How to Defeat All Serious Showdown in Tavern Challenge (1 Deck Only)

Serious Showdown is the hard mode for Tavern Challenge in Genius Invokation TCG. The easy mode is called Friendly Fracas and I made 2 guides about it for Maguu Kenki and Jadeplume Terrorshroom. In the Serious Showdown mode, the opponent will be more difficult (obviously), where some of them have more Character Cards, higher HP, and starts with their Talent Cards.

Sounds hard, and it kinda is, but you can still defeat it with just one deck. Yes, I had tried it and won the stage with just a few tries (First try from Oceanid until Mirror Maiden, 1-3 tries for Maguu Kenki and Jadeplume Terrorshroom).

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Video Gameplay

First of all, here’s the video for all the Serious Showdowns using my Catalyze deck. The video has been fast-forwarded 4x because it is extremely long (around 1 hour for the original without cutting). You can slow it down using the playback speed if you want to see more slowly. The sounds are also lowered because the fast-forwarded noises may be disruptive. I will note down all my observations regarding each enemy in the strategy section below after the card list.

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Catalyze Deck

For all the stages in Serious Showdown, I only use this specific deck and there are no changes made even for one Support Card.

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Character Card

FISCHL
Fischl is obviously for her Elemental Skill to inflict Electro and also summon Oz for the end-phase Electro DMG. If you’re lucky and manage to fill her Energy, you can also use her Elemental Burst that can deal AoE damage (Although I rarely do this because I focus on defeating one enemy).

COLLEI
Collei is the core character here because of her powerful Elemental Skill (with Talent Cards) and end-phase Dendro DMG from her Elemental Burst. Since she only requires 2 Energy, you can fill her bar super fast and use her Burst from the early round. In addition, with the help of Quicken reaction, all your Electro/Dendro DMG +1 (including Summons’ DMG), and with the combination of Oz and Cuilein-Anbar, they can refresh Quicken easily.

CYNO
The last character is Cyno and he is a great character for prolonged battles with more rounds. The more rounds you enter, the higher his damage can be, and it all thanks to his passive skill Pactsworn Pathclearer. In short:
2 levels of Indwelling: Normal Attack will be converted to Electro DMG
4 levels of Indwelling: DMG dealt +2
6 levels of Indwelling: Indwelling Level -4
Well, the last one is the only negative one but you usually can complete the battle within 5 rounds.

BASIC STRATEGY
In every Serious Showdown battle, I use the same strategy: Choose Fischl as the first active character then use her Elemental Skill to summon Oz. Then I choose which cards are good to be used (Katheryne, Dawn Winery, Liu Su & Jade Chamber).

Once I finish using the Support Cards, if there are any leftover Dice, I will switch to Collei and end the phase. If there are no Dice left, I just end the phase now and switch to Collei in the 2nd round. After Collei is the active character, use her Talent Card (Elemental Skill if you don’t get her Talent Card) to trigger Quicken. If I’m lucky, I can use her Elemental Burst right after that (Gain Energy from Support Cards). But if not, I will just use another Normal Attack/Elemental Skill to get another Energy.

Once Cuilein-Anbar is on the field, I just switch to anyone after looking at the Dice and Cards that I have. Sometimes I only use Collei Normal Attack to end the second phase. In the 3rd round, Cyno will become stronger because he has 2 levels of Indwelling and even his Normal Attack can deal Electro DMG. If you follow this strategy, now (3rd round and above) you’re on your own because the Dices and Cards you get will not 100% follow my video walkthrough.

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Support Card

For the Support Cards, you can see there are many duplicates that I bring along, and that’s because I think they are the most important!

Floral Sidewinder: This is one of the most important cards for Collei to dish out more damage. If possible, try to get this card in the early stage. Although it’s still possible to win the battles without using it, I still recommend getting this card even if it means restarting the stage.

Jade Chamber: Another card that is immensely helpful for each round. Not only is it cheap, but it also guarantees you get 2 Dices that match your active character.

Dawn Winery: While I won’t stress this card too much, it is a lifesaver if you have it in your hand. It will be even better if you get this at the same time as when you get Katheryne.

Favonius Cathedral: During each battle, I will always swap characters to tank the incoming damage. That’s where this card comes and it will help your active character to live longer with the additional 2 HP.

Katheryne: Strong card and highly recommended to equip in the first round. I think I mentioned this card too much even in my previous guides so yeah, strong and the best card.

Liu Su: Another card that was the best in the early rounds. Since I often start with Fischl > Collei, the latter can unleash her Burst right after using one Elemental Skill with the help of this card. The perk of needing only 2 Energy.

Elemental Resonance Woven Thunder: Card that will save you in clutch time. One dice may seem useless but it saves me multiple times in most battles!

The Bestest Travel Companion: There will be a time when you just won’t get any Dices that match your characters (I hate when this happens so much), and Paimon can help you by converting two useless Dice to Omni-Element ones.

Strategize: Draw 2 cards that may help you in battle. Sometimes I use this card just to finish all the Dices I have before ending my phase to not waste them.

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The Oceanid’s Fury

The first enemy is extremely easy because although she has 45 HP, she is in a constant Hydro state. In addition, since she and her Mimics can only do Hydro DMG, your characters won’t receive too much damage. The only thing you need to beware of is her Elemental Burst. Her Talent Card is also not worth mentioning because it only works after she uses her Elemental Burst, and it only increases the duration of her Summons.

Oceanid usually uses her Elemental Burst when there are at least 2 of her Mimics on the field. This is because her Burst is weak unless there are Mimics helping her deal more damage (For each Summon, deal +2 additional DMG). In other words:
1 Mimic: 4 Hydro DMG
2 Mimics: 6 Hydro DMG
3 Mimics: 8 Hydro DMG

Whenever Oceanid uses her Elemental Burst, I would sacrifice my lowest HP character so they won’t waste other characters’ HP that are still many. Other than that, just make sure to keep doing elemental reactions!

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Agent’s Resolve

There are 3 Fatui Agents and all three of them have 10 HP with their own Talent Card equipped. Their card is quite good because it will increase the duration of its Stealth Passive Skill. Yeah, it sounds weak but it actually increases their DMG by +1 or reduces -1 DMG taken. In other words, their Normal Attack alone deals 3 Pyro DMG.

Fortunately (or unfortunately), they often swap characters making it slower for them to unleash Elemental Burst. On the bright side, you have enough time to trigger elemental reactions. Fatui Agent’s Elemental Burst deals at most 6 Pyro DMG (Only when in Stealth), so you can either let your lowest HP character take the demise or the highest HP character to take it like a champ.

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Mirror Maiden’s Destination

Similar to Fatui Agent, there will be 3 Mirror Maidens and each will equip their Talent Cards. Their card is plain annoying because it will make you need 2 Dice to switch the active character instead of 1 Dice. And once again, she also keeps switching active characters before using their Elemental Burst. The good thing is that they don’t have any shield so your raw damage won’t be affected by anything.

About the double Dice you need to change character, I say just go for it and use 2 Dices. It’s worth the price because Collei alone is enough for the 2nd round after Fischl summons Oz. Mirror Maiden also has a so-so Elemental Burst with just 5 Hydro DMG, so your character should be able to take it and live to see the sunrise.

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Stonehide Lawachurl’s Majesty

Stonehide Lawachurl is quite easy in my opinion because although it has a shield and packs a punch, it only has 24 HP. Sure at first you might won’t do much damage because of its shield, but once you enter the 2nd or 3rd phase, the shield is no more and you can deal more damage if you already inflict it with Electro/Dendro earlier.

Lawachurl’s Burst will only deal 5 Physical DMG (No Stone Force passive) so it’s another move your character should be able to take and still feeling dandy. I don’t really have other things to say for this opponent because it’s really easy (I mean, all my characters are still standing), so if you have any trouble, drop a comment~

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Maguu Kenki’s Denouement

Finally a worthy opponent! Now we’re talking about hard mode. Compared to the Friendly Fracas, this Maguu Kenki has a higher HP. The two Kairagi have 6 HP while Maguu Kenki has 28 HP. The problem here is how aside from consistently switching characters in every move, they can also trigger elemental reactions on your character (this is the major problem).

But I still use the same strategy (Fischl’s Oz > Collei’s Skill) to deal damage on the first Kairagi and trigger Quicken on Maguu Kenki. For this battle, I highly recommend you restart the round until you get Collei’s Talent Card. At the end of every round, Maguu Kenki will definitely be the last active character, so try to choose the active character that can trigger reactions before ending the phase (If Maguu is inflicted with Dendro, choose Cyno, if Maguu is inflicted with Electro, choose Collei).

One last thing, make sure to unalive the Kairagi before they are able to hit you with their Elemental Burst. 6 DMG is no joke and you still need as much HP as you can for remaining enemies.

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Jadeplume Terrorshroom’s Display

The last enemy is Jadeplume Terrorshroom and it has 48 HP on top of Talent Card that allows it to stack 4 Radical Vitality. The strategy I provided in the Friendly Fracas can still be used here, but since I use a specific deck (Fischl-Collei-Cyno) here, that strategy won’t work because there is no catalyst user here like Mona. So we’re gonna do the opposite!

In the 1st round, Jadeplume will cast 1 Elemental Skill, which means it will get 1 stack of Radical Vitality. While you, don’t hit it with any Elemental Skill at all for the 1st round. Instead, use the Dices to activate as many Support Cards as you can, or just use Normal Attack. This way, Jadeplume will stay with 1 stack of Radical Vitality until the next round.

If you don’t remember about the passive skill, here’s a short explanation:
Its Elemental Burst will deal 4 Dendro Damage at the cost of 2 Energy. Then, it will consume all Radical Vitality stacks, dealing +1 DMG for each stack consumed. In other words:
No stack: 4 Dendro DMG
1 stack: 5 Dendro DMG
2 stack: 6 Dendro DMG
3 stack: 7 Dendro DMG
4 stack: 8 Dendro DMG

In the 2nd round, Jadeplume will cast its Elemental Burst no matter how many stacks of Radical Vitality it has. If you follow my direction before, it should have only 1 stack at the beginning of the 2nd round. If you’re going first in the second round, you can either use another Normal Attack to make sure the stack number stays the same or just use Elemental Skill for the next attack to trigger elemental reactions and take the 6 Dendro DMG like a gigachad (I choose the latter, your sacrifice will be remembered, Fischl).

After that one Elemental Burst, you should be able to stack 4 Radical Vitality more easily with the help of Oz, Cuilein-Anbar, and Jadeplume’s own attacks to reset the Energy it has.

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