Genshin Impact: How To Get Started In Genius Invokation TCG

Quick Links

• How To Unlock The Genius Invokation TCG

• The Genius Invokation Board

• Genius Invokation Cards

• The Card Shop

• How To Build A Genius Invokation TCG Deck

• How A Duel Works

• Genius Invokation Player Levels And Rewards

• Genius Invokation Game Modes

• TCG Player's Manual

In Genshin Impact Version 3.3, All Senses Clear, All Existence Void, Teyvat has jumped on the TCG bandwagon and now has its own in-game trading card game, Genius Invokation TCG. It's a classic combination of easy-to-play but difficult-to-master and offers a huge range of cards to collect.

As long as you meet the requirements to start the quest chain then you can follow through a short tutorial and quickly unlock the basics. However, this is just the beginning of your journey. Here's what you need to know about getting started with the Genius Invokation TCG.

How To Unlock The Genius Invokation TCG

The first thing you need to do is ensure you meet the following requirements:

• Reach Adventure Rank 32 or above
• Complete the Archon Quest Prologue: Act III – Song of the Dragon and Freedom.

Assuming you meet these criteria, you should see the world quest Battlefield of Dice, Cats, and Cards appear in your quest log. It takes place in Mondstadt and sees you talking to Sucrose, and Timaeus before heading over to The Cat's Tail to play the game.

The Cat's Tail will be important as you progress, since this is where you can play against other characters or NPCs in a PvE game for rewards, including cards and Lucky Coins, the TCG's currency. Here you'll also speak to Prince, the Duel Saint of Cats, who knows everything there is to know about the TCG, and Shuyun, his human interpreter. Prince will sell you cards in exchange for Lucky Coins, allowing you to start Tavern Challenges and keep an eye on your Player Level. You can also play against friends, but this PvP mode doesn't offer any coins, nor will it help progress your rank.

The Genius Invokation Board

The first thing you'll want to do is familiarize yourself with the game board. Here's what you'll see.

• Info Counters – On the far left you'll see name tags for you and your opponent and the top and bottom of the screen. In between these are icons for your decks, as well as a counter that shows the remaining number of elemental dice each player has. The large circle in the center is the button to press when your turn is finished.
• Support Cards – This zone holds any support cards, both permanent and temporary. You can store up to four support cards at once.
• Character Cards – Here you'll see your character cards and those of your opponent. The one set slightly forward is the active character.
• Summons – This area contains any summons, for instance, Gooba. As with support cards up to four can be on the board at once.
• Hand – These are your action cards. You will draw two more each round.
• Skills – These are the skills of your character in play. They will glow when they are usable.
• Dice – Here your remaining dice for the round are displayed, and you can see the elemental icons.

Genius Invokation Cards

There are two card types; Character Cards and Action Cards. The Character Cards are your main focus, and are boosted by the Action Cards. Here's what each card type does.

Character Cards

All Character Cards have a health value (HP) which appears in the top-left corner. This is reduced by enemy damage, and increased by healing-based Action Cards such as food. Once this hits zero, the Character is considered eliminated. You need to eliminate all of your opponent's characters before you lose your own.

Each character has the following abilities:

• Normal Attack – All characters have one Normal Attack. It costs either zero or one Elemental Die that matches the character's element, plus two other Elemental Dice.
• Elemental Skill – Most characters have one Elemental Skill, but both zero and two are also possible. It costs either three or five Elemental Dice matching the character's element.
• Elemental Burst – All characters have one Elemental Burst. It costs three or four Elemental Dice of the character's element, plus two or three energy. This energy is generated by using Normal Attacks and Elemental Skills and is marked on the character card.

Character skills can apply buffs and put summons onto the game board. The effects of skills vary between characters and are related to their in-game abilities.

Character Cards can also be buffed with Equipment Cards (a type of Action Card) and statuses. The three boosts are:

• Equipment Cards – Each character can have a weapon, which increases damage, and an artifact, which reduces the number of matching Elemental Dice needed to use skills. These are Action Cards that cost Elemental Dice to use but are permanently applied to your character for the rest of the duel.
• Statuses – These can be applied to characters from skills or Action Cards. They include shields, as well as things like a full debuff after food cards are used.
• Combat Statuses – These most commonly come from Elemental Burst abilities and include skills that apply damage over multiple rounds. Combat Statuses will swap to the active character until they expire.

Action Cards

You always have a deck of 30 Action Cards of your choice to draw from in each match. You'll begin with a hand of five and draw two more per round. They cost Elemental Dice to play and can be played at any time. There are three types of Action Cards.

• Equipment Cards – Once used these will apply a permanent buff to a character. Weapons increase damage, Artifacts reduce the number of matching Elemental Dice needed to use skills and Talent Cards apply character-specific buffs.
• Event Cards – These cards trigger an immediate event. Effects include damage boosts, healing, destroying an enemy summon, buffing your own summons, and situation-specific events such as allowing a character switch to be made without ending your turn.
• Support Cards – You can play up to four support cards at once. Some stay in the support zone for a limited time, while others remain for the duration of the duel. These affect game mechanics and include bonuses like an extra chance to roll the Elemental Dice, reducing the cost of skills, drawing extra cards, etc.

The Card Shop

While you can gain a number of cards directly through gameplay, these are primarily Character Cards given when their holders are defeated. Most Action Cards will need to be purchased through the Card Shop.

To access the card shop you'll need to speak to Prince and select the option to View The Card Shop's Commodities.The currency used is the Lucky Coin and these are earned through winning challenges, and completing tasks. You'll naturally accumulate them as you play, since they are frequently awarded for defeating an opponent in most game modes.

The card shop sells the following items:

Action Cards

These are split into Equipment Cards, Support Cards, and Event Cards under different tabs, so it's easier to find what you need. The costs will vary from 500 to 1000 Lucky Coins.

You can purchase 1-2 copies of each Action Card, and once you've done this they will be marked with a tick, so you can't purchase more than you can use.

Provisions

The first tab here offers match invitation letters for 1000 Lucky Coins. These invites unlock in limited numbers as your Player Level increases. You can use them to invite specific characters to The Cat's Tail for a chance to defeat them and claim their Character Cards. Once an invite is used that character can be asked to return as many times as you wish until you've claimed all their rewards.

The second tab is for Card Backs. These are purchased by collecting items from around Teyvat. For example, 100 Cecilia gives you a Cecilia-designed Card Back. The Card Backs can be seen on your draw pile on the left-hand side of the board.

Dynamic Skins

The final tab is for Dynamic Skins which cost from 1000 to 4000 Lucky Coins and are displayed on the cards as they are drawn. They add animations to the card art and are available for all card types. You'll need to search the tabs for Character Cards, Equipment Cards, Support Cards and Event Cards.

How To Build A Genius Invokation TCG Deck

There are two main card types, Character Cards, and Action Cards. Each deck contains three Character Cards and 30 Action Cards. Your Character Cards each have ten health points and three abilities; Normal Attack, Elemental Skill, and Elemental Burst. The Action Cards can be played to boost skills, heal characters, and provide other useful utility effects.

The basic premise of the game is that you use the abilities of your characters, boosted by your Action Cards, to take down your opponents. Characters will usually have ten health points, but this varies when you are facing other mobs or NPS, such as hilichurls.

After an initial preparation phase, Genius Invokation takes the form of rounds. In each round, there are three phases; roll phase, action phase, and end phase. Rounds continue until one player remains.

When you begin playing the tutorial you will be given three character cards; Sucrose, Diluc, and Kaeya. You'll also have a basic selection of Action Cards to make up your deck. This is stored in a box known as the Casket of Tomes.

As you play more matches you can defeat characters to earn their Character Cards. You'll also earn coins that can be exchanged for Action Cards and other items.

Editing Your Deck

Your first default deck will be built for you during the tutorial. After that, you can edit it, and over time you'll unlock new slots, so you can have several saved decks.

To edit your deck simply follow these steps:

• Open your Inventory and select the Gadget menu
• Click on the Casket of Tomes
• Press the Deck button

Alternatively, when challenging someone you can also click where the name of your deck, just above the start button, to access the same deck editing page to switch or adjust your deck.

When playing versus an NPC or character there's also an Opposing Lineup button (an i icon) which you can click to check the Characters you'll be up against before you make any changes.

Once in the deck menu if you click on the button with the three dots you can do the following.

• Set as Active Deck – Choose this as the default deck for all matches
• Edit Deck Name – Change the name of your deck
• Deck Design Settings – Allows you to change your Card Box and Card Back designs.
• Preview Deck – Allows you to see all the cards in the deck at a glance. You can click them to see details of their use.
• Copy Deck – This creates a copy of the deck in a new space. It's useful if you want to keep your Action Cards mostly the same.
• Delete Deck – Free up the space for a new deck.

If you just click on the cards themselves on the Deck List menu then you'll go straight to being able to edit the deck, removing and adding cards.

To change Character Cards simply drag them up to the circles at the top. Hit the red minus buttons to remove them. The Action Cards are on the second tab. The top line is your deck, and the bottom line, your cards to choose from. You can click any card and choose to add or remove them to change things up.

How A Duel Works

Matches in Genius Invokation are known as duels, and they all begin with a preparation phase. This is followed by a series of rounds that continue until one player is victorious.

Preparation Phase

This only happens at the start of a duel. Each player will be shown five Action Cards from their draw pile. These will form your hand, and you have one chance to swap out any you don't want. Use it wisely. After you've made that choice you'll also need to select which of your three characters will be your first active character.

After both players have made their choice the first round will begin.

Roll Phase

Both players will roll eight Elemental Dice. These are then spent to use Character Abilities or Action Cards. As standard, you will have one opportunity to re-roll as many of the dice as you wish. This can be increased with Action Cards.

The ideal is to roll Omni – which can be used as any element – or elements that match your in-play character. Failing this you want elements to match as much as possible.

Action Phase

This is the main bulk of the game. In co-op or matchmaking modes the player who starts the first round is randomized. In other modes it is always you. After the first round, the next round will begin with the player who finished the previous round first.

This is when you spend your Elemental Dice to perform actions. The action choices are:

• Use A Character Skill – Active characters will have any skills you have enough Elemental Dice to use highlighted.
• Play An Action Card – Use any of the Action Cards in your hand.
• Switch Characters – You can use one Elemental Die of your choice to change the active character.
• Perform Elemental Tuning – Any Action Card can be discarded to change the element of a die to that which matches your active character.
• End Your Round – If you no longer have enough dice to take any actions you can declare the end of your round. Whoever does this first will go first in the next round.

You cannot carry over unused Elemental Dice to the next round, so spend them wisely!

Every action is categorized into one of two types; Combat Action or Fast Action. A Combat Action ends your turn, while a Fast Action allows you to continue playing until you use a Combat Action or declare the end of your round.

A Combat Action is – Using a Character Skill, Switching Characters, and declaring a Round End.

A Fast Action is – Playing an Action Card, performing Elemental Tuning.

Each player continues to take a turn until both have declared their Round End. The game then moves into the End Phase of the round.

End Phase

Starting with the same player who opened the round, any card effects are triggered. These include both healing and attacks from multi-round skills, Action Cards and Summons.

The final step is for both players to draw two Action Cards.

The next round then begins and follows the steps from Roll Phase to End Phase, until one person has eliminated their opponent's Character Cards.

Genius Invokation Player Levels And Rewards

As you play against characters or NPCs you'll earn Player EXP and rank up your Player Level. There are ten levels in total and each one rewards Primogems, Card Backs, and other items. They also unlock new game modes and challenges.

Along the way you'll need to play four Ascension Challenge matches against Prince, each time he will have a different deck. These have to be beaten in order to go up a Player Level. They are played between levels two and three, four and five, six and seven, and nine and ten.

Below are the details of all ten player levels.

Genius Invokation Game Modes

There are several different game modes. Here's a brief explanation of each one and the benefits.

Open World Matches

These are where you click on your casket of tomes and can find players out in Teyvat to battle against. They will offer an Adventure Challenge, a more difficult Duel, or sometimes both. Each one will be visible with a card symbol on the map. They are mainly to be found in capital cities, although Inazuma's opponents are in Ritou.

Playing these matches awards Player Exp and cards.

Weekly Guest Challenges

Up to four guests will appear in the Cat's Tail each week. When you are below Player Level 4, one person appears daily for each Player Level you have, up to a maximum of four. Once you are above Player Level 4, all four NPCs appear on a Monday.

These guests will duel with you for Player Exp.

Tavern Challenges

Tavern Challenges are given by Prince and have two difficulties, Friendly Fracas and Serious Showdown. They are unlocked as you progress through Player Levels.

Completing these challenges earns you Character and Talent Cards.

Invitation Board

The Invitation Board has two functions. The first allows you to invite playable characters from Genshin Impact into the tavern. If you defeat them in a game of Genius Invokation you'll earn their Character Card as well as Talent Cards, a type of Action Card that works with that specific character.

The second function is to invite other players to battle against you for fun in a co-op PvP mode. This has no rewards but is a great way to try out new decks and enjoy playing against friends.

TCG Player's Manual

The final thing you'll need to know about is the TCG Player's Manual. Similar to the Adventurer Book, the TCG Player's Manual offers a range of tasks for you to complete in order to earn rewards. You can find it by clicking the icon of a cat face on a book, which is found to the left of the current events icon on the top right-hand side of your screen.

The tasks vary as you complete each page but things you will be required to do include:

• Purchase a Match Invitation Letter
• Complete Tavern Guest Challenges
• Build Decks
• Purchase Action Cards
• Collect Character Cards
• Obtain Lucky Coins
• Raise Your Player Level

The second tab on the book allows you to easily check the week's Tavern Challenges.

Completing tasks awards Lucky Coins, while each page completed also gives you Primogems and a dynamic card back.

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