It’s finally time! The Vanguards are coming. In this article, we will release all details for the very first Vanguards mint, by EON Guardians. Let’s start with the simple facts.
Mint Overview
- When? January 9th, 2023
- Supply? 333
- Price? 0.0777 ETH
Mint Structure
Jan 9 (24 hrs) — Phase 1
- Roles: Legend, Partner, Dev Team
- Claim Limit: 3
Jan 10 (24 hrs) — Phase 2
- Role: Guardian
- Claim Limit: 2
Jan 11 (Open) — Phase 3
- No role requirement
- Claim Limit: 2
Let’s Talk About It
Now for the nitty-gritty section where we’ll cover:
- Why the mint is structured this way
- How we decided to structure it this way
- What we’re going to do with mint funds
- Plans for post-mint
We have been paying close attention to the NFT market these past few months, and to put it lightly, it’s changed a lot since this same time last year. The plan was always for the Vanguards collection to be a small supply representing the most valiant and early backers, and not intending to build the entire game studio off PFP sales. We will be fundraising via institutional funding, and seeking to get the full development funds needed that way. That being said, being able to mint out NFT collections is a great indicator for us as a studio and a huge help to us in this early stage.
Let’s talk about the supply. How does 333 translate to everything we have on the published roadmap for Vanguards? It doesn’t, but it gets us started. We combined our analysis of the NFT market and our EON Ancients Card Pack free mint to come to this conclusion. It’s been rough out there for PFP mint collections the past 4–6 months. The “playbook” of 2021 is almost entirely irrelevant and late 2022 has shown to be unpredictable. But here’s what we know:
- We want to sell out, quickly. We don’t want to string along an unrealistic large supply mint for weeks/months and slowly rug via lack of momentum.
- We have built a small, but strong community. 68% of our VIP allowlist in the Ancients Card Pack collection minted in the first 24 hours, minting ~380. (68% is a huge number vs. traditional games industry conversion expectations.)
- Our backers want to buy & hold more. When we opened the 3rd phase for VIP allowlist to mint more, they did so immediately.
- We want to make clear commitments to tangible milestones with each of our mints. This is truly how we operate — with our community, our dev team, and our investors.
333 is a supply that we think clearly addresses all 4 points. Our current plan is that we will achieve these goals, and then we can work towards a 2nd run of Vanguards. Note: our plan is for the final overall supply to not exceed 2,000.
Mint Funding Goals
While we’re confident that 333 is the right supply for our community to mint out, we still want to be clear about what initiatives we will be committing to at various points in the mint.
333 minted (100%)
- Vanguards added NFT features, new trait variations, and added perks.
300 minted (90%)
- EON Guardians Playable Demo — playable demo focusing on core gameplay mechanics and game loop.
250 minted (75%)
- EON Ancients CCG Tournaments — we will start the first tournament season with prizes starting in February.
155 minted (50%)
- EON Ancients CCG Eternal Edition Complete — we will complete the full set of all Eternal Edition card series. 4 ancient gods, 4 full sets of cards, 200+ unique cards.
Less than 155
- EON Ancients CCG launch — regardless of Vanguards mint, we will be releasing this game with our community. We don’t rug.
- Any mint funds below this amount will go towards covering costs already incurred to develop the PFP and CCG game up to this point.
Vanguards Holder Perks
With this collection and the addition of EON Ancients CCG to our project ecosystem, we are happy to announce some new perks for holders of this Vanguards collection:
- 10% Discount on all virtual currency purchases in EON Ancients CCG
- Exclusive utility to display Vanguard PFP in player profile in EON Ancients CCG
- Exclusive in-game player title in EON Ancients CCG
- EON Ancients CCG — 1 Legendary card in-game airdrop
Holders of this mint will also be entitled to any future Vanguard perks that are unlocked via a future 2nd mint run.
How We’re Going to Use Mint Funds
The majority of mint funds will go towards the development of EON Guardians playable demo. That is the biggest goal of the Vanguards collection, to kickstart development of EON Guardians!
All other goals, while still significant in value, have lower funding costs to get off the ground. Some small amount of mint funds will also be set aside for emergent community initiatives and opportunities (airdrop, merch, etc).
We believe heavily in artists being included in the upsides of their work. 10% of mint funds have been set aside for our brilliantly talented artist, Tami Wicinas. A portion of creator royalties will also go toward the artist as well. Another 10% has also been set aside to compensate team members who have been diligently working towards the success of this mint and our community (this does not include the founders).
Plans for Post-Mint
Build! We’ve been waiting months for the moment when we can focus on doing what we do best, and that’s building. More specifically though, very soon after Vanguards mint week, we plan on:
- Launching EON Ancients CCG game alpha
- Expanding and growing the community even more
- Building up the value of our NFT ecosystem through partnerships, CCG tournaments, and EON Guardians updates
- Fundraising. Following a successful Vanguards mint, we believe this will help us greatly to kick off fundraising in the new year.
Conclusion
We are super excited to finally announce this mint and get our community fully engaged with our future as a game studio, NFT ecosystem, and team of web3 gaming believers. We hope you’re equally excited to join us and display your Vanguards proudly come January 9th.
(As a bonus, here’s a first reveal of the unique Legendary 1-of-1 in the upcoming mint. This Vanguard shares no traits with any generated variations. Original design by @tamiwicinas)
Find out more about EON Guardians at eonguardians.io. Join our Discord community here for news, announcements, collaborations, and more.
