Big news for Genshin Impact fans: Developer miHoYo has released a full trailer for the new Trading Card Game (TCG) feature of the much-loved RPG.
Genius Invokation is due to arrive in patch 3.3, where it will allow players to stumble upon a brand new TCG experience. While the trailer doesn’t tell us much about the game’s mechanics, it’s full of the distinct art style and familiar character designs you might expect from the Genshin Impact card game.
Originally released in late October, Genius Invokation TCG was featured by miHoYo as a “light-hearted, casual game mode with PvE at its core” where “all” cards in the game can be “obtained” (via Twitter (Opens in a new tab)). This is a breath of fresh air, given how difficult it is to get characters in Genshin Impact. Although PvP is possible, the announcement made it clear that there is “no reward system” associated with PvP. However, this new trailer gives us a much better indication as to what the game will look and feel than last month’s cryptic announcement.
Once version 3.3 drops on December 7, so whether you’re playing on PC, Xbox Series X, or PS5, just head over to The Cat’s Tail pub in Mondstadt and chat with Diona.
Is this your card?
Although the trailer only hints at the TCG mechanics, the developers’ livestream has already revealed a lot about what the game has to offer.
Both the streams and the trailer indicate that this game will be much more than a clone of any existing TCG titles. Instead of using a more static resource system like lands in Magic: Arena or mana in Hearthstone, Genius Invokation instead opts for the Elemental Dice system, which adds a degree of variance to the resource management aspects of the game (via IGN (Opens in a new tab)).
Livestreams also triggered item interactions in the TCG, allowing for powerful synergy reminiscent of the mechanics in the broader Genshin Impact RPG. As you might expect, players will build and build custom decks made up of character cards, equipment cards, event cards, and support cards. While we don’t know much about the mechanics of the specific cards yet, Genius Invokation will likely have enough depth to satisfy players.
As a fan of TCG for many years, it’s definitely interesting to see miHoYo take a step into this new space. Given that Genius Invokation is located within Genshin Impact itself, rather than any sort of individual client, it seems unlikely that the game was set up to compete directly with the likes of Magic: Arena, Hearthstone, and Gwent.
However, both previous articles have shown that the game will be much more complex than your typical small role-playing game. If Genius Invokation does well for itself, it would be great to see if miHoYo decides to plunge deeper into the TCG world, maybe with more card decks, or maybe even a standalone game, just like us. Watching with Gwent taking on a life of its own after the success in The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt did before that.
While miHoYo hasn’t made any announcements to that effect yet, it will certainly be interesting to see if the Genius Invokation release is able to change the TCG gaming space.
