Brilliant Invocation TCG duelists, get your deck ready because the Astra Carnival is back better and greater than ever!

Genshin Influence Developer HoYoverse announced on Wednesday (April 3) the return of Astra Carnival: The Prince Cup for a second season in May, where aspiring Duelists can compete against each other in various challenges to emerge as a champion!

Astra Carnival: The Prince Cup has two major competition zones, each focused on two parts of the world. We Asians fall into the Pacific competition zone, which covers Asia, Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan.

The prize pool for both competition zones is $60,000 each, with the champion receiving the $16,000 grand prize. Players who finish in the top 32 will also receive cash prizes.

In the competition zones, there are three phases in which players can participate: Wildcard, Regular Season and Knockout Phase.

In the Wildcard phase, players are grouped by region and language and play simultaneously. Matches are played in a best-of-three (BO3) elimination format. After that, the winners from this pool are randomly re-matched to determine the best 8 groups that advance to the regular season in the BO3 Swiss system format.

Registration is now open for the Wildcard Phase, which will take place from May 15-19 in the Pacific Competition Zone.

The regular season will feature the top 8 groups, plus 24 participants selected from the top 32 in the Cat’s Tail Gathering selection competition. The top 32 will then be randomly divided into groups of four and play matches for approximately 5 weeks to determine the top 8 who will advance to the final knockout round.

The regular season will take place from June to July, exact dates to be announced.

In the Knockout Phase, which determines the Genius Invocation TCG Champion of the Year, the victorious Top 8 will duel in a series of offline BO5 double elimination matches, with the final match ending in a BO7 where the best of the best is crowned the winner (sorry, Cyno!).

The knockout phase will take place in August, the exact date has yet to be announced.

To participate in the competition, players must be player level 7, have at least 15 character cards, and be at least 18 years old. Players in the Pacific competition zone can register for the Wildcard phase here.

Genshin Influence is currently in the second half of version 4.5, which included the release of a new 5-star character in Chiori, replays for 5-star characters Arataki Itto, Neuvillette, and Kaedehara Kazuha, and the new Chronicled Wish banner system.

The second half of version 4.5 includes a double replay banner for Neuvillette and Kazuha. If you’re not sure whether to use this banner or not, we can help you decide.

Version 4.5 will be followed by version 4.6 in April, in which the fan-favorite Fatui Harbinger Arlecchino makes his long-awaited debut as a playable character.

Yan Ku is a full-time dog owner, part-time (gacha) gamer, and part-time writer.

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