How a well-designed card game like CoOM surprises BSV blockchain

I am not interested in collectible non-fungible tokens (NFTs). The recently published on-chain cards from Champions of Otherworldly Magic managed to catch my attention, though, because it signals to me that something remarkable is going on concerning the BSV blockchain economy.

Wait, are those not just some JPEGs being bought and sold?

Yes, and no. These so-called CoOM cards do look beautiful, but we have seen well-designed NFTs before. The cards are part of an online game on HandCash, and each card has a special ability to battle other players in tournaments. On-chain gaming, but for real.

Here's a breakdown of tomorrow's 1st official HandCash mint:
⏰ Mint starts at 12:34 ET
🔮 Visit https://t.co/esqcrKTqiS for the mint & countdown
📦 Cards come in packs: 1, 10, 25
🫦 10k cards available for the @CoOMBattles game
📱 Requires phone, update your HandCash app
🙏 GLHF pic.twitter.com/FVekbSIvqs

— HandCash (@handcashapp) June 20, 2023

BSV blockchain is ready for on-chain gaming, but are the builders?

We already had a card game running on the BSV blockchain available through HandCash, it is called Legends of Uzarn or was called that—because it is shutting down. Legends of Uzarn seemed to be quite a sophisticated game, with many details in each card, probably way more thought-through than the CoOM cards.

Why did it not work out? I can only guess here. First, the design of Legends of Uzarn was not competitive in my eyes. Secondly, the initiators of the CoOM cards have a more up to date marketing approach.

We have seen the traction that Twetch or RelayX were able to gain on the BSV blockchain. Both had and still have a unique voice and enthusiastic style to communicate with their customers.

Why the CoOM cards should wake us up

The team behind Champions of Otherworldy Magic is probably influenced by how Twetch and RelayX operate. However, the circumstances are not precisely the same.

When Twetch and RelayX launched their products, the BSV price was not at an all-time low. Now it is, though, and the CoOM cards are still achieving momentum. That hits differently for me, personally.

I did not expect that. I thought nobody would pay attention to the CoOM cards because how the depressing BSV price casts its shadows on the mood of the average BSV end users. However, that was not the case.

Chaotic hype before game launch, and without a decent marketplace

People started trading the CoOM cards OTC, peer-to-peer, via Twitter DMs and later on in Discord, on The Mornin’ Run interface, and the growing Aym market. HandCash had not even launched its own marketplace for the cards, but BSVers were already swarming out to get the cards “offshore,” so to speak:

Inscription #5728215 Trolrok just sold for 6 $BSV! @CoOmBattles pic.twitter.com/RZhyDzQ7TY

— THE MORNIN' RUN (@themorninrun) June 15, 2023

HandCash held its first Twitter Spaces and invited the team behind the CoOm cards to join. They announced a minting process where BSVers will be able to mint card decks with their sats and trade cards directly on the HandCash marketplace.

“We have a lot of things coming down the pipe with HandCash and Ordinals (…). It is going to be the best mint experience in the entire ecosystem,” HandCash stated in the Twitter Spaces.

Furthermore, have a look at how Joshua Henslee and HandCash seem to fight over single sats, as Henslee is the entrepreneur behind The Mornin’ Run:

This is not hostility; it is competition, where each satoshi counts. Welcome to the BSV hardcore economy, as predicted by Bitcoin entrepreneur Jack Liu, who also said:

Of course, the number of people who have Bitcoin is very small, but your product should still have an encouraging level of adoption within that small group.

The excuse ‘there are not enough users in BSV’ is not acceptable anymore!

If all of this is not a good sign, I do not know what is. For me, the CoOM cards are a strong signal to other builders in the BSV blockchain ecosystem.

If one can summon that kind of hype in an all-time low-price environment, then this tells you:

• There is a market in BSV, no matter the BSV price.
• If you really deliver, people deliver back – their sats, their money.
• People want to own items with functionality on the blockchain.
• BSV infrastructure works as expected.

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