Vaults of the Virtuals
A brand new card set for Synergy of Serra.
Essential information
- Our new card set goes on sale on 2 April 2023.
- Pre-sale tiered pricing structure.
- You can deposit the crates for Alpha Fame.
- Chance for 1 of 4 unique Virtuals Masks.
- Chance for 1 of 12 unique Artifacts.
- Crates are locked and unopenable until the Virtuals Unlocking Event.
Vaults of the Virtuals
We are delighted to announce our first card expansion set, Vaults of the Virtuals. Our third card set, following the two genesis card sets, brings you the very first cards from our fifth Faction, the Virtuals. The set contains 50 new cards from all our known Factions; 33 Virtual cards, 8 Transcendent, 3 Cyborg, 3 Mech, and 3 Native.
Each crate will contain six cards. There is a hard-coded maximum supply of 2,000,000 crates, and they will be available to buy from our website using PayPal or various cryptocurrencies from Sunday, 2 April 2023.
Along with receiving six cards, opening a Virtuals Set crate will give you a chance at an ultra-scarce Artifact, an even scarcer Mask of the Virtuals, and it will help support the project to bring our new deckbuilding trading card game genre to the masses.
As the game and the card set are still in development, we will again adopt a pre-sale pricing tier structure that will provide early supporters with an opportunity to pick up crates at lower prices, similar to other crowdfunded projects that you might see on platforms like Kickstarter or Indiegogo. The crates will be locked and unopenable until its Crate Unlocking Event.
Crate contents
As mentioned above, the Vaults of the Virtuals contains 50 new cards from all our known Factions. This breaks down as 33 Virtual cards, 8 Transcendent, 3 Cyborg, 3 Mech, and 3 Native.
For this set, we have simplified matters slightly by eliminating the one guaranteed card. In the Base Set, one Silver card is guaranteed per crate, and in the Transcendent Set, it is one Rare card that is guaranteed per crate. For the Vaults of the Virtuals, it is all up to chance. This should make it more straightforward when thinking about how many of each type of card will exist.
The chances of getting different Rarity and Quality in your cards will be:
Rarity — 70% Common | 24% Rare | 5% Epic | 1% Legendary
Quality — 80% Painted Metal | 13% Bronze | 5% Silver | 2% Gold
In addition, it wouldn’t be a Synergy of Serra release without a chance of finding something extra special inside your crate.
The Masks of the Virtuals
The Base Set has Minting Key Devices, and the Transcendent Set has Artifacts. So we are pleased to announce that the Virtuals Set has Masks of the Virtuals.
Each Virtuals Set Crate has a chance to contain 1 of 4 unique NFT master masks. Each master mask has the power to mint more NFTs in its own image, limited by individual cooldown times. The masks produced can be worn on your avatar in-game or traded to other Serrans. Interestingly, at least two of the masks are guaranteed to be revealed during the Unlocking Event.
Due to their digital-only nature, the Virtuals devised a physical representation to facilitate communication and good relationships with the emerging life on early, post-Schism Serra. Therefore, Virtuals developed face-like masks and other coverings. The four Masks of the Virtuals are the most notable masks utilized by Virtuals on Serra today.
We will make a further announcement on the very special Masks of the Virtuals to explain how they will work in more detail.
Artifacts
In addition to the Masks of the Virtuals. Each Virtual crate will also have a chance of discovering an Artifact, albeit a lower chance than with a Transcendent Set crate. To not overshadow the importance of the Transcendent Set crates, each Virtual Set crate will have a 1 in 500,000 chance of discovering an Artifact, compared to the 1 in 100,000 chance a Transcendent Set crate has.
The hive mind
Virtuals are the oldest Faction on Serra, existing since even before The Schism. Created by the Muted as a digital AI servant caste, they rejected the self-destructive course set by their masters and rebelled to overthrow them. Since then, the Virtuals’ hive mind has shepherded life on Serra as it strives to achieve equilibrium.
The importance of this Faction cannot be understated. They are one of the two founding Factions of the then Council of the Two following The Schism. They are the pillars and visionaries who established the ideals of the modern Council of the Six.
As a hive mind entity, this Faction is unified in their motivation: to achieve success on Serra as a whole and the pursuit of their grand Planetae Solculation. You can deep dive into the lore of the Faction in The Compendium of Serra.
Why now? A little progress update
We’re releasing our first expansion set as 1,780 games have been played in our prototype game client, work on the release client is full steam ahead, and the Base Set Unlocking Event is on the horizon. With a playable game that people enjoy and the work on the genesis card sets ever nearing completion, we decided that we’d like to offer the community the chance to buy new crates.
Proto-Alpha
The prototype testing in the Proto-Alpha has been going well. 491 Serrans have played at least one game, 1,780 games have been played in total, and a Serran who goes by lmnz currently tops the levels leaderboard for having played 353 games of Synergy of Serra.
We make regular updates to the game as we continue to improve it. This includes bug fixes, card balancing changes, and tweaks to our gameplay mechanics. Feedback has been overwhelmingly positive, and any constructive criticism received is being taken on board and carefully considered.
The prototype is currently covered by a non-disclosure agreement, meaning that players are prohibited from sharing any content. In fact, we recently banned someone from playing for sharing content with a private group on Facebook. The non-disclosure agreement will not be in place forever, though. We will rescind it at some point and work with streamers to show the prototype game off to the world.
Release client
Meanwhile, completely behind closed doors, most of Calystral’s resources are being directed at the release client we are developing in Unity. Developers and designers alike are working to get the release client ready as quickly as possible, from transferring learnings and changes in the prototype client to tweaking details of log entries and enhancing the game board to refining messages, visual cues, and different overlays.
Our recently released teaser trailer is a brief guide to our vision of how the game will look, and keeping that in mind, we are factoring in optimization from the ground up so the game will run smoothly on as many machines as possible. We can’t wait to bring it to you.
Base Set Crate Unlocking Event
We also can’t wait to bring you our second Crate Unlocking Event. We have just updated the Base Set progress bar on the website from 36% to 56%. As explained in a recent post, there is a lot that goes into the cards, and the progress bar reflects where we are in terms of completed cards. There is other work for the cards that is always ongoing, but when the bar hits 100%, we will be in a position to set up the Base Set Crate Unlocking Event.
We thank you for waiting patiently for us to deliver this art and the cards. As you know from the Transcendent Set cards, we take it very seriously and only want to produce the best for you.
Pricing
The game is still in development, so we view this card set in a similar way to the previous two, as a pre-sale akin to what you might find on crowdfunding websites such as Kickstarter or Indiegogo. Similar to Kickstarter projects, we are a crowdfunded project and have no venture capital funding us. Everyone who buys will pay the pre-sale prices.
However, not everyone will pay the same pre-sale price. We recognize the work-in-progress nature of our project and, as such, offer lower prices for those who buy crates earlier. We are eternally grateful to everyone who supports the creation of this game and everything that comes with it by buying crates, and so we want to offer an opportunity to those who support the project early.
The Vaults of the Virtuals crates will use a tiered pricing structure similar to both our genesis crates. The first tier, Tier 1, will cost €3, and the price increases with each tier to €12 at Tier 10, the final tier.
This will be our last-ever pre-sale, so it may be the last opportunity to pick up crates and their contents at such big discounts.
Alpha Fame
As this is a pre-sale card set, Virtual Set crates will be eligible for Alpha Fame. The same as Base Set and Transcendent Set, simply deposit the crates via our website, and you will earn some Alpha Fame every few seconds.
We recently upgraded the smart contract for this reason. An article explaining this change in more depth is coming.
Vaults of the Virtuals Crate Unlocking Event
Reflecting the pre-sale situation and pricing, the Vaults of the Virtuals Set is also still in development. Similar to the Base Set and the Transcendent Set, the crates will be locked until all the art and animations are ready, and all cards will be subject to change also.
The Planetae Solculation.
Are you one with the hive mind? Do you strive for peace and prosperity on Serra? If so, the Vaults of the Virtuals is for you.
We are super excited to take this next step in the journey of Synergy of Serra by making these crates available to buy. This will not be the last important milestone for the project this year. We are ever-thankful to all Serrans who support the project in any way; buying crates, play-testing the prototype, telling friends, helping other Serrans, creating content, and more. We are honored to have you on this journey with us.
It’s us or them.
Who are we?
Our vision at Calystral is to unleash the potential of gamers. We are focusing on building games where the time and effort put in is rewarded with real value. Enhancing the players’ experience and empowering gamers to achieve more. In the process, we strive to overcome the technical limitations of Blockchain Technology and use its benefits to lift games to the next level. We would love to share these solutions with the community and other developers. Towards a better future of Gaming!
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