Yuga Labs launches Mudwater trading cards on Solana for BAYC and MAYC holders

Yuga Labs, the company behind Bored Ape Yacht Club, is getting into trading cards. Its new Mudwater collection went live on Solana on October 17, 2026, and BAYC and Mutant Ape Yacht Club holders can now claim packs.

What Mudwater actually is

The debut set is called “Swamp Origins.” It includes 120 distinct artworks built around the familiar Bored Ape imagery.

Cards come in four tiers: standard, foil, serialized, and a rare “cracked-ice” edition. At the top sit 8 serialized cracked-ice 1/1 grails, the one-of-a-kind cards that collectors tend to chase hardest.

Each card links a physical collectible to a matching Solana NFT held in a vault, so ownership exists both on the shelf and on the blockchain.

Claims opened at roughly 23:30–23:35 UTC, right after the announcement. The rollout coincided with ApeFest 2026 in Charleston, Yuga’s yearly gathering for its community.

How the claim process works

Eligibility runs through something Yuga calls Totems. BAYC and MAYC holders received 6,551 Totems, which are ERC-6551 token-bound accounts. A token-bound account is an NFT that functions as its own wallet, so the Totem acts as the container that receives and manages a holder’s packs.

BAYC holders can claim 10 packs each, while MAYC holders can claim 2. Every pack contains 10 cards. Altogether, more than 140,000 packs are available to claim.

The claim window remains open until January 19, 2027. The total planned supply goes beyond the first wave of claims: Yuga plans for 10,000 boxes, each holding 24 packs.

The ApeCoin twist

Mudwater also includes an unusual fee mechanic. A 2.5% reflection on NFT trades automatically purchases ApeCoin ($APE), which then goes out to Mudwater NFT holders in proportion to their holdings.

Trading happens on OpenSea, which carries separate listings for Totems, Packs, and Cards. Secondary-market listings showed up on the platform soon after claims opened.

Why Yuga is doing this

A demo of the card gameplay is available in Otherside, and Yuga has said further expansions inside the metaverse are possible. The company also plans to let collectors upgrade packs into boxes and cases, with upgradeable game elements on the roadmap as well.

What this means for holders and the market

For BAYC and MAYC owners, the immediate effect is a fresh airdrop with tradable value. The 10-to-2 ratio rewards BAYC holders more generously, which reinforces the pecking order between the two collections.

The 8 cracked-ice 1/1 grails are likely to anchor the high end of the market. More than 140,000 packs are claimable now, and the planned 10,000 boxes point to substantial total volume, so rarity sits mostly in the serialized and cracked-ice tiers.

For ApeCoin, the 2.5% reflection creates buying tied to Mudwater trades, though its scale depends entirely on how actively the cards change hands.

Disclosure: This article was edited by Kaye Quema. For more information on how we create and review content, see our Editorial Policy.