Genesis: Battle of Champions is a
wonderful game with a lot of depth. The depth comes
from the variety of sources, one of which is the potential combinations of 24 champions
(24 if you’re including the new 12 with Origins.). It also comes from the ability to put
as many specific cards in your 50 card deck as you want. There is no artificial limit
on how many of a single card you can use. Depth also comes from the arena, and this is where the game
really shines. There is a lot to deck building of course, but the game’s depth is easily
shown in discussing strategy about maneuvering in the arena. And there is no better way to
show this depth than a discussion on the Idiris vs Ra’Ha Starter Set that came out with the
Welcome to Jaelara printing.
Buying a Starter
Set is a great introduction to the game. When you first open the Starter Set
and play against someone, you may be surprised to find that Idiris wins most of the time.
That’s because Idiris and her deck are easier to understand - it has a lower floor in required
skill to play successfully. Ra’Ha and her deck takes more appreciation for using the space
in the arena to your advantage and this is where the depth of the game shines. Let’s take a
look at both champions and decks and then discuss potential strategies for Ra’Ha.
Idiris Stats
Health: 25, Aura: 125, Energy: 0
Awareness: forward (1 square only)
First Ability: Damage 1, Range 1, Cost Exert
Second Ability: Damage 2, Range Unlimited, Cost 5 Aura and Exert
Affiliations: Thymos, Chaos
Deck Summary = 27 summons, 9 spells, and 14 techniques;
Cards that cost aura = 36
Cards that cost energy = 14
Swifts = 22
Actions = 28
Ra’Ha Stats
Health: 22, Aura: 95, Energy: 1
Awareness: foward-left, forward, forward-right, far-forward (4 total squares)
First Ability: Damage 2, Range 2, Cost Exert
Second Ability: Damage Area 1, Range 2, Cost Exert + 3 Energy; affects all squares in her awareness
Affiliations: Bellum, Axon
Deck Summary = 14 summons, 13 spells, 19 techniques, 4 alterations
Cards that cost aura = 23
Cards that cost energy = 15
Cards that cost both = 7
Cards that cost health = 0
Cards that cost discard = 1
Swifts = 22
Actions = 28
Now for the Analysis
Comparing the Two Champions
Idiris has higher stats in health, aura, and range of her fireball attack when compared to Ra’Ha, but
she falls short in energy reduction, total potential damage, and awareness. Ra’Ha starts with
less health and Idiris will hit Ra’Ha on turn 1 with a fireball. By the end of turn one,
Idiris will still be at 25 and Ra’Ha will be at 20. Idiris could be higher if she gets a
Sunrise Fox on turn 1 as well. What can we gather from this? Idiris’ high aura means that she
could stay away from Ra’Ha and ping her for 2 points every turn until 22 health are gone.
Eleven turns of this and Ra’ha loses the match. This means Ra’Ha should get in close and keep
hitting for 2, while Idiris is either hitting for 1 or using up aura for other things, but
let’s keep looking and dig a little deeper into this matchup.
Ra’Ha has a few areas where she ranks above Idiris. First, the awareness is better for Ra’Ha.
Use this to your advantage when you get in close, such as standing diagonally to Idiris.
When standing at an angle, Ra’Ha can still hit Idiris even when there is an intervening summon.
In other words, Ra’Ha can strike out, but is not so easily hit back. Ra’Ha also has 13 spells
and 19 techniques to Idiris’ 9 and 14. This means, again, Ra’Ha should get in close and keep
the pressure up on Idiris. Keep hitting her. Great cards here are Thunderstruck, Mystical Spear, and
Wind Slash. Focus on bringing down her health.
Ra’Ha also has an advantage in techniques. Ra’Ha has 19 to Idiris 14. It’s likely on any given turn that Ra’Ha
will have card advantage in this category. If so, Ra’Ha wants to close and unleash all
techniques at once. Why all at once? Because Idiris will likely try to back away and start
fireballing again. Therefore, when Ra’Ha gets to this position, she has to think about which
action speed card that starts the stack and then which swift speed cards to use in building
the stack. When Ra'Ha is given the option of spending aura or energy, spend the energy. Ra'Ha
has energy reduction making energy costs cheaper, but also Ra'Ha has less starting aura than Idiris.
Since Idiris has the ability to bring Ra'Ha's health to zero from fireballs, Ra'Ha has a maxmimum of
eleven turns to win the game. This means Ra'Ha does not have to worry about running out of cards.
In other words, spend the energy and conserve aura for cards like Thunderstruck.
Maneuvering in the Arena
This analysis leaves the question...How do you get in close? It will be difficult with
Idiris’ 27 summons. It can feel unsurmountable at times depending on how the card draws go.
However, Ra’Ha has several options. First, Walls of Vadhis is great if Ra'Ha has the first
turn in the round. Going first in a round, means you can set up blocks to Idiris' movement.
One cool thing to remember is that you don’t have to kill a summon
to stop it. You can slow it down. If you are at the mid-game, look at the arrangement on the
board. Imagine your moves and your opponent’s counter moves. Take into consideration new
summons beckoned in next turn. Then decide on likely paths and place Walls where you need it
to allow you to get to Idiris and block enemy summons from you. If you’re at the end game,
use Walls to block Idiris' movement. In the end game, Idiris is likely to fireball you
from a distance until she runs out of aura and you run out of health. You should not let her
run away. Block her movement. Push her against the walls of the arena, Walls of Vadhis, or into
a corner.
Here are a few more notes on moving in the arena. If Ra'Ha goes second,
Walls of Vadhis won't be as effective since Idiris has likely already moved out of the way.
In that case, Ra'Ha's summons become more valuable for controlling Idiris maneuverability.
One more thing about summons - if Ra’Ha happens to have more summons, make sure the
biggest summon is going after Idiris. Ra’Ha needs help reducing Idiris’ health when she can
get it. Also, watch out for those Otens. Otens can quickly ruin a stack of great attacks by
moving the champion out of the way.
You will likely have to wade through several summons to get to Idiris. Idiris has some great summons,
but it is possible that killing those summons will cost Ra'Ha less aura than what Idiris paid to summon them.
Great cards here are Bolt Shot, Chain Lightning, Hurricane Sweep, and Sandstorm. Bolt Shot is fantastic, but
there is only one in the deck. Chain Lightning has potential to wipe out a couple of summons. I don't
recommend using Chain Lightning on Idiris though. If Idiris uses Oten to step out of the way, then Chain
Lightning does no damage to anything. That's right. It fizzles. Use Chain Lightning only on summons.
Sandstorm is also good, but it costs exert, which means Ra'Ha won't get to use her inherent range attack.
The last card may be the best - Hurricane Sweep. If you can maneuver just right, Hurricane Sweep does just
like it's name implies. It sweeps the floor of the arena of summons. Terrific card. You may have to
hold Hurricane Sweep until the time is right.
Another method of controlling movement is through your own summons. Killing enemy summons is
great, but that doesn’t win you the game. It’s true that your range attacks are great against
summons in that you can hit them one space away. This is especially true if Idiris is able to
beckon her Lightless Tibicena, but, let’s be honest, it is really hard to kill a Lightless. Instead,
sacrifice a summon and hold it off another turn. Lightless has an attack of 6. If it has to
use its one attack to kill an Androthera, then that’s great use of a 1 health, 7 aura summon. In fact,
you can trade all 4 Androthera’s before getting close to the aura cost of the Lightless. If
Idiris has to use a high cost summon to kill tiny summons, you’re controlling the board and
have maneuver advantage.
Summary
In closing, my advice for Ra’Ha players is to get in close. Because of the diversity in
cards in the two decks, two games will seldom be the same. Sometimes you will get your Angel
of Retribution out, most of the time not. Same for Lightless. You will be able to play this
set of two decks many times over. But, whatever the draw, if you’re playing Ra’Ha keep up
the pressure. Focus on limiting Idiris’ maneuverability, block as much as possible to get
to her, make best use of your better awareness, and knock her out.
Idiris Stats
Ra’Ha Stats
Idiris has higher stats in health, aura, and range of her fireball attack when compared to Ra’Ha, but
she falls short in energy reduction, total potential damage, and awareness. Ra’Ha starts with
less health and Idiris will hit Ra’Ha on turn 1 with a fireball. By the end of turn one,
Idiris will still be at 25 and Ra’Ha will be at 20. Idiris could be higher if she gets a
Sunrise Fox on turn 1 as well. What can we gather from this? Idiris’ high aura means that she
could stay away from Ra’Ha and ping her for 2 points every turn until 22 health are gone.
Eleven turns of this and Ra’ha loses the match. This means Ra’Ha should get in close and keep
hitting for 2, while Idiris is either hitting for 1 or using up aura for other things, but
let’s keep looking and dig a little deeper into this matchup. 
