Blockchain Brawlers, a Play-to-Earn (P2E) game on the WAX blockchain, is in its very early stages of life and in its most simple form. Nevertheless, in its first two weeks of launch, Blockchain Brawler’s native token, $BRWL, managed over $431 million in volume. The game is singular in many ways, but also misunderstood; it is the foundations of something special and far from the finished article. For a breakdown of the earliest days of Blockchain Brawlers, check out our article: First Look at Blockchain Brawlers: Strong Foundations With Unmatched P2E
What is most interesting to me about Blockchain Brawlers isn’t its wild P2E capabilities, but rather where it’s going and who is involved. The roadmap above shows that the game is going to be fleshed out in all directions, as it should be, but what really sold me on the project was the interview John and I did for the Mint One podcast with the WAX Games Studio head, Michael Rubinelli.
Even if you don’t have time to listen to the whole episode, read the accompanying article to see why he has garnered a lot of belief from the community. He is highly experienced in gaming and was important to the rise of the free-to-play model. I was, however, hopeful that the team at WAX Games Studio would bring in some more talent, and with their latest partnership announced today, they have. They really have.
Richard Garfield: The Person Behind Magic: The Gathering, Partners With WAX
Digital Trading Card Games (TCGs), sometimes called Collectible Card Games (CCGs), have been an early triumph in blockchain gaming. The technology lends itself very well to the genre, with digital card ownership allowing a closer match to the physical games that brought about the digital counterparts. In 1993, inspired by Dungeons & Dragons, Richard Garfield created the first TCG, Magic: The Gathering.
That physical TCG still has a cult following today, but it has also spawned digital TCGs such as Hearthstone, as well as its own, Magic: The Gathering Arena, on which Garfield was the designer. Now, Garfield has taken a step towards Web3 by partnering with WAX.
Garfield, a maths professor and game designer, will be teaming up with Rubinelli and WAX Game Studios to work on PvP (Player-versus-Player) functionality for their first title, Blockchain Brawlers.
“t’s a pleasure to bring a PVP element to Blockchain Brawlers. I am aiming for a game that is entertaining and immersive with real strategic choices and opportunity for risk taking — yet easy enough to learn that it opens up Blockchain Brawlers to a broad player audience.
Richard Garfield
There are few better positioned to develop a strategic PvP dimension to any game than Richard Garfield, and as such, this is a significant boon to both Blockchain Brawlers and WAX Game Studios.
We set up WAX Studios because we feel Web3 gaming is in urgent need of redefinition. Right now, it’s more about farming than having fun. Bringing in Richard Garfield and his beautiful, mathematical, and strategy-driven mind to the creative team behind our new PVP layer will boost Blockchain Brawlers to entirely new levels and raise the bar on Web3 gaming.
Michael Rubinelli, Head of WAX Game Studios
The old adage goes: invest in people. Well, with Rubinelli and Garfield working on Blockchain Brawlers, it has my belief. Those two certainly have the capabilities to turn Blockchain Brawlers into a fun and engaging game, evolving it from its current (highly rewarding) simplicity.
