The true measure of a clan can only be seen once all of the pieces of the puzzle are put together, and Bushiroad loves to reveal only a few pieces at a time. This is not the time to jump to conclusions about how good the clan will be. However, speculation is totally allowed.

Genesis vs. Oracle Think Tank

Historically, Genesis’ thing has been using cards from their soul as a way to pull off powerful abilities. Because their mechanic is based on how they pay for skills instead of what the skills are, the clan’s skills can be incredibly varied. This has led to their reputation as the clan that steals other clan’s skills.

Genesis is a conglomerate that focuses on business, with several departments including research on ancient weapons, offensive magic, and security. What separates the conglomerate of Genesis from Oracle Think Tank is that Genesis focuses on researching security and combat, whereas OTT specializes in fortune-telling, prediction, and clairvoyance. In other words, OTT focuses on future knowledge (checking the top card of the deck and stacking) and defending that knowledge from invaders/using it to predict upcoming battles, and Genesis focuses on battle technology (trying out different combat tactics and improving their offensive skills). Genesis is a clan of mostly nobles (with some humans, angels, etc. mixed in), whereas OTT is a mix of humans, elves, and high beasts, led by nobles. So while gods do lead OTT, they are Genesis.

So now that we know that Genesis is made of literal gods that specialize in researching battle technology it makes sense that they would extremely powerful clan.

Equip Gauge

In V Extra Booster 1: The Destructive Roar, Bushiroad introduced a brand new mechanic to the game of Vanguard: the equip gauge. This mechanic was exclusive to Tachikaze. They used it to take cards from the top of their deck and place them face-down under a unit in a zone called the “gauge zone”. Essentially, the equip gauge would be a unit “equipped” to another unit until discarded for skill. I guess you could think of a small dino equipped to a large dino that then gets eaten by an even bigger dino. Fun. You can put as many little dinos on the large dino as you want, but when the large dino dies, the little dinos die too.

Genesis turns this concept on its head with its new mechanic: the godly equip gauge. What makes godly equip gauge different from a regular equip gauge (from what I can tell) is that a regular equip gauge is taken from the top of your deck and placed in the gauge zone, whereas a godly equip gauge is taken from your soul. In this way, Genesis maintains its clan identity of using cards from the soul to pull off powerful abilities.

Artemis

In the original series, Artemis was Genesis’ ride chain. It never received additional support after its introduction. Now, the ride chain is re-imagined as a series of cards in the same clan that work together. All three of these cards use the godly equip gauge mechanic. However, these are the only Genesis cards so far that mention this mechanic. It’s possible that they will be a standalone deck that doesn’t synergize that well with the rest of the support (Shitateruhime supports soul blast effects, Artemis has none). My hope is that this isn’t the case. Genesis’s main flaw in G era was the over-segmentation of the clan into separate playstyles, all of which were poorly supported. Let’s pray that this mistake isn’t repeated. After all, what is the point of a clan that does everything if it doesn’t do anything well?

Bowstring of Heaven and Earth, Artemis

Starting off with the smallest Artemis, the Grade 1 gets a godly equip gauge everytime it attacks or boosts. This fuels its own skill to kill an opponent’s rearguard. This is a very nice skill to have to gain more control over the Accel match-up. Though the retire skill is limited to the column, it’s still a very nice utility card that easily gains equip gauges. You just need to be careful not to overuse this skill.

Twilight Hunter, Artemis

The second Artemis needs to hit to gain an equip gauge, but it gains a significant amount of power for having one. The secondary skill being continuous means that if your opponent lets this card hit once, Artemis will have a permanent 20k base. This is bad news for clans who want to be able to attack their opponent’s rears, as Artemis will not go down easily. It’s also important to note that Artemis doesn’t need to hit a Vanguard.

Battle Deity of the Night, Artemis

And finally, the star of the Artemis show is the Grade 3. This Artemis further supports the godly equip gauge by making all units with them unable to be chosen by the opponent’s card effects. This doesn’t mean that they cannot be retired. They will still die to effects like Nouvelle, and since they cannot be chosen, you can’t use them to nullify Shadow Paladin’s retire (you have to choose your other units). They also gain an additional 5k continuously and they gain all trigger effects that are given to Artemis. Essentially, a Grade 2 Artemis with 1 equip gauge is sitting at 25k during your opponent’s turn, and a defensive trigger given to your Vanguard will boost it to 35k.

This unit also gains an equip gauge as soon as it’s placed on the rearguard.

Final Thoughts

Overall, this is a massive improvement over the original ride chain. It packs a much bigger punch and doesn’t rely on having specific combo pieces and hitting at exactly the right time. Here’s hoping that this trend continues and that we can finally get the clan that does everything to do something well.