VBA — The Basketball League of the Metaverse
By Owen Pickering
Disclaimer: Nothing in this article should be taken as financial advice. Please do your own research and come to your own conclusions.
Introduction
Have you ever dreamed of winning an NBA championship? Do you think you have what it takes to build the next basketball dynasty? If you think you do, I’d like to invite you to build a squad and come compete in the basketball league of the metaverse. Welcome to the Virtual Basketball Association (VBA).
Overview
The VBA is a first-of-its-kind, innovative basketball experience on the Solana blockchain where YOU get to own the game. Each player in the VBA is a Non-Fungible Token (NFT), and it’s your job as General Manager (GM) to assemble a team of five players to play in games against other GMs. Winners earn rewards in SOL and move up in the rankings, losers should think about hitting the free-agent market. The power is in your hands.
But your responsibilities as a GM don’t end there.
GMs are also responsible for shaping the future of the VBA. Although Fast Break Labs has a clear vision for the project, ideas and input from the GMs are what’s going to take the VBA to the next level. I encourage you to join the VBA community on Discord and share your thoughts.
Fast Break Labs
Now, let’s talk about the team behind this exciting NFT project.
Fast Break Labs was founded in 2021 by Charles Du, a former product manager at Facebook and avid basketball fan, to build the future of sports and gaming. The team has since grown to over thirteen people and is composed of former employees of Facebook, Amazon, and many other notable tech companies.
It’s also worth mentioning that Fast Break Labs is backed by some of the biggest names in crypto, gaming, and sports. Notable backers include Pantera Capital, Riot Games, Solana Ventures, and the owners of the Brooklyn Nets and Sacramento Kings.
The full list of backers can be found here, along with more information about the team.
Funding
The VBA team raised a $6 million dollar funding round in February from the names pictured above. The funding round is covering the costs of building and marketing the game, allowing Fast Break Labs to give 100% of the revenue from Season0 mint back to the VBA community through the Season0 prize pool. The prize pool will consist of around 2,000 SOL that will be rewarded to GMs for winning games throughout the season.
Competitors
The most obvious competitor to the VBA would be NBA Top Shot. While both projects are basketball focused, they were created for different purpo and they leverage intellectual property (IP) in different ways. The purpose of Top Shot was to bring trading cards into the digital era using NFTs as a way to prove and transfer ownership. The VBA is expanding on this idea by developing a PVP game where VBA NFTs can be put to use. If you win games, your rank will increase and you earn rewards in SOL. This gives the NFTs utility beyond just being collectibles.
Another difference between the two projects is the IP that’s being used. Top Shot uses the copyright of the NBA, while the VBA is made of original artwork and ideas. I believe that this decision to create their own IP is going to benefit Fast Break Labs and the VBA community immensely over the long term.
However, I don’t want to discount what Dapper Labs did with Top Shot. The project brought NFTs to the mainstream and it’s not going away anytime soon. Top Shot and the VBA will coexist. People will always want to collect things — especially ones involving sports — but there’s currently so much opportunity in the blockchain gaming space and Fast Break Labs recognizes that.
VBA Mission
According to the VBA Flightpaper, the team is building out the game with the following principles in mind.
Good vibes. The VBA is meant to be a way for GMs to meet new people, explore the possibilities of blockchain gaming, and celebrate the game of basketball, not stress over whether their team wins or loses. It’s just a game at the end of the day.
Community ownership. The community deserves to own the game through NFTs and have a say in the future of the league. Everyone should feel included. This is why we see players with a diversity of backgrounds and genders represented in the game.
Innovative gameplay. The gameplay should feel like your basketball video game, yet now with digital ownership, token-gated experiences, and play-to-earn elements. The VBA wants to bring hoopers into the world of web3.
Roadmap
The VBA roadmap is made up of three phases. Phase I focuses on the core game mechanics, phase II focuses on the ecosystem that supports the game, and phase III focuses on the VBA metaverse.
Let’s go into further detail.
Phase I
We’re currently in Season0 of the VBA. To kick off the season, 1,672 player packs were minted in March, each of which contain seven players. Most of those players have since been revealed and some have been listed on NFT marketplaces such as MagicEden and Solanart. Player rarities vary from underdog to legendary, with higher rarities having better stats in the game.
Additionally, the alpha version of the VBA game is set to be released this month. The alpha version of the game will allow GMs to take their players and assemble teams of five NFTs to compete against other GMs in tournaments to earn rewards in SOL.
Phase II
In future seasons, the focus will be on expanding the ecosystem that supports the core elements of the VBA game. Additions such as coaching staff and trainers, player storylines, and enhanced visual elements will make the game a more immersive experience for GMs.
Phase III
Further down the line, Fast Break Labs wants to bring basketball fans from around the world together to enjoy immersive, digital experiences in the VBA metaverse.
Become a GM
Although the initial 1,672 player packs have already been minted, there’s never been a better time to get involved in the VBA and become the GM of your very own team.
The simplest way to do so is by purchasing a pack of seven players on an NFT marketplace like MagicEden.
You need to own at least five VBA player NFTs to participate in tournaments, so buying a player pack with seven redemptions will get you a starting five and two bench players.
However, please be careful when purchasing packs. You should ALWAYS check the number of player redemptions that are left in a pack before purchasing it. NFT marketplaces don’t always display the correct number of player redemptions, so you must check how many are left on the blockchain. You can do so here by creating an account or connecting your Solana wallet.
Another option is to purchase five players individually on the secondary market. There are currently 296 players listed on MagicEden ranging in price from 0.15 SOL to over 30 SOL depending on their rarity. This is by far the cheapest way to build a team of five players. Packs with seven player redemptions left go for upwards of 5 SOL while grabbing the five cheapest VBA players on MagicEden would only cost you 0.75 SOL.
Either way, you will be able to compete in tournaments and leagues, but you do miss out on the pack opening experience and the chance of getting a rare player if you opt to buy players individually.
Finally, you have the option of waiting until more player packs are released in the coming months. There are a total of 3,672 player packs that will be available to mint during Season0 and 1,672 have already been minted, leaving 2,000 player packs yet to be released to the general public. We can expect the mint price for these packs to be around 1.5 SOL.
Of course, you could also combine any of these options.
Closing Thoughts
The quality of the VBA as a project speaks for itself. The team at Fast Break Labs has done a fantastic job with the design, rollout, and marketing of the project and the future is looking bright for the VBA.
I hope to see you out there on the court soon, anon.
If you’d like to learn more about the VBA, Twitter and Discord are great places to start. You can also visit their website to read more about the project and claim your players if you decide to purchase a player pack on MagicEden.
Finally, if you enjoyed this write-up on the VBA, please feel free to give me a follow on Twitter and Medium.
Disclosure: At the time of writing this article, the author owns VBA player packs and VBA players.
