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The top 16 players will compete for a grand prize of $34,900 in Genshin Impact’s Genius Invokation TCG mode.

Genshin Impact’s tabletop card duelling game mode Genius Invokation TCG is about to become a competitive esports title. HoYoverse’s first-ever Genius Invokation TCG Asia Invitational kicked off this week in Shanghai, running until January 21. The event has a prize pool of around $69,900, and will see 16 players compete in a series of live streamed matches over the next two weeks. 

Here’s a promotional video for the tournament:

The first-ever Genius Invokation TCG Asia Invitational begins

Genshin Impact’s strategy card game’s first Asia Invitational boasts a pretty solid prize pool of approximately $69,900 (CN¥500,000), which 16 players have a shot at. The players were plucked from the Dynamic Cup and three separate The Prince Cup Asian regional tournaments, and all of them are heading to Shanghai for the competition. 

The Asia Invitational is set to unfold in two phases, the first of which has already begun: the group stage, which will be followed by the knockout stage. Both stages will follow a double-elimination format where contestants are eliminated after losing their second game. During the group stage, the competition’s 16 players will be randomly divided into four groups in total to win best-of-three games. 

They’ll secure eight spots from January 11 to January 14, after which the knockout stage runs from January 19 to 21. In the knockout stage, eight players will advance into a more intense best-of-five game format. On the final day, things get a little more difficult as the winning champion must outlast their competitors in a best-of-seven match to take home the prized trophy and $69,900. 

Genshin Impact first introduced the tabletop card duelling game Genius Invokation TCG in December 2022, incorporating elements of the main game’s element-based combat into a strategy card game. Much like The Witcher 3’s Gwent, players can challenge NPCs to compete in the TCG or play against each other using their own collection of cards. The card game launched two official tournaments in 2023: the official tournament Astra Carnival: The Prince Cup and the community tournament Cat’s Tail Gathering. 

The Genius Invokation TCG Asia Invitational will stream live on Twitter/X, YouTube and Twitch, with matches running from January 20 to 21 also hosted on Genshin Impact’s official Twitch channel. The game’s latest Version 4.3 update also added a series of new cards to the game.