Welcoem to posts!!
in the future - u will be able to do some more stuff here,,,!! like pat catgirl- i mean um yeah... for now u can only see others's posts :c
IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT!!!
TLDR: Invokation Akademy will be going on hiatus until further notice!! (Don't worry, no bad news - read below if you want full details)
=== What's going on? ===
You may have noticed a drop in activity already, but as of v5.0 I'll be officially taking a break from the Akademy! Why? Well within the next month I'm going to be a parent, and I'll need to make time to step into a slightly different educational role as I train up the next generation of TCG player!!!
For some trivia, my wife is actually the artist who has been doing my Bleps and stream graphics this whole time, and I know the cute mascot has contributed to the success of the channel too.
=== Will you be back? ===
Most definitely, though I can't say for sure when. Once I settle into the new routine, I'll definitely be looking to see how to fit content creation in, as I've had so much fun building the channel and the community along with it. Plus, with another golden cardback announced I'm already ITCHING to get back into the caster booth for the next live event (though I will likely have to skip any that may happen for the remainder of this year).
=== But where will I get TCG content from now?! ===
Luckily, there are a lot more great GITCG content creators now than there were when I first started, so you're all in good hands! I also plan on continuing some non-video related content - in particular updates to the Drafter, Tier List, as well as the Deck Guide infographics, so I will still be active. But, the patch reviews and other regular videos are a bit more time and energy intensive so I'll need to drop those for now.
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@Astra_Carnival just dropped a TON of media on us overnight - including the announcement for another GOLDEN CARD BACK!! Surely a sign that Prince Cups will continue, though they've yet to announce exactly when the next one will be where you can earn one is...
There's also a few recap videos of the Prince Cup events from last month that are well worth watching - they did a great job with the editing and I already feel so nostalgic watching them. Definitely a highlight of the year and I do hope I get to attend the next one as well!
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We'll be streaming the CTG S5 finals today in 3 hours! In a no ban format, we'll surely see some Whale so if you never understood why it had a near 100% ban rate during Prince Cup this patch, come find out! Also we have a special surprise in store so you don't want to miss it...
EDIT: Needing to push back the start time by an hour due to tech issues so make that 4 hours from this original post. Updated the scheduled live to reflect it. Sorry for the confusion!
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The Version 5.0 TCG details are out now!! Check out the full post at www.hoyolab.com/article/32434657
There's a brand new card type TECHNIQUES! This is almost as big as when they introduced Arcanes. These cards might warrant their own video at some point. I'm actually not a huge fan of how complex they look, but hopefully I'll be able to explain them easily later.
I may not have time to do a video breakdown of the new cards and balance changes this time around due to some timing issues, but I'll do a quick writeup here -
===Balance===
Cyno talent changed from +2 Once per Round, to instead be +1 Twice per Round.
While it is the same damage overall, there's an important breakpoint here - Cyno skill + talent + overload + pyro Res before was exactly 10 DMG, and part of the reason he was so threatening. With this change, this combo now only does 9 DMG - which is still enough if you are able to hit them with Prospector's Drill first, but is quite a bit less threatening. He's still quite strong even without Talent as he can just as easily get up to 4 stacks, but definitely may affect the consistency.
Propsector's Drill too had the shield reduced from Twice per Round to Once per Round - so now only blocks 1 DMG. This is a super fair change, as before being able to block 2 DMG per round for free felt a little bit too much. At 1 shield, it still does it's job of enabling Chevreuse overcharged balls and other discard synergies while being a bit weaker.
Both these combined should see the Cynoverload deck take a bit of a hit, but likely still going to be good in the meta, at least early on while people are still figuring stuff out.
Whale got quite a HUGE nerf - not only getting it's DMG cap on skill reduced AGAIN, this time from 5 to 4 DMG, but even more importantly now only gains HP at the END of the round at once, rather than immediately after devouring 3 stacks.
This one hits whale quite hard - perhaps harder than deserved. In general, whale wasn't gaining HP often on Round 1, with most of your draw/tuning kicking in on Round 2. However, if you play whale like this, it'll STAY at 5 HP for the entire Round 2, and only gain HP at the end of that round. This is WAY TOO LONG to have a team operating at effective 25 HP, particularly with decks like Sayu very able to deal a ton of DMG on Round 2. It's possible we may still see whale, but you'd likely need to play it in much slower strategies that are drawing a ton of cards while also trying to stall out the game into Round 4+, rather than the midrange style decks whale is being played in. I don't know if they will be good or not, but we're certainly going to see a drop in whale usage - which I'm sure people won't mind at all. It's a pity, I really liked the mechanic but it was obviously proving too powerful.
Finally, Bond of Life was buffed to now be able to negate max HP gain, where previously it did not. I don't think this was really necessary for whale with the nerfs, but I think this is the more sensible change going forward anyway. It always felt weird it counted as healing for other effects, but couldn't be negated by Bond. This was the way I expected it to work, and assuming they balance it appropriately I'm a fan of this change.
===Characters===
I'll give a quick first impression on characters since I may still do a video on them.
Xianyun looks very interesting with her swap mechanic - reminds me a little of Kazuha. She's a bit like Venti, but has a double application on her skill - though it will realistically be hard to utilize it. Definitely potential, but seems a little niche.
Freminet's kit is... so hard to understand lol. There's just so much text and I don't even know for sure how the skill actually works. Still, the burst looks pretty threatening as it can provide him with a lot of shields if you have powerful card draw late in the game, and he might turn out to be a solid Cryo anchor over Eula or Chongyun, as he is of course a claymore for WGS!
Hydro Hilichurl Rogue is probably the one with the most potential, with a fairly threatening skill and a really annoying burst that is able to disable characters using a Mist Bubble technique! Luckily, the new Talent cards can bypass this effect - as Techniques are NOT considered skills, but being able to equip this on a character and stall with a REALLY annoying prepare skill seems like it could be great for decks. Excited to try this out, but not excited to play against it heh.
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Taking a bit of a break from video content recently, but in the mean time I've been working on an infographic deck guide for those who want to know how to play a deck without sitting through a whole video! These should be a bit more comprehensive than the intro I give at the start of Duelist Theater, and hopefully can be used as a reference.
In general, I'll be focusing more on the meta decks than anything fun. Let me know in the comments what you think of the format and design! Unfortunately because of the size Youtube won't let me post it here, but you can check it out in some other places I post content to -
twitter.com/blepthecat/status/1824697620671197393
www.reddit.com/r/GeniusInvokationTCG/comments/1eub…
www.hoyolab.com/article/32210834
This is the same deck from my last video -
Gameplay: https://youtu.be/Q71-CT6EATU
Deck Code: A1GCxhYNAZGxypEOExHy0kgUCoJxOaUUFKEC9TEQFEEy9zQRDILxCcAUDbJBPMURDbEB
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A little late, but here's the updated character tier list for v4.8! Usual disclaimer - a character low in the rankings doesn't mean they are weak or don't have a deck that they work well in. It mostly means they are less flexible in terms of team building, or hard to use. For example, you'll notice characters with prepare skills are about a tier lower than how they play in their strongest decks - that's intentional.
Anyway, here's the breakdown!
== New Characters ==
Navia [S]: While not quite as powerful as other S tier characters, she offers a really unique and fun playstyle, and can be threatening with the right draw.
Chevreuse [B]: Despite being played in one of the strongest decks with Cyno, she is mostly used just for her passive, and a lot of that deck's strength is in Cyno and Drill, not Chevreuse herself.
Frost Operative [C]: Bond of Life just doesn't quite have enough synergy right now to be worth it, and healing is still not all that prevalent in the meta - especially now that Treasure is mostly gone.
== Existing Characters ==
Scorpion [B→C]
Serpent [S→D]
Yunjin [S→B]
Kaveh [S→B]
These should come as no surprise - the latest nerfs were very much targeted at the top meta decks from last version.
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Neuvillette [S→A]: This is mostly a result of the Treasure nerf, as Neuv was one of the best characters to use it. This combined with Tada making freeze a bit worse drops him out of S tier for now
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Whale [A→S]: With all the other strategies being nerfed, Whale is no doubt one of the best characters in the game despite being difficult to play. Particularly in combination with the draw power of Serene, is an obvious choice for S tier.
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Fischl [S→A]
Kuki Shinobu[A→S]
These two changes are related, as Kuki has mostly replaced Fischl as a 3 electro applier. Applying on swap puts you in control of reactions rather than summons which your opponent can play around easily. Particularly in a slightly slower meta, Kuki's 2 self damage matters a lot less.
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Razor [A→B]
Cyno [B→S]
Should be no surprise that Cyno's rework has helped him a TON, putting him all the way into S tier and the go to Electro carry. Razor and Cyno have always had a lot of role overlap, and with Cyno going up, Razor has to come down. Tada also didn't help Razor's best deck with Xingqiu Chongyun Razor either.
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Kazuha [B→S]: Kazuha's rework is my favorite change of the set by far and I think makes him super unique, enabling new synergies and decks. Of course maybe I'm a little bit biased from Prince Cup Atlantic haha.
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Sayu [B→A]: Another result of the meta slowing down, Sayu has definitely become quite dominant! She honestly plays at the top level like an S tier character, but can be hard to use with her prepare skill which is why she's only at A for now.
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Mirror Maiden [D→C]
Albedo [D→C]
Both these characters received a slight rework, and because of that can sometimes fill a niche role for decks that want their effects. Unfortunately these buffs weren't all that impactful, but just enough to pull them out of D tier.
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Alright as promised I made the PRINCE CUP POSE TIER LIST!!!
Quick disclaimer - I know the players didn't get full freedom to choose their pose, so please don't take this personally haha. It's just for fun!
The criteria here was mainly on how much each player COMMITTED to their pose , no matter what it was! They were also evaluated on the VIDEO version of the pose, so the images don't represent the entire pose. How well each pose SUITED the player in general was also taken into account.
And here is the breakdown (I'm spending way too much time on this lol...)
Nyahida in S tier with a simple pose, but executed confidently and effectively! The positing of the hand adds a lot of depth and is framed nicely. Excellent!
Chikuwa in S tier with a heart pose, complemented perfectly by his smile. The fact that the heart frames the Astra logo is just perfect. Well done!
Inzhagi is our final S tier pose. Full of confidence, and had a great lead-in to the final pose. Like Nyahida, the pose itself has depth to it which makes it interesting.
zCrimlet is in A tier with what is a simple pose on the surface, but the double tap motion on the chest and the confident look sells it well. Very solid, but just a step below our S tier poses.
Ting in A tier with probably the most unique pose of the set. The commitment to the pose is S tier, but had to deduct a bit just for the pose itself being a little bit too out there.
Runa lands in A tier with the blowing kiss. This pose had tons of motion, but I feel there wasn't quite enough commitment to it. Still, she was the only one that could pull this off so great to have it in the set!
Enkoe is the final A tier, with what would be a fairly standard martial arts pose, but his facial expression really sells it, and it suits him perfectly!
For our B tier, we start with Mr. Pillow's flying pose! Solid effort overall, but I think the motion could have been smoother, and maybe some more effort to where the left arm ended up.
Next, Dio with a pose very similar to Enkoe, but unlike Enkoe, but doesn't quite sell it as well with his expression, and the movement into it felt a little unenthusiastic. Room for improvement!
Robotwizard is also in B tier, with a fairly powerful looking pose, but lacking a bit in enthusiasm. The palm to the side is also a lot less powerful than something like Nyahida's pose.
And closing out the B tier is Mango. Once again, similar pose to zCrimlet, but loses a lot of energy without some simple additions like the double tap. Still, a simple pose with a direct expression.
And now, our C tiers - starting with KevinZ. He selected a pose with great potential, but didn't quite get there with the facial expressions, and the arms perhaps could have been raised a little higher closer to the face. TCG God, but perhaps needs to work on poses a bit hehe.
Gboo also ends up in C tier with an unfortunate clear lack of commitment! If you look closely you can definitely tell that he looks like he is about to crack up - not the right energy. Unfortunate, as this pose had some potential for sure!
CJRzzZ is in C tier as well, with a good pose, but there are a few minor details - the right hand with the separated pinkie really lowers the power of the pose, and with a raised eyebrow that is not quite intimidating enough. Good attempt.
Minty went with a very classic crossed arms - but perhaps too classic! Now it's a bit hypocritical since the Atlantic casters all did this pose, but would definitely have liked to see something different, as well as a more intimidating expression!
Last up, Shann rounds out or C tier with a pretty cool sarcophagus pose. Unfortunately like many of the other players, didn't feel like he fully committed to it and the pose is lacking in energy.
ONCE AGAIN THIS IS JUST FOR FUN! I really love that they added this to this year's Prince Cup, but I do think the editing/direction from the production team may have let the players down a little bit. But overall, the lesson here for future Prince Cup (and other eSport) participants is to just COMMIT TO YOUR POSE! If you look confident, you'll look good.
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And just like that we will be jumping right into Prince Cup Pacific, starting in just under 12 hours!! I'm sure the players were paying close attention to the Atlantic meta, so we'll see how they respond to what the saw being played!
I won't be casting unfortunately, but I hope to see you all in chat!
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Alright I'm still recovering from the Prince Cup weekend, but I want to feature a deck from KevinZ's lineup for the next Duelist Theater - and since I can't pick one myself I'm going to let you all decide!! Which of these decks would you like to see!!
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AND THAT'S A WRAP!! KevinZ the honored one is your Prince Cup Atlantic champion!! It was an amazing series to cast and felt like one of the best ones I've given at any event, so if you couldn't catch it live watch the VODs on @Astra_Carnival !! As always a pleasure to get to wrap up yet another event alongside @ceciliamusic - as well as both @rintaichou and @Sueme_1 who did awesome job.
The weekend was hands down the best event so far and it will be hard for Prince Cup Pacific to top it, but I'm excited to tune in for that! Unfortunately I won't be there to cast that one.
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NOTICE: Invokation Akademy is on temporary hiatus! Check community posts for more info. No video content for a while, but I may still post infographics!
Welcome to Invokation Akademy - the best school in Teyvat for becoming a better duelist in Genius Invokation TCG. Our goal is to turn you from a third rate duelist with a fourth rate deck, into a Genius Invokation champion. Join me, Professor Blep, as I discuss GITCG from it's most core concepts, to advanced strategies!
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About the teacher
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I've been playing GITCG since release, and have casted for several officially sponsored tournaments, including the Astra Carnival's Prince Cup NA and EU finals. I'm also a long time Magic the Gathering player, which is where my TCG roots are. I've spent a lot of time consuming great content about MtG and learning, so I'm giving some of that back by making equally good content for GITCG.