Fantasy.Top Mounts a Comeback with ‘Tactics V2’

Onchain trading-card game (TCG) and fantasy “sports” hybrid, Fantasy.Top, is experiencing a resurgence, with its key metrics back in an uptrend.

Fantasy.Top recorded 150 ETH in trading volume on Aug 23, its best day since June 21. The dApp also had the highest weekly number of paid mints since its launch in May, with 1,825 variable-rate gradual Dutch auction (VRGDA) pack mints in the last seven days, compared to just 450 the week before.

Fantasy.Top is a SocialFi platform that allows users to speculate on and compete with the social media performance of crypto-native Twitter personalities.

After an explosive start to its mainnet launch, Fantasy.Top’s metrics fell drastically alongside the rest of the Blast ecosystem after the Ethereum Layer 2 network’s token generation event (TGE) in June.

However, Fantasy.Top, in particular, is witnessing an uptick in activity, driven by its Tactics competitions and mounting speculation surrounding a potential launch of its own native token, presumed to be listed under the ticker $FAN.

Sustainable Game Mechanics

Tactics were introduced on June 18, just a week before the Blast airdrop.

This game mode offers an alternative method of competition, where users can buy a “tactic” and receive a randomized lineup of heroes, similar to DraftKings’ daily fantasy. Participants can enter tactics competitions with as many submissions as they like, but each game has a capped number of total entries, often leading to people racing to fill their tactics sheets out faster than the competition.

Tactics and competition prizes are priced in fiat instead of ETH, leading to a more predictable and sustainable experience for users and the platform. Tactics v2 launched on August 2, introducing free entries, new payout structures, and a referral system.

Before the implementation of Tactics, users had to buy and play with hero NFT cards with varied supply rates and ETH-denominated pricing, resulting in massive price swings and illiquidity. While some used this as an opportunity to trade the market, it also led to many people getting their ETH balances wiped out due to secondary market volatility.

On August 21, the platform achieved an all-time high participation in tactics, with 21,580 entries from 14,500 unique players.

With the speculation bubble of Blast’s season 1 airdrop in the rear window, card valuations have come back to earth, and the VRGDA pack prices are more reasonable. Pack mints currently cost 0.107 ETH apiece after reaching as high as 0.5 ETH during Fantasy’s initial mania phase.

Travis Bickle, the founder of Fantasy.Top, told The Defiant, “We’ve been focused on creating an autonomous, self-sustaining ecosystem designed for long-term success. The GOLD was a valuable extra incentive to kickstart the flywheel and boost the network effect. We are very grateful for it. However, we did increase the ETH rewards to offset the reduction in GOLD.”

Regarding the ecosystem’s cooldown after the Blast airdrop, Bickle said, “From a builder’s perspective, it’s motivating to see what endures after the gold tide recedes. This clarity allows us to better monitor activity, understand what truly works, and make necessary adjustments.”