Genesis: Battle of Champions’ Big Announcement

Tonight’s Genesis: Battle of Champions Livestream was a special one, and not just because it was their 50th episode. Tonight, Edge of Exile had a huge announcement: They’re launching a Kickstarter.

Cue the collective groan

“Oh no. No no no no no no. Not again. Oh goodness no. You’re shooting yourselves in the foot.”

And, let’s be honest, an existing TCG doing a Kickstarter in 2024 is a huge gamble. There are far far too many Kickstarter TCGs that have unsold cases on eBay for pennies on the dollar and I think that’s the best answer I can give about the relationship between Kickstarter and TCGs in a general sense.

But I’ll go a step further and be the Brutal Gamer, as it were, and say honestly that I am cautiously optimistic after hearing how and what they plan to do.

The biggest and most surprising thing: no boosters or booster boxes or commercial product of any kind will be available, just exclusive backer rewards like promos and accessories. Jason, President of Edge of Exile, was adamant that they learned the lesson from the previous company’s Kickstarter experience. “We don’t want to cannibalize distributor sales; we DO want to offer exclusive rewards for players and fan coming together to show support for Genesis!”

…okay you have my attention, I’m listening.

The Kickstarter should be launching sometime around Canada Day and American Independence Day (July 1 and 4th respectively) with a $40,000 goal, and while there won’t be a livestream next Monday due to the national festivities, there will be a pre-recorded video with information about the Kickstarter going live.

We’ll have more concrete details about the rewards once the Kickstarter does goes live, including the different tiers, stretch goals, and many more, but for now here’s a quick rundown of what we know so far:

• There will be Exclusive Swag: shirts featuring the new art for Erika and Oni, and possibly others.
• We’ll be seeing Variant Vintage/New styles for ~40 Vintage/New champions (HCG cards in EoE style and vice versa).
• Expect to have a backer/content creator/business tier to have name printed on tokens in the next set.
• They’re also including a backer tier to get your face/image incorporated into a card.
• There’s going to be exclusive KS playmat(s), possibly with the Jaelara map
• KS Exclusive Champion arts in foil/non foil, as well as 100 Serialized copies of Alt Art MET champion
• Exert tokens from a local Genesis fan who created the commemorative Invasion Release Day exert tokens will also be available
• Special Ultimate Tier (only 4 will be available): includes everything from previous tiers, all addons, and backer will be invited as guest host for whole episode of the Monday Night Livestream.

That all sounds well and good, and as a collector my interest is definitely piqued, but Kickstarter is an all-or-nothing crowdfunding platform and they ARE asking for $40,000 without including ANY product (which is an easy sell).

A fair number of fans had similar questions during the livestream about EoE’s “Plan B” if they don’t reach their goal.

Planning for more

While they were quick to focus on the potential for success, Designer Will K did point out that the Kickstarter would be a good metric for where they’re at with regards to the existing playerbase/player interest. “Whether it’s 50, 100, 1000 or more people who come to support Genesis, there’s one word that I keep saying about this game: potential.”

EoE has spent most of the past year working to build up a new foundation for the game, and they want to build on that while the momentum is still there, and that’s exactly the goal of the Kickstarter. If it does fail, Jason did hint that there are alternative fundraising plans they are willing to potentially explore, as well as delaying the release of Metamorphosis and Organized Play until later in the year or next year. Confidence is not something the team at EoE is lacking, and they feel that successful funding with this Kickstarter would mean they won’t need to rely on it in the future for yearly releases like other indie TCGs do.

I still maintain my cautious optimism, because while my magpie brain is excited for all of the exclusive shiny things a Kickstarter brings in the mail, it’s a tall order, including stretch goals like getting setup on TCGPlayer for card pricing and having a World Championship in 2024 for Organized Play.

We’ll keep you posted on all of the details as the weeks go on and the Kickstarter goes live. Don’t forget to tune in next Monday at 7PM EST on the @genesisboc Youtube channel for their Livestream, where they discuss the game and give away prizes (including a rare giveaway of a whole box of Invasion on tonight’s special 50th episode).

Are you looking forward to the Kickstarter? What are your thoughts on it’s potential for success? Is there a particular reward you’re interested in? Head on over to the Genesis BoC Official Discord, Unofficial Fan Discord, Facebook Page, or tell us what you think!