assisted With the Shadow Hat Auction
Dotta then chimes in to note that there are 5 minutes left in the first Shadow Hat Ordinal auction. Bear and Dotta note that the BTC from the auction is going to the person who won the Goated bid raffle during the Shadow Hats mint. Dotta explains the person who won didn't really know what they were doing, and asked if the team could handle an auction for him.
Dotta says the winner of the Shadow Hat raffle had an incredibly rare asset that included their own pick of 7 available Shadow Hats—which isn't just something they could list on Magic Eden. Dotta says he felt handling it with care was the best option for the situation. Dotta notes Magic Machine isn't taking a fee for the auction and says that they're helping the original Shadow Hat winner move his Ordinal because they care a lot.
Adam Wins the Auction
At that moment the Shadow Hat auction ends, with Adam Hollander winning the Ordinal with a bid of 2.5 BTC. Adam joins the Space from his kid's swim class to express his thanks and excitement, he says he's not sure which Shadow Hat he's going to pick. He also says he had to get his wife's permission for this particular purchase with the caveat that it must be permalisted at 10 BTC.
Dotta says that Adam was right alongside the team when they were first inscribing the Shadow Hats, and that they even helped inscribe some of his daughter's art on Bitcoin in the 5000 inscription range. Adam says he jokes he's going to sell her Ordinal to send her to college.
As Adam steps offstage, Elf returns to an earlier conversation on Nifty Island and Web3 gaming that was truncated by the final moments of the auction.
Web3 Gaming & Sumiez's Forgotten Souls Game
Nifty Island Launches
Wednesday was the day of the Nifty Island launch, and Jitcy gives an anecdote of being frontrun in the game queue. Jitcy also takes a moment to express awe at Charl3s' (of Nifty Island) work ethic when it comes to grinding out Spaces. He notes a comment in the Secret Tower that Charl3s once joined in from a plane. He congratulates them on achieving the high traffic for launch. The team talk about the gameloop of Nifty Island and Elf mentions that those who play may be setting themselves up for some kind of airdrop. Dotta says that it's interesting to see all of the teams from '21 that were building through the bear—he also gives a nod to Hytopia.
Jitcy says he believes there's going to be a day of reckoning this cycle between those who have playable games and those who don't. Dotta asks Jitcy for his gaming picks, and Jitcy says he will put together a list for next Wizard Wednesday.
Sumiez Opens Call For Forgotten Souls
Then, Sumiez joins the Space. Sumiez takes the stage and speaks about a Forgotten Souls game that he has been working on. He opens a casting call to Forgotten Souls holders who might like to see their tokens within the game. He notes the game will not have any Web3 integration other than Souls and Nouns IP.
More Forgotten Runes Game Updates & Elf's Tezos Experiment
Goblin Town
The team speaks about Sumiez's help with art on the Battle for Goblin Town game, and Dotta gives a brief update. He says they are still finalizing the partner for where it will run, but it's mostly down to putting pen to paper and launching it.
Forgotten Runiverse Quarterly Events
Following that, Elf says that the team met with Bisonic about the Forgotten Runiverse MMORPG on Wednesday, and it appears they are gearing up for quarterly update events this year. He says he won't say what they are, but they look incredible.
Elf Calls For Cult Members to Dance on Tezos
Elf then makes his own open call for interested Cult members to collaborate with him on his dancing character gif experiment on Tezos. He explains he's using the chain because objkt has the ability to easily issue and fine-tune a split royalty.
The Cult Content Chronicle
Then, the team reviews the one-year anniversary of the Cult Content Chronicle, with a special introduction of stats from the past year put together by Tania del Rio along with her usual highlights of art from the past week within the Forgotten Runes community.
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Nosferatu Moron Swimwear Calendar 2025
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Legacy of the Secret Tower Game Mockup by Brennen
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Humanoid Shadow by @YumiArtsNFT
