The Play to Airdrop Pre-Season for OverKnights officially kicks off on September 24, giving the blockchain gaming community one week to properly get ready to play and earn in the upcoming Crystal Fragments Season.

What Is OverKnights?

OverKnights is a free to play card battler where players assemble a humanoid mech from interchangeable parts and compete in fast-paced, turn-based PvP battles. Each match combines tactical deckbuilding with dynamic combat inspired by fighting games. Players deploy cards that translate into cinematic attacks and defenses, with the goal of dismantling the opponent’s mech while protecting their own. Victories reward players with new parts, cards, and resources to upgrade both their OverKnight and their deck.

The game is backed by Immutable and Sequence and is currently available in open alpha as a free download on the Epic Games Store for Windows PCs. Players can dive in without connecting a web3 wallet, but linking Immutable Passport unlocks eligibility for on-chain rewards in blockchain-powered competitive events. With the Crystal Fragments Season launching soon, players will also have the chance to compete for the game’s upcoming token through play to airdrop events.

How Does OverKnights P2A Pre-Season Work?

Each P2A Season is structured in such a way so as to consist of a pre-season before the main event actually begins.

During Pre-Season, OverKnights players will gain access to a web portal through which it’s possible to buy the Pilot Badge while learning about all the rules and mechanics that will be present in the actual season.

Pre-Season Web Portal

The Pilot Badge is a VIP pass that features exclusive seasonal benefits, including access to an exclusive reward pool containing $IMX tokens, and access to a better Quantum Cache loot table where there is an increased chance of getting valuable Fragments in comparison to the free to play loot table. Fragments are important for climbing the seasonal leaderboard, and they’re tradable as well. More about Fragments and Quantum Caches a bit later.

This VIP pass uses a bonding curve and has to be bought for the specific season you want to participate in. The price for a Season 1 Pilot Badge will start at $10 worth of $IMX, with price increasing by 0.25% per purchase.

The exclusive $IMX reward pool is available to Pilot Badge holders only, with your share determined based on the number of Fragments you have collected by the end of the season. This first airdrop season consists of $5k worth of $IMX tokens, with Pilot Badge purchases further increasing the prize pool. The more people buy Pilot Badges, the more $IMX tokens you can possibly earn.

If you want to unlock this $IMX pool and get access to a better loot table with more valuable Fragments for a higher chance of topping the regular seasonal leaderboard, then you should probably head to the official web portal once Pre-Season starts as soon as you can to grab the Pilot Badge for as low of a price as possible. The link to the web portal should be put up on the game’s social channels at some point on Wednesday, September 24.

For anyone that is not interested in the VIP pass, the web portal will also contain detailed info about the upcoming season to help you get ready to participate in the main event. Other than that, it doesn’t seem like you can earn any rewards during Pre-Season. That part awaits you a week later, when Season 1: Crystal Fragments should officially go live. Here’s how you can participate and compete for your airdrop allocation of the upcoming $OVC token, for free.

How to Play to Airdrop in OverKnights Season 1: Crystal Fragments

Season 1: Crystal Fragments is set to go live by the end of September and run for up to 2 weeks, during which players can play to airdrop a share of the 1 million $OVC token prize pool by collecting Fragments, of which 100k is set to be in circulation for this event. If the supply of Fragments runs out before the official end date, the season will end earlier.

Fragments are basically tradable types of airdrop points that award you with leaderboard points and are split into 2 types: Fragments (or Fragment Shards) and Crystals. The regular types of Fragments are each worth 1 point on the leaderboard, while a Crystal type counts as 10 points on the Season 1 leaderboard. You can trade these NFTs on the game’s web portal.

To obtain both types of Fragments, you will need to earn Quantum Caches. These are lootboxes that you can earn by completing daily and weekly quests. Completing a daily quest grants 1 Cache, while a weekly quest provides 3 Caches. Each Cache contains a random number of Fragments and Crystals. In a previous announcement, it was revealed that both are NFTs that can be converted into Tickets, which are redeemable for a token airdrop after the TGE at a ratio that has not yet been announced. Players can also choose to sell these NFTs or exchange them for pre-sale items in the in-game shop. Additionally, it was also previously mentioned that holding Shards until the end of the season grants $IMX tokens, but that seems to be exclusive to Pilot Badge holders only.

Cache rewards are determined by loot tables, of which there are two types: the Free Player Loot Table and the Pilot Badge Loot Table. Purchasing a Pilot Badge grants access to the premium table, which offers higher-value rewards. Genesis Pilot NFT holders receive reward multipliers across all loot tables.

The Pilot Badge functions as the game’s VIP pass. Each account can hold one Badge, which is tradable and can be bought, sold, or gifted. Proceeds from Pilot Badge sales contribute to a shared seasonal reward pool.

The goal of the event is to collect as many Quantum Caches as possible in order to maximize the number of Fragments earned. More Fragments lead to more leaderboard points or Tickets, which will determine the player’s allocation of the $OVC token airdrop. Players can also improve their rewards by climbing the ELO rankings and social leaderboards, as well as by inviting friends as referrals. The conversion rate from Fragments to $OVC is said to consider Pilot Badge ownership, Genesis NFT ownership, ELO rankings, and community activity, rewarding both skill-based gameplay, on-chain holdings, and social engagement. The launch of $OVC might take place after this season is over, with the official blog post stating that the estimated TGE price could be $0.015.

While specific quest types have not been confirmed, they are expected to include a combination of social tasks and gameplay challenges. OverKnights is available for download on the Epic Games Store for free, and if you haven't started playing already, then now might be the best time to jump in and get used to the game’s dynamic turn-based card gameplay before the actual competition for rewards begins.