Open Source Legends

2 min read Original article ↗

Series One · 16 cards

The legends who built the software the world runs on.

A collectible trading-card series honoring the creators of open source — from the kernel to the compiler. Open-licensed artwork, limited physical packs, and on-chain collectibles.

Card data & art are CC BY-SA 4.0 — fork it, print it, remix it.

16Legends in Series One

CC BY-SAOpen-licensed art

3Ways to collect

∞Community submissions

The roster

Meet the legends

See all 16 →
01Open Source Legends

RSIconic

Richard Stallman

Founder of the GNU Project

  • GNU
  • Emacs
  • GCC

Free Software Ideals99

Systems Programming95

Movement Building97

Open Source Impact96

02Open Source Legends

LTIconic

Linus Torvalds

Creator of Linux & Git

  • Linux Kernel
  • Git
  • Subsurface

Kernel Architecture99

Pragmatism98

Distributed Systems97

Open Source Impact99

03Open Source Legends

GVLegendary

Guido van Rossum

Creator of Python

  • Python
  • PEP Process
  • mypy

Language Design98

Readability99

Community Stewardship95

Open Source Impact97

04Open Source Legends

YMLegendary

Yukihiro Matsumoto

Creator of Ruby

  • Ruby
  • mruby

Language Design96

Developer Joy99

Elegance97

Open Source Impact92

05Open Source Legends

BELegendary

Brendan Eich

Creator of JavaScript

  • JavaScript
  • Mozilla
  • SpiderMonkey

Language Design94

Shipping Under Pressure99

Browser Engineering95

Open Source Impact97

06Open Source Legends

RLEpic

Rasmus Lerdorf

Creator of PHP

  • PHP
  • Personal Home Page Tools

Pragmatism97

Web Tooling94

Accessibility92

Open Source Impact93

07Open Source Legends

LWEpic

Larry Wall

Creator of Perl

  • Perl
  • patch
  • rn

Text Processing99

Linguistics97

Pragmatism94

Open Source Impact88

08Open Source Legends

JGLegendary

James Gosling

Creator of Java

  • Java
  • NeWS
  • Emacs (Gosling)

Language Design96

Portability99

VM Engineering95

Open Source Impact93

Collect

Three ways to own a legend

Physical

Foil trading packs

Premium 350gsm cards with holographic rarity foils, shipped worldwide. Blind packs of 5 or the full collector's box.

Pre-order packs →
Digital · NFT

On-chain collectibles

Mint a legend as a verifiable digital collectible. Each mint funds the open-source projects it celebrates. Optional — no wallet required to browse.

Join the mint list →
Open Source

Print your own

Every card's art and stats are CC BY-SA 4.0. Download the source, print at home, or submit a new legend by pull request.

Contribute on GitHub →

Know a legend we missed?

The set is community-curated and built in the open. Nominate a maintainer, design a card, or improve the stats — every legend starts as a pull request.