The Wonders of The First Deep Dive - NFTs, Canceled Kickstarter and AI Art - TGN

About a week ago we covered Wonders of the First, the NFT CCG which is definitely not a NFT game according to the creators. This week the CCG is relaunching on Kickstarter after being removed from the platform for including NFTs in the campaign.

We got a huge amount of feedback on the articles covering Wonders of the First so we decided to do one last deep dive into Wonders of the First and its creators, before we lay the ball dead for now, as we are more interested in covering real games made by real people, rather than crypto drama.

This article contains sections from our previous articles and is meant to gather everything we’ve uncovered in one article and will be updated with new info as it becomes available.

The Creators

The project team, led by Jeff French and listed under his company Blokpax—a seemingly nearly defunct platform with a dubious reputation in the NFT space—raises red flags straight away. Most team members, including purported game designers Rider Tinsman and Cooper French, who are likely relatives of the leadership duo, have scant or non-existent online profiles. With none of the members of the team having any experience or interest in the world of card games from what we could gather, except for Brian Tinsman. In fact, several of the people on the team were listed with only a first name making it difficult to confirm if they are real humans at all or just pretty A.I.-generated images. The only thing we could confirm was that most of the people on the list seemingly work for Blokpax.

The CEO Jeff French’s social media activity is primarily focused on NFTs rather than any genuine interest in CCGs or tabletop games. In a Substack post from late 2022 it seems like French argues that using the TCG format is a way of inflating the value of the NFTs and the cards themselves.

After our first article, Jeff French reached out to us via Twitter with the following comment:

This is the level of “reporting” that comes from the tabletop game space anonymous gate keepers I suppose. It’s literally just fake. Made up. It’s a slap in the face to all of you who support the game. There was NEVER an “nft” game. Ever. Ever ever. That is a lie.

According to the official website, Wonders of The First is not just offering a physical card game but is also heavily promoting exclusive NFT-based benefits. Holders of the Booster Box NFTs are granted exclusive access to the playtesting beta, an advantage cloaked as an opportunity for community engagement but serving as a gateway for NFT sales. The site describes the project as “a groundbreaking collectible adventure franchise built on the blockchain,” emphasizing its reliance on Web3 technologies.

Brian Tinsman, the only team member with game design experience it seems, notably from his time with Magic: The Gathering over a decade ago, has more recently been involved in less successful ventures, including NFT projects and a stint with mobile games at Zynga where he worked on the mobile game flop War of the Fallen. His recent affiliations, including an advisory role at NFT startup Nemus, align closely with the blockchain-based strategy of Wonders of The First.

Nemus came under scrutiny in 2022 for its controversial activities in the Amazon region, particularly concerning the Apurinã Indigenous people and the handling of their ancestral lands. Nemus marketed itself as a venture to preserve the Amazon rainforest by selling NFTs linked to real plots of land, aiming to create a protective belt around the rainforest. However, their actions have sparked a significant backlash from the local Indigenous community.

Blokpax

In a previous article, we mentioned that Blokpax was seemingly defunct, something that the fans of Wonders of the First and its creators have tried to refute, claiming that the company is doing better than ever. We won’t go too much into detail on Blokpax, as there inst much info about the company to find online, but below you can see some stats.

According to SEMRush, and other similar services the official Blokpax website gets about 2000 monthly visitors.
The Blokpax Twitter page has 40.000 Followers but usually gets 1-2 comments on each post
Their Instagram account has 4600 followers, and gets a few comments on each image, most by people calling the company a scam. (See image below).
The Youtube account gets around 20-100 views on each video
Blokpax has one review on Trustpilot (1 star) that calls the company a scam.

Giveaways for the Spam Army

After we first covered Wonders of the First we noticed a huge uptick in comments here on TGN and on social media, mostly from fake accounts and bots. These comments appear almost everywhere Wonders of the First is mentioned online.

We also noticed a strange pattern and an abnormal amount of comments on the Wonders of the First Kickstarter page, but didnt think much of it until we found out that Jeff French had been holding giveaways for fans in the Discord, rewarding users of the Discord channel for making positive comments about the gameplay. This is to “combat the anti-AI army” according to French.

That means that many of the comments about the gameplay you see are from people who have, in fact, not played the game.

During the second Kickstarter fans of Wonders of the First was once again asked to post on the comment section on Kickstarter and on Board Game Geek.

After an influx of negative comments towards the game on the Kickstarter page, the team encouraged posting on Kickstarter to drown out the criticism, while reporting negative comments.

Over on Board Game Geek a large number of New User accounts were registered around the same time with the aim of giving a high rating to Wonders of the First, it was flagged for coordinated ratings manipulation, and the rating was removed.

This prompted members of the Wonders of the First community to call Scott “Aldie” Alden on his home number, leaving voicemails and text messages complaining about the removed ratings.

Price and Restricting Reprints

Additionally, the price point of the game became a hot-button issue. Priced at $150 per box, which includes 9 cards per pack plus a bonus card, the game stands out as one of the most expensive on the market. This pricing strategy is especially controversial given that the game boasts over 400 cards in its Alpha set, suggesting that collectors might need to purchase an excessive number of boxes to obtain a complete set.

One backer articulated the community’s frustration, questioning the sustainability of a business model that seems designed more for profit than for fostering a player community: “First, the concept of not reprinting cards after the print cycle is already bad news… You want this to be community-driven… After printing, the prices are going to skyrocket. This is a red flag.”

Moreover, the game’s strategy of restricting reprints would create a speculative market where only the earliest and wealthiest backers benefit, potentially alienating new players and those unable to invest heavily from the outset. Such a model raises questions about the game’s commitment to inclusivity and its long-term viability in the competitive CCG landscape.

Suspicious Pledges

The Kickstarter campaign itself, which was funded in a mere 26 seconds, saw an unusually high number of backers opting for the most expensive tiers, which contributed suspiciously large amounts. 26 backers pledged the second highest tier of $4350, while 65 backers pledged at the highest tier at $8250, many coming in at the beginning of the campaign. This pattern is atypical for a brand-new game without an established fanbase and suggests pre-arranged backing to stimulate demand. Jeff French commented on the high number of “whales” on Twitter saying:

Our core community of believers unapologetically came in strong AF on a per person basis. Definitely. They have a level of belief and excitement fostered for YEARS. They were ready to enthusiastically support the game and it showed with record smashing early results. So jaw dropping as to make Mr. Reporter ask if they are even real.

While the names of backers are not available for anyone to see, we managed to find some of the backers in the two highest tiers by comparing their profile pictures to comments on the Kickstarter page and on the Discord channel.

One of the backers at the highest tiers was Shock’Em Comics, a company that is set to make comics based on Wonders of the First, while every other backer that we could verify was people active in the crypto space, or in the sports trading card world, in which Blokpax also operates, with three backers in the second highest tier and one in the highest that had direct ties to Blokpax or to Jeff French. Keep in mind that is only from the six available profile pictures on the Kickstarter page.

AI Art

The most widespread criticism of Wonders of the First has been the use of AI art. The Kickstarter did mention the use of AI art, but there is no information on the official website that the artwork is AI-generated.

This becomes even more suspicious when Wonders of the First have “artists” credited on the cards. These are not actually artists but the members of the team that has written the prompts. Romall Smith and Kristofer Kish are credited on most of the cards but are not credited as artists on the team page, but rather as Creative Director and Lead Narrative Designer. None of them has any experience with illustration, or fantasy art from what we can gather.

When asked on the Wonders of the First Discord channel what they think of AI taking jobs from real humans, a team member of Blokpax replied that “none of the illustrators on their team had lost their job due to AI” while referring to Romall Smith who was also actively taking part in the conversation.

Kickstarter Removal and Relaunch

The project first earned the coveted “Project We Love” status from Kickstarter but was later removed from the platform after they were given 48 hours to remove the project themselves.

The sticking point was the game’s “Character Proof Inserts”—50 unique cards redeemable for an NFT. Although these were part of the original campaign approved by Kickstarter according to an announcement on the Wonders of the first Discord channel, the platform has reversed its stance, citing a breach of its policies that prohibit the offer of “equity” or similar financial instruments, although its terms do not specifically address NFTs.

We contacted Kickstarter about the removal and got the following response:

Yesterday, we notified Wonders of The First that their project was in violation of one of our rules. The NFTs it offers as a reward are in violation of a rule that prohibits projects involving financial services, money processing, credit offerings, travel packages, phone services, and business marketing services. In accordance with our standard procedure, we alerted the creator, giving them a 48-hour window to voluntarily cancel their project. If the project is not canceled within that window, it will be suspended. The creator is allowed to relaunch the project without NFTs.

Jeff French announced that the campaign would not be removed voluntarily, aiming to expose what he perceived as Kickstarter’s inconsistent policy enforcement influenced by external pressures.

French also hinted at potential legal action against Kickstarter for what he viewed as significant damages caused by “their sudden policy shift.”

Another Round of Suspicious Pledges

After the relaunch of the Kickstarter, we decided to keep an eye on the pledges. The pledges quickly shot up to almost $900k in the span of a few hours, successfully funding the campaign in seconds for a second time.

After the first day, the campaign stopped at around $884K with 1425 backers and now fluctuates between that number and $900K and around 1445 backers. At some point, 12 backers pull out within a short timeframe. Which is explained by a moderator on the Wonders of the First Discord channel like this:

The statement above is additionally a lie as the moderator is a backer at the second-highest tier unless he has pledged on a second account as well to inflate the backer numbers.

Over on Kicktraq, we can see that the campaign has actually lost money 4 out of the 8 days it has been active.

Short Deadline

One last point of contention is whether or not Wonders of the First will be able to meet its short deadline, with the project estimated to start shipping in November of this year.

At least by the end of the year, we will see if the card game community has a new hit game in their hands or if the project will be delayed.