Genius Invokation TCG MEW Guide

In this section, we will be going over why we use each character card. However, this guide will not go through each of their Skills in detail.

Before Wanderer can start Swirling, we first need to apply an element on the opponent. Mona is the best choice for elemental application thanks to her passive ability, which allows her to fast-action-switch, as well as her Hydro element, which is difficult to cleanse as most characters that can apply an element to themselves, like Xingqiu and Kokomi, cannot cleanse Hydro. In addition, her Elemental Skill hits twice; once on the initial hit and once from the summon created.

Although Eula comes second in the acronym MEW, Wanderer is actually the second character that we will switch to in this deck. After using his Elemental Skill, the Wanderer gains two stacks of Windfavoured, which increase the damage of his Normal Attacks by 2 damage, and causes them to target the next character on standby instead. This makes it impossible to avoid getting Swirled by him if at least two of your characters are affected by an element. This endless Swirling is the main source of damage for MEW, and it is why the Wanderer is the best Anemo character for this job.

Eula is our clean-up crew in this deck. Since we have been Swirling Hydro throughout the entire game, a Cryo character such as Eula is perfect for cleaning up thanks to her ability to Freeze the opponent. In addition, Eula can equip the Wolf's Gravestone, which makes the clean-up process even more efficient.

In round 1, our plan is always to use Mona's Elemental Skill, followed by some ramp or equips, and then end our round. We need to make sure that we end our round first, which is why we only use one attack.

This is because by ending our round first, we guarantee ourselves a Swirl on round 2. How this works is that the summon created by Mona's Elemental Skill will apply Hydro to the character that the opponent ends their round on. Then, since we start first on round 2, we can immediately fast-action-switch to Wanderer and Swirl using his Elemental Skill.

In round 2, we now equip any available weapons and artifacts on the Wanderer, fast-action-switch to him and then Swirl using his Elemental Skill. Then, we can continue Swirling endlessly using his Elemental Skill and enhanced Normal Attacks, depending on which of the opponent's characters are affected by Hydro.

This endless Swirling can continue for as long as you have dice, or until the Wanderer falls.

Once the Wanderer falls, which usually happens in round 3, we then move on to the last phase: cleaning up. In this phase, we simply send out Eula and use her Elemental Skill to Freeze the opponent and sweep them all up. If the scenario calls for it, we can also equip the Wolf's Gravestone on Eula.

If the game goes on to round 4 and does not appear to be ending soon, then you can repeat the process of Swirling again. However, if the Wanderer and Eula have taken too much damage at this point, and are unable to close out the game quickly, it will most likely end in a loss for MEW.

When choosing cards to replace in our Starting Hand, we should always prioritize ramp cards and cards that we can use after Mona's Elemental Skill in round 1, such as Liben, Paimon, Timaeus, Wagner, Instructor's Cap and either Catalyst.

In round 1, in the rare case that we do not have any suitable cards to spend our dice on after using Mona's Elemental Skill, we can just switch to the Wanderer and start Swirling right away from round 1. However, this does mean that we will not be able to equip weapons and artifacts on the Wanderer anymore, which will result in less overall damage.

Sometimes, we may not have enough Hydro dice for Mona's Elemental Skill in round 1, either. In this case, we can choose to use Mona's Normal Attack, which gives the opponent the option of switching away to avoid Swirls, or tune a few dice for her Elemental Skill. Usually, tuning dice is better, since our deck is heavily reliant on Swirls.

The artifact that we want to equip on the Wanderer is the Instructor's Cap, because it gives 3 dice for the cost of 2. If we equip this on round 1 or for free via Timaeus, then this artifact grants 3 extra dice on round 2 - which is enough for one additional attack. If we do not have this card, Gilded Dreams is alright too since it will draw up to 2 cards for us.

Sometimes, our opponents will force us to keep using the Wanderer's Elemental Skill to Swirl, which deals 1 less base damage than his enhanced Normal Attack and costs more Anemo dice. If we run out of Anemo dice, it is perfectly fine to use his Normal Attacks instead even if they don't Swirl anything, since it will only result in 1 less damage overall (or 2 less damage if the Wanderer has A Thousand Floating Dreams equipped).

Some opponents might switch in a way that makes it impossible for you to Swirl. In this case, just attack again with Mona to apply Hydro again. Although this is slow, it's better than not Swirling anything.

Now that we understand how to use MEW, we should also learn how to counter it, regardless of whether we're planning to use or play against it. The key to countering MEW stems from the cons we mentioned earlier.

Recall that MEW is extremely dependent on Swirling. Hence, we should do everything we can to stop the Wanderer from Swirling us endlessly. One simple way to counter MEW is to make sure that we end our round first in round 1. If we do that, and MEW goes for their main gameplan of using Mona's Elemental Skill and ending their round, then we can switch off of our character affected by Hydro, leaving them with nothing to Swirl. Thus, if MEW wants to Swirl, they are forced to immediately Swirl with the Wanderer on round 1, which means that they can't equip weapons and artifacts on him for free anymore, resulting in less damage overall for them.

A more surefire way of countering MEW is to do the above, but with a stall deck that has plenty of healing. Hydro resonance is especially cruel to MEW, since it heals all of your characters at once. If you can hold out comfortably until round 4 against MEW, MEW will run out of steam like most Aggro decks, and their damage output will only go down from there.

You can run Joyous Celebration in your deck to completely shut down MEW, as long as your deck rotation and characters' elements are suitable for using it. Usually, you will let them Swirl you once on round 2 as it is unavoidable if you don't end your round first. Then, you can use Joyous Celebration, leaving them with nothing to Swirl.

MEW is an exceptionally strong aggro deck when the conditions are right for it. It is also very easy to use due to its simple and fixed gameplan. However, this fixed gameplan also means that it is easy to devise a way to counter it. It also struggles to decks with a lot of healing.