Last I posted about Genesis: Battle of Champions, the game had some very new owners and big but unspecified plans for the future. A few things have changed since then.

The boys and I finally did our annual pilgrimage “North of Exile”, heading up to Midland on the Saturday of the Labour Day weekend to play some Genesis at one of my favourite LGS. It was good to get reacquainted with the game but I will admit that I spent more time chatting than playing. Fortunately, the boys managed to get more than a few games in and even built some decks with the cards we had brought with us and with guidance from a few of the new friends we made that night. I did manage to squeeze in a few games, relearning much about the game.

The most interesting aspect of the game is the fact that it adds a spatial component (I may have said this once or twice before). The Champions and their Summons move around in the Arena (a 5 by 6 grid) and have an awareness, essentially the spaces they can see and attack. Take a look at the two Champions below. Harlequin can only inflict damage to a target in the square in front of her (designated by the red dot in the small grid near the middle of the card). Yuvan, on the other hand, has an awareness that spans not only the square in front of him but also the two on his sides. He does not have to be facing his target to inflict an attack; Harlequin does. As a result, she will likely have a different strategy to try to beat Yuvan.

As you can imagine, this adds another layer of strategy to the game. And it made for a fun evening!

Since then, the Edge of Exile team has been busy teasing the upcoming set called Invasion. They have previewed new Champions, new cards, reprints and the packaging for the next set. They also announced five new Starter sets, one for each colour.

They’re also busy rebuilding the community and the game’s presence in game stores. It’s great to see them announce a new store or two almost every week on their podcast.

Finally this week, they announced the release date for Invasion. Mark your calendars: Invasion will hit stores on December 2nd. Best of all for the boys and I, it sounds like we will be able to get a fix of Genesis without having to head “north of exile” each time (although we still plan on doing that as well).

Invasion will come with 130 cards. There will be 50 Common cards, 47 Uncommon cards and 33 Rare cards. It will also include 7 new Champions. There will also be 8 Subconscious cards.

It’s good to have an alternative TCG to Magic in the house. It’s a welcome break every once in a while.