Master Cats Community,

First, we’d like to celebrate the start of a new year! 2022 was filled with many accomplishments and milestones met from ourside, and we’re excited to see all the things we’ll do this year!

As you know, Life 2 has been released and we’re extremely happy it was done with great success. Soon, we’ll be revealing the Lore to add more context to our NFT adventure. But before that, we’d like to provide an overview of the process for Life 3 and our next leg of the journey.

Reviewing the Master Blueprint

The Master Blueprint outlines four art selection methods that will guide our NFT Adventure of reclaiming all Nine Lives.

Life 3 has been designated the Community Nominations method, which enables holders to choose both the art style and artist for Life 3.

Community Nominations Process

Majority of the Life 3 selection process will occur in 3 phases, and will take place largely in the Master Cat’s Discord server.

Phase 1: Nominations & Discussions

• During Phase 1, Holders can nominate artists and/or art styles via polls in the #Nominations channel in discord. Submissions should include a description and image. A tutorial on how to create a poll will be shared soon.
• Master Cat Holders can then discuss the nominated art styles and artists as a community in the NEW #Scratching-Post forums (discord). If you want to better understand someone’s selection, scratch it here.
• Participation in this process is only open to Master Cat Holders and will last for 3 weeks max. Nominations will remain hidden, but Forums will be viewable to all.
• Visit here for tutorials on the Poll bot Formie
• Visit here for tutorials on Discord Forums

Phase 2: Voting

Once nominations have closed, a final voting period will take place for both artist and art style. This will happen in two separate places:

Art Style voting will be held in the #Podium channel (discord).

• The team will present the top 3–5 nominated art styles that had the most upvotes from Holders.
• This voting is viewable to all Discord members, but only Master Cats can vote — 1 vote per holder.
• This vote will last no longer than 2 weeks.

Artist voting will be ratified through a Snapshot vote (online), and will take place after the art style voting.

• The team will again take the top 3–5 nominated artists that fit the voted art style and submit a proposal on Snapshot for Holder voting.
• Unlike Podium voting, this vote is weighted by the number of Master Cats an individual holds — 1 vote per Cat.
• This vote will last no longer than 2 weeks.
• Please wait for the official Snapshot link from the team to avoid scams.

Phase 3: Artwork

• After the voting is complete, we will seek to secure the artist with the most votes, and move on to the next highest if necessary.
• Once an agreement is reached, we will announce the artist and the artwork process will begin.
• This phase will typically last 1–3 months, depending on the chosen art style.

The Adventure Continues

We hope this gives you a clear understanding of the quest for Life 3. As you go throughout this process, really aim to be mindful of the larger impact of the next art style on the collection.

How will this art stlye fit into our ethos and Lore?
What impact will it bring to the larger NFT space?
Does this artist share our values?
Is this art style already washed or is it forward thinking?
Do we want a detailed style or something quick to build momentum?

These are just some of the questions you want to be asking yourself as you share your input over the next month. We can’t wait to scratch out this next Life together.

See you in the Lounge🍸

Stay tuned for more updates and don’t forget to participate in the discussions and voting. Let the HODL continue!

Master Cats community,

After spending a lot of time building in this bear market, we’re excited to announce that our Master Cats Tailor Shop will soon be live to the public. This is the latest gamification of the Master Cats Adventure; it does not affect the standing or progress of Life 2.

Priding ourselves on our strong art concepts and passions, we re-explored the art of Life 1 and decided to create an innovative experience to enable dynamic upgrades to the look of specific Cats.

Everyone needs a proper tailor, for clothes maketh the Master!

The goal of the Tailor Shop experience is twofold — we wanted to increase the level and variety of the collection’s art while also providing the community the ability to temporarily lock one-third of the collection, removing them from circulation.

• 3,000 Cats allowed into the Tailor Shop (starting Dec. 9th)
• 2,100 Naked/Topless Cats*
• 900 Clothed Cats*

As a team, we aim to build an NFT collection that is both dynamic and meaningful. After performing our last survey, we learned that there were too many Cats with similar color combinations and attributes. We took your words into consideration and have spent time curating the Tailor Shop to help upgrade the collection’s aesthetic.

*Cats with rare traits and heavy trait counts will be restricted from entering the Tailor Shop to help keep ranking shifts to a minimum. Please refernce the trait allowlist below.

The Tailor Shop: How Does it Work?

Yes! New drip incoming 🙌!! We’re just as excited as you are. Don’t worry, we’ll try to break it down as easy as possible.

The Tailor Shop will be conducted in two phases:

Phase 1 – Alterations

The Tailor Shop will go live on Friday, December 9th, and will stay open for roughly 30 days. You will have until January 8th, 11:59 pm EST to drop off their Cats at the Tailor Shop…after which submissions will be closed.

During Alterations, Master Cat holders will be able to drop off or submit their eligible Master Cats to receive a new tailored look. Upon submitting their Cats, holders will be assigned a Pet Carrier NFT to claim, which will serve as a placeholder for their new Master Cat — with zero trading restrictions.

Dropped-off Cats will be locked into a temporary vault called Fitting Room 1 (a link to this wallet will be available on the website once live).

Phase 2 — Fittings

Immediately after drop-offs have closed, phase 2 will begin. At this point we will re-roll all Cats submitted, creating fresh randomly generated Cats from both the dropped-off traits and the newly added traits.

Once generations are completed and rankings have been tested, all tailored Master Cats will be pushed live and ready for pick-up.

To pick-up a Cat in Phase 2, holders will need a Pet Carrier NFT.

All Pet Carrier NFTs will be burned upon pick-up, and your dripped out Master Cat will be transferred to your etheruem wallet, ready to be displayed!

Tailor Shop: Why Upgrade?

Entering the Tailor Shop will be the holder’s only opportunity at gaining the new art available.

We have handpicked 15 new clothes traits and 4 new furs to enter the Master Cats adventure, one of which is our NEW rare Cyborg fur.

Equipped with the best of Dark Havok’s shading and design work, this fur is a clear grail!

Not only that, each new outfit has been designed to widen our current color palette and bring as much variety to the collection as possible.

Outfits will continue our fashion theme of loungewear, activewear, and streetwear. These outfits will all receive the same trait name: Tailored, as to avoid ranking shifts, but they will not all have the same count making some scarcer than others.

The only way to get your hands on this legendary fur and this fresh gear is to take a chance at clothing your Cat and entering the Tailor Shop.

How to get one of the NEW Cyborg furs?

When dropping-off Cats, holders will receive one of two types of Pet Carriers:

• Base Carrier (2869 supply)
• Luxury Carrier (130 supply)

Luxury Carriers will guarantee recipients the NEW rare fur added to the collection: Cyborg Cat. There will only be 139 total Cyborg Cats added to the collection, of which 130 will go to Luxury Carrier holders.

The Luxury Carrier NFTs will be distributed on a first come first served basis for the following furs that enter the Tailor Shop:

• 29 Lion Gold furs (Naked only)
• 9 White Tiger furs (Naked only)
• 92 Cosmic Cat furs (Naked & Clothed)

The remaining 9 Cyborg Furs will be distributed randomly to holders of the Base Carrier NFTs.

The furs listed above will be burned to make room for the new fur as the third rarest fur. Additionally, it will also correct a previous error that caused our doubled Cosmic fur count. All other furs submitted will receive a Base Carrier NFT which will guarantee 1 random Master Cat from the Tailor Shop.

Traits List for Naked and Clothed Entries

All clothes traits submitted will be burned, making room for the new clothes. Only the clothes traits listed below will be permitted, with each having a max quota.

Once that quota is reached, no further Cats with that clothing trait will be eligible to enter the Tailor Shop. Please carefully review the clothing quotas listed below.

You can view a filtered list of all eligible Clothed Cats and Naked Cats on Rarity Sniper!

The Tailor Shop will change the game for Master Cats!

If you haven’t any Naked Master Cats, you can adopt one now on OpenSea.
Stay up to date with our most recent news on Twitter and Discord!

#MasterCats #Tailors
#JoinTheHODL #Tailor Shop #CyborgKitty

A couple days ago, we opened up our Master Cats Animal Shelter to the public. Within just 6 hours, all Master Cats were minted out! Our team couldn’t be any more grateful for the dedicated community that we’ve grown together.

We had a vision from the very beginning, and needless to say, we’re proud that we’ve hit all of the milestones we planned to accomplish by this time.

With that said, we’re excited to announce that we’ve released our rarity rankings on Rarity Sniper, an NFT rarity tool and community. Scroll down if you’d like to see the full list and breakdown of our traits! Keep in mind that there will be 900 unminted Cats reserved for the Pet Store — this will affect the rarity rankings of the Master Cats.

Our Master Cats minting experience was one of a kind. If you missed out, don’t worry. We’ll be reopening the Pet Store (more details on this soon). However, if you’re looking to rehome a Cat, you can get one (or a few) on OpenSea.

Master Cats Rarities

Below is the full list of traits and rarities:

The rarities below are categorized (from left to right as the type of category, trait, and total number of Cats with that trait).

We have many upcoming plans that we’ll be announcing. Be the first to get our updates by joining our Discord!

A NFT collection of 9,000 Cats sporting cool furs, nine lives, and one mission: HODL🍸! Inspired by the Nine Lives Lounge — and their victory over the Cool Cats Master Challenge — these diamond-handed cats have proven themselves worthy, and are now ready to kick back, relax, and live up the rest of their Lives.

Litter Size and Adoption Process

• 9,000 NFTs: 3,000 Pet Store - 2,100 NLL - 3,000 Shelter - 900 Reserved
• FREE to Adopt (+gas)
• 2 Ways to mint — Visit the Pet Store and choose your Master Cat, or visit the Shelter and rescue at random.
• The Pet Store (paid access, free mint): Opens August 30th
• The Shelter (free access, free mint): Following the close of the Pet Store

All Cats Have Nine Lives!

Unlike any pfp project before it, each Master Cat NFT will consist of 9 different images, in 9 different art styles, by 9 different artists. A truly groundbreaking experience, this collection will give you multiple pfps and fully-functional metaverse avatars in one.

At first, 8 of the images will be placeholders that will evolve throughout phase 1 as holders nominate artists and vote on potential styles.

Once each Life is lived (or released), you’ll get to choose the Master Cat art style to match your mood and the platform you’re using it on. You’ll also, receive the IPFS link to each style, as well as commercial rights to use your Cat as you wish.

There are over 250+ traits within the Master Cats collection, so the possibilities will truly be incredible!

“No panic in The Lounge🍸. What’s one bear to nine lives?”

A Unique Mint Experience

9 different Master Cats and you choose your favorite!

The Pet Store

Unlike typical mints, where you click mint and wait for the reveal, IX. Labs has created a one-of-a-kind experience where you are shown 9 randomly selected options from the 9000 available.

In part 1 of the Master Cats mint, you’ll be able to adopt your favorite Cat to take home with you immediately!

Get Your Pet Store Voucher

Access to the Pet Store is for Mint Pass and Mint Voucher holders only. If you are a NLL member, your 30/30 Badge NFT is your mint pass to the Pet Store. Everyone else wishing to find their purrfect companion will need to purchase a IX. Labs Alpha or Beta Mint Voucher.

IX. Labs Mint Voucher — Alpha Voucher

• 1st access to the Pet Store for optimal choice
• One free mint per voucher at the Pet Store
• 900 for sale
• 0.03 ETH — 5 per wallet
• Burned on redemption

IX. Labs Mint Voucher — Beta Voucher

• 2nd in Pet Store
• One free mint per voucher at the Pet Store
• 2100 for sale
• 0.025 ETH — 10 per wallet
• Burned on redemption

IX. Labs Mint Pass — 30/30 Badge

• Final to enter Pet Store
• One free mint per badge
• Claimable only by Cool Cats set completion
• NOT burned to mint Master Cat

“Access to the pet store will be granted in 24hr intervals and will close after four days.”

Inside the Pet Store

Once Pet Store attendants have verified your Mint Voucher or 30/30 Badge — showing you’ll be able to provide a good home for a Master Cat — they’ll present you 9 options of a possible Cat for you to adopt.

You’re going to have a long, happy life together, so choose wisely and be mindful of others. Much like a real pet store other may be shown the same Cats as you…so don’t hesitate!

After you’ve chosen the best fit, hit the mint button, and approve the contract to have him delivered to your wallet. Everyone will pay gas to adopt, but 30/30 Badge Holders will keep their commemorative badge, while mint vouchers will burn.

Remember: We’re derived from the Cool Cats of Top Shot, we completed 5 months of challenges to enter the Nine Lives Lounge, and we’re just as diamond-handed with our Master Cats as we are with our Cool Cats…so choose well!

No Pass or Voucher? No Problem!

There will be a maximum of 5,100 Master Cats adopted from the Pet Store for up to 4 days. After that window and the Pet Store closes, everyone can head over to the Shelter to rescue a Cat needing adopting.

The Shelter

Part 2 of the Master Cats mint will take place in the Shelter. 3000 Master Cats will be reserved to the public for free rescue.

Any Master Cats not claimed during the week of the Pet Store will also be sent to the Shelter to be rescued-at-random on a FCFS basis.

Once you arrive in the Shelter, you’ll connect your Ethereum wallet and mint your furever fren!

The public reveal of all Master Cats will take place no later than 72 hours after the Shelter mint.

The Lounge 🍸 is Home to True Ballers

The final aspect of the Master Cats collection are the Cats being held back.

Will every Master Cat be minted at launch? No!

1 of 1s

There are 9 total 1/1 Master Cat creations that are unavailable during the mint. These will only be offered in a special community charity auction at a later date. Until the auctions have been announced, the identity of this League of Nine will remain hidden.

Their serials are #1-#9. Watch for them!

Verified Ballers

Along with the 1 of 1s, 30 Master Cats have been reserved for Professional Athletes and/or Sport Franchise Owners. These cats are for they who ball on and off the court.

They are numbered from serial #10-#39, and each will be a custom-made 1/1 for the first 30 professional athletes and/or franchise owners to join the NLL on NBA Top Shot and collect all 30 Cool Cat Moment™ NFTs.

These will be made to order as a Verified Baller joins the NLL, shows proof of Cool Cat set ownership, and requests a Master Cat.

Gregor Clegane 📍NFT NYC on Twitter: "Tyrese Haliburton just completed the Cool Cats set and joined the Nine Lives Lounge live in the @nbatopshot discord!! Welcome fellow Cool Cat! 😸 #NBATopShotThis pic.twitter.com/4dJnUQbgpS / Twitter"

Tyrese Haliburton just completed the Cool Cats set and joined the Nine Lives Lounge live in the @nbatopshot discord!! Welcome fellow Cool Cat! 😸 #NBATopShotThis pic.twitter.com/4dJnUQbgpS

Tyrese Haliburton, Harrison Barnes, and Kevin Durant!

- Where you at?

We are degens with class!

To everyone else…the Master Cats eagerly await your arrival. In the meantime, kick your feet up, relax, and remember…if you want to ride the bull, you have to master the bear first. You must to HODL!

#JoinTheHODL🍸 #AllCatsHaveNineLives #HODLaMelo #NLL

What is the 30/30 Badge NFT?

IX. Labs has created a badge just for the Nine Lives Lounge!

The 30/30 Badge is a free* congratulatory NFT for all members of the NLL, both present and future. It’s designed to serve as a means for the NLL to congratulate members on completing their Cool Cats set, and collecting all 30 Moment™ NFTs on NBA Top Shot. It grants the holder early access to future IX. Labs mints, exclusive merchandise discounts, private NFT alpha, and more.

The badge is an ERC-1155 NFT on the Ethereum blockchain, with an elastic supply capped at 9,000 NFTs — Series 1. Badges will only be available for a one-time mint by all current and future NLL members. Once Series 1 is complete and all 9,000 badges have been claimed, Series 2 will release and will remain free to all incoming set holders.

The 30/30 Badge NFT is going to serve as your memento of completion, and it’s free* to all set holders as of May 25, 2022 — in honor of the Cool Cats Master Challenge anniversary.

*You just pay the gas to mint.

How to claim your Badge?

To claim their 30/30 Badge, NLL members must first verify their Cool Cats set completion in the IX. Labs Discord server. Once verified follow the steps below:

1. Go to https://nineliveslounge.io/claim
2. Click the ‘Verify Set’ button to enter your Ethereum Wallet Address*
3. Once submitted, allow up to 24hours for the database to populate your address. This step often happens in 5–30 mins, with a ping from the IX. Labs discord once ready.
4. Return to the Claim portal (url above) and click the ‘Connect MetaMask’ button.
5. Connect the same ETH wallet you submitted, mint your pass paying gas fee, and enjoy the metaverse!

*If you don’t have an Ethereum wallet you can get a free address here: https://metamask.io/download

Remember to WRITE DOWN your seed phrase and keep it somewhere safe instead of taking a picture, or storing it digitally. NEVER share this phrase!

If you think a website or Metamask is asking for your seed phrase, it IS A SCAM. If you’re unsure, stop and ask. It’s worth taking the time to keep your coins and NFT’s safe.

Ok, but why?

Because you earned it!

You can choose to HODL and display it proudly.

You can gift it.

You can sell it.

You can burn it.

It’s IX. Labs’ gift to you!

But…there will be utility in HODLing.

Just be aware that there is no possibility of claiming a second badge in the future. There is only one 30/30 Badge per Top Shot account. So, if you no longer have one, and change your mind, you’ll need to head over to Opensea to buy another.

The Master Cats Pet Store

The first round of utility of the 30/30 Badge NFT will include a one-time claim for all holders to receive their own Master Cat NFT — for *FREE! Not only will they be able to claim one for free, but IX. Labs is creating a one-of-a-kind opportunity for holders to hand pick their Cat.

Beginning June 24th the Master Cats Pet Store will open. Badge holders will be given 72hrs to enter and choose a cat. Once inside the store, they will be shown 9 Master Cats at random and will be free to choose which cat to take home and call their own.

Note: 30/30 Badges are NOT burned in the process of claiming your Master Cats NFT. You must simply hold the badge in your wallet to enter the store.

Become a member of the Nine Lives Lounge, claim your pass, and join us on our journey into the metaverse!

UPDATE: Pet Store date has been changed to June 24th for NLL access. (6/16/21)

Why LaMelo?

NLL — Never List LaMelo.

How many LaMelos do you have?
How much did you pay for your LaMelo?

These things are often heard when you get a group of Cool Cats set holders together. They tend to define their set by that one Moment — the LaMelo Ball Cool Cat Moment™ NFT that immortalizes the first putback dunk of his career. But the quest to complete this set was so much more for collectors than a single moment.

Get a LaMelo Ball Moment™ NFT for USD $1,949.00

The Cool Cats Master Challenge

In January 2021, the first Cool Cats packs were dropped. Each pack cost $14 and included one Cool Cat moment with four Series 2 base moments. The set memorialized moments from the first half of the ’20-21 NBA season. This pack drop started what is known as the first and only Master Challenge on the NBA Top Shot platform. January 31st, the Master Challenge was announced, and between February 7th and June 1st 2021, collectors chased 7 separate challenges earning rewards that had to be held throughout.

This is what characterized this as a Master Challenge — unique from any challenge before or that has come after it. It is the only challenge that has required collectors to hold every previous challenge reward to qualify for the final challenge reward. This meant that if collectors missed a previous challenge, they were required to buy the challenge reward from the marketplace. This requirement caused the Luka Doncic Cool Cat Moment™ to reach a peak of nearly $9500 as people chased their 30/30.

From mid-January until June 1st, 2953 collectors stayed engaged and were able to achieve the requirement of 29/29 to complete the final challenge and earn the 30/30 designation with the air drop of the LaMelo Ball Cool Cat Moment™. This is a tremendous number of collectors considering the length of time and financial investment. This series helped to create a bond between collectors that was the first of its kind, causing collectors to identify with the set and wear its completion as a badge of honor. They decided to create their own utility, formed their own Discord called Cool Catz, and went to work forming a community focused on one thing — #HODLaMelo. This marked the beginning of NBA Top Shot set-themed communities.

Welcome to Nine Lives Lounge

Then on August 6th 2021, NBA Top Shot released a blog post announcing their support of the Cool Catz community and their desire to honor holders of the Cool Cats set. They introduced air drops, exclusive Infinite Objects, autographed jersey giveaways, and access to key decision makers at Dapper Labs. The two groups came together to give the community an official name, and thus the Nine Lives Lounge (NLL) was formally brought to life.

In the first days of December 2021, the members of the Nine Lives Lounge decided to gift a membership to NBA Player Kevin Durant, a newly Certified Baller on the Top Shot platform. They started slowly sending the lowest priced moments, but the effort quickly gained community support leaving only two Moments left. Then an NLL legend, ShazzyJ2000, stepped up and gifted both the LaMelo and the Luka Cool Cat Moments to complete the set for the Easymoneysniper. A small group of set holders were inspired by this community-building activity and got together to discuss what utility they’d like to see and how they’d bring it about.

Returning to the community’s roots of “create your own utility”, the small group pitched the idea of electing a council that would work on a community agenda with the funding and full support of Dapper Labs. A few months later, elections were held, and a new era of the Nine Lives Lounge has begun. The council leadership has brought fresh interest from collectors and renewed hope for set holders.

The past nine months in the exclusive NLL discord channel of NBA Top Shot have given set holders a chance to get to know each other, to learn from each other, and have presented new challenges for them to solve as a team. We’re proud to say set completions still remain over 90% after a tumultuous year.

TopShotWizard.eth on Twitter: "Road to the #NLL update: The dream came true last night. I finally pulled the trigger on LaMelo and finished out the Cool Cats set to join the @NineLivesLounge. I love @nbatopshot and I'm super excited to jump into this great community. Thanks @SDANFT @leet3_ @money_ba11! pic.twitter.com/ZkODLO1xzq / Twitter"

Road to the #NLL update: The dream came true last night. I finally pulled the trigger on LaMelo and finished out the Cool Cats set to join the @NineLivesLounge. I love @nbatopshot and I'm super excited to jump into this great community. Thanks @SDANFT @leet3_ @money_ba11! pic.twitter.com/ZkODLO1xzq

Now, on the 1yr anniversary of the Master Challenge, IX. Labs is introducing the first-ever NLL Portal and the 30/30 Badge NFT — the next level of fandom and utility for Cool Cats set holders by Cool Cats set holders. Stay Tuned!

#NLL #CreateYourOwnUtility