In the Beginning there were 33 Genesis Cards Created
The historical launch date of MarbleCards Genesis Day was a beautiful day for Ethereum gamers and NFT collectors. The community gathered with anticipation on this day with the Marble team as the countdown commenced on the MarbleCards Discord. “Five, four, three, two, one…..Happy Genesis Day…welcome to MarbleCards…. marble away!”
Genesis Day: January 19th, 2019. Forever on the Ethereum blockchain.
2019/01/19
The first 650 cards* consisting of the first 617 Origins and the 33 Genesis cards are minted instantaneously. One site is live for those participating to “marble” any URL from: KnowYourMeme.com. The community is frantic, racing to create the URL’s they desire into unique collectibles… let’s go!!!!
We will explore more about Genesis Day in the future…but first, let us slow down. This is about the original 33 cards, those that sparked the teams creativity into something bigger and better.
MarbleCards are digital game made assets representing unique URL’s metadata from the web! You have a hand in creating them based on your interests and a bit of luck from the design creation algorithm!
Using the Ethereum blockchain, the creation of non-fungible tokens (NFT’s) representing these scarce digital assets are made for gaming and trading.
Johan Unger, the co-founder of MarbleCards, sat down with me to dive a bit deeper on the creation of the elusive 33 Genesis cards.
G: Hello Johan, thanks for taking the time to answer some questions on the Genesis Cards while giving us a better understanding of the anchor asset class of MarbleCards.
J: My pleasure, Ghost.
G: Why did you choose 33 as the number of Genesis cards?
J: We wanted somewhere just under 50 cards, and since 3 is a magic number we went with 33.
G: Were there any cards which narrowly missed the cut?
J: None really, we had around 25 cards set and then when we decided on 33 we added those additional cards.
G: Is there a reason some TLD’s (top level domains) such as Starwars.com and Amazon.com did not make the Genesis collection?
J: Good question, no particular reason to be honest. The physical cards were Ethereum, Elon Musk and Star Wars and so all Genesis cards are somehow related to those three. We used mostly Wikipedia cards as examples before the platform launched, and so we just went with that.
G: Why the three distinctive Marble patterns on the Genesis collection?
J: They originate from random marble stock photos we used for the first physical promo cards. Since those physical cards were the first MarbleCards in existence we thought it was a cool idea to base and resemble the Genesis series on those.
G: Who made the artwork, and were the artists contracted?
J: A studio in Malmö called Topp invested time in the project and among others things created the Genesis patterns.
G: Can you tell us why you chose Bitcoin.org vs Ethereum.org and why you have chosen the card as the staple of your collection?
J: I love Bitcoin. Ethereum is great, but to me nothing comes close to the complex simplicity of Bitcoin which makes it perfect for storing value. So it’s logical to have the most valuable “thing” be the staple of my amazing NFT card collection. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
G: Physical cards were used in the past, can you tell us about the promos… when they were used, will they be used again, and if we will see them at any conferences moving ahead as business cards or promotions?
J: We used them mainly as a marketing tool on conferences and as early community prizes. But then we came up with the idea that whoever still had their physical card would be eligible to receive a Genesis card. Not many still had them! We may use them again in the future.
G: Back to when the Genesis cards were created… how many people brainstormed and had a say in the collection chosen?
J: Mainly myself and a few others from the team, people didn’t really have any objections on the chosen urls.
G: This sounds like it was fun, and not really a wrong answer in which cards were chosen. How long did this selection take?
J: We filled the list over a months time or so, but effectively we did not spend too much time on this. The Origins on the other hand…
G: Oh interesting story there…that is another topic we can explore in the future though.
G: How did marbling tests with the genesis patterns work while testing creating the cards?
J: No tests, the art was beautiful as delivered so no need to test marble using them.
G: Wow, what a powerful decision to just go with it! Well done MarbleCards development team!
G: There are rumors amongst the community that there is a card #0… and maybe even #00 and #000 … any truth to this rumor?
J: No comment.
G: Genesis cards don’t change hands too often, people must really value the beauty and value of these cards. Do you think Genesis cards will continue to change hands?
J: Of course! They are very sought after and everything has a price. Marble still owns a few as well that will be used in competitions and giveaways — so stay tuned!
G: How many Genesis cards are still under the ownership of the MarbleCards project?
J: Nine… one of these could be anyone’s one day… if you are lucky.
G: Why did you choose the name Genesis for the first 33 cards?
J: It’s a common term in crypto used to describe the first of something, such as the Bitcoin Genesis Block or the Genesis Cryptokitty.
G: Is there any other information you can share with us about the Genesis card collection?
J: Just one… for now. As we love supporting Ethereum and the gaming community within we are a strong believer and supporter of Cryptovoxels. We have built a Marble Genesis House there with the 33 cards on display. Come on by and have a look!
Parcel: https://www.cryptovoxels.com/parcels/167
Visit: https://www.cryptovoxels.com/play?coords=S@104E,72N
G: Thanks for your time Johan, see you in the community soon!
J: Anytime Ghost!
*The first 650 cards were minted as primarily prizes for the community. A couple dozen were given as compensation to employees.
**Disclaimer: This article is not tax or financial advice, please seek the help of a professional tax consultant or financial advisor.
