Too bad about only 1 Raptor; he's a neat bird that I might want more copies of. Looks like a good creature to play on turn 1 of either an Academy or Arena match.
Which is why I own a minimum 2 copies of everything.
Funny thing about that. Having opened and now played the game, I posted elsewhere on the interwebz that Academy is a funny beast regarding how many copies you might "need":
- If you only intend to play Academy, then you only need
1 copy of (each) core set, as it comes with everything you need: 3 copies of each level 1 and generally 2 copies of each higher level spell; maybe more copies (?) for utility spells that both mages want multiple copies of (like Crumble = "new Dissolve" and [can't remember its name] = "new Dispel") although I can't recall off the top of my head.
- If you want to use Academy as an expansion to Arena, then you'll definitely want
2 copies of (each) core set, as you'll want 6 copies of many of the level 1 spells (e.g. Wychwood Hound, probably the Steelclaw Cubs, most of the Nature enchantments that buff Minor creatures, most of the Arcane enchantments too for that matter, etc), along with 4 copies of several of the higher level spells (and at least 2 copies of the Beastmaster's cowl and knife and boomerang and belt, etc, etc).
There are MANY cards in Academy that I can't wait to play in Arena - like Slavorg (great late-game, especially if your Fox/Lynx/Hound/Falcon swarm got annihilated) and the Genie (terrific utility) and Lightning Raptor (good early game), etc. Some of the spells don't even seem well-suited to Academy, like the other Legendary cat (leopard) - I can't remember his name off hand, but he's like a cheaper Cervere, but he still costs 11 to cast, which might be a bargain in Arena but is 2 rounds of channeling in Academy!
