Highlights
How do you actually say it?
After the host cycled through Simsi/Simsy/Simes, symesy settled the matter: as a Brit he says "Symesy," but plenty of people "just gave up and start calling me Sim," which works fine.
From the UK to Portugal.
symesy explained the move: his soon-to-be wife has a Portuguese mother, and between COVID and Brexit the family decided it was time — "let's go and get some sunshine, let's have a different life for the kids." He now renovates houses (currently gutting the whole left wing of one) and imports Danish Christmas trees by the truckload for two wild months a year.
The Gary Vee pipeline.
His brother-in-law sent him a Gary Vee video — "he wasn't that hard to find," the host noted — and down the rabbit hole he went, first into fat apes ("they definitely don't exist anymore"), then Star Cats, then an Alien Frens airdrop from Mason Crow that became the real starting point.
What Blackwater actually is.
symesy laid out the vision: a dark, infectious underground with rats at the core and "the professor" running Blackwater Labs, built to bring back the 2021–22 vibe. The pre-mint experience deliberately makes you work — you "enter containment" and get let in by waves rather than dumped into a generic capture-bot Discord.
Cards over the couch.
He clarified he's starting with a deck-building game (Hero Realms style — pick up a pre-built deck and play a friend immediately) rather than a full trading card game, which is a heavy lift to launch. The goal is a bridge between web2 and web3: "sometimes it's nice to just sit in front of another person and play a game of cards."
Artists sign the cards.
A key detail: the cards won't all be his own work — Web3 artists will create and sign cards, giving them exposure while building the game. The host had glossed over this and flagged it as important.
Your NFT plays the game.
The digital side is a browser, token-login map game where your faction decides whether you cure or infect the world, tug-of-war style, feeding back into the lore. He described a "surge" mechanic where six holders can band their swarm together to cause an outbreak — deliberately more than "click a button and move on."
Why mint into a rough market.
Sho asked whether launching a mint right now gave him pause. symesy leaned into it: the down market filters for real supporters over hype-and-flip, "not just 'I made six dollars on this' — that's kind of junk." He'd rather build bonds and grow slowly.
The containment box.
The Discord requires finding a code hidden in his X posts, and symesy can see the back end filling with people typing "004, 005, 006" — "no guys, you're not gonna get there." When he told Sho the hint is to look through X, she deadpanned that this crowd doesn't like to look, and he offered it as her chance to change the pattern.
Wind-down banter.
symesy figured it was time for another smoke; the host countered that he'd quit nicotine using a "fume" (flavored air that replaces the ritual). As the two traded warm goodbyes and the promise of a Discord code, Sho lobbied for automatic honorary access and then closed it out with the line of the night about her own academic record.
Topic timeline
| Time | Topic |
|---|---|
| 0:19–10:08 | Intro music and the host settling in |
| 10:08–13:16 | Pronouncing "symesy" and setup |
| 13:16–18:12 | Background: Portugal move, renovating, Christmas trees |
| 18:12–27:12 | Finding crypto, early NFTs, learning to draw |
| 27:12–32:53 | Blackwater vision, lore, and the card game |
| 32:53–41:52 | IRL meetups, artist-made cards, the NFT-linked map game |
| 41:52–49:38 | Game design philosophy, working with Alex Lee |
| 49:38–52:38 | On-chain artifacts/serums, minting in a down market |
| 52:38–55:06 | Discord launch plan and the containment code |
| 55:06–1:04:00 | Wrap-up, artists, word of mouth, closing banter |
Notable quotes
Although our rats will be infectious, we just want to bring people back together... sometimes it's nice to just sit in front of another person and play a game of cards.
That's not really the future of NFTs from my perspective. This is something where we build bonds together... not just 'I made six dollars on this.' That's kind of junk.
When people come in and they're typing 004, 005, 006, I'm like, no guys, you're not gonna get there. Let's just stop and take a step back and have a little look.
We don't like to look. You know that.
We're gonna have a whole horde of Degen nerds wanting to have a rat and some games.
I got kicked out of college. I don't think I can give it a college try, super.
Who said what
- Superhighgasfees (@SHGFees, host*: Ran the interview, drew out symesy's backstory, and repeatedly connected the project to broader NFT experimentation and his own animation journey. Cheerfully self-aware about not being a gamer and letting the game-theory talk go over his head.
- symesy (@asymes9, guest*: The subject — laid out Blackwater's lore, the deck-building and browser game, the artist-signed cards, and his slow-and-steady, community-first philosophy for launching in a soft market.
- Sho (@AgogoKaren*: Joined late with the practical questions — mint date, reservations about launching now, and how to actually get into the Discord — and supplied much of the closing comedy.
Worth a full listen
- 28:02–41:52 The full Blackwater walkthrough. The lore, the deck-building vs. TCG distinction, artist-made cards, and the faction/surge map mechanic all connect in a way the bullet points can't fully carry.
- 53:25–55:06 The containment-code bit, where symesy's view of the back-end and Sho's resistance to reading instructions make the pre-mint gimmick land as a genuine running gag.
- 1:01:28–1:04:06 The unhurried wind-down: quitting nicotine via "flavored air," the honorary-access lobbying, and Sho's college kicker.
* some voices are identified from context; those names are marked as likely.
