Welcome back to the Tribe! In this post we are going to discuss one of the most prolific and anonymous figures around Zed Run – Danshan!
In this post specifically we are going to dive into several things:
- Who Is He
- What Got Him Started
- His Favorite Thing About Zed
- His Least favorite thing about Zed
- Discussion On His Blood Tool
- Discussion On The Recent StakedNaks Acquisitions
- Poking At His Fire Branded Stable
- Tournament Experience
- Who HE Most Respects In The Community
- One Thing He Would Change
- Long-term Vision Of Zed Run
Now sit down and grab your coffee. This is one interview you are not going to want to miss!
Danshan
The Man.
The Myth.
Some might even say – the legend.
Danshan has been a puzzling, surreal, and prolific figure floating around the Zed space popping in and out of every Tweet you’ve probably ever seen on Zed Run.
While few have gotten close enough to get to know him, we want to take the time to share some our personal experience with him before diving into the interview.
On the surface, Dan has a boisterous attitude with a straight to the point business strategy appeal.
He is not the most poetic figure, nor does his demeanor scream “the traditional hero” in the sense of a good comic book.
Although, Dan does exhibit several traits that separate him far from the average Joe.
In our limited experience with Dan, we have seen that he has a strong aptitude for knowledge, an unearthly drive for progression, and could make the devil cut a deal with his negotiation skills.
Community figures and Zed team staff alike could all take a few lessons from his play book from time to time. Hopefully, with him at the helm of the third party development sites, he can help steer this figurative Zed ship towards clearer waters.
That’s our take, but lets get into the Danshan interview you are so eager to read about.
The setup for this interview was a simple question and answer basis with the goal of helping people get to know Dan just a little bit better then the usual Twitter storm.
Who Is Danshan?
I was born in the United States and raised in Portugal.
I currently live in Costa Rica thanks to my job. Although, I have a second home in Arizona.
Currently, I work for a betting exchange partner of a major sportsbook which is what gives me an edge in the Zed space.
What Is Your Stable’s Name?
Obviously, my stable name is Danshan. You can find it here for those interested.
Although, there are a bunch of Danshan spinoff stables that I own for breeding, racing, and testing theories.
What Are Your Stable’s Stats?
At the time of writing, November 2021, I have over 160 horses roughly. It changes every minute and probably will continue to climb into the hundreds over the next several months.
Due to all of my theory testing, I really do not win as often as I would like. So, my win percentage is pretty sub-par around 11%.
In my main stable alone, I have 1345 first place finishes, 1294 second place finishes, and 1109 third place finishes.
What Got You Into Zed?
Originally, I was in a betting slack channel for a few other projects surfing around the NFT space.
One day early in 2021, someone mentioned ZED Run in the channel. Well, the rest is history.
What Is Your favorite thing about Zed?
Honestly odds was the initial attraction. Now it is just a true passion.
The discovery of ability in racing and breeding is the most fascinating part for me.
My other favorite thing about Zed has to be the amazing and brilliant people I have gotten the privilege to met here.
What Is Your Least favorite thing about Zed?
Currently because of recent changes, my least favorite thing is the new ideals that people are spitting out.
For some reason, people think its all about ROI and grinding pennies on the platform.
I loved when the game was about competing and discovering a great horse.
The whole purpose of having an awesome horse was to gain status and be appreciated by the community.
Now people just find the negative about your horse or look at its ROI. I hate that ideology.
We need to bring back the glamour of good horses and strong stables holding them!
Tell us About Your Blood Tool!
How Many Members Are Using The Blood Tool?
We currently have 34 members!
The group is constantly growing and the discussions in the discord are unparalleled in terms of theories and knowledge.
What Started Blood Tool?
The idea really stemmed from my own personal desire to get better at the game.
In the early days, I decided that it was worth my investment of time and money to build my own tools.
Soon after completion, Jack from Good Boy Racing reached out interested in access to some of them. I found out he was even willing to pay for them.
It just kind of blossomed from there!
Future Plans For The Tools?
Eventually, The goal is to have the blood tool group not run solely by me.
Ideally, it will be a group effort and group collaboration dare I say DAO.
I believe in the idea of letting the community decide and manage itself just like the decentralized world.
Are You Proud Of The Tool?
Yes, definitely.
More importantly, I am really proud of how many extremely intellect people find the tools useful. It is truly humbling.
Anything Else?
I think some people secretly view the blood tool as some sort of magic dust or snake oil.
Although, I think its literally the opposite of that. In reality, it simply makes ZED more understandable and relatable by breaking things down.
Tell us about StakedNaks!
When Did You Hear It Was For Sale?
I read the tweet that it was shutting down just like everyone else.
From the response of the community, I could tell people really liked it. It also seemed to have a high user count, so I reached out to the owner and made him an offer.
He was less concerned with the amount and more concerned with it continuing for the community, great guy.
What Made You Buy It?
I thought it was interesting and had some code that I felt I could benefit from having.
I was low key curious if I could somehow use that data to improve my blood tools. Possibly even make a custom SN extension for the blood tool members.
Future Plans For It?
Right now the only plan is to keep improving the system and let it stay as a free tool for people to use.
Tell us about The Fire Brand
What Made You Choose It?
When I joined zed it was right before breeding opened in May 2021, and my first bred horse was Fire Strike.
At the time, Fire Strike was a killer was just tearing up C4 and C5, so the “fire” brand was born.
I am honestly thinking of moving away from it now since tons of people are using “fire” like names in lieu of flames getting so popular.
What Is Your Ultimate Goal With Breeding?
My goal with breeding is so different compared to most in the zed world that mainly want to breed that one killer.
I want to breed a consistent steady flow of +EV horses not just one masterpiece.
Tell Us About Your Tournament Experience So Far
How Many Tournaments Have You Done?
I was in 2 tourneys since I got here.
The first was the Zombie tourney which I only entered because it was a breeding tourney.
Clearly, I wanted to test my breeding worth.
How did You Place In Them?
I luckily won the overall for the Zombie tournament in both the combined categories.
The ZED tourney was interesting as well. I had 9 bred horses qualify, 3 advanced and 1 made it to the tunnel final!
I am pretty happy with those results.
Who do you respect most in the Zed community?
I respect so many people in the ZED community it would be hard to list them all.
The short list includes:
- Upper Moon Racing who is one of my favorite people. I just love the passion for the game he has, and his strong sense of unity for the community.
- Arbitrage racing for their true commitment to the game and their humbleness in consistent success.
- Good Boy racing for their willingness to overlook the Danshan hate B.S. and still take me under their wing.
- Crimson Racing for their constant support and undying devotion to the game.
- Alhambren Bloodstock for his passion for the game and unwavering desire to be the best.
- Moulah bros for their constant guidance to me in being a better player and community member.
- BG for always challenging me and challenging my theories and thoughts with hard cold data.
- Polka racing is another member I respect so much for their great attitude and winning mentality.
I forgot so many and they will hate me for not mentioning them, but I would be here all day.
That is how many people have been inspiring to me.
What Is One Thing You Would Change About Zed If You Could?
I would definitely make the game fun again, way too consistent and boring in the current state.
Long Term Vision For Zed Run – Next 2-3 years?
We need flash tourneys unannounced in the future.
Basically, they would just say join now! Then the click here will end in 2 hours. It would be open class races anyone can join.
A race with super special perks like dinner with a famous jockey if you win the race.
Zed could also give out trophy NFTs for a special wins or people could win something like a z7 filly UUU.
Anything else you’d like to add?
I know people are laughing at me, but the game is boring right now.
We need to get back to having fun!
This game is not all grind, its entertainment first and foremost.
How can people reach and follow you?
People can find me on twitter here, or they can visit my StakedNaks website here.
In addition, my discord name is: danshan11.
My DMS are open everywhere and always to everyone!
Danshan Post
Thanks for reading our post on Danshan!
We need more people in the community like Dan that are willing to put their time, money, and efforts fully into Zed Run if it is going to succeed.
Cheers
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