Runicore
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The Runicore (or Runi for short) was a limited-edition promo card in the Splinterlands game. The Runi is unlike every other card that has ever been part of Splinterlands (or any similar trading card game that we are aware of) because the artwork for each individual Runi card NFT is 100% unique.
The Runi was Splinterlands' first "Generative NFT" project, similar to Crypto Punks, Bored Apes, and many others, which means that players could mint Runi that each had a completely unique, random combination of six different visual attributes. The Runi cards all had the same stats and abilities within the Splinterlands game, but everywhere a Runi is shown - including on the collection screen, on the battlefield, in the battle history, etc. it shows the unique artwork for that specific Runi NFT.
These unique generative NFTs can be set as the owners' profile pictures. We continue to enjoy seeing Splinterlands players showing off their unique Runi as their profile pictures in-game and on various social media apps such as Discord, Twitter, Hive, and others.
The Runi card in the Splinterlands game is a Neutral Legendary 6-mana unit. It has a strong Melee attack and targets the enemy with the least health given the Opportunity ability. While it has a very slow Speed, it makes up for it with the True Strike ability, which means its Melee attack cannot miss. In addition, the magic of the Runicore gives it some Armor and protects it from indirect damage through the Reflection Shield ability.
Last but not least, the Runi brings the Rebirth ability into Splinterlands. Rebirth is a self-resurrect ability, so when the Runi dies, it will return to life with 1 Health. However, this ability can only trigger once per battle and doesn't reset if another card resurrects the Runi.
The Runi NFTs were minted through a smart contract published to the Ethereum blockchain and cost roughly $500 in ETH each. Players who want to mint a Runi will need enough ETH in a self-custodial wallet to purchase the Runi and pay the applicable gas fees for the minting transaction. Players can mint as many Runi as they want until the cap is reached, the cap was 6,500.
The minting process was only available for 30 days between Oct 25, 2022 and Nov 25, 2022.
Only 3,521 Runi NFTs were minted in total.
There was a 2% chance that each Runi would be "Gold Foil" (62 Gold Foil Runi were minted in total), Gold foil Runi NFTs will be gold foil cards in the game and will include all of the bonuses and benefits that come with gold foil cards when used in battles.
Aside from looking really cool, one of the biggest differentiators between the Runi and all of the other generative NFT PFP projects in the space is the ability to use them to battle other players in the Splinterlands game.
Players who own a Runi NFT in their Ethereum wallet can "stake" their NFT by publishing a transaction from the Ethereum wallet that holds the NFT to the Runi NFT smart contract on the Ethereum blockchain. This transaction locks the NFT on Ethereum, making it unable to be transferred or sold until it is unstaked. Players can also specify the Hive wallet address they would like the card to be delegated in the game. This means that if a player owns multiple Runi NFTs in a single Ethereum wallet, they can stake each of them within that one wallet but specify different Hive accounts to which each of those Runi cards should be delegated.
The Runi NFTs are ultimately held and controlled by players' Ethereum wallets while still being able to be used in battles through their Hive accounts in-game. All Runi cards are held in a single Hive wallet address owned and operated by the Splinterlands team and delegated to the Hive account specified in the staking process.
The NFT can be unstaked at any time by publishing a transaction from the Ethereum wallet that holds the NFT on the Ethereum blockchain. When a Runi NFT is unstaked on the Ethereum blockchain, the corresponding Runi NFT card in the game will be automatically undelegated from the player's Hive account, meaning they will no longer be able to use the card in battles, and it can now be transferred or sold to another player on Ethereum.
All Runi in the game are max-level cards and can not be combined since the NFTs are held in Ethereum blockchain wallets.
Unlike the majority of NFTs (including the current Splinterlands NFTs), Runi owners hold a full commercial use license to all Runi NFTs for the artwork and graphics of the specific Runi they own. This means that Runi NFT owners can sell the rights to their unique Runi images and derivatives for commercial gain. Only the current owner of the Runi will have access to its full commercial use license, so if a Runi is sold on Opensea, its full commercial use license will belong to the new owner.
Please remember that these rights apply only to the Runi character itself and NOT to the card frame used around the artwork in the Splinterlands game, the Runi/Runicore name, or anything related to the NFT project or the Splinterlands game.
No more Runi will ever be created, and the only way to get one will be to purchase it from other players on the .
Runi cards can be managed easily through the , allowing users to stake or unstake their Runi from their linked Ethereum wallet. However, unlike all other cards and in-game assets, Runi NFTs can not be transferred, bought, sold, or rented on the Hive blockchain.
