Genshin Impact 7.0: The Genius Invokation TCG "Trial by Fire: Mind Games" and its three entry locks

Version 7.0 of Genshin Impact, "The Herald of Endless Winter's Ruthless Cold," has been live since August 12, and it contains an event that almost nobody is talking about: the Genius Invokation TCG "In the Heat of the Furnace: Mind Games". HoYoverse hasn't given it its own end date. The official announcement simply states that it is available throughout version 7.0, whose announcement cycle runs until September 22, 2026. In other words, it's one of the rare pieces of content in this update that doesn't put you under pressure.

Except there's a prerequisite, and it's a harsh one. The announcement sets three cumulative participation conditions, and the third one instantly rules out all travelers who have never touched the game's built-in card game. It's neither a question of power nor of progress through Snezhnaya's story: the decisive lock is a world quest in Mondstadt that many accounts, even very advanced ones, have never accepted.

Here are the three conditions as HoYoverse writes them, and the order in which to clear them if you're starting from scratch. An upfront note, because it shapes everything that follows: the official announcement doesn't specify the exact rewards and doesn't detail the rules for each tier. We won't be filling in those gaps.

The Genius Invokation TCG, for those who have never played it

The Genius Invokation TCG is the card game built into Genshin Impact. That's the official French label, the one the client uses: if you're looking for help on English-language resources, you won't find it under that exact wording.

The concept boils down to one line: you build a deck and pit it against an opponent, in this case a non-player character. The mode operates in a self-contained bubble relative to the rest of 7.0 — no Snezhnaya resource, no Original Resin. It's parallel content, with its own progression, and that's precisely why it has its own access conditions.

The three conditions, word for word

HoYoverse lists the following prerequisites, and they are cumulative: you need all three, not two out of three.

• Adventure Rank of 32 or higher.
• Have completed the Archon Quest Prologue - Act 3 "Song of the Dragon and Freedom."
• Have completed the world quest "Of Dice and Cats and Cards."

"Of Dice and Cats and Cards": the lock nobody sees coming

The first two conditions are formalities for a regular account. The third one is anything but, because it doesn't get fulfilled on its own through normal play.

“Against Dice, Cats and Cards” is a world quest, not a main story quest. It doesn't appear on any mandatory path, no banner puts it forward, and nothing forces a player to accept it. It's the introductory quest for the card game: it, and it alone, unlocks Genius Invokation TCG. Until it's completed, the mode doesn't exist for you — and an event built around it obviously has no chance of opening.

The consequence is counterintuitive: an account that has finished the entire Archon Quest up to Snezhnaya can be turned away at the entrance of this event while a much more modest account gets in without any trouble. The deciding factor isn't seniority, it's having once had the curiosity to sit down at a card table.

One interpretation stands out, and we offer it for what it is: the three conditions listed by HoYoverse overlap with those of the card mode itself. The event therefore doesn't seem to require anything more than having access to it. If you already play cards in Genshin Impact, you are very likely eligible.

The order in which to clear the three locks

For a blocked account, the shortest sequence is as follows. There's no paid shortcut, and nothing here consumes Original Resin.

1. Check your Adventure Rank. If it's below 32, that's the only prerequisite that requires raw play time. It goes up with pretty much everything: no need to aim for any particular content.
2. Complete Prologue - Act 3 “Song of the Dragon and Freedom.” This is the end of the Mondstadt arc. We've already come across it as a prerequisite for other 7.0 content: if you had cleared it for those, this box is already checked.
3. Head to Cat's Tail, the tavern in Mondstadt, and start “Against Dice, Cats and Cards.” That's where the introduction to the card game takes place.
4. Return to the same spot for the event. This is the most convenient practical detail in this entire piece: the challenge is started with Prince, at Cat's Tail. Prince is the tavern's cat, and the event's starting point is therefore exactly where you'll have unlocked the mode. A single trip, two steps.

Four levels, and special rules that read backwards

The event features four levels in total. HoYoverse specifies that some levels have special victory and defeat conditions, and that in each level, special rules govern these conditions. Rewards are obtained level by level, once the challenge is completed.

This wording is worth pausing on, because it changes the approach. In a standard match, the defeat condition is implicit and singular: you lose when your side falls. Here, a level can make you lose for a reason that has nothing to do with your health points, and make you win without eliminating your opponent.

Hence a simple reflex, and it's the only deck-building advice that the source honestly allows: read the defeat condition before the victory condition. A deck that wins fast isn't necessarily a deck that survives an exotic defeat rule — the two goals can even contradict each other, when an aggressive line pushes you straight into exactly what the level penalizes. HoYoverse says as much in its own words: you must "skillfully adapt your tactics based on the special rules to overcome challenges and avoid defeat conditions."

Two practical consequences: don't build a single deck for all four levels, since the rules vary from one to another; and re-read the panel every time the level changes, including after two wins in a row — that's exactly the moment when no one reads anything anymore.

What the announcement doesn't say, and what we won't make up

Let's be direct about the limits of the available information. HoYoverse's official announcement does not publish either the detailed figures for the rewards, or the precise content of each level's rules. These elements appear in a visual from the announcement and, above all, in the in-game event panel.

We will therefore not repeat the reward lists currently circulating, nor the supposed optimal decks: none of that is backed by the official source, and a deck sold as universal has a good chance of being wrong at least once out of four.

The only certain piece of information on this point is structural: rewards unlock level by level, upon completion. So there's no point waiting until you've understood everything before starting — every level cleared pays out immediately. For the exact details, open the event panel in the game.

What to do beforehand, because it closes sooner

Since this event stays open for the entire version, it should come after everything that has a deadline. As a reminder, and in one line each, here's what expires before it:

• "Growing Aid: On the Frozen Lands" closes on August 24: this is the closest deadline, four days from this Thursday, August 20.
• "Chthonian Carnage" runs until September 22 at 3:59 a.m., Europe server time — that is, 4:59 a.m. Paris time; only its instability period closes on August 29 at 3:59 a.m., and it's this date that is often mistakenly taken for the event's end.
• The "Frostmoth" Battle Pass runs until September 21.

The practical conclusion is clear. Deal first with the August 24 deadline, then the instability period on the 29th, then the Battle Pass tiers. The Seven-Star Invocation "In the Heat of the Foundry: Mind Games" is the content you can postpone without losing anything — with one exception, and it's a significant one: if "Against Dice, Cats, and Cards" isn't finished on your account, start it now. An event you can't open can't be made up for on the last day.