What started as an experiment for brothers Boris and Richard Vagner has grown into one of the most interesting and popular projects in onchain gaming. Spoiled Banana Society (SBS), their web3-native fantasy sports platform, has now launched its third season of Banana Best Ball, an onchain best ball football contest that blends familiar gameplay with crypto-native mechanics.

This season, the contest comes with a 27 ETH guaranteed prize pool, 8 ETH to 1st Place, plus an additional ~6.9k in NFTs contributed by a coalition of partner communities, including Good Vibes Club and Bearish. Entry costs just 0.01 ETH, and thanks to a new integration with Third Web, it’s even more accessible: players can now sign up using an email or X account, draft with a debit card, and onboard into web3 without needing a wallet.

Banana Best Ball III is more than just a fantasy league. It’s part of a broader push to reimagine how games, communities, and digital assets come together onchain, layering culture, incentives, and competition in a way that feels native to the internet. 

We sat down with Boris and Richard to talk fantasy football, their early days in the music business, and why they believe sports might be the key to onboarding the next wave of web3 users.

OpenSea: I’d love to start at the beginning — what drew each of you into web3? Was there a specific moment or project that made you think, "This is a really viable and interesting arena"?

Boris Vagner: Man, there are so many layers and life-changing moments. It’s been a journey. In 2021, I got on Clubhouse. I started hearing people talk about NFTs, making ape sounds, and diving into this whole new web3 world. Of course, I’d heard about Bitcoin and Ethereum before, but it never really clicked. I kind of pushed it aside. Then people started explaining what Bored Ape Yacht Club was and how awesome the community was.

I remember thinking, “F*** it, this makes so much sense.” I took all of my savings — $1,300 — and went in. My wife didn’t believe I was serious. She was like, “What are you doing?” But I really believed in it. My brother is a Grammy-winning musician, and we’ve been in that world where it’s so hard for artists to understand royalties, to truly be free. I thought BAYC’s art and story were so cool. I wanted to be part of that community. We went full force, and it changed our lives forever. A few months later, I got a job at Yuga. That really changed everything.

Before I joined Yuga, we actually started our company. We were huge fantasy football fans and wanted to play fantasy football on the blockchain. We looked around and realized no one was really doing it. In 2021, we started creating leagues — mostly with Bored Apes — and said, “Let’s really bring this onchain.” It took off. We had millions in sales. One of the big reasons we believed in it was this: when you draft a team, you can buy and sell that team throughout the season. We had a $100,000 secondary sale. That was the lightbulb. Blockchain makes fantasy sports way better.

Richard Vagner: We originally built it just for us to play. Later, we realized, maybe it’s not the best look for founders to be in the contests. But we saw a crossover — people who love fantasy football and people who are into crypto. Both groups are full of degens. Combining them just made sense.

And in traditional fantasy sports, you can’t sell your team if you make the finals and then lose. You’re stuck. But if you could sell your team, or buy back into a contest — that changes the whole game. Plus, if the prize pool is in crypto, you’re betting on yourself and on ETH going up. Double upside.

OpenSea: Very interesting. What was the learning curve like coming from music and other industries into this space? What was the process of getting up to speed?

Boris Vagner: Great question. What really drew us to web3 was the vibe — the people, the community. I was managing Richard, and he got into the space with a PFP. The community really supported him. We hadn’t experienced that before. Sure, he had followers on Instagram, but this was different — more camaraderie, more connection. We thought, “Here’s a community we’ve always wanted to be part of.” We believed in decentralization and in creators being empowered.

There were things we didn’t understand — the tech, some aspects of crypto — but we were fascinated.

Richard Vagner: The biggest one was royalties. The idea that you could drop music or art and get paid every time it resells — that’s huge for creators. Longevity, sustainability, that’s a game changer.

Boris Vagner: The NFT community in 2021 was just so special. There’s nothing like it. When you’re in it for the first time, you think, “This is what life’s going to be forever.” You don’t expect the cycles — the ups and downs.

OpenSea: You touched earlier on why fantasy football — you’re obviously huge fans. Can you walk me through the “aha” moment when you realized combining fantasy and blockchain could work?

Richard Vagner: Yeah. You have a cool idea, but you don’t know if it’s going to work until it’s out there. That first year was crazy. We go back sometimes and read our old Discord announcements — it was wild. There were other products out there, but no one was really doing what we had in mind. Maybe that sounds bold, but it’s true. Nothing at scale.

Boris Vagner: It was crazy. We launched our product three weeks before the end of the football season — super late. But we didn’t want someone else to drop something first. In just three weeks, we gave out $2 million in prizes. First place got a Bored Ape worth half a million dollars. The secondary market went nuts. We knew there was demand.

Richard Vagner: We’d looked into other companies because we just wanted to play. But no one had built the game we wanted. That’s why we did it. Not because we’re geniuses, but because as fantasy football fans, we had a sense of what would actually be fun.

OpenSea: That makes so much sense. And I love that you discovered the gap in the market because you were looking for something to join, not necessarily to build from scratch. That feels like the most honest kind of founder story.

Richard Vagner: Exactly. A lot of the models out there were pay-to-win. You’d open packs, get random players, and the people with the most money could just buy the best teams. We didn’t want that. In our mint, you’d get one NFT that was your whole team — completely random. You couldn’t game the system.

Boris Vagner: And our biggest focus has been on drafting. That’s what makes fantasy football fun. A couple of years ago, we finally created an onchain drafting product — the first in the world. No one else was doing it. That’s the part we’re most proud of.

OpenSea: That leads perfectly to my next question — why did it matter to build SBS fully onchain, from an ownership and transparency standpoint?

Richard Vagner: If you’re going to bridge fantasy sports and crypto, you need them to overlap as much as possible. Buying and selling teams only work when everything’s onchain. You can’t fake it.

Boris Vagner: Totally. When you draft a team and it becomes an NFT, it’s out there. It can be listed on OpenSea. People can search and filter. It’s not just about avatars — you’ve got utility, money on the line, and strategy. It’s exciting. Plus, the collector element makes it even cooler.

Richard Vagner: You can even send teams to friends. Everything is public and decentralized. It’s not living on our servers — it’s open.

OpenSea: That transparency is huge. You can’t always see that level of detail on traditional platforms.

Boris Vagner: Exactly. You don’t always know if people are gaming the system. But with everything onchain, it’s right there for anyone to see.

OpenSea: You mentioned earlier that the degen and fantasy football communities overlap naturally, but how do you think about onboarding fantasy players who aren’t in web3 yet? Are you trying to bring them in, and how are you making that easier?

Boris Vagner: What a perfect question. That’s been one of our biggest goals for years, and this is the year we’re making it happen. We’re rolling out social logins — you’ll be able to log in with Twitter or email, no wallet needed. It’ll create one for you automatically.

OpenSea: That’s huge. The wallet creation process can be such a barrier.

Boris Vagner: Right? And we’re adding credit card payments too. So many web2 people told us, “I want to try this, but I don’t want to set up a wallet or figure out ETH.” We’re removing that.

Richard Vagner: And even for people in crypto who don’t hold ETH specifically, we’re making it possible to use any chain. Since the beginning, we’ve believed that fantasy sports is one of the strongest ways to onboard web2 into web3. Just look at what Top Shot did.

Boris Vagner: It was the catalyst for a lot of the NFT bull run. It showed how sports and blockchain could work together in a way people actually enjoy. Fantasy is the perfect crossover.

OpenSea: How did you scale your business? What did you learn right off the bat?

Richard Vagner: That we needed to get better at micromanagement. Seriously — it was wild. We’d done small stuff before, like a YouTube channel with fantasy football advice. But this was next level. We got no sleep, everything was manual.

Boris Vagner: We eventually had a friend build us a bot just to help announce when drafts were filling. Last year, we were manually counting down: “six people left,” “five people left.” It was nuts.

Richard Vagner: Automation will definitely help. Because honestly, it’s just me and my brother doing this. No big team.

Boris Vagner: The flip side is the community. Seeing how many people loved the product made it all worth it. People tweeted, “This is the coolest thing ever.” We’d see posts like, “Can someone build a web3 fantasy football game?” and we’d comment, “Hey, check this out.” And they’d be like, “Whoa — this is awesome.”

Richard Vagner: That kind of validation keeps us going. We’re not saving lives like Boris’s wife — she’s a doctor — but we are innovating and changing the way people experience fantasy sports. That’s meaningful to us.

OpenSea: That’s incredibly cool, and it leads perfectly into my next question. You’ve clearly built something for the community. How much does that community influence your business decisions? Are you responding to what they ask for, or do you chart your own course and hope they’ll come along?

Richard Vagner: Wow, your questions are amazing. So, with our fantasy football game, we do something different: we use team positions. In traditional fantasy, people draft players — like Tom Brady or Patrick Mahomes.

So, in our platform, instead of drafting specific players, you draft the Patriots' quarterback position or the Chiefs' QB1. That’s a big change. At one point, we thought maybe we should switch to players like everyone else. But we asked our community, and they were adamant: “Do not change the team positions.” They love it. So we’re sticking with it.

Boris Vagner: Of course, there are some things the community wants that we know will take time. We can’t build everything overnight. But we definitely listen. They give us amazing ideas and direction.

OpenSea: Makes sense. Boris, how has your time at Yuga influenced how you’ve built this company?

Boris Vagner: Honestly, they’re class acts. The way they communicate with the community, how they build the product, the organization — I’ve learned so much. They gave me an opportunity that changed my life. The founders, the team — just good people. I’ve learned what it takes to run something the right way. You have to put in the hours, care deeply about your users, and build real connections. Every person matters, especially in the early days.

The IRL connection is strong. People plan to meet every month, they show up, and those relationships deepen. That real-life connection builds trust and makes everything feel more personal.

OpenSea: It flies in the face of the public narrative, right? That web3 is anonymous. But when I’ve met people in real life, it’s felt intimate and genuine. These are passionate, thoughtful folks who really connect.

Boris Vagner: I’d say 99% of the people I’ve met in the Ape community have been like that. Even the newer members — they’re drawn in by that realness. Yeah, there’s the meme coin stuff that can get wild, but the OG communities have built something deeper. I’ve seen people open up about their lives in web3 more than they do in web2.

OpenSea: Richard, obviously, you’re a Grammy-winning musician. Tell me what your Grammy was for.

Richard Vagner: I play violin, and I played on an album by SOJA — they won Best Reggae Album a few years ago. I’m still not sure how I ended up with a Grammy, but I’ll take it!

Boris Vagner: He also does live looping — violin, guitar, drums — it’s wild. He records each layer live, builds it into full tracks. It’s really cool.

Richard Vagner: And I’ve gotten to do some fun stuff in web3. I played at the first ApeFest in New York, and a bunch of other events like ETHDenver and in Miami. Just last month, I went bowling with a bunch of apes — I got smoked, but it was a blast. Everyone’s just chill. You can talk for hours.

OpenSea: Has your music background helped you in building SBS?

Richard Vagner: Definitely. Running a business is way more creative than I expected. You’re always thinking of ideas, solving problems, and figuring out better ways to do things. I think that side of my brain gets a workout every day. But there’s also the spreadsheet and deadline side that’s less fun.

Boris Vagner: That’s when I put things on my little brother’s to-do list.

Richard Vagner: I walk the line between creative and analytical every day.

Boris Vagner: We’re ten years apart — I’m 36, he’s 26. I helped raise him. We’ve been working together since he was 15. I even made him play violin in a band I started with a friend. He was 14. We’ve had ups and downs, but I wouldn’t want to do this with anyone else.

Richard Vagner: We argue a lot, but there’s real love too.

OpenSea: Let’s talk future. What do you think about the mainstream potential for NFT-based gaming? You guys are sort of in that niche — does it go mainstream, and how?

Boris Vagner: Definitely. I look at it through the lens of sports. Over 80% of the world watches sports, and a huge percentage play fantasy. Sports-based gaming has massive potential. When it happens and how it happens is still up in the air, but it’s going to get there. It just makes everything better. Look at Fortnite — people already spend money on skins. Imagine if they could actually resell them.

Boris Vagner: The blockchain just makes those experiences sweeter. Better ownership, more interactivity, more meaning.

Richard Vagner: I agree — and I think most people won’t even know it’s web3 at first. With social logins and the ability to use credit cards, they’ll just feel like they’re playing fantasy sports. But then one day, they’ll realize: “Wait, I can sell this? I have a wallet?” It’ll be an easy, seamless transition. The backend is web3, the front end feels familiar.

OpenSea: Last question: let’s say you’re pitching SBS to ESPN or the NFL. What’s the elevator pitch? What do you want them to remember?

Boris Vagner: We created the first and only onchain fantasy draft platform. We truly believe fantasy football is meant to be played this way — it’s more fun, more transparent, more dynamic. It’s the present and the future.

OpenSea: Thank you both so much. 

Richard Vagner: Thanks, Stephanie!

Boris Vagner: Appreciate you so much. Really enjoyed this.