Looking back from 2026, I can still feel the sting of that banner window. I remember logging in on July 8, 2025, seeing Mavuika surrounded by fire and Emilie wrapped in green light, and realizing my Primogem stash was nowhere near ready. Was I supposed to chase both? Could my teams actually use a new Pyro DPS or a Dendro support? The good news is that even a year later, those questions still make me smile.

The event wishes ran from July 8, 2025, 18:00 to July 29, 2025, 14:59 server time, and they threw three banners at us at once. Mavuika’s Character Event Wish, Emilie’s Character Event Wish-2, and the weapon banner all competed for the same scarce resources. Mavuika was the 5-star Pyro focus for the first wish, while Emilie led the second as a 5-star Dendro. Both shared the same 4-star lineup: Iansan, Yaoyao, and Xiangling.

I have to admit, Mavuika’s title, “Night-Igniting Flame,” did a lot of heavy lifting for my hype. It painted her as more than just another Pyro claymore. The reference material around her release suggested she might be connected to Natlan’s lost traditions or maybe a forgotten order of Pyro wielders. Could fire be not just her element, but a symbol of rebellion and rebirth? That unofficial fan line still lives in my head: “The night is darkest before the flame. Let us be the spark.” Whether or not it was official lore, it made pulling for her feel like lighting a personal fuse.

Then there was Emilie. “A Thousand Scents Traced” sounded like something out of Sumeru’s most secretive perfumery. Her Dendro kit and fragrance-based identity made me wonder if we’d finally get a character who sat between science and mysticism. Would her story tie into the sages of Sumeru or Liyue’s hidden perfumers? I didn’t know, and honestly, that uncertainty was part of the fun.

The weapon banner was another story entirely. A Thousand Blazing Suns and Lumidouce Elegy read like lines from an epic poem. The 4-star lineup—The Flute, Rainslasher, Dragon’s Bane, Sacrificial Fragments, and Rust—was a mixed bag for my account, but the 5-star weapons looked incredible. I kept asking myself: were these weapons going to become cornerstones of new meta teams, or were they mostly lore-flavored trophies? In 2026, I can say they found homes on some of my niche builds, but at the time I was just happy to see such stylish options.

Test Run trials gave me a chance to step into both characters before spending a single wish. Those little combat vignettes were more than demos. They let me feel Mavuika’s flame rhythm and Emilie’s Dendro flow, and they rewarded me with resources while I learned how each character might fit into my rotation. I probably ran Emilie’s trial half a dozen times just to watch her animations.

The community reaction was exactly as chaotic and creative as you’d expect. Lore hunters combed every dialogue line and animation for clues. Meta analysts crunched numbers to see whether Mavuika or Emilie would shake up tier lists. Collectors and roleplayers, meanwhile, filled my feed with fan art and headcanons inspired by those evocative titles. It was one of those rare banner cycles where the meta talk and the story speculation felt equally loud.

One important detail: these event-exclusive characters did not join the standard Wish pool after the banner ended. The Character Event Wish and Character Event Wish-2 shared a guarantee count, independent from other wish types, so planning pulls mattered. For the weapon banner, Epitomized Path let me chart a course toward a featured 5-star weapon, which saved me from completely losing my mind. The in-game Details section had all the granular drop rates, but the real lesson was simple: don’t pull on three banners at once unless you have a plan.

Now that the dust has settled in 2026, I still look back at that banner period as a turning point. Mavuika taught me that a great title can make a pull feel personal, while Emilie reminded me that Dendro teams are always more flexible than I think. Did I win every 50/50? Absolutely not. But every wish was still a story, and every ten-pull was another step deeper into Teyvat’s mysteries. If I had to do it all over again, I’d probably still chase the flame first and let the fragrance follow.