March 26 ZenSportsia Cup Review & NFT Mint Preview

Welcome to ZenSportsia

This past Saturday, March 26, ZenSports hosted a @splinterlands tournament with $5000 and 5 million SPORTS tokens up for grabs. It was also their last eSports tournament before the launch and mint of the exciting ZenSportians NFT collection, but more on that later.

To qualify for the 32-player finals on Saturday, there were a series of four qualifier tournaments hosted by the popular twitch streamer channel run by @clove71 of @immortalgods fame in the two weeks leading up to the final event. The format for the qualifiers was wild silver league with no legendary summoners, while the final event was also wild silver league, but no legendary cards at all. So for the finals, all those Dr. Blights and Hydras had to watch from the sidelines with Yodin Zaku and Scarred Llama Mage.

Finals Coverage

When the dust settled on the four qualifiers, the field was set with some of the most formidable names Splinterlands has offer, like @digital-wisdom, @schneegecko, @kira1995, @truls, @unitqm (my first round opponent), and YouTube creator @oldmanqt to name just a few. Live commentary was lead by the Krill Commander himself @luke-wtp on the ZenSports Twitch channel and here's the last VOD with the big money matches.

In the double-elimination tournament format, the undefeated part of the bracket was best-of-three battles, while the loser's bracket was a one-and-done battle. The exceptions were the play-in best-of-three battle to reach the grand finals from the loser's side, and the best-of-five grand final. I thought I had started well, winning my first battle death-vs-death, but unfortunately I had used the aforementioned Dr. Blight, and had to replay it. I eventually lost in a tight game three that came down to fatigue, and then was quickly eliminated in a one-and done loss in the loser's bracket.

But enough about me and onto the matches that mattered most. @jebertpl4ys was cruising along until running into @kron422, who won their best-of-three to secure his spot in the grand finals undefeated. Jebert fell down to battle @ptrekkkk in the finals of the consolation bracket, and the two combatants split the first two battles. Then the deciding battle was so tight it went to the third round of fatigue and ended in a draw. Jebert finally won the fourth match and earned the right to rematch Kron in the grand finals.

However, by virtue of coming from the loser's bracket, Jebert would need to win two best-of-five battles, while the undefeated Kron only needed to win one best-of-five. Before I spoil ALL the drama, remember you can use the VOD link to watch the grand final unfold. I won't get into too much more detail, but Jebert was able to avenge his prior loss to Kron, coming all the way back to outlast his opponent through both best-of-five contests to be crowned champion.

Once again, ZenSports put on another fantastic tournament for the Splinterlands community, with a fun ruleset and engaging commentary. I thought the wild, silver league, no legends ruleset was a great format for the event. It allowed for the strategy of silver-level monster abilities without some of the most expensive legendary cards overpowering the subtle synergies of commons and rares. And with ZenSports' new automated payout system, tournament players had their winnings in a matter of minutes via $USDT transfers direct to their crypto wallet.

But Jebert wasn't the only player to win big. Not only did the event pay out to the Top16 places in the tournament, but there was also a way to win currency without even playing any matches... which brings us back to the ZenSportian NFTs.

ZenSportian NFTs

Over the past few weeks, ZenSports has been publicizing the roll-out of their exciting NFT offering called ZenSportians by offering early access to their whitelist. For this event, anyone on the whitelist not playing in the tournament could pick one player to win the event and win prize money if their pick won it all. The lucky winner from the whitelist was @inevst, who actually won more than some of the top 16 players.

Ultimately, "staking" your NFT to wager on ZenSports tournaments will be one of the core utilities of the ZenSportian NFTs. The website outlines eight benefits to owning a ZenSportian NFT:

1. Monthly prize drawings for luxurious in-person sporting events. For example, win an all-expense paid trip for two to watch the Superbowl or the World Cup in person.

2. Esports tournament benefits, including monthly invite-only tournaments, reduced entry fees, mulligan cards, side tournaments, and even special rule sets.

3. Annual Esports Tournament Championship Series with significant prize money added.

4. Access to exclusive Discord channel with NFT and cryptocurrency giveaways.

5. Discount fees and increased rewards across the ZenSports betting app and cryptocurrency trading exchange.

6. Exclusive in-person networking events across the globe. For example, World Cup watch parties with food and beverage provided, etc.

7. Automatic highest-tier status at all in-person ZenSports locations and casinos (currently Big Wheel Casino in Nevada, but more locations to come soon).

8. Access to the ZenSportsia online membership portal with additional sports and gaming perks, discounts, and rewards.

The website has plenty more information about ZenSportia, including the backstory, design team, and minting information. I am quite excited for the mint myself, as people on the whitelist will get to start minting today, Monday March 28 at 10am EST for the price of 0.1 ETH each. The presale mint will last for 24-hours and there is a maximum of five NFTs per transaction, but one can mint more than five if they wish.

Then the public mint goes down two days later, Wednesday March 30, for the price of 0.15 ETH. To go a step further, ZenSports recently released a blog post outlining their 60-day sweeping policy, which functions similarly to a money-back policy. Be sure to read up on those details, but this bold move is a bullish sign to me, showing ZenSports conviction to their ZenSportian community. Did I even mention how sweet the art looks? I didn't?! Well, let me just say Enmanuel Carcamo, AKA Mr. Firetruckman did an outstanding job creating the design and traits of the 10K NFT collection.

Finally, there is a wealth of information in the ZenSports discord, with a helpful and supportive community, gathered on the intersection of eSports, wagering, and web3. I mostly hang around the zen chat and splinterlands channels, but there is something there for everyone. Hope to catch you there.

--Duce ✌️💙