Parallel trading card just launched the next phase of their game's economy, Echo cards, and it's a lot bigger than most players realize. Echoes, like most other things this project does — is bullish.
The Parallel trading card game is just one piece of a greater sci-fi universe and experience, which involves the use of the PRIME token. PRIME is a utility token that can be used within games created by the Echelon Prime Foundation, the organization behind Parallel. It can also be earned by players that win games, with NFT assets (onchain cards) giving players a boost in the value they earned.
Here's how Echoes are bullish for PRIME and inherently Parallel TCG players.
Certain items in the Parallel universe will only be accesible via PRIME payments, the same way a games like Madden or NBA 2k issue their own currencies needed to purchases players, stat boosts, and packs. Only PRIME, and there aren't any ways to get it other than being good at the game or buying it off the market.
Theoretically, by throttling the amount of PRIME tokens that can be earned from a game or set of assets, the governing body for Parallel can always adjust the emissions and ensure that the token does not overinflate.
Sinks - PRIME Token Utility
Unlike predecessor blockchain gaming tokens, the PRIME token comes out the gate with utility, also referred to as "sinks". Sinks are actually usecases for the token where users need to pay PRIME to get access to something. These sinks are responsible for actively utilizing, locking and removing PRIME tokens from circulation.
Here's a list of the current sinks live in the Parallel ecosystem:
Artigraphs — get limited-edition, signed versions of Parallell cards
Payload — get random Parallel TCG cards and other assets
Terminals — refine "Shard Framents"
Governance — submit Governance proposals
and now...
Echoes — replicate Parallel TCG cards
What are Parallel TCG Echoes?
Echoe cards are replicas of Parallel cards. In fact, the term Echo is short for"Echo Replication". To create an Echoe card requires having an NFT version of a card which is First Edition (FE), Special Edition (SE), or Perfect Loop (PL) cards.
Users can purchase Echo cards via Opensea on Base chain, here.
In short, Echoes put players in charge of the supply of cards in a major way that we don't typically get to see in gaming.
As a player of Parallel TCG, I've had my fair share of frustration and times where I wish I had a card, but there were non even available on the marketplace. That means that one has enough of some of these cards to even consider putting them up for sale. They'd rather play with them. Thus my only option was to earn more cards by working through the battle pass (which currently maxes at level 100). That or pay for more packs, and packs aren't cheap.
That's not all. As we mentioned before Echoes are another sink for PRIME tokens. That means that along with actually having an NFT version of a card, a player needs to have enough PRIME tokens and another XP resource known as "Renown".
Earning Renown
Players earn Renown on a per card basis, based on card usage. Special Edition (SE) and Perfect Loop (PL) cards earn more Renown than FE cards. Using a "Surge Key" can further increase the amount of renown a card earns.
The cost of Renown to replicate is fixed at 800 Renown.
Echoes that players create are NFTs that can be bought and sold just like other NFT cards in the game.
Dynamic Replication Pricing
FE, SE, and PL versions of cards all share what Parallel refers to as "dynamic replication pricing". Here's how it works.
Example, if a bunch of users are replicating the same card, then the cost to replicate the card (in PRIME) will increase. On the flipside, if there is no replication activity for a card, then the cost to replicate the card will continually decrease.
Probably Nothing
While Bitcoin and Ethereum didn't react too well to the Federal Reserve's news that there may be one more rate hike by the end of the year, the PRIME token is trading in the green.
PRIME token is currently only available on Ethereum mainnet and Base chain (L2).
Mainnet Contract Address:
0xb23d80f5fefcddaa212212f028021b41ded428cf
Base Chain (L2) Contract Address:
0xfa980ced6895ac314e7de34ef1bfae90a5add21b
Max Supply: 111,111,111
Circulating Supply: 23,235,588
Other Parallel News
As if you needed more to convince you that this game is a standout in web3 gaming, the release of Echoes comes fresh off the heels of Parallel TCG announcing in-game tournaments where players can pay PRIME tokens to enter and the winners split the total prize pool collected.
Check out the post where Parallel announced the new tournaments feature coming soon, here.