A small detour today. In the early months of COVID-19, the boys and I discovered a new TCG called Genesis: Battle of Champions. One of our favourite LGS had been hyping it up and we ended up picking up a starter set to try something new in between games of Magic.

A few things appealed to us. Unlike Magic, the game involves a tactical element where the creatures, in this case Champions and their Summons, move around a 5 by 6 grid arena. This adds new gameplay dimensions like movement and reach. That powerful creature of yours could be undone by a smaller one because it is able to attack from further out and evade your attacks.

Another difference is that you start with all of your resources at your disposal. If you have that expensive spell in hand, you don’t have to wait for a later turn to cast it (although there could be reasons to hold on to it). Unlike Magic where your resources typically grow over time, in Genesis, they drop as you cast spells and they don’t regenerate. Managing this finite resource introduces another wrinkle into your strategy.

Your decks, better known as your Timelines, are built differently than in Magic. Each deck is made up of exactly 50 cards which must share the same affiliations (colours) as your Champion. Each card has a Chi value, essentially a power ranking, and your deck cannot go over 250 Chi. While there is no limit to the number of copies of a single card you can have, the Chi will force you to balance out your deck. Go with a few very powerful cards and you’ll have to add more less powerful ones to make sure you keep to the 50 card and Chi maximum rules.

Another plus for me is that Genesis is a Canadian game. It is designed by the Canadians behind Haunted Castle Gaming (including founder Assad Quraishi who happens to be an all-around great guy) and is printed and packaged in Canada. What’s there not to like?

Unfortunately, with COVID-19, we found ourselves unable to really get to play the game (in person for the most part) and we only played a few games here and there. Jump forward to late 2021. COVID is still around but enough normalcy is returning that in-store events are running again and the opportunities to get together with other players to better learn the game are starting to open up.

In the meantime, Haunted Castle continued to promote its game to an ever-growing network of LGS. As it stands today, it can now be found in over 80 stores across the world. Today, they also launched their newest set on Kickstarter. Not only did Genesis: Battle of Champions – Origins fully fund within 30 seconds, it blew the doors off nearly every stretch goal set out and has exceeded all except one and it won’t be long before that one falls as well. (Full disclosure: Yes, I am a backer but not part of that initial 30 second wave!)

Best of all, the new set is effectively a relaunch of the game with new champions, new mechanics and even a new affiliation. It is the perfect jumping point into the game or for us, the perfect time to jump back in! So don’t be surprised if you see us take some breaks from Magic to play some Genesis.