Raini: The Lords of Light Deep Dive

Michail Palierakis

Mar. 15, 2023

Executive Summary

Company/Game Summary: Raini Studios, the game’s developers, started its journey with a meme coin launch that was unexpectedly successful and decided to utilize their profits to develop the Raini Ecosystem. The team has years of gaming industry expertise and is supported by Avalanche’s founder, Ava Labs.

Investable Currency and NFT Pricing:
- The investable token is $RAINI and $xPHOTON is the reward token which is currently under development. Rainbows and Unicorns are in-game currencies earned by staking $RAINI and can be exchanged for NFTs.
- For NFTs, the 7DS Collector’s Pack costs 0.1 $ETH, while the Chad Pack (17 Collector’s Packs) costs 1.5 $ETH.

Game status: Raini is under development with a test mode available.

Device availability: PC and Mac.

Blockchains: Avalanche, Ethereum, BNB, Fantom.

Management Background:
- Mindspheres: Mindspheres created and sold an IT Managed Services Provider to an Australian ASX-listed firm. He also co-founded a multi-award-winning fintech and sold it to a private equity group.
- Artkin: Artkin has over a decade of financial services expertise and years of Gamefi and NFT industry experience.

Fundraising: The game is supported by Ava Labs, Avalanche’s founders, which involves an investment from Blizzard, full marketing support, and introduction to other Ava Labs-connected projects for future partnerships and collaborations. Merit Circle is also an important investor, among others.

Actionable Items: Although the game is still under development you can apply for testing via their website. However, the devs are set to release a new version 0.9.6, which you won’t need a beta code for, it’ll just show up in Elixir to download and play on PC or Mac.

Introduction

Raini: The Lords of Light is a trading card game developed by Raini Studios in 2021. The game is set in the Rainiverse, the game’s metaverse where you take on the role of a deck builder and engage in battles using magical spells and minions.

Each card is an NFT which you can earn by staking native tokens. The developers are long-time and seasoned Trading Card Game players. They raised capital by launching a meme coin with minor initial utility but succeeded with their significant engagement with the community.

At its core, Raini: The Lords of Light is a game of strategy and skill, where you build a powerful deck of cards, including creatures, spells, and resources, and battle with other opponents.

One of the unique features of The Lords of Light is its resource management system. While battling, you must carefully balance your resources in order to cast spells and summon creatures, while also maintaining your defenses against enemy attacks. This adds an exciting layer of complexity to the game, as players must constantly adapt their strategies to stay ahead of their opponents.

Additionally, Raini offers a decentralized NFT farming technology that rewards stakeholders with unique NFT drops and collectibles, while the team donates part of its revenue to charities around the world.

Finally, you can implement your earned NFTs into your deck of cards, so you can compete against opponents from around the world and win prizes while fighting your way up the global leaderboard.

Tech/Infrastructure

Raini: The Lords of Light runs on Ethereum and BNB Chain, while recently it partnered with Ava Labs to launch on Avalanche, with plans to develop an Avalanche Subnet in the future. The game is available to download for Windows and Mac.

To play the game, you will need to download the Elixir platform and then download the game through it.

Minimum Requirements:

OS: Windows
CPU: Intel i5 / AMD Ryzen 5
HDD: 5 GB
RAM: 6 GB
GPU: Nvidia GeForce GTX 1GB VRAM / AMD Radeon R0 Fury

Recommended Requirements:

OS: Windows
CPU: Intel i5 / AMD Ryzen 5
HDD: 10 GB
RAM: 16 GB
GPU: Nvidia GeForce GTX 3GB VRAM

The Raini ecosystem consists of:

The Raini NFT Platform, where you can stake tokens, and redeem and upgrade NFTs (Art & Gaming).
The Raini Marketplace, where you can trade digital assets with other users.
Raini: The Lords of Light Trading Card Game
The Raini Cross-Chain Bridge, which allows you to buy, sell and stake $RAINI from the same fixed maximum supply of tokens on either network, as well as transfer your tokens between the networks at any time without restriction.

History

The meme coin

On March 16th, 2021, the Founders of Rainicorn launched what was initially thought to be a community-driven meme-coin. Despite the initial lack of preparation, the launch coincided with a period of intense interest in meme coins, which contributed to the coin’s explosive popularity.

Source

Within hours of its launch, Rainicorn had attracted millions of dollars in trading volume on the Ethereum Network, which prompted the Founders to re-evaluate their plans and accelerate their efforts to develop the project. The team quickly adapted to the new reality and set about creating an entire ecosystem for the coin.

Over the following weeks and months, the team behind Rainicorn worked to build out the project and create new use cases for the coin. They partnered with other projects and companies in the crypto space, launched new initiatives, and worked to build a strong and engaged community around the coin.

NFT platform key problems

The founders wanted to address some of the shortcomings of existing NFT platforms and create a more inclusive and accessible ecosystem for artists and collectors alike. They identified several key challenges in the existing NFT space:

High-quality NFTs often sell out within minutes in public drops, making it difficult for many collectors to acquire them.
NFT farming platforms can be prohibitively expensive for most people, which limits the number of potential buyers and restricts the growth of the market.
Emerging artists are often locked out of NFT platforms by long waiting lists, which can stifle creativity and limit opportunities for talented artists.

Partnerships

In April 2021, the team introduced the first NFT artist partnership to launch his collection on Raini’s NFT platform, along with a staking program that would allow users to stake tokens for rewards.

In the following month, the Raini token was available on the BNB Chain and PancakeSwap, while on July 2021, the team released the Raini NFT platform. Along with releasing a Genesis NFT collection for early supporters, the team continued to expand the ecosystem by announcing the development of TCG Raini: The Lords of Light.

Recent updates

The game’s alpha testing was released on June 2022. For the time being, all cards are unlocked by default, however, you’ll need to have cards unlocked on your account in order to play them in-game at some point between now and the full launch.

Today, Rainicorn is no longer just a meme-coin but a project with a wide range of use cases and utility. While the initial launch may have been somewhat unexpected, the success of Rainicorn serves as a testament to the power of community-driven projects in the crypto space. The Rainicorn company has now changed its name to Raini Studios and announced that it is turning its focus toward the gaming industry.

Management Team

Mindspheres

Mindspheres previously created and sold an IT Managed Services Provider to an Australian ASX-listed firm as a successful visionary and entrepreneur. He then co-founded a multi-award-winning fintech with Artkin, the second founder of Raini Studios, grew it to become a market leader in its area over the course of five years, and sold it to a private equity group. Additionally, he maintains a single-minded laser-focus on turning Raini into one of the top Gamefi & NFT projects, fueled by a deep enthusiasm for the creative arts.

Artkin

Artkin has over a decade of expertise in financial services and is skilled at applying analysis to the various difficulties and possibilities that exist in the Gamefi and NFT industries. He offers a plethora of expertise, contacts, and experience to the Raini project, having created and sold a multiple award-winning financial services business to a top ASX-listed company.

Investors (VCs)

Raini Studios has formed a partnership with Ava Labs and has received financial investment from Blizzard, an Avalanche ecosystem venture fund, for the upcoming RTLOL launch. In addition, the introduction to other Ava Labs-connected projects could open up new partnership and collaboration opportunities for Raini Studios.

Other investors who have provided backing for RTLOL so far, include:

Merit Circle
SoftMoney (from SoftHoldings)
The Blockchain Baron (via BaronDAO)
Citizen X
Primo (from LayerZero Labs)
The Crypto Dog

Raini Studios has a following of 14.1K on Twitter, and 3.01K members on Discord. 893 wallets hold Raini NFT Cards, while 1,065 have bought a Card Pack.

Market Stats / Tokenomics

The game’s utility token, $RAINI, has a max supply of 1B tokens, with 500M in total and circulating supply indicating that 500M tokens have been burned. $RAINI has a 24-hour trading volume of $117,345 and a current market cap of $10,549,925.

Based on the charts below you can see the trading volume and price fluctuations of NFT Cards (1st chart), and Card Packs (2nd chart) in the last 90 days on Opensea:

Source

In our research on OpenSea, we discovered that the project’s total Card sale volume is 258 $ETH, while Card Pack secondary sale volume is 221 $ETH.

Price Charts

The current price of $RAINI is $0.021, dropping slightly from the price of $0.028 a month ago.

Game Mechanics

Pre-Game

As the game is still in development, you may access the full game with no investment. All cards are available to include in your deck. However, after the full launch, you will only be allowed to use collected cards.

There are various ways to collect cards. You may actively start collecting cards by buying them from the marketplace or in secondary markets such as Opensea. Additionally, you can stake $RAINI and RAINI LP tokens for Rainbows and Unicorns. Then, you can exchange those for Trading Cards, which you will be able to play with.

Fighting Mechanics

Gameplay consists of dueling against other players, using your carefully-designed deck of cards. Cards have the form of Minions, Spells, or Seasons:

Minions are cards that are placed on the arena and have a certain amount of attack damage and health points. The first is the amount of damage dealt when the Minion attacks or is attacked, while the latter is the amount of damage required to kill the Minion
Spells are cards with various effects in-game and are played from the hand
Season cards apply and maintain a passive effect on the arena.

To play a card from the hand, you have to spend mana, which comes in the form of gems. You acquire crystals by staking a card (staking burns the card and draws another one). There are different gem colors (Gray, Red, Yellow, Orange, Blue, Green, Purple, Pink, and mixed). Gray is the common gem color. Each card has a mana cost that consists of these colors. Staking a card of a specific gem color draws a card of similar color and rewards you with the corresponding mana gem.

Abilities

A card may have an additional effect that affects the gameplay. Here is a full list of the in-game Abilities:

On Play: Triggers an effect when the card is played
On Death: Triggers an effect when the card is eliminated
Overkill: If an attack is lethal, the remaining damage is dealt to the enemy Hero
Shockwave: Deals damage to adjacent Minions
Pumped: Can attack Minions from the first round
Season: Applies a passive effect on the arena
Lifesteal: Your Hero is healed based on the amount of damage dealt by the Minion
Frost-Touch: Freezes the enemy Minion
Forcefield: Prevents the next source of damage once
Venom: Deals a fixed amount of damage to the targeted Minion after attacking it
Thorns: Deals a fixed amount of damage to the Minion attacking a Minion with Thorns
Banish-Strike: After attacking a Minion, it is banished
Guardian: If there is a Minion with Guardian in play, you can only attack Minions with Guardian
Gain HP: Provides some HP to the target Minion
Multishot: Triggers the stated ability multiple times
Multistrike: The Minion is allowed to attack multiple times
On Stake: Damages your own Hero and applies an effect when the card is staked
Silence: Removes all of a Minion’s abilities
Cleanse: Removes all effects from the target

Gaming Loop

Revenue

The team has the following revenue streams to meet all of Raini’s ongoing expenditures and to fund continuing project development:

The NFT marketplace generates money through minting fees and sales commissions.
Purchases made through the NFT farming platform may be partially paid via “top-ups”, whereby ETH or BNB may be used to supplement the Rainbow and/or Unicorn purchase price.
Raini — TCG tournaments and special game mode entries will be available for purchase using Ethereum or BNB (in addition to Rainbows or Unicorns), with a portion retained by the platform as a margin.
A part of the transaction costs when moving tokens between Ethereum and Binance Smart Chain, using the Raini Bridge.

Investment and Earning Opportunities

We believe Raini: The Lords of Light will attract the following four personas. In the following section, we discuss how each one can get involved.

A non-participant investor who wants upside without playing the game: In this case, you will want to buy $RAINI and stake it for Rainbows, or stake RAINI-ETH LP for Unicorns, and $xPHOTON. Doing so, you will be eligible for NFT rewards which you can then sell on the marketplace. Additionally, you can find valuable trading opportunities on secondary marketplaces for Packs and Cards.

Crypto whales that can afford the high-end NFTs: For larger investments, check out the Public Pool of Packs. Currently, you can buy the 7DS Collector Pack with 3 rare or higher rarity cards (0.1 $ETH) or you can make a larger investment of 1.5 $ETH and buy a 7DS Chad Bundle which consists of 17 7DS Collector Packs and guarantees a Mythic Card. Furthermore, secondary marketplaces offer valuable opportunities to trade Packs and Cards.

The gamer who wants to play and earn: To make a value-for-money investment that will allow you to play and earn, you will need to stake $RAINI and RAINI-ETH LP to start unlocking NFT Cards that will allow you to play with the full launch. You may also consider buying a 7DS Collector Pack or the Chad Bundle if your budget allows you to. The secondary marketplaces also provide valuable opportunities to trade Packs and Cards.

Net spenders: If you’re into investing in the higher tier of NFTs available in the Rainiverse, you can check out 7DS Chad Bundle (1.5 $ETH) which contains 51 Rare Cards and at least one Mythic Card. You can also find valuable opportunities on OpenSea regarding Card Packs and individual Cards.

Roadmap

In the upcoming months of 2023, we expect the full launch of RTLOL. In addition to the launch of the game, tokens and play-to-earn mechanics will be released as well.

Key Takeaways / Recommendations

Starting from a meme coin launch in 2021, the game has evolved into a self-sufficient ecosystem, which demonstrates the developers’ hard work ethic.
Throughout the team’s career, they have accumulated decades of experience in the gaming industry.
The game is supported by Ava Labs, Avalanche’s founders, which involves an investment from Blizzard, full marketing support, and introduction to other Ava Labs-connected projects for future partnerships and collaborations.

Key Risks

The game is still under development and we can’t make any conclusions regarding the token economy and sustainability.
Between now and the full launch, you will need to unlock Cards on your account in order to play them in-game.