When the pandemic started in 2020, myself and my friends (Blvk0ut, Rolvel, and ATM) started a streaming group BLVKHVND to pass the time and compete as an eSports team. The only problem was, we all had different systems, equipment, internet speeds, access to games...there was a whole lot that made us very unique and we had different interests insofar as WHAT we wanted to play and HOW we wanted to play it.

The ones that started it all

Sirsu (also referred to as Vain) was a competitive FGC, TCGs, RPGs, and FPS player from 2004-13 with titles like Halo 2, Halo 3, COD Black Ops, Pokemon, Yugioh! to Street Fighter 3rd Strike. Playing in the MLG circuit (prior to the MLG / Gamebattles merger), he won 22 4 v 4 team battles through COD Black Ops, was in the top 2000 players for Guitar Hero 3, won local tournaments with Street Fighter and Pokemon. For current titles, Sirsu is a Platinum Apex Ranked, and top ten in PVP NA region for AVARIAvs.

BlvK0ut, is a gamer through and through. His parents started him off a young age with the SNES and SEGA Genesis. Soon after he would get the OG Xbox that would kickstart his love for shooters, with Halo being the first game he played. From there on he would go on to play competitively through ranked in game and or Gamebattles, playing titles such as; Halo 3-5, COD 4, and Call of Duty: Black Ops. Along with FPS' he enjoys other genres of gaming like RPGS, Puzzle, and rhythm based games. Currently he's placed within Top 100 players on Spin Rhythm and has placed Diamond within Apex Ranked.

MAGIC (aka. ATM, Dillon) was a professional Smash 4 player in 2015, pulling off clutch victories with off meta picks and unorthodox playstyles. while not always being referred to as MAGIC, he adopted the moniker after his long time friend and training partner left the scene. After a long break from the FGC playing BR shooters like Apex Legends with Sirsu and Blvkout, and learning and grinding the MOBA League of Legends, MAGIC returns to the FGC after falling deeply in love with GGXRD and by proxy, Guilty Gear Strive. Currently Magic has an 11TH floor ranking in the Ranked Tower, and has reached beyond the top 10 percent of players on BOTH platforms. He will also be participating in EVO for the first time this year.

Rolvel (Alex), the most senior gamer of the squad started in 1998 playing Warcraft: Tide of Darkness, Perfect Dark, and Halo CE. For competitive play, Counter Strike 1.6 (UK) was the focus from 2004-2006. In 2008, he competed in MLG playlists for Halo 3 exclusively until Modern Warfare 2 released. Switching to GameBattles for COD MW2 4v4 using non meta setups, he won many ladders. He returned to PC gaming in 2009 to play League of Legends and Starcraft 2 climbing to platinum rank, playing until 2013. He returned to gaming in 2017, and has consistently played Dayz, Fortnite, Call of Duty (BRs), and Apex Legends. Now, he trains on Halo MCC to prepare for Halo Infinite.

An experiment, made real
May 2020 marked our inception month; we set up a discord, dusted off our Twitch accounts and started streaming. Within a few months, all of us ended up becoming Twitch Affiliates with a small community of supporters who liked our personalities and the fact that we would earnestly watch and engage with other streamers. One of the core things we all learned through our collective experience, is that support through action matters. In fact, it is the ONLY thing that matters.

Building the new BLVKHVND begins August 15th

On August 15th, a new crypto-native, decentralized eSports community will be born.

Over the past few months, the core team has been working through how we can empower all of our community members while creating value through competition, content creation, and career pathways that touch all areas of the gaming industry. In three weeks, that vision will be accessible to those who want to change the world of gaming.

Here’s the plan:

Next Wednesday, we will enter the $WRITE race hosted on Mirror at 3pm EST. We want to gather enough votes to make it through so we can host our crowdfund through a BLVKHVND centric publication.

Our crowdfund is open for existing members of BLVKHVND and new folks interested in owning a decentralized eSports organization. This crowdfund gives us startup capital to restructure our organization as an eSports DAO. The crowdfund comes with 6 NFTs: 3 audio reactive works and 3 badges that evolve based on your contribution level. These NFTs and all contributions to the crowdfund will award you $HVND tokens that act as your entry into the token-permissioned areas of BLVKHVND. Other perks will be revealed on crowdfund day.

$HVND tokens are your key to membership within the web3 ecosystem. Web3 technology creates collective ownership of an idea, product, cause, and/or community to enable value distribution to active participants and members. This core principle powered by cryptocurrency (you investing tokens such as ETH), incentivizes the collective to work together and increase the value of what they own, building wealth for everyone.

This is the world of decentralized sports. A place where equity, inclusion, and fair compensation is available to all who join. We welcome you to join us in our quest to change the state of the gaming industry, one HVND at a time.

BLVKHVND, decentralized.

The Future of BLVKHVND is now. While our first iteration taught us a lot about the culture around streaming, what it means to create content, how to build support around your playstyle, and how to create unique branding—v2 of our org will lean into the ecosystems of Web3. Not only are we now able to empower and support any player, coach, content maker, staff, or anyone within our organization, we can ensure that value is fairly distributed amongst everyone involved.

BLVKHVND is modular:

BLVKHVND as a brand remains consistent and cohesive among the titles we play, but each streamer/player's personality is allowed to flourish through flexible design within streaming overlays, outfits, individual badges, logos, and etc.

BLVKHVND is a career builder:

• Tournaments (competition circuits / league activities)
• Content Creation (creators, editors, writers)
• Streaming
• Gaming Staff (coaching, analysis, spectating, etc)
• BLVKHVND Staff (community building, design, product, editorial, legal, finance)

Our goal is to become the formative gaming organization powered by a community of gamers, creatives, and fans to have fun, learn, and build together while earning in the process.

Welcome to the $HVND.

Competitive Play: Parallel TCG + Axie Infinity

BLVKHVND will be focusing on two crypto-native games: Axie Infinity + Parallel TCG.

Axie Infinity has continued to prove that it is one of the most impactful and expansive titles in the crypto-gaming space and has the potential to become a prolific eSports phenomenon. Axie has great gameplay mechanics and cross-consumer appeal to develop a range of content. At BLVKHVND we see a cross-pollination of our players building comp teams, developing content around mechanics, metas, breeding, as well as contributing to building a dynamic eSports Axie league within North America.

Parallel TCG is no different. While the main game has not launched yet, Parallel is one of the most anticipated blockchain based AAA titles with Magic, the Gathering level appeal. Parallel can become a TCG titan with an expansive league for competitive play, amateur appeal, casual play while inventing new mechanics for trading cards we haven’t seen yet. At BLVKHVND, we want to be at the cutting edge of new, novel gaming experiences because it gives us the opportunity to develop and shape a better culture for gaming overall.

Player Recruitment

Teams are more than just the players, good teams have coaches, analysts, and trainers at the highest competitive level. For us, serving casual, amateur, and pro-level players is no easy task, but one we are eager to tackle. Our focus will be recruiting for enthusiastic, coachable players that have the propensity to learn and experiment with their gameplay. Knowledge and experience of the game titles a player is interested in forming a team is important as is some level of competitive experience.

Applications will become available after we deploy our crowdfund. We will make an announcement on our Twitter and Discord accounts!

What this could mean for ESPORTS?

At BLVKHVND, we’ve competed in leagues before. From GameBattles, MLG, Halo League, CDL, Pokemon, League of Legends, EVO, smash.gg....we know what it means to play at a high level. We also know how fragmented and frustrating competitive leagues are as it relates to game interest level, lack of a player’s guild, high churn, team breakdowns, etc. Based upon our collective experiences, we believe that there is a better way to create a competitive ecosystem where everyone wins.

Our formative longterm goal is not to become just one of the best and innovative esports organizations, but to become player advocates and league developers. We shouldn’t just compete, we can create. By supporting us, we can create a flourishing esports environment for casual, amateur play AND pro level players.

Through web3, a community structured like BLVKHVND can develop collective upside for all members because of shared goals and aligned incentives. As such, the greatest opportunity is in building trust that through active participation and investment, that you will be rewarded.

Let’s not play the game, change the game. The crowdfund for BLVKHVND will start August 15th. See you there.

If you enjoyed this post and want to support us as we gear up for the crowdfund, consider adding a tip to this article. The funds we receive will be split 5 ways: 4 to the core team, and our BLVKHVND wallet that we created to register for the $WRITE race. After the crowdfund, we will move any ETH from the split contract in that wallet and transfer rights to the Mirror profile to a Gnosis Safe wallet (the Treasury).

Special Thanks:

• FWB for charting the path for tokenized communities.
• The folks at Parallel and Axie for giving feedback and encouraging this initiative.
• The BLVKHVND crew for making the leap into crypto.
• Our discord community that has supported us since our inception.

Join the BLVKHVND community:

Our Discord is open to all. With our upcoming crowdfund, we will create a token-permissioned ecosystem that add a new set of tools and channels for the community to participate in.

Our Twitter will in conjunction with the Discord drop important announcements and info related to the BLVKHVND community.

Resources on Crypto, Web3, and the new Creator Economy

• A perspective on NFTs and what they represent in the context of the internet and media as a whole, written by Jacob Horne of Zora,
  "What is Cryptomedia"

• Exhaustive Resource list from NFT TIPS covering topics like acquiring Ethereum, to minting NFTs, and even how marketplaces work,
  NFT Basics

• A primer on NFTs by Foundation Labs,
  "NFTs are Transforming the Digital Art World"

• Dark Forest Creator on Crypto Native Gaming,
  "The Strongest Crypto Gaming Thesis"

• A quote from Kayvon Tehranian of Foundation speaking to the accessibility of NFTs while providing an economic vehicle of support for creatives.
  https://twitter.com/saturnial/status/1414319891209809920