Genshin Impact's in-game card game Genius Invokation TCG gets its own Asia Invitational in Shanghai with a top prize of US$35,000

Genshin Impact developer HoYoverse announced on Tuesday (9 January) the full details on the upcoming Genius Invokation TCG Asia Invitational, which will be hosted in Shanghai, China from 11 to 21 January and features 16 players fighting for the lion's share of a CN¥500,000 (US$69,900) prize pool.

Genius Invokation TCG is Genshin Impact's very own card game mode, where players can collect cards of their favourite playable characters and even enemies to duel NPCs and other players using a battle system that employs dice-based mechanics and a variation of the main game's elemental reaction system.

The Genius Invokation TCG Asia Invitational, which was first announced during the Genshin Impact version 4.3 preview livestream last December, will gather 16 of the best Genius Invokation TCG players from all across Asia. Of the 16 invited competitors, four were selected from the Dynamic Cup while 12 were selected from the Prince Cup.

Those 16 players will be fighting to claim the grand prize of CN¥250,000 (US$35,000) across seven days of competition.

The Genius Invokation TCG Asia Invitational will begin with a Group Stage from 11 to 14 January, where the 16 participants will be randomly divided into four groups of four player's each. The players in each group will then take each other on in best-of-three matches to determine the two players from each group that will advance to the Knockout Stage.

The Genius Invokation TCG Asia Invitational Knockout Stage will be held from 19 to 21 January and will feature the Top 8 players fighting for the grand prize. The Knockout Stage will follow a double-elimination format with best-of-five matches except for the best-of-seven Grand Finals.

The Genius Invokation TCG Asia Invitational will also follow the 'Conquest' format in all matches to make for a dynamic competition. Under the Conquest format, players must construct multiple decks in advance for each stage of the tournament.

When facing an opponent in a best-of-three match, for example, the two competitors will prepare three decks in advance and must not use the same character card in different decks. Once they are done preparing their decks, both players will reveal their prepared decks, ban one of their opponent's decks, and start the duel.

Once a player wins a game, they will no longer be able to use the winning deck for the rest of the match. On the other hand, the losing player can choose to use the same deck or change to a different one.

This same format will apply for the best-of-five and best-of-seven matches in the Knockout Stage, just with the number of decks increasing.

For a more detailed breakdown of the Genius Invokation TCG Asia Invitational's format and rules, check out this official video guide released by HoYoverse:

The Genius Invokation TCG Asia Invitational will be streamed live on the official Genshin Impact Twitch channel as well as the Astra Carnival X (formerly Twitter), YouTube, and Twitch channels.

Genshin Impact is currently in the second half of version 4.3, which features the debut of the 4-star Pyro Polearm character Chevreuse as well as reruns for the 5-star characters Raiden Shogun and Yoimiya.

Version 4.4 in late January 2024 will feature two more new characters in Xianyun, aka Cloud Retainer, and Gaming.

Yan Ku is a full-time dog parent, part-time (gacha) gamer, and part-time writer.

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