Though Axie was once the darling of the play to earn gaming economy, the game lost much of its momentum over the past year. Now Axie looksto regain its magic with a major overhaul of the combat and Axie progression system called Origin. Origin just began phase 2 of their beta test, offering players rewards in AXS tokens for finishing in the top 10k of the leaderboard. We also see the first use for Axie lands with a new staking system.
It’s been many long years for holders of Axie Lands. But now, at last, there is finally a use for their Land NFTs — staking! Land owners can stake their land for a passive, daily income in AXS tokens. This varies based on land rarity and ranges from 0.08 AXS per day for Savannah plots, up to 32.7 AXS per day for Genesis plots. At current AXS prices, 32 tokens a day is worth over $400!
But the team doesn’t plan for land staking to always be a passive experience. They want players to be awarded for gameplay on their lands, not just for holding them. This staking program is created as a temporary reward system until the land gameplay, known as Project K, releases.
Read the official staking guide if you need assistance staking your land.
Origin Phase 2
Axie also brings us a new testing season for their upcoming game reboot dubbed Origin. This is Phase 2 of Origin, and it comes with a progression reset for everyone. This includes Axie upgrades, Runes, Charms, Moonshards in inventory, and Adventure mode status. Players must start from the beginning and work their way up to gathering new Runes and Charms along the way
This Axie Alpha season runs through July 28th and offers prizes to those on the Arena leaderboard. The top 10,000 ranked players share a prize pool of over 49,000 AXS, with the top player earning 500 tokens!
Phase 2 brings a new mechanic to Axie called Return. This allows players to spend Energy to put cards from their hand back on to the top of their pile! Since a player’s hand is discarded at the end of their turn, Return gives players a way to ‘save’ cards for the next turn. This component adds a new layer of strategy to the game, giving players some control over their hand draw, which can be a major advantage when used the right way!
There were also numerous small tweaks and balance changes to the game. You can read the full breakdown here.
But the upcoming Phase 3 is really where Origin kicks into gear. In Phase 3, Smooth Love Potion (SLP) rewards will be removed from the old Axie game and added to Origin. And unlike previous seasons, player adventure progress is not reset. Instead player ratings are reset, Moonshards are removed from player inventories (they don’t carry over between seasons), and Runes and Charms become expired, meaning that they cannot be equipped. However, players can disenchant expired items for Moonshards. From this point on, crafting Runes and Charms requires SLP, creating an ongoing use case for the token.
What changed in Origin?
Axie: Origins is a major overhaul of the Axie system. The basic premise remains the same — assemble a team of three Axies to combat teams from other players or PvE enemies. But otherwise, almost everything has changed. Here’s a list of some of the major points.
- Free Axies: Now you don’t need to invest any more in order to enjoy this Play-and-earn game!
- Runes and Charms: Team building becomes more complex because you can equip each Axie with 2 Runes and in each of the 6 skills. Eyes and ears are now also linked with a skill.
- Skills changed: Forget everything you knew from V2, all skills and effects are different.
- No stats: Forget attack order and losing a match because the other Axie has a lower ID, only HP counts now.
- No random annoying crits: Forget those players who managed to get a win thanks to the crit of his 20 morale fish. Crits are based on a rage system where you need to stack up 10 rage in order to crit.
- No counting cards and energy: Unused cards and energy are discarded every round.
- Crafting: Players craft Runes and Charms using Moonshards and SLP
- Upgraded body parts: Each body part will have 5 levels that will require materials that you get by releasing Axies
What is Axie Infinity?
Axie Infinity is a creature battler and breeding game. Originally on the Ethereum network, Axie Infinity moved to the Ronin sidechain in 2021, and launched a staking system for their AXS governance token. In the game players use a team of three Axie NFTs to battle opponents in Adventure mode (PvE) and the Arena (PvP). Rewards from the Arena include Smooth Love Potions (SLP) and AXS, the governance token for Axie Infinity.
Players use SLP to breed new Axies. Parent Axies can only produce offspring a limited number of times. Players use Runes and Charms they find in PvE mode to provide boosts to their Axies. With a large userbase, an overall to their PvE and PVP combat and leveling system, and upcoming land-based gameplay, expect Axie to remain in the news, especially with land gameplay on the horizon!
If you want to get started with the game, check out our Axie Ifinity guide and review.
