One Squad Takes Everything

Flaw Gaming is putting $6,000 worth of GUNZ Nodes on the line for a single squad in NODE WARS, a new trios tournament format for the cyberpunk extraction shooter Off The Grid. The full prize goes to the winning team, with no split across placements. Qualifiers take place across two nights, Pool A on March 27 and Pool B on March 28, both starting at 20:00 CET. The finals follow on March 29 at 20:00 CET.

Each qualifier pool runs five matches on the Firefly server. The event is organized through Flaw's Discord, with the finals broadcast live on Twitch and caster EASTN7 on commentary. Teams can sign up for a spot and a potential spotlight ahead of the event.

Why a Node Prize Matters

The $6,000 prize is denominated in GUNZ Nodes rather than cash, which is a structurally distinct reward compared to conventional tournament payouts. GUNZ Nodes are validator NFTs that secure the GUNZ network, the Avalanche-based Layer 1 built specifically for Off The Grid and other Gunzilla titles. When a player decodes a HEX during a match, a validator NFT is selected to process the transaction. The node owner earns $GUN fees from that decode, and additional commissions accumulate whenever the minted item is traded on the marketplace. Holding a node means earning passively from every decode activity routed through it, making the prize a long-term yield asset rather than a one-time payout.

There are five rarity levels of Validator NFTs, each with a different hashpower rating that determines the probability of being selected for a decoding transaction. The $6,000 in nodes handed to the winning squad will come with ongoing network-linked earning potential from the moment they are received.

Flaw Gaming and the Off The Grid Competitive Circuit

This is not Flaw Gaming's first event on Teardrop Island. In late February and early March 2026, the organization ran the Pioneer Cup in partnership with Gunzilla Games, a solo format that put the rare Tacoma Pioneer legacy weapon on the line for the top individual performer. That event used the same Firefly server and Flaw Discord infrastructure. NODE WARS represents a format shift from solo to trios, expanding the competitive footprint of the Flaw-led circuit around Off The Grid and adding a web3-native prize structure.

The competitive scene around Off The Grid has been building since the game launched in Early Access. Gunzilla ran a Clash for Cash series that previously offered a daily $3,000 prize pool for top performers in Extraction Royale mode before pausing to rework the format. Community-run events from organizations like Flaw Gaming have stepped into that space, running structured competition on community infrastructure while the developer refines its first-party tournament approach.

Off The Grid and the GUNZ Network

Off The Grid is a free-to-play cyberpunk battle royale developed by Frankfurt-based Gunzilla Games, directed by Neill Blomkamp and built by a studio with over $30 million in funding. The game blends PvP and PvE combat across Teardrop Island in matches of up to 150 players, with a standout cybernetic limb system that lets players swap prosthetics mid-match to adapt movement and combat abilities on the fly. Players can loot more than 30 different cyberlimbs from the battlefield or from fallen opponents, shifting their toolkit in real time.

The onchain economy runs through GUNZ, the Avalanche Layer 1 subnet designed for high-performance gaming. Players who want to engage with the blockchain layer extract HEXes from matches, valuable loot crates that get decoded into weapon blueprints, cyberlimbs, and rare cosmetics. Those decoded items can be minted as NFTs and traded on the GUNZ marketplace using $GUN tokens. The crypto layer is fully optional on the gameplay side, with the full game accessible as a traditional free-to-play shooter without any wallet requirement. Steam players access the game without blockchain features due to platform policy, while onchain functionality remains available off-platform for players who opt in.

The GUNZ chain has processed over 740 million transactions across more than 14 million wallets, with more than 413,000 HEX decodings recorded in a single month at peak activity and close to $13 million in marketplace trading volume reported in June 2025. The NODE WARS prize structure plugs directly into that economic layer, giving the winning squad ongoing participation in the network's decode-and-earn mechanics rather than a one-time cash exit.

Registration for NODE WARS is open now through Flaw Gaming's Discord.