The board closed
The field was every July submitter. Zaal picked the six finalists himself - there was no vote. Finalists are people, not projects: the whole body of season work carried them.
August Finals - complete
Three battles, three champions.
15 people entered and 31 projects went up across three tracks. The field narrowed to two people per track, and the six went head to head on WaveWarZ in the last week of August. n3m took the artist track, ghostmintops the builder track and uniquebeing404 the creator track. Every finalist was paid.
How the finals work
Two per track
Two people advanced in each track - artist, builder, creator. Six finalists in total, named below.
Three battles
Each pair went head to head live on WaveWarZ, one winner per track. The artist and creator battles ran inside a one-hour Space; the builder battle ran for 24 hours. Battles were decided on an open poll run on X from the WaveWarZ account, the charts from live trading on WaveWarZ, and a judges panel. The builder and creator champions took all three; the artist battle ran without a judges panel. Trading volume was light and the per-signal numbers were never recorded, so no margins are published. Each battle's timing is on its row below, and the results are on the results page.
The six
Two finalists per track. They meet head to head in the last week of August, and each pair agrees its own date inside that week.
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The schedule, as it ran
Three battles ran between Monday August 24 and Sunday August 30. The artist and creator battles open at 5:00 PM EDT, which is 10:00 PM BST, 11:00 PM CEST and CAT, 10:00 PM WAT, and 2:30 AM IST the next day. The builder battle is a different shape: 24 hours, noon Saturday to noon Sunday. Every finalist was paid from the 500 USDC pool: 100 to each track champion and 50 to each runner-up, 450 in all. The pool also held a further 50 for whichever of the six drew the highest trading volume, and that part was NOT awarded - no finalist had meaningful volume (Zaal, 2026-09-13).
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Three mentors, one per track
Each track gets a ZAO mentor for the month: guidance for the whole track while the leaderboard is open, then direct 1:1 prep with their two finalists before the battle. Mentors are named here as each one confirms. Judging is a separate, open seat - see below.
ZAO mentor - confirming
Guides the artist-track field, then preps the two artist finalists for the finals.
ZAO mentor - confirming
Guides the builder-track field, then preps the two builder finalists for the finals.
ZAO mentor - confirming
Guides the creator-track field, then preps the two creator finalists for the finals.
How the 500 USDC splits
Every finalist is paid. Winning pays more than losing, and drawing a crowd pays on top of both.
- 100 USDC to each track champion. Three champions, one per track.
- 50 USDC to each runner-up. Nobody who reached a final leaves with nothing.
- 50 USDC was designed for whichever of the six drew the highest trading volume across the whole season. NOT awarded - no finalist had meaningful volume.
That is 300 to the champions and 150 to the runners-up - 450 paid of a 500 pool, with the volume 50 unawarded.
Who judged
The builder battle was judged by Thy Revolution, Iman Afrikah and paperhandpapi. The creator battle was judged by Thy Revolution, N3M and Candy Toybox. No judging panel was recorded for the artist battle.
Judging is closed for Season 1. If you want a seat when the next season runs, email info@thezao.com or say so in the /zabal group. No dates are set.
Season 2
Season 1 was three months, open to anyone, any tool. If you want in on the next one, email info@thezao.com and say which of these you are. No form, no application - one line is enough.
- Contestant - you want to build and compete.
- Presenter - you want to run a session on what you know.
- Judge - you want to score a battle.
- Supporter - you want to back the prize pool or help it run.
The full field
Everyone below entered in July and competed for a place. The list comes straight from the live submission feed. Finisher recognition goes to everyone who shipped, not only the six.
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