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Welcome to Genius Invokation TCG, Traveler!
A simple trading card game made by two Sumerian scholars, suddenly turned into the most famous game in Teyvat. Easy to learn and easy to play.
[Hard to question, you think. But no one questions this game. Not the Acting Grandmaster of the Knights of Favonius, nor the Tianheng of the Qixing, nor Commissioner Kamisato, not even the General Mahamatra, who’s obsessed with this game.
Just enjoy it for what it is, and stop asking. ]
You start in the roll phase with eight 8-sided dice, one side for each element.
[Eight? But there are only seven elements within Teyvat.
Stop asking. ]
This is the part of the game that depends on luck and luck alone.
Each player has three character cards and thirty supporting cards in their deck. Each has a different small drawing and a different strategic use.
[Because naturally, the only thing you play for is to win and enhance your strategic capabilities. Not to ask questions.
Stop asking. ]
You and your opponent both then must draw five cards from your thirty card deck. You each are allowed one chance to swap out as many of these five as you’d like, before the real game begins.
[You notice that some of the drawings on these supporting cards are pictures of people and places the creators should never have seen or heard of.
How did they manage to get a reference for Shenhe admiring Lantern Rite? Or Sister Rosaria, out in the dead of night, protecting Outrider Amber? How did they manage to find an accurate photo of Vanarana?
And there. A card depicting your traveling companion and guide, yourself, and your twin. Your twin, a Descender like yourself. Your twin, Ruler of the Abyss.
Then again, maybe you should just stop asking. ]
You each then choose one of your three characters cards to begin with as the active character. Their maximum health is represented in the top left, and their energy along the right side. Round one will then begin.
[And again, a new question comes up. When did the creators meet some of these people? Sure, many were public figures, but some were as close to a normal person as a vision wielder could often get. Where did they go for references when designing the cards? Surely they couldn’t have just made up each name and appearance and have them all appear scarily accurate. Some were even enemies you’d only ever encountered in extremely faraway lands.
You recall that Bio-alchemist Sucrose’s first time ever hearing of the name Genius Invokation was upon receiving her very own character card. Meaning she hadn’t sent in a photo of herself for reference, or a list of her abilities, or even her consent in the matter.
You should probably just stop asking. ]
Each character has an element associated with them. To use their abilities, you must use the correct elemental dice. If you were lucky enough to roll the Omni element, you may use it to substitute whichever other element you choose.
[You’ve never heard of Omni before. Can it really be used to make any element, or could it just be swapped around at will? Does it even exist?
That’s a rather long string of questions there. Stop asking. ]
Each ability does something different. This manual will demonstrate this using the Yoimiya card.
Yoimiya’s Normal Attack, Firework Flare-Up, costs one pyro dice and two other dice of any element. This attack deals physical damage, making it a damage-dealing skill.
Yoimiya’s Elemental Skill, Niwabi Fire-Dance, costs one pyro dice. This attack turns Firework Flare-Up’s physical damage into pyro, making it a supporting skill.
Finally, Yoimiya’s Elemental Burst, Ryuukin Saxifrage,requires four pyro dice and three energy to deal pyro damage. This is a damage-dealing skill.
[As you read about the Yoimiya card, you remember a conversation you had with her and Arataki Itto about naming her skills, an idea she’d got from Itto himself. These names are exactly the ones you came up with together.
How did two Sumerian scholars get ahold of the names Yoimiya gave to her favorite uses of her powers? That was a private conversation in Inazuma, of all places. Sure, Itto was loud— but not loud enough for two people to hear him across the ocean.
Eh. Keep reading, stop asking. ]
You and your opponent will both then take turns using your abilities until you have nothing left to do, which is when you should end your turn. The round concludes when both players end their turns. Repeat this process until one player’s cards have all exhausted their maximum HP.
This concludes this special-edition Genius Invokation Manual. The Genius Invokation TCG Society welcomes you, Traveler!
Signed,
Genius Invokation TCG Society The Abyss
Contact: 666-LEA-BYSS (666 Le Abyss)
Address: Musk Reef, Spiral Abyss
Customer Service Representative: Enjou
P.S: Hey, Traveler? Word of advice, stop asking.