Genshin Impact University Carnival Recap: University of Nevada, Reno wins first Genshin Impact tournament in the United States

Brandon Moore

Brandon Moore

The University of Nevada, Reno fought through seven other teams in a variety of minigames to win the Genshin Impact University Carnival.

The Genshin Impact University Carnival saw teams from schools all across the United States attempt to qualify. Those proven to be the fastest in the qualifying events were invited to the very first Genshin Impact tournament in the United States. Eight teams made the journey to Seattle, Washington, but only one trio walked out with the grand prize. In a bit of a surprising tournament, University of Nevada, Reno took home the giant check with pride.

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Teams blaze through the Quarterfinals round at Genshin Impact University Carnival

(Image via eFuse on Twitch)
(Image via eFuse on Twitch)

The best qualifying times for the event finished in over 20 minutes. The top teams in the opening round of the Genshin Impact University Carnival decimated those times. Only four teams could move on to the Semifinals and all of them had a time of less than 18 minutes.

Rutgers had the best qualifying time heading into the tournament with University of Nevada, Reno coming in second. The two of them swapped places here with Nevada, Reno taking first in the Quarterfinals after beating the final boss at 16:34.08.

The format of the Quarterfinals round was Boss Rush. Teams all had the same list of bosses to fight throughout the Genshin Impact world. Their goal was the defeat the entire list as quickly as possible to move on and its say to safe Nevada, Reno exceeded any expectations.

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Random pairing ensures one of the top two is eliminated

The second round, the Semifinals, consisted of Lockout Bingo. Bingo boards were created with in-game tasks for teams to compete. Each task was worth a predetermined amount of points and collecting five in a row on the board for a true Bingo netted them 20 bonus points.

The matches were randomly selected before the start of the round. This put the top teams of Rutgers and Nevada, Reno against each other. It guaranteed a new top two going into the Grand Finals with the tournament on the line.

UCLA and UCF were the first pair to battle in Lockout Bingo. UCF proceeded to fill spots on the board with no mercy. This saw them complete a Bingo and push UCLA out of the tournament. Then Rutgers and Nevada, Reno went at it with the latter accumulating more board spaces to edge out the victory.

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Nevada, Reno comes out victorious in the Grand Finals Boss Rush

University of Nevada, Reno are the Genshin Impact University Carnival champions (Image via Nevada Esports on Twitter)
University of Nevada, Reno are the Genshin Impact University Carnival champions (Image via Nevada Esports on Twitter)

It all came down to one last Boss Rush in the Grand Finals. An altered list of bosses were provide compared to the Quarterfinals and a few other rules changes were put into place. Both teams banned one five star character and two four star characters. This meant whoever prepared most with a different cast of characters would more than likely prevail.

This Boss Rush Relay was much more challenging than the first time around. University of Nevada, Reno persevered and made it to the end before UCF with a time of just over 25 minutes. That cemented their victory in the Genshin Impact University Carnival.

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