Genshin Impact’s Genius Invokation trading card game (TCG) is finally live. This free new evergreen game mode allows you to use your favorite Genshin Impact characters in an entirely new fashion. In the spirit of other spin-off card games like GWENT or Legends of Runeterra, Genius Invokation is a mode with a wholly new playstyle, meta, and way to experience the world of Genshin Impact.
To experience Genius Invokation, you’ll have to be at least Adventure Rank 32. To unlock the game mode, you will have to go through a quest called “Come Try Genius Invokation TCG!” Talk to Sucrose in Mondstadt to begin the quest.
It’s revealed that the Genius Invokation TCG was an invention from the Akademiya over at Sumeru. Sucrose, who received some cards as a gift, would like to learn how to play, so Timaeus suggests you head to the Cat’s Tail bar where the people of Mondstadt play the game.
From here, you will learn how to play the game through a tutorial.
How to play Genius Invokation TCG game in Genshin Impact
In Genius Invokation, you must pit Character Cards against your opponent. The goal is simple: defeat all of your opponent’s Character Cards. Select the Diluc card as instructed and play it as your active card.
At the start of every round, you roll 8 Elemental Dice. The dice you roll represent Elemental Energy. The dice you roll will allow you to perform different actions.
After the Roll Phase, the Action Phase will begin. Here, you can spend the Elemental Dice you rolled to perform actions. Click Diluc’s Searing Onslaught ability, which will cost three Pyro Elemental Dice that you can see on the right. If you do not like your dice roll, you have the option to pick the dice you dislike and reroll.
When a Character Card uses an Elemental Skill, they gain Elemental Energy that goes towards their Elemental Burst. Diluc needs three points of Elemental Energy, as well as four Pyro dice to use his Elemental Burst, but it will deal devastating damage.
The pristine Elemental Dice are “Omni Elemental Dice” and can take the place of any element. When you run out of dice to use, you have to end the round. The player who ends the round first will go first the next turn.
In most games of Genius Invokation, you will play multiple Character Cards at once to form a party. With this in mind, just like in the regular game, you can create Elemental Reactions. For example, Pyro and Cryo will create Melt which has a unique effect.
Each party has one Active Character and one Passive Character. The Active Character is the one that moves forward in the field. You can only use skills from the Active Character. To use the other character’s skills, you must switch your Active Character. This will cost 1 Elemental Die of any element.
During the start of each round, you also roll five Action Cards. These will cost either two of any Elemental Dice of the same element, or two Elemental Dice of any element.
Finally, you can discard an Action Card and drag it to the right of the screen to conduct Elemental Tuning. This will allow you to take one of your Elemental Dice you do not need and transform it into the Element type of your Active Character.
Those are the rules of Genius Inovkation. After the tutorial, you’ll complete the quest by participating in numerous duels, including one against Sucrose, Fischl, and an NPC. Winning these duels will allow you to become an official Genius Invokation player, allowing you to fight other characters.
To get more Character Cards, go to the Invitation Board and invite a character to play against. You will earn their Character Card upon victory.
Earn all the cards you can and maximize your chances of victory. The game offers you all of the cards for free, so you won’t have to worry about paying for cards.
