Genshin Impact: Ayamiya (Ayaka + Yoimiya) Genius Invokation TCG Deck Guide

As Travelers grow more accustomed to the new Genius Invokation TCG game mode in Genshin Impact, plenty of powerful decks and strategies are beginning to emerge. Like any good card game, Genius Invokation TCG provides a bunch of options for players to tinker with. If you want to see how to build some other powerful decks, you can find our guide on the Collei Quicken Deck, the Freeze Shutdown Deck or the Geo Stall Deck here.

One such deck is the Ayamiya Deck. Named after two of its key two key Character Cards (Kamisato Ayaka and Yoimiya), this deck has risen through the ranks in popularity and power. It is a very good deck, capable of destroying your opponents in a few turns or less.

Here’s how to build the potent Ayamiya Deck in Genshin Impact’s Genius Invokation TCG.

Want more Genshin Impact articles and content? You can find more here on KeenGamer:

1. Genshin Impact: Collei Quicken Genius Invokation TCG Deck Guide
2. Genshin Impact: How to Easily Get Dynamic Skins for Genius Invokation TCG
3. Genshin Impact: The Oceanid’s Concern Tavern Challenge Guide
4. Genshin Impact Wanderer (Scaramouche) Best Build Guide
5. Genshin Impact Faruzan Best Build Guide

Deck Overview

First, let’s go over the cards used in this deck. This will be broken down into Essential Cards which should go into every version of the Ayamiya Deck, and Non-Essential Cards which, while massively helpful in certain situations, can be swapped around as needed.

The Essential Cards for this Deck are:

• Kamisato Ayaka (Character Card)
• Yoimiya (Character Card)
• Fatui Pyro Agent (Character Card)
• Gambler’s Earrings x2 (Equipment Card)
• Paimon x2 (Support Card)
• Liu Su x2 (Support Card)
• NRE x2 (Support Card) 
• Strategize x1 (Event Card)
• Starsigns x2 (Event Card)
• Calx’s Arts x2 (Event Card)
• Leave it to Me! x2 (Event Card)
• Changing Shifts x2 (Event Card)
• Minty Meat Rolls x2 (Event Card)
• Northern Smoked Chicken x2 (Event Card)
• Elemental Resonance: Woven Flames x2 (Event Card)
• Elemental Resonance: Fervent Flames x1 (Event Card)

Essential Cards

The Non-Essential Cards for this Deck include:

• Liben x2 (Support Card)
• Chef Mao x1 (Support Card)
• Parametric Transformer x2 (Support Card)
• Send Off x1 (Event Card)
• Lotus Flower Crisp x1 (Event Card)

You must have 30 of the standard Cards to make a Full Deck. Mix and match the Non-Essentials until you get to a point where you are comfortable: some of them serve to give the team even more damage, some act to make it more consistent and able to play while luck isn’t on your side and others still are just great cards. Whatever you pick, the Essential Cards should still carry you most of the way.

Now, let’s go a bit more in-depth into each of these Cards.

Non-Essential Cards

Character Cards

Kamisato Ayaka

Kamisato Ayaka is our first Character Card and she serves as the main damage dealer for our combos. She is a Cryo Character, with a few special mechanics. 

Ayaka’s Abilities are: 

• Kamisato Art: Kabuki (Normal Attack): Deals 2 Physical DMG.
• Kamisato Art: Hyouka (Elemental Skill): Deals 3 Cryo DMG.
• Kamisato Art: Soumetsu (Elemental Burst): Deals 4 Cryo DMG, summons 1 Frostflake Seki no to (2 Cryo DMG to opposing Active Character for 2 End Phases)
• Kamisato Art: Senho (Passive Skill): When switched to be the active character, this character gains Cryo-Elemental Infusion.

The main things that you need to pay attention to with Ayaka are her Normal Attack and her Passive Skill. Unlike some other Genius Invokation TCG Decks in Genshin Impact, the Ayamiya Deck relies heavily on Infused Reactions from Normal Attacks that use Ayaka’s Passive and Yoimiya together to deal absolutely insane damage built around the Melt Reaction. 

Ayaka Character Card

Yoimiya

Yoimiya is our next Character Card. She is who you will be using for the majority of the match, as well as the person who will be setting up your team for big Melt Reactions.

Yoimiya’s Abilities are:

• Firework Flare-Up (Normal Attack): Deals 2 Physical DMG.
• Niwabi Fire-Dance (Elemental Skill): This character gains Niwabi Enshou. (This Skill does not grant Burst Energy) (Niwabi Enshou increases Normal Attack DMG +1 and converts Normal Attack to Pyro DMG for 2 Uses)
• Ryuukin Saxifrage (Elemental Burst): Deals 3 Pyro DMG, creates 1 Aurous Blaze. (After your character other than Yoimiya uses a Skill: Deal 1 Pyro DMG, Duration of 2 Rounds).

For the Queen of Summer, the main focus will be on building her Burst as soon as possible. Considering that you only need 2 Burst Energy for it, you should hopefully reach it rather quickly. The Aurous Blaze buff alongside the Cryo Infusion from Ayaka’s Passive is what allows this Deck to work. Together, they can strip away the health of their opponents at blazing speed. 

Yoimiya Character Card

Fatui Pyro Agent

Last up is the Fatui Pyro Agent. Admittedly, he is the weakest link in this Deck, as he doesn’t directly tie to either Ayaka or Yoimiya. However, he still has a place, especially for allowing certain Cards to make it into the Deck or for soaking up damage. 

The Fatui Pyro Agent’s Abilities are:

• Thrust (Normal Attack): Deals 2 Physical DMG
• Prowl (Elemental Skill): Deals 1 Pyro DMG. This character gains Stealth. (A character with Stealth takes -1 DMG and deals +1 DMG for 2 Uses)
• Blade Ablaze (Elemental Burst): Deals 5 Pyro DMG.
• Stealth Master (Passive Skill): When the battle begins, this character gains Stealth. 

While his abilities and attacks may not directly influence Yoimiya or Ayaka, the Pyro Agent still has an important role to play. With Stealth active right from the get-go, he is surprisingly tanky allowing you to sub him in when you need a moment to breathe. Alongside that, he can generate Burst Energy to transfer to Yoimiya with Calx’s Arts, allowing the team to get back into the standard combo even faster.

Fatui Pyro Agent

Other Cards

Equipment Cards

In the standard edition of this Deck, there is only a single Equipment Card: Gambler’s Earrings. There are a few reasons for this (mainly because of how stacked the rest of the Deck is) but there are likely places where other Equipment Cards could slot in.

What makes the Gambler’s Earrings such a potent card is that it gives Ayaka more chances to pull off her combo. The effect on the Gambler’s Earrings creates x2 Omni Element Dice if the equipped character defeats an opponent. In this deck, you aim to destroy the opposing Character Cards in a turn, taking them from full to nothing in an instant thanks to Melt and additional damage buffs. If you can make this happen, Gambler’s Earrings just make the loop work even better by constantly giving you back enough Dice to keep on attacking with Ayaka. 

Some other Equipment Cards that could be considered are the Witch’s Scorching Hat and the Crimson Witch of Flame Cards. These wouldn’t interrupt the rhythm you would have with the Gambler’s Earrings, allowing Ayaka to keep on mowing through her foes, but they would benefit Yoimiya. By reducing the cost of her Normal Attacks, she could build up her Burst quicker, and cheaper, than before, letting the Melt combo start again earlier. While sound in theory, it does ask you to give up precious Dice that could be used on just attacking and building up the Burst Energy that way. Either way, it is the dealer’s choice. 

Gambler’s Earrings

Support Cards

There are a few Support Cards, but there are a few Essential Cards. Paimon is a pretty costly card at 3 Matching Elemental Dice, but the benefit is massive. For 2 Rounds after being placed on the field, she will give you an additional 2 Omni Element Dice. These don’t replace any Dice, either, giving you a grand total of 10 Dice for 2 Rounds. This is an incredible boon, especially in a team relying on using as many Normal Attacks as they can in a single turn. Paimon shouldn’t be underestimated in this deck.

Meanwhile, Liu Su exists to build up the Burst Energy of your character cards. This is primarily beneficial to Yoimiya (whose Burst is required to make this team sing) but it will likely help aid Ayaka and the Pyro Agent too. After placing Liu Su down, once per turn, you add a free Burst Energy to a Character Chard you witch to which doesn’t have any Energy. If the match drags on slightly longer than you anticipate, this lets Yoimiya get her Burst back quicker and lets you get back into the core combo, too.

Paimon Support

The NRE is an interesting Card. When you play it, you instantly draw 1 Food Event Card from your Deck. Then, whenever you play a Food Card, you draw another Food Event Card once per round. As we previously revealed, this Deck has a lot of Food Event Cards (Minty Meat Rolls in particular are used to decrease the cost of Ayaka’s Normal Attack to maximise how many she can deal in one Round) so this is a great pick to not only get the right ones in your hand but keep them there.

As for the Non-Essential Cards, we have Liben and Chef Mao. Liben is a good choice thanks to his ability to create additional Dice as well as 2 additional Cards. However, often with the Ayamiya Deck, you will be using every single one of your Dice to get the most out of each round, making Liben feel useless in some situations.

Then there’s Chef Mao who can, once again, create Dice for you each time you play a Food Event Card. There are several important Food Cards in this Deck, making it a good pick if you can get the rhythm going. Although, some may see the inclusion of Chef Mao as a bit pointless, as other Event Cards may overpower him in terms of usefulness. Still, he is likely to be a strong choice in most situations if you decide to add him. 

Chef Mao

Event Cards

There are a lot of useful Event Cards in this Deck, Essential and Non-Essential alike. The main ones I’ll be discussing here require a bit more explanation (Cards like Calx’s Arts and Starsigns are obvious in their ability to generate more Burst Energy for Yoimiya, for example).

Elemental Resonance: Woven Flames is obvious in how it gives Yoimiya more Dice to use. Its partner, Fervent Flames, though, is slightly more interesting. This card adds +3 DMG to your next Pyro-Related Reaction after you have played it. You should play this card not when using Yoimiya, but when you are using Ayaka on her Cryo Infusion + Aurous Star cycle. Melt counts as a Pyro-Related Reaction even though Ayaka is Cryo, making this a great way to shred through the enemy’s health.

Parametric Transformer is a Non-Essential pick, but it is still insanely useful. Whenever either side uses a Skill and deals Elemental DMG, this card gains 1 Qualitative Progress. When it reaches 3 stacks, the card is discarded and you gain 3 different Basic Elemental Dice in its place. Once again, this is used to gain more uses of Ayaka’s Normal Attack, allowing her to dominate the opposing side of the match with ease.

Fervent Flames

Ayamiya Deck Playstyle

Combos

Next, here are the main combos that exist within the Deck. These are Cards that you will want to remember and play together to best move the Deck forward.

• Yoimiya + Starsigns / Calx’s Art: Both of these Cards are useful for increasing Yoimiya’s Burst Energy, allowing her to cast her Burst as soon as possible. Starsigns is better for the early game, as it is an immediate shot in the arm for her Burst meter, while Calx’s Art is great on your second (or third) go-around the combo cycle. 
• Kamisato Ayaka + Leave it to Me! + Changing Tides: Saving these Cards and then using them together will allow you to instantly go from Yoimiya to Ayaka without paying any Dice and as a Fast Action, letting Ayaka do her Melt magic on the same turn.
• Kamisato Ayaka + Minty Meat Rolls: This reduces the amount of Elemental Dice it takes for Ayaka to use her Normal Attack for an entire round. This potentially allows her to pull off one or two more Cryo-infused, Melt-making attacks. 
• NRE + Minty Meat Rolls (+ Chef Mao): The NRE is a great tool for making sure that you have the Minty Meat Rolls to give to Ayaka before she attacks. If you have Chef Mao active on the field, this gets even better as he will give you a free Dice that (if you’re lucky) can be used for more attacks on Ayaka.

A Perfect Start

Flow State

Let’s go over how you actually put this deck into action. During duels, the general flow of combat should probably go as follows:

1. When the game starts, select Yoimiya as your Active Character
2. Build up Yoimiya’s Burst Energy any way you can (Starsigns, Paimon, Normal Attacks, etc.) until her Elemental Burst is ready. Cast it when ready to gain Aurous Blaze, then end the turn. 
3. On your next turn, switch to Ayaka (easier to do if you can play Leave it to Me! and Changing Shifts to minimise time and Dice cost).
4. When you switch to Ayaka, she will become Cryo-infused for one Round. During said Round, cast as many instances of your Normal Attack as possible: use Minty Meat Rolls to reduce the cost of her Normal Attack and equip the Gambler’s Earrings if you can. This should trigger Melt, allowing for big damage and knock-outs.
5. After the round comes to an end, Ayaka will lose her Cryo infusion and Aurous Blaze. Switch out to Yoimiya to begin the cycle again.
6. Rinse and repeat until victory is achieved.

The main flow state of this deck is getting the stars to align. You need to have Yoimiya’s Burst active before you switch to Ayaka so that you can take full effect of the Cryo Infusion. Do not switch to Ayaka at the end of a Round. This will cause her infusion passive to trigger and not be available for damage.

If at any point the situation gets a bit hairy (you don’t have enough Burst Energy, Cards are weak, health is low) do not be afraid to switch to the Fatui Pyro Agent. He is there to tank damage and allows you to prepare Yoimiya for her Burst. Attack with him to clean up low-health targets, then use Calx’s Art to transfer his Burst Energy to Yoimiya. 

As this is all happening, make sure to cast your Event and Support Cards as the match goes on. Neglecting them will often cost you the game, as things like NRE can give you just the Cards you need. Activate Fervent Flames when you’re about to attack with Ayaka for bonus DMG on the next Melt combo. 

Keep all of this in mind, and victory will come swiftly.

A Definitive Victory

General Advice, Strengths and Weaknesses

Finally, some general advice when running the Ayamiya Deck in Genshin Impact. 

The main thing to remember about this Deck is that it is all about timing. In most circumstances, you get a single Round where everything comes together. You need Yoimiya��s Burst active, you need Ayaka to have her Cryo Infusion, you need to have the Food buffs and Equipment Buffs, as well as the sheer number of Elemental Dice to pull off the numerous Normal Attacks you plan on using. There is a lot that can go flipside very fast.

In particular, remember not to switch in Ayaka too early. It may seem smart to switch to Ayaka before the end of the Round, allowing you to instantly use her at the start of the next Round for her big damage. However, her Cryo Infusion only lasts for the Round you switch to her, disappearing on subsequent Rounds. As such, if you change to her too early, you will lose your chance for big Melt DMG, wasting the majority of your Deck (which is built around making Normal Attacks specifically stronger and less costly). 

In general, this Deck will clear through the majority of other Genius Invokation Decks but struggle against any that plan to disrupt you. Any Deck that needs to be set up, such as a Deck built around Summons, will likely take longer to reach maximum power than it will take the Ayamiya Deck to begin Melting (which, if under optimal conditions, can be as few as 2 Rounds). You will easily be able to storm them and tear apart their structure, especially with the aid of additional cards and Supports. 

However, in return, Ayamiya can be stopped in its tracks by shutdown decks. Any Deck that can play disruption or one that can interrupt your rhythm can throw you off guard. A team based on Overload can force you to constantly switch your Active Character, making you waste Dice, cards or time, to get back to an optimal position with Ayaka. Similarly, a Deck where the enemy aims to Freeze you will just halt your Ayaka from doing… well, anything. You won’t be able to Melt the opponent because you will be forced to switch to another character, forcing you to go back to the beginning of your combo cycle. 

Ayamiya Deck

Overall, the Ayamiya Deck is very strong. Under the right circumstances and with the right amount of luck, it will easily dominate. It even has the chance to wipe the board in only a few turns. In trade for that power, though, it has a lot of weaknesses that need to be navigated. It has a reliance on timing, a reliance on switching and a reliance on lining up everything to be near perfect. Any opponent who knows what you’re planning will likely see it and aim to stop it before your Ayaka becomes a real threat.

That is how to build the powerful Ayamiya Deck in Genius Invokation TCG within Genshin Impact.