Everdragons2 Rarity — A Deep Dive
The Everdragons2 are a set of 10,001 collectible NFTs built on the foundation of the Everdragons, the very first cross-chain NFT minted back in 2018. This post details the rarity of the ED2.
What makes an ED2 rare and collectible? There are 3 main characteristics: the generation or purity; rare attributes and items; their aura. Before we jump into the details, it’s worth introducing the anatomy of the dragons and their DNA.
It’s important to note that this post describes the whole set of 10,001 ED2. So far we only have revealed 600 ED2 Genesis Tokens, which are a (random) subset of the 10,001. When discussing the rarity we’re talking about the whole set, not just the Genesis ones.
Anatomy of an Everdragon
Each dragon has a DNA made of 7 main genes: wings, tail, body, legs, head, horns and eyes. These genes are responsible for the physical appearance, for example wings that are more muscular vs feathered, spiked vs harpoon horns and so on.
As dragons mate, their DNA is recombined leading to a wide variety of shapes and forms and as time passes mutations occur, bringing even more changes.
In addition to the 7 genes, dragons have a family: fire, air, water and earth. The family can also be considered a genetic property as it directly informs the dragon’s physical appearance, most notably the colors. And similarly as the other genes, as the dragons mate, the families crossover and lead to an even broader diversity of colors.
In our archeological effort to restore the Everdragons we mapped out the DNA of the 24 “pure” dragons, as shown in the following figure. Note that dragon 24 is very special: its genes never appeared in any of the original Everdragons minted in 2018.
Rarity #1: Generation
Now that we have introduced DNA, genes and family, we can discuss the rarity of the Everdragons2, starting from their generation.
A dragon is pure, or has generation 1, if all his genes are from the same DNA. For example, one of the pure dragons of fire has a DNA = (21, 21, 21, 21, 21, 21, 21).
A dragon has generation 2 if it’s a breed of 2 generation 1 dragons. Their DNA will only contain genes from 2 distinct dragons, for example: (17, 21, 21, 21, 21, 17, 21). And so on, we can have dragons of generation 3, 4, 5, 6 or 7.
Within the Everdragons2 there are:
- 8 pure dragons, 2x per family (2 fire, 2 air, 2 water, 2 earth)
- 24 dragons of generation 2, 6x per family
- 96 dragons of generation 3, families begin to mix
- 172 dragons of generation 4
- 1,438 dragons of generation 5
- 4,338 dragons of generation 6
- 3,092 dragons of generation 7
Rarity #2: Attributes & Items
Due to mutations, some genes appear in rare forms: we call them rare attributes. They range from gold portions of the body, to rainbow colors, to uneven or damaged parts.
So far we have discovered 40 rare attributes, and some dragons are so special in regard to mutations that we call them “unique”.
In addition to special attributes, some dragons have special items, including armors, necklaces, piercings and other ornaments. There are 14 of them.
Within the Everdragons2 there are:
- 7 unique dragons
- 4 cubs, 1x per family
- 25 dragons with 4x rare attributes or items
- 50 dragons with 3x rare attributes or items
- 300 dragons with 2x rare attributes or items
- 1000 dragons with 1x rare attribute or item
- The remaining have no rare attributes or items
Rarity #3: Aura
The dragons can emit a mystical aura around. It’s still unclear when and why they do so, but the main theory is that they reserve the aura for special events and celebrations. Most of the time the dragons don’t emit an aura, and the fact that sometimes they do was unknown back in 2018, when the original Everdragons were discovered.
The aura is interesting because it adds a new dimension to the rarity of the dragons. While pure dragons have a stronger and pure aura as we’d expect, we found that dragons of higher generation may have a very peculiar and rare aura.
The aura is visible within the NFTs as a suffused background. The presence of a background is a clear mark to distinguish the Everdragons2 from the original Everdragons, that didn’t have a background.
Governance Tokens
The Governance Tokens share the same traits as all other Everdragons2, in fact, they are a random subset of the 10,001.
They’re clearly distinguishable by the Governance Aura (background). Moreover, in OpenSea they’ll appear as a distinct collection, to make it clear that they are special Everdragons2, keep the floor price distinct, etc.
They will have also a dedicated banknote-style watermark to be recognized and distinctive.
In conclusion, the rarity of the Everdragons2 depends on 3 main factors: their generation or purity; rare attributes and items; their aura. Tomorrow we're celebrating the Everdragons2 Genesis Tokens airdrop on Twitter Space, join us for a deep dive on their rarity!
