Written by yay.oi
What’s scorin’, strikers? The inaugural FIFA Club World Cup is in full swing, and Mythical has timed the drop of its new mobile game to perfection, right on the opening whistle. While EA tried to steal a bit of the June 12th Rivals spotlight, the FIFA name now plays for Mythical. Anyway, enough of the pre-match banter, and let’s take a dive into FIFA Rivals.
You’ll find it on Google Play and the Apple App Store. On Google Play, it’s already netted more than 100K downloads, and it’s been climbing the charts in the Sports (Free) category on the App Store in many regions. With the recognised global branding behind it and casual gameplay designed for mobile gaming on the go, it’s no surprise that it’s making a strong start down the pitch.
No sign-up is necessary to get started, but you’ll want to register or link an existing Mythical account as soon as you can to access your NFTs on the web marketplace. After a quick tutorial (keep an eye out for easter eggs) you’ll receive enough cards to build your first team, and then it’s game on.
PVP matchups are tiered, which means you’ll begin in the Bronze III division, so don’t fret if your starting eleven are a bunch of Commoners. From the get-go, you’ll start earning upgrade packs from winning games and completing task boards, so it’ll be no time before you snag your first Rare player.
In addition, you could score some in-game currencies and collectible gear, including highly coveted Adidas drops. The most coveted asset of all is player card #01, a Mythical-tier Messi. It can be crafted by collecting five ultra-rare card fragments. Your best bet to secure them all would be to hit the Mythical Marketplace.
Moving on to gameplay, it’s an effective mix of turn-based and high-paced arcade action. When you gain control of the ball, you’ll be given a few moments to execute your next move. In between moves, however, you’re at the mercy of opposing defenders and a potential Super tackle that will rob you of the ball immediately.
Super abilities charge up throughout the match, building faster when you’re near the opponent’s goal. Used offensively, you’ll zip past offenders with blazing-speed, acrobatic dribbling, and lightning-fast shots. They can be stacked too, so you might like to save a couple for the end of the match for a fiery finish that could clinch the win.
Don’t leave it too long though. While matches are capped at two minutes, they’ll wrap earlier if a player secures a two-point lead. And don’t forget to keep an eye on your opponent’s charge-bar too. There’s nothing worse than lining up the perfect play, only to have it snatched away by your opponent’s well-timed counter.
While Supers are a resource worth stacking, the in-game currency Cash is key to keeping your team in shape for climbing the leaderboard. Each of your players has a contract length of up to 30 matches. When it expires, you’ll need Cash to renew it. With each renewal increasing in price, you’ll need to find the right balance to keep your top-tier players on the field.
Increased contract renewal prices remain when your player hits the marketplace too. Too many renewals will decrease your player’s value. Players aren’t immediately minted as NFTs, so you’ll need to level them up to Level 5 by collecting card duplicates or wild cards, and paying Cash. In addition, it’ll cost 25 Vouchers, another very scarce resource.
Of course, the scarcest resource of all is time. Packs are time-gated, meaning you’ll have to wait up to eight hours to open them unless you want to watch some ads or pay Gems. Climbing the leaderboard takes a lot of grinding too, but that hasn’t stopped a few familiar faces in the Polkadot ecosystem from spending opening weekend glued to the screen.
Still, not everyone chose the grind. Some swapped screen taps for paddles and touched grit at Webzero’s infamous ping pong tournament. It was one of many Blockspäti side-events during Berlin Blockchain Week. The lucky winner took home a dashing Webzero x Polkadot kimono, unlike the crafty nutmegger at the Blockspäti who made off with the whole box.
Meanwhile, on the Protocol Berg main stage Vitalik Buterin was crying foul as some dotty ultras heckled Ethereum’s RISC-V play, likening it to Polkadot’s own PVM. Gavin Wood’s JAM presentation wasn’t without its own late-match drama either, as a wi-fi fumble meant his much-anticipated Quake demo went to pieces in the dying minutes.
Back at the Blockspäti, the crowds stayed lively with underground beats, unlickables, and tropical beverages flowing well into extra time. For the more adventurous, tarot readings from Mystic Medea offered personal insights. After his expletive-laden presentation on Friday, it’s no surprise the cards suggested Shawn Tabrizi watch his language in his next fixture.
For the Polkadot event veterans, Leemo has already conducted a quality audit and submitted proof-of-croissant, although there’s no word yet on the price tag. With additional agents providing proof-of-burger and proof-of-snack, it’s fairly safe to assume that all attendees were well fed.
So, with the final whistle blowing on Berlin’s Blockspäti, it’s time to clear the stadium. Back on the pitch, the FIFA Rivals season is just getting started. Even at this early stage, over one million matches have been played, and this week’s Mythical Monday saw CEO John Linden tease what’s next.
For now, Mythical regards its web marketplace traders as power users, but also a great resource for analyzing what is working and what is not. Once that analysis is complete, we can look forward to in-app integration of the Mythical Marketplace, and that’s when trading would really kick off.
Alongside marketplace updates, gameplay is set to evolve as well. Expect longer matches, AI enhancements, deeper social features, and the ability to challenge your friends directly. And for the competitive crowd, E-sports integrations are definitely on the cards, turning casual kickabouts into high-stakes fixtures.
The game is also proving to be way more addictive than anticipated, with players logging far more matches than anyone expected. As a result, epic and mythical drops are being unlocked much sooner than planned. Get them while you can, because some rebalancing down the line may be in order to avoid flooding the market with top-tier NFTs.
When it comes to Web3 credentials, FIFA Rivals is not yet ticking all of the boxes. NFTs are locked in custodial wallets, meaning they are still ultimately under the control of Mythical. In its favor, this kind of abstraction helps to smooth the onboarding process for a target of 100M+ mainstream mobile gamers.
That being said, John Linden has mentioned in the past that Mythos intends to give players the ability to transfer their assets to non-custodial wallets. Even if only a fraction of the player base takes that step, it would mean the onboarding of a massive wave of new users to Web3 and the Polkadot ecosystem.
For those who don’t, they’ll still be using Web3 infrastructure without even realizing it. Web3 is about building a new internet, where privacy and self-sovereignty take the center position. Behind the scenes, the locker-room happenings don’t interest the mainstream crowd. What matters are continued strides toward the goals of less trust and more truth.