Azuki’s infra is so damn impressive ✔️3 Original IPs ✔️ Collector system ✔️ TCG ecosystem ✔️ Anime Platform ✔️ RWA Platform ✔️ Dedicated L3 ✔️ Production studio ✔️ Anthology Series ⏳ Manga ⏳ Anime Series All under one roof. If you aren’t IKZing to this. Get yo head checked 🥱

some thoughts on what i think @azuki is getting right with its TCG and why it matters. they didn’t start by chasing distribution. they started by earning it. they understood that distribution is not a substitute for product market fit. they first assembled a cracked team of world class game designers, god tier artists, tcg production nerds, pro play testers and key partners. all to make a fun, competitive and beautiful card game that actually brings something new to the existing tcg landscape. from there they got the game into the hands of everyday players. iterating with feedback. seeded an early community through hundreds of local game stores. backed organized play with meaningful prizing and experiences so players had a reason to keep coming back. simultaneously supporting the collector experience by making the cards psa/bgs/cgc gradeable. followed by rolling out an end to end app connecting players, collectors and stores. the order in which azuki approached building their tcg is the main takeaway here. it just shows how much hard work and care has gone into it. and the early results speak for themselves: 1m+ in set 1 preorders alone and a launch week that exceeded just about everyone’s expectations including mine and i am very new to tcgs. extremely impressive. a lot of new brands try to skip straight to mass retail but don’t understand that shelf space alone doesn’t create retention. if players aren’t coming back every week, putting more boxes into more stores just means more inventory sitting on shelves and fewer retailers willing to reorder. for any new brand, that’s one of the fastest ways to burn capital. grassroots is KEY. it’s why the local game store approach makes so much sense. it creates recurring play, word of mouth, education, local competition and a reason for sealed product and singles to keep moving. pair that with a deeply engaged azuki collector base that’s been around since 2022. and you end up with an ecosystem where players, collectors, creators and stores all strengthen each other. many of the most enduring tcgs were built this way. a lot of new brands are trying to shortcut the hardest part because tcgs are hot right now but i don’t think this is something one can hack. it takes hard work. azuki did that. fast forward to today: azuki tcg locals are seeing record attendance. more and more stores are carrying product and hosting events. collectors are collecting. the way i see it. great games don’t win because they’re everywhere. they end up everywhere because they’re great. just 19 days into the set 1 launch. Long road ahead. watching azuki continue to execute and improve, i can see this game growing so freaking hard month after month. big ups. IKZ.