Latest Parallel Alpha News
Parallel announced an upcoming weekend playtest and Metaguild tournament for interested participants.
The Deets
- Play-test runs from April 14 to April 16
- Returning players from any Closed Alpha wave are eligible
- Other interested players can request play acces for this weekend
The Details
Anyone who participated in any wave of Parallel's previous Closed Alpha tests can return and play during the weekend event. For those who prefer casual gameplay, participation in the Metaguild tournament is not required.
If you previously signed up for Early Access but weren't selected, you can still request access for this weekend's play-test by visiting the Parallel website and selecting the new option, "Request access to play this weekend."
The play-test will take place from Friday, April 14, until Sunday, April 16, at 11:59 pm EST.
❗Why It Matters
After opening its closed beta period and unlocking its $PRIME token, Parallel is quickly approaching an open play ecosystem in which all Parallel holders can put their cards to the test and play the game. While web3 gaming headlines have been heating up over the last few months, perhaps none will rival the eventual launch of Parallel, a game that has been building for multiple years and has millions of dollars in backing.
🎤 Community Quotes
Parallel is making changes to Terminals and added that fewer shards will be required for refinement, per a tweet today from the project.
❗ Why It Matters
Terminals will have an important role in gameplay by serving as in-game rewards mechanisms.
This represents another exclusive use case for $PRIME, and $PRIME holders can utilize their tokens to refine Shards into Batteries and purchase Terminals. When Terminals are activated with Batteries, users receive a guaranteed in-game reward and a potential second reward.
🔎 The Details
- Terminal Acquisition
- Terminal cost: 111 $PRIME
- 2,200 total Terminals
- Terminals per Parallel reduced from 11,000 to 440 (which dramatically increases the rarity).
- Terminals are multi-use and can be re-activated in the future for different rewards.
- Shard Refinement
- Total amount of shards needed for refinement reduced from 6 to 3.
- Cost to refine shards into Battery will be 135 $PRIME.
- Each Activated Terminal [Terminal + Battery] will be able to redeem 1 guaranteed reward and 1 potential reward.
🔜 What’s Next?
Both Terminal Acquisition and Shard Refinement will occur this month, and details about the rewards as well as when Terminal Acquisition will begin will be shared soon.
📊 By the Numbers
Cost Breakdown 🧮
— SHILL3R.eth (@SHILL3R_eth) April 7, 2023
Terminal 111p x 5 = 555p
Shards 3 x 5 = 15 Shards @ .11e = 1.65e
Battery 135p X 5 = 675p
$3,050 for Shards
$1,000 for Terminals
$1,215 for Battery
$5,265 to own All 5 Activated Terminals$Prime #parallel #terminals https://t.co/sO3Cth6o0i
🕳️ Go Deeper
Parallel, the NFT-powered card game, shed light on its upcoming Terminals in a Twitter thread posted yesterday.
❗ Why It Matters
Terminals will serve an important role in gameplay by serving as in-game rewards mechanisms.
🔎 The Deets
- There will be 11,000 total Terminals available, each costing 25 $PRIME. $PRIME, the native token of the Parallel ecosystem, is currently worth $2.72, putting the USD cost of a Terminal at $68 USD at the time of writing.
- The rewards dispensed by Terminals will correspond to the Parallel it belongs to. Earthen Terminals will grant Earthen rewards, etc.
- Shard Fragments will be required for batteries, which activate the Terminals. According to Parallel, "this process will require six Shards and cost 225 $PRIME."
- The types of rewards provided by Terminals is not yet known, though Parallel notes they "are usable in game."
🕳️ Go Deeper
Welcome to the Weekly NFT Roundtable, where members of the Lucky Trader team weigh in on some of the most pressing questions, news, and events in the web3 space.
The commentary below is purely opinion —not financial advice!
Recommended Reading:
Yuga Joins the BTC Movement 😱
Question 1: Yuga Labs made a buzzy move on Monday, announcing TwelveFold, a 300-supply experimental generative art collection on the Bitcoin blockchain. Thoughts on the move, as it relates to 1. Yuga as a company and 2. BTC as an emerging NFT chain?
Logie: I personally don’t think this means much for Yuga Labs, particularly given its “we’re just going to do random stuff that we think is cool” attitude. However, I do think Yuga’s willingness to participate and experiment on Bitcoin means a lot for the NFT collections there. If Yuga, the most important ETH NFT company comes to your territory, doesn’t it sort of legitimize or validate it? I can see that argument.
Ghost: I think it’s exciting to see Yuga experiment with new tech / emerging sectors in the space, and reminds me of Google having ‘X’, which they call a “Moonshot Factory”. It’s good to let innovative people cook on different ideas! I don’t think it means a ton for holders of other Yuga assets, other than the company further spreading its wings.
In terms of BTC, I think it’s absolutely huge. There are still a lot of people in the NFT space that feel Ordinals are a fad, but Yuga releasing a collection there will definitely open some eyes and give some more legitimacy to the BTC NFT movement.
Jason: Logan is spot on. This means almost nothing for Yuga Labs, but it means a lot for Bitcoin’s emerging NFT ecosystem. If Yuga Labs is willing to participate in that ecosystem, it grants it credibility, even if the participation is certainly (sorry, folks) a cash grab.
Tyler: This move for Yuga? I really want to call it a cash grab from a company desperate for some revenue streams after their 2nd 100k land sale was cancelled and the price of $APE tanked after land sale 1. But have you seen their royalty numbers in the Blur farming era? They’re raking it in. So they prob don’t need the cash (that bad).
As for Bitcoin, I think it will be a net negative. BTC maxis still aren’t adopting the movement. No one in the crypto world even cares that Yuga is launching a project on Bitcoin. Where are the headlines and press? Literally zero awareness. What will happen is a lot more scammers launching projects on Bitcoin in the coming days and weeks to cash in on this craze, and when the dust is settled, 99% of the NFTs on Bitcoin will be worthless.
Cash Grab Concerns 💰
Question 2: Let’s stay on this Yuga news — what are your price predictions for the TwelveFold auctions? We’ve also seen some negative sentiment on the announcement, calling this a ‘cash grab.’ Are those concerns valid, or unfair?
Logie: Yuga will grab plenty of cash from this, but I don’t think this is a prototypical cash grab. The team already expressed this is purely an experiment and users shouldn’t expect anything but “art.”
As far as prices go, I don’t see any reason why these won’t fall in the 3-5 BTC range right out of the gate. People have been waiting to spend their hard-earned BTC on something…here you go.
Ghost: I’ve heard 3-5 BTC estimates (which is mind-blowing), so I’ll stick with that. In regards to a cash grab — I couldn’t feel more strongly against that sentiment. I am all for companies trying new things, and an auction format allows the market to set the value. If Yuga were selling these at a super-high fixed price, that would be another story — but they’ve been very explicit in saying that this is just a generative art project and has no further utility.
If collectors still see the value and want to pay for it, I don’t see the issue. Are companies not allowed to release new products without being labeled a “cash grab”?
Jason: I read ahead and answered ahead… this is a cash grab. Yuga Labs likely had no plans to launch a Bitcoin-based NFT prior to the Oridinal Punks run-up. This doesn’t benefit Bored Ape Yacht Club holders in any way, unless the team uses the funds to further the brand. Either way, it’s a cash grab. Usually when you hear, “users shouldn’t expect anything but art,” from a team, it’s because the project has no future plans. When that “art” is coming from a company, especially when it is associated with a new NFT trend, it’s a cash grab. Sorry. I’m not saying they shouldn’t have done it; I’m just calling a spade a spade.
Tyler: Autoglyphs are what, 250 ETH? That’s my price target. 10-20 BTC. Load up the wagons for the auction on Friday (or whenever it happens). The whales are already loading up. But good luck selling them to someone for a higher price in the future.
As opposed to answering the cash grab question here, I want to ask Yuga a question: What is this Bitcoin NFT launch going to do for my bags? How am I going to profit from this? I don’t see my path to make a return on this trade, and that’s why I’m pissed off.
Digging into Doodles 🔎
Question 3: Doodles announced this week that all Genesis Box NFTs will contain ‘rare or exclusive items,’ with a DoodleMap also on the horizon as the team vows to ramp up communication. Floors surged briefly on the announcement before retracing back. What are your current thoughts on Doodles, and what does the project need to deliver for a successful 2023?
Logie: Doodles has reached this PROOF-like pinnacle of success at which point, nothing it does well will be “good enough” and the bad stuff will be magnified as SUPER bad. In an ecosystem so heavily driven by speculation and sentiment (with seemingly no fundamentals to rely on) – that seems like a really slippery place to be. And unfortunately, despite a successful deployment of the Dooplication and transfer of Doodles 2 wearables to Flow, sentiment is just super poor around the brand. I think success in 2023 for Doodles is delivering a usable Doodles 2 Beta and continuing to build good partnerships – but even if everything is executed appropriately, I think it’s unlikely we’ll see the floor price go up a meaningful amount.
Ghost: I agree with Logie — certain projects (especially ones that held super high floor prices in the Bull Market) seem to have reached an inflection point where it’s extremely difficult to meet the expectations of holders that may be down significantly on their initial investment. Doodles feels like it falls in that camp — and I don’t really know how you turn that around without some sort of significant value transfer to holders, which is harder than ever to accomplish. Focusing on delivering value to the OG Doodles and letting things trickle down to the rest of the ecosystem would be my blueprint for 2023.
Jason: How many times has the Doodles team suggested it was going to ramp up communication efforts? I feel like I hear this once every, uh, six months? Coincidentally, it seems to be every time Doodles says anything about its plans.
Tyler: Doodles is dead in the water and likely facing a Gutter Cat Gang price arc at this point. The millions of people who need to adopt Doodles 2 to make Doodles 1 and the Genesis Boxes valuable are nowhere to be found and likely years away from being here. And without Doodles 2 reaching mainstream adoption, all of their plans seem to fall apart. The art alone is probably worth a 1-2 ETH floor price so that’s my current price target.
Plant Your Flag ⛳️
Question 4: Let’s do a more open-ended question here. What NFT project, art collection, ecosystem, etc. is capturing your attention right now? Spill the alpha, or plant your flag on a conviction play!
Logie: I’ve been slowly but surely paying attention to the advancement of some web3 games. Last year was supposed to be the year of play-to-earn, and it really fizzled out. But now things might be starting to reach a tipping point. Dookey Dash was a raging success, Parallel Alpha is moving into a Closed Alpha, and now Unity is leaning into web3? I’m not a gamer - but this is a definite area of intrigue for me.
Ghost: I’m a Jack Butcher maxi now. Checks are probably my highest conviction feel since Bored Apes — and even at these prices, I still think they are a sleeping giant. We’ve seen a ton of premium rarities like color bands and gradients getting scooped up, and all it’ll take is one or two parties going for the coveted Black Check for some serious supply shock to hit. I also love the lack of execution risk, as the art resonates with the space and has already been meme’d and derived into the canon of web3.
Jason: This almost feels like a joke in early 2023, but I’m not kidding: Cool Cats. The new branding and direction are exactly what this project needed, and a focus on storytelling allows the team to stick its fangs into the attention economy without breaking the bank. Plus, Cool Cats is an affordable collection now. Laugh all you want, Cool Cats made plenty of mistakes, but it is finding its stride here in 2023.
Tyler: Coinbase and Base, Introduced. I loved the move this week from the Base team to evolve the metadata in a Jack Butcher-esque move. It showed me two things: 1)they have plans for the NFT and it’s not just a POAP and 2) they’ve been paying attention to the big players in the market and what’s successful. I love it. I hope 1M of these things mint; I will still be bullish on them.
Oh and before I go - Pudgy Penguins. We are inevitable.
Meet the Roundtable:
Ghost: Ghost is an NFT analyst at Lucky Trader. He has been in crypto since 2017, and entered the NFT space via NBA Top Shot in January of 2021 before minting Bored Apes and degenning into the broader market.
Tyler: Tyler is a high-volume NFT trader, having reached the top 100 in NFT sales revenue using NFTBank’s rankings, a Pengu maxi (in Luca we trust), and a writer for Lucky Trader. Tyler’s writing spans market analysis, news breakdowns, project ecosystem overviews, and web3 opinion pieces.
Logie: Logan is a content lead at Lucky Trader and is best known for selling every good NFT far too early. He also maintains an irrational exuberance for clay-based NFTs.
Jason: Jason is an NFT lead at Lucky Trader. He has been involved in the NFT space since CryptoKitties in late 2017, and, like most, he lost a lot of money on Top Shot in early 2021. But nevertheless, he persists (with his Series 1 Legendary From The Top LeBron James Block).
Parallel Alpha announced it has opened the gates of the Closed Alpha Discord in a tweet on Monday.
The Deets
Even though many users have been granted access to the alpha, Parallel is only permitting Wave 1 users to join the Discord to start. Users in other waves will be able to enter the server nearer to their start date.
🧠 Learn More
Parallel, the sci-fi trading card game using NFTs, announced its closed alpha will begin on on Feb. 28.
❗Why It Matters
The closed alpha is the first step in bringing the Parallel game to the public, and the team behind the project is excited about what is to come next. However, before getting ready to play the closed beta, users must ensure their systems meet the necessary requirements which you can find posted here.
🧐Wait, What?
Yep, users will need to be sure their machines are compatible with the Parallel Alpha client. The team did point to coming improvements though.
"Please note the Parallel Alpha Client is not fully optimized for lower spec machines. Future builds will include further optimizations and compatibility with Mac."
The Deets
Those selected for the closed alpha will be notified via email starting around Feb. 22.
Community Quotes
Oh dear oh dear... my little Dell laptop doesn't make the grade! Time to boot my son off his gaming PC!NFTMummy
🧠 Learn More
Parallel has added the ability for collectors to designate a primary wallet for in-game $PRIME earnings ahead of the game's closed alpha release.
❗Why It Matters
Parallel is one of web3's most anticipated games, and those who participate in the game will have the opportunity to earn $PRIME, the project's native token.
❓ Wait, What?
- Parallel players can earn $PRIME by winning games while utilizing NFTs that are in their deck.
- A player does not necessarily need to use NFT cards that are in their deck.
- If you lose a game, you will not earn any $PRIME.
🧠 Need to Know
- Parallel has multi-wallet support, and users will have the ability to designate a single wallet as the recipient for any $PRIME earned during gameplay.
- Keep in mind that this wallet address will be viewable by others who play the game.
- To designate a primary wallet, visit your Settings page.
🕳️ Go Deeper
- Parallel Announces Early Access and Registration for February Closed Alpha
- 5 Key Takeaways From Parallel's Echelon Whitepaper
Parallel is offering a free NFT claim on Saturday, Jan. 21 starting at 3:00 p.m. ET, according to a tweet from the project.
Why It Matters: The official launch is quickly approaching for Parallel's trading card game and now users will be able to claim a free card to add to their arsenal.
Action Items:
Starting on Saturday at 3:00 p.m. ET, users can head to parallel.life and claim a free NFT. It is only required that users have a Parallel account and a web3 wallet and enough ETH to pay the transaction fee for the card claim.
Users can create an account here.
What's Inside?
Claiming a free NFT could result in being rewarded with a First Edition, Special Edition, or Masterpiece Parallel Card. Those who receive First Editions will instantly have their cards delivered at claim. Claimers who earn a Special Edition or Masterpiece will receive their card after the Parallel Faucet closes on Jan. 23.
Go Deeper:
Parallel is releasing 45,000 fully-playable playing card starter decks as the full game launch approaches, according to a tweet from the project.
What's Inside:
Each deck contains 40 NFT cards, and a strategy guide to help users prepare for playing the official game. All the available cards were held aside from the existing supply, and no additional cards were minted.
Why It Matters:
Starter decks have always been a helpful introduction to a game, as some might recall from other popular card games like Pokémon. This serves as an easy entry to the Parallel ecosystem for those interested, rather than asking users to undertake the daunting task of "building their own deck."
What's Next:
The packs are not yet available but will be sold in partnership with Coinbase NFT ahead of the official launch of the full trading card game.
Community Thoughts:
Parallel is dropping the cost of its upcoming Pack Drop 6, releasing fewer packs during the drop, and adding more SE's per pack, according to a recent tweet from the team.
Why It Matters: This is Parallel's final pack drop and it offers more value per pack than Pack Drop 5. The reduced cost and better odds of pulling SE's will likely make this drop more anticipated than the last.
Need to Know:
- Jan. 14 at 5 p.m. ET
- 8,605 total packs
- 6,692 FCFS and Manifest packs
- 0.195 ETH per pack
- 3 packs per person
❗ Take Action: Request early access to the pack drop here.
What's Next: A snapshot for PK and MP holders is coming soon, and additional details on the Manifest process are expected tomorrow.
The mechanism for sending cards pulled in Pack Drop 6 is the same as Pack Drop 5, and users can expect them to be sent to the purchasing wallet.
🕳️ Go Deeper:
