Most Essential Common/Rare Genesis Cards: an Early Buyers Guide

I've been told I should post this here, so here you all go! For context, this is something that originated in a google doc shared on discord. I'll link the doc at the end, because it's a piece of history to me, and I highlighted the cards that I am personally aiming for, if you all want to see that.

Disclaimer: I am no expert on the game (yet), nor have I played it as much as many of you all probably have, but I have gotten to legend rank on Hearthstone before and have played card games as a hobby for a long time. I feel that my predictions for what's important will be accurate-ish at least, though nothing here is a guarantee. To help with this uncertainty, I've made a key to sort of represent what's good and what's not as well as a few comments if I find it necessary. I've also looked at Soleone's card ratings that he has so far to gauge certain cards and get a second opinion.

Also for this reason, this is a work in progress. If you feel like I'm missing something or if you think I'm overrating something, go ahead and comment on here or on the google doc, and I will make the edit on both if I see it fit.

Key:
^ = theme specific (like runes or amazons), so only essential if you want these theme-specific decks
? = low deck win-rate (according to GUdecks using mythic decks that include it for the last 7 days) or low data, but has “potential” imo (oooooo). Could also mean I added it after the wipe and didn’t get to check before then. ?? means <40% wr. If you don’t know what you’re doing, unless they fit a certain archetype, you should generally avoid these
(+) = good in certain archetypes (like zoo and control) AND likely to be replaceable in future metas
$ = good win-rate on said parameters, though doesn’t mean deck is good or will be good (I’m looking at you, Nature)

Win-rates aren’t always accurate, as it often merely shows the win-rate of the deck itself, but it’s nice to have a reference, you know? Consider that it ignores the fact that certain archetypes have potential to be good outside the current meta. Also consider that these evaluations were also made right before the core wipe.

If you’re on a budget (like me), I’d recommend only buying ones with $, ones for the gods/ archetypes/themes you are very interested in, or have epics/legendaries that are in the best versions of those decks. For example, if you have pulled an Ocular Fiend, it wouldn’t be a bad idea to get all the rune cards on this list. However, I wouldn’t shy away from getting some cards with good outlooks if you have some extra ether. For example, I think it is very likely that Anubians become good eventually, so I will be buying the cards from that tribe that I think are good or have potential.

Now, on with the list!

Commons:

Neutral:

• Backstreet Bouncer^ $
• Nimble Pixie^(??)
• Dread Pirate + $
• Bonded Warrior + $
• Rune Smuggler^ $
• Annoying Combatant + (?)
• Rolling Wacher (?) (Looks potentially broken, so keep a very close eye on this one)
• Cambion Runelord (?) (I’m making a meta call that Midrange Runes Death will be a thing in the future)
• Tomb Robber^ (?)
• Nephys Guardian^ (?)
• Leviathan Hunter^ (?)
• Foolhardy Berserker^ (?)

Death:

• Burrowing Scarab (??)
• Dangerous Ritual (almost 50/50)
• Crimson Oni (?)

Deception:

• Lightfoot Informant $
• Sleep Dart $
• Smoke Bomb $

Light:

• Master of Indulgences $ (very good card, will be definitely valuable when Light is becomes viable)
• Canonize (?)
• Pharoah’s Double Body^ (?) (Anubian Light looks like it’ll be pushed, and the archetype fits it)
• Holy Writ (?)
• Will rely on Soleone here for the most part

Magic:

• Flying Carpet (?)
• Shadow Scryer ( slightly above 50/50 wr, probably worth looking at)
• Runestorm* (?)
• Arcane Transcendent (?)

Nature:

• Vine Armor (?)
• Agrodor Protector^ + (?) (looks good in both amazons and control Nature, both very likely to become a thing)
• Black Rhino $ (if nature is ever making a comeback, expect this card to become valuable)
• Uproot (?) (looks favorable if Nature aggro becomes a thing, would watch)
• Also don’t know a lot about Nature, so I’ll rely mostly on Soleone here again

War:

• Blood Rage (?)
• Sharpen $
• Deathsworn Raider^ (?)
• Penitent Spear (close to 50/50 wr)

Rares:

Neutral:

• Netherborne Binder $
• Raving Fan (??)
• Pyramid Warden $
• Anputian Magus^ (?)
• Servant of Inti^ (?)
• Bonepact Hunter^ (?)
• Soul Jar^ (?) (looks bad and gimmicky now, but remember: good afterlives for Anubians are very important, especially in Light where we have a trigger)
• Empire’s Footman^ (?) (calling it right now, olympian will be more relevant sometime in the future)
• Trojan Golem $

Death:

• Fanatic of Khnum+ $
• Greed Banestrider+ (??)
• Sacred Lore* (close to 50/50, should probably pick up if you like runes)
• Amazon Hearteater $
• Runed Asp $
• Canopic Hoarder^ + (??) (has potential to be good when a lot of afterlife abilities become a thing)
• Pallbearer (same concept)

Deception:

• Needle-Fang Chameleon $
• Mugging $
• Shade Walker $

Light:

• Ra’s Ascension^ (?)
• Previous statement made for light still stands here

Magic:

• Ancient Texts (?) (looks good for zoo anti-meta, would watch)
• Faraday Cage + (??)

Nature:

• Underbrush Boar (?) (Soleone favors it highly. Makes sense, would watch)
• Revenant Lynx (?) (will probably be a staple in Nature decks once they become good)
• Previous statement for nature stands here

War:

• Master Tactician $
• Iron Kopis + (?) (looks favorable to Soleone, would watch)
• Blast Claws (?)

Thanks if you send feedback, though I won’t always respond immediately; I’m tired, I’ve got midterms to do, and I just did this to lay down the foundation, since I thought this needed to be done.

A few quick notes:

Notice that there aren’t a ton of cards with a $ marking when compared to core. I have to say, the core set is a lot stronger than genesis, so you won’t see as many essential cards in genesis. There are some gods where you probably don’t want to buy anything immediately on a common/rare level at all (think control Magic, for example)... just thought I’d point that out.

Also, there are quite a few generally useful legendaries in this set, too (not as many good epics)… which doesn’t matter for this guide at its current form, really, just thought I’d also point that out. If you got mad bank, I'd consider buying all the good legies while they're "cheap".

With all that being said, I’d say that the only gods/archetypes where it is actually “essential” to get rare or common cards from this set are Deception, general zoo, and rune decks. Everything else is a little iffy whether or not these recommendations are actually good and all come down to prediction. I guess that tells you how strong the core set is lol

I studied the Token Trove and OpenSea markets for a bit, and I realized the base price for a common is 0.0031 eth and 0.0025 eth as of now. If you see a common (or anything for that matter) under that price that you may even remotely want, buy it. The value of a common early on will be lower most likely, but even if that’s not true, you could earn a free ~.001 eth just from spotting out low ballers. Not sure how rares will work though; those seem to vary more.

My priorities for what I would buy would go like this:

• Commons that fit the archetypes/themes I want to play
• Rares the fit the archetypes/themes I want to play
• Commons that I think will be important in the meta almost for sure
• Rares that I think will be important in the meta almost for sure
• Commons that I think have a chance at being sleepers or good with future support
• Rares that I think have a chance at being sleepers or good with future support

Thanks for checking this list out. I hope you feel more confident on what you want to buy after this! :)