How to Play Digimon Card Game 2024

 

Personally, I think Digimon changes quite drastically compare to One Piece Card Game, especially Digimon has a lot of keywords, and Bandai adds more keywords for the game constantly, meaning it will change every year if you skipped a year of Digimon. For people who constantly plays Digimon, then you can ignore this post, but for returning players or new players, you might want to read the post. I'll try to break down each rules easier for people to read. Some text I will just copy and paste from the general rules as there's really nothing much I could say on those.

Card Types

There are four different card types in this game currently and these are:

• Digi-Egg - This will have a white card back compare to the rest of the Digimon Cards

• Digimon - The Digimon that shows different levels and DP in the deck. Some have inherited effects, some can be vanillas and some will just come with main effects.

• Tamers - They are the Characters either for that Digimon related to the series or can be use in different decks.

• Options - Options card comes with all sorts of effects. The closest I can relate to are instant/spell cards if we want to use other card games terms. Most of them will come with a security effect which will be really useful if your opponents attacks your security.

Colours

We have 7 colours in total in this game, and each colours have different style depending on what is your playing style. However, I must say White is mainly colourless and can be use with any builds you want instead of being a deck style. Sometimes, the favourite Digimon release can be in one of these colours so I will try and split the colours down, I am not 100% accurate with these style, but I will get it is close as possible.

• Black - The deck will be more defensive, utilising keyword like Reboot where you unsuspend your Digimon so you could use cards like Blockers to stop your opponent's attacks. However, there are some aggressive builds in black, more aggressive than red style decks.
• Blue - Blue is mainly my favourite because we get to utilise control cards, mainly trashing your opponent's digi sources so they can't use inherited effects, and bouncing those Digimon back to hand or deck. We also got ramp cards where we can gain memory easily, so we can bring out higher level Digimon easier.
• Green - Mainly focus on suspending, and some decks will prevent your opponent's suspended Digimon from unsuspending. More importantly, they also utilise keywords like Piercing, so we can attack into those Digimon, and your opponents will still take damage whilst losing a Digimon on their field.
• Purple - Purple has a lot of removals whilst also mainly focus in your trash area. So this is like mill control, but not all decks will be focusing on mill, just the trash like reviving some Digimon.
• Red - Red has always been aggressive no matter what card game it is, I don't really remember if there is a card game that makes red not aggressive colour, and the same still applied in this card game.
• Yellow - Mainly focus on reducing your opponent's Digimon DP as well gaining a Security, so your opponents will need more attacks in order to get through the security.

Multicoloured

What this game also has are multicoloured Digimon, and multicolour will play a huge role in deck building. To use Option cards, they need to match either the Digimon, digi egg or the Tamers to use those Option cards, and if we have these multicoloured Digimon in play, it means we can use Option cards that are available for those colours without needing to match the Tamer or the Digi Egg. 

There are also multicoloured Option cards, and to play those we need both colours on the field. We do have multicoloured Tamers, those are easier to get on the field than Digimon, and there are only a few cards who can remove Tamers. So if you are playing multicoloured Option cards, I do recommend getting the Tamers (if available) rather than Digimon. It does beat getting either a multicoloured Digimon or getting 2 Digimon with different colour in play.

Deck Building

A deck should consist of 50 cards and up to 5 Digi Eggs, depending on the type of deck, some decks will be fine just running 4 Digi Eggs. You can even run 0 Digi Eggs if you want to. Digi Eggs should be a separate deck and if you playing the game in real life, they will need to be in different sleeves. You are allowed up to 4 copies of the same card, it doesn't matter about the name, since there's a lot of cards with the same name, and this game is not name restricted unlike some card games. 

You will have to make sure you have 4 copies of that card number, for example, BT1 Agumon and ST1 Agumon. You can have both in the build as 4 copies each, anymore will be illegal. They will also be easier to recognise as each cards will have different art, unless Bandai decided to reprint old cards with a new art, then we would have to look at the card number.

The rest will be going through trial and error finding out the right balance for the deck. I can't really tell you how many amount of certain levels would be ideal as it will depends on the type of decks you are playing as each decks can be different to one of another, even the same deck could have different number of line up in the build. So a lot of testing is needed to find the ideal line up, number of Digimon, number of Tamers and number of Option cards in the build. It is a pain to do, but it is the process of playing this game. No one build will be the same, even the deck profiles I post won't be the same, similar cards, but won't be exact number.

Game Basics

Setting up the Game

1. Shuffle your deck and Digi-Egg deck, then place it in the Deck Zone and Digi-Egg Deck Zone respectively.
2. Determine who goes first by any random method. (Rock-Paper-Scissors/Coin Toss/Dice Roll) Winner must always go first.
3. Draw 5 cards from your main deck.
4. Look at your hand, and decide whether to put them back into your deck. If you do, shuffle your main deck again, and draw 5 cards.
5. Put 5 cards from the top of your deck into your Security Stack without looking at them.
6. Place the counter on the number 0 on the Memory Gauge.
7. Start the Game!

Using the Memory Gauge

This game uses a Memory Gauge (memory) system to pay the memory costs of cards. For example, to pay a memory cost of 3, you would need to move your memory counter 3 spaces to the right.

During your turn, if the memory counter lands on a number greater than 0 on your opponent's side of the Memory Gauge due to costs or other effects, your turn ends and it becomes your opponent's turn after all other cards and effects resolve.

Neither player can have more than 10 memory. To pay a memory cost exceeding 10, you must be able to move the memory counter that many spaces. For example, you won't be able to play a card with a memory cost of 13 unless you have at least 3 memory.

Suspending and Unsuspending

Digimon that are played are typically placed upright in the unsuspended state. After performing an action such as attacking or blocking, they are rotated sideways to show they are in the suspended state.

Returning a suspended card to the unsuspended state is called unsuspending, changing an unsuspended card to the suspended state is called suspending.

Game Flow

Gameplay consists of the following four phases, starting with the player who goes first.

1. Unsuspend Phase

• Unsuspend all of your suspended cards.

2. Draw Phase

• Draw one card from your deck.
• The player who goes first does not draw during the Draw Phase of their first turn.
• If a player can't draw because there are no cards left in their deck, that player loses the game.

3. Breeding Phase

• Players can do only one of the following:
• Hatch a Digi-Egg
• Can only be done when there are no Digimon in the Breeding Area. Flip one card face up from the top of the Digi-Egg deck and place it in the breeding area.
• Move a Digimon out of the Breeding Area.
• A Digimon can be moved from the breeding area to the battle area once they have digivolved into a level 3 or higher Digimon.
• Digimon that are level 2 or lower can't enter the battle area.
• Moving Digimon from the breeding area to the battle area is not considered to be playing the Digimon, so On Play effects won't activate.
• It's possible for a Digimon to perform an attack on the same turn they were moved to the battle area.
• Do Nothing
• This can only be done once per turn.

3. Main Phase

• The primary phase of the game.
• During this phase, players can perform as many of the following actions as they like, in any order:
• A. Playing Digimon
• B. Digivolving
• C. Playing Tamers
• D. Using Option Cards
• E. Attacking

4. End of the Turn

• If the memory counter lands on a number greater than 0 on your opponent's side due to costs or other effects, your turn ends and it becomes your opponent's turn. (After all effects are resolved, your opponent's turn begins.)

Attack Chart

A Chart showing the steps when your Digimon Attacks

Keywords

In Digimon, there is a lot of keyword to remember, but some are obvious keywords as they do what they say, you would only struggle if you are not proficient in English. Some keywords will be related to the Digimon series, so if you haven't watch any Digimon or play any of the Digimon games, then you might not know what they will do.

Keyword Effect	Description
＜Blocker＞	When an opponent's Digimon attacks, you may suspend this Digimon to force the opponent to attack it instead. This effect can be used against an attack from an opposing Digimon. The target of the attack changes to the Digimon that used ＜Blocker＞, taking the place of the original target.
＜Security Attack +X＞	This Digimon checks x additional security card(s). Effect that increases the number of security cards checked by x when attacking the opposing player. When checking multiple security cards due to this effect, do not flip all security cards over at once. Instead, flip them over one at a time and don't move on to the next one until everything has resolved. If the attacking Digimon is defeated in battle or returned to the player's hand, the attack ends.
＜Security Attack -X＞	This Digimon checks x fewer security card(s). Effect that decreases the number of security cards checked by x when attacking the opposing player. If this effect causes the number of cards checked to become 0(it can't be less than 0), the opponent's security cards aren't checked. If your opponent has 0 security cards and you attack with a Digimon that checks 0 cards, you can't win the game.
＜Recovery +X (Deck)＞	Place the top x card(s) of your deck on top of your security stack. Effect that has you to place x cards from your deck on top of your security stack without looking at them. With this effect, you can replenish your security stack. There is no limit to how many cards can be in your security stack.
＜Piercing＞	When this Digimon attacks and deletes an opponent's Digimon and survives the battle, it This effect allows a Digimon to check an opponent' s security cards after a battle if your Digimon defeats the opposing Digimon and survives. This effect also works if an attack is blocked, however it does not activate for battles with Security Digimon. Security checks resulting from ＜Piercing＞ are performed after all effects resulting from the battle have been resolved.
＜Draw X＞	Draw x card(s) from your deck. This effect allows you to add a number of cards to your hand from your deck. There is no limit to how many cards you can have in your hand.
＜Jamming＞	This Digimon can't be deleted in battles against Security Digimon. Digimon with this effect will not be deleted if they lose a battle with the opponent's Security Digimon. If the Digimon has a ＜Security Attack +X＞ effect that allows for an additional security card to be checked, that check can still be performed.
＜Digisorption -X＞	When one of your Digimon digivolves into this card from your hand, you may suspend of your 1 Digimon to reduce the memory cost of the digivolution by x. When digivolving into a card in your hand with this effect, you may suspend 1 of your Digimon to reduce the digivolve cost by the number specified in the effect. However, the digivolve cost can't be reduced to less than 0.
＜Reboot＞	Unsuspend this Digimon during your opponent's unsuspend phase. Digimon with this effect are unsuspended during not only your unsuspend phase, but your opponent's unsuspend phase as well.
＜De-Digivolve X＞	Trash up to x cards from the top of one of your opponent's Digimon. If it has no digivolution cards, or becomes a level 3 Digimon, you can't trash any more cards. Trash the number of cards specified from your opponent' s Digimon that was targeted by the effect, starting from the top. This reduces the level of the target Digimon. However, Digimon can't be deleted or removed from play with this effect. Once a Digimon has lost all of its digivolution cards or has been reduced to level 3, you can't trash any more cards with this effect.
＜Retaliation＞	When this Digimon is deleted after losing a battle, delete the Digimon it was battling. When a Digimon with this effect loses a battle with one of your opponent’s Digimon, it deletes that Digimon, regardless of DP.
＜Digi-Burst X＞	Trash X of this Digimon's digivolution cards to activate the effect below. At the indicated timing, you may trash the specified number of digivolution cards under the Digimon with this effect to activate its accompanying ＜Digi-Burst X＞ effect.
＜Rush＞	This Digimon can attack the turn it comes into play. Digimon with this effect can ignore the rule that states "Digimon can't attack the turn they enter play" allowing it to declare an attack even if it was played on the current turn.
＜Blitz＞	This Digimon can attack when your opponent has 1 or more memory. When digivolving into a Digimon with this effect, if your opponent ends up having 1 or more memory as a result of paying the digivolution cost, you can declare an attack with this Digimon before the turn changes over. However, if the Digimon is suspended, has an effect that prevents it from attacking, or is otherwise unable to attack normally, ＜Blitz＞ won't enable it to attack. This effect is often preceded by the timing "[When Digivolving]".
＜Delay＞	Trash this card in your battle area to activate the effect below. You can't activate this effect the turn this card enters play. After placing an Option card with this effect in your battle area, you can trash it at the timing specified to activate the card's ＜Delay＞ effect. It's not necessary to pay an Option card's memory cost or meet color requirements when activating its ＜Delay＞ effect. This effect is often preceded by the timing "[Main]".
＜Decoy (X)＞  (When your other X Digimon would be deleted by an opponent's effect, you may delete this Digimon to prevent 1 of those Digimon's deletion)	When one of your other (X) Digimon would be deleted by an opponent's effect, you may delete this Digimon to prevent that deletion. When one of your Digimon matching (X) characteristic would be deleted by an opponent’s effect, you can instead delete this Digimon to prevent that Digimon from being deleted. When multiple applicable Digimon would be deleted simultaneously, activating this effect allows you to prevent only one of those Digimon from being deleted. You can’t activate this effect to prevent the deletion of the Digimon with this effect.
＜Armor Purge＞	When this Digimon would be deleted, you may trash the top card of this Digimon to prevent that deletion. When your Digimon with this effect would be deleted, by trashing the Digimon stacked on top of the digivolution cards, it will no longer be deleted due to this effect. The Digimon that activated this effect becomes the Digimon that was at the top of its digivolution cards. This effect cannot be activated by Digimon without digivolution cards. Additionally, any effect gained before activating ＜Armor Purge＞ that does not specify how long the effect lasts will be lost due to the card itself no longer being in play.
＜Save＞	You may place this card under one of your tamers This effect is preceded by the timing "[On Deletion]".
＜Material Save X＞	When this Digimon would be deleted, you may place X digivolution cards from its DigiXros requirements, under one of your Tamers
＜Evade＞	When this Digimon would be deleted, you may suspend it to prevent that deletion.
＜Raid＞	When this Digimon attacks, you may switch the target of attack to 1 of your opponent's unsuspended Digimon with the highest DP.
＜Alliance＞	When this Digimon attacks, by suspending 1 of your other Digimon, add the suspended Digimon's DP to this Digimon and it gains ＜Security Attack +1＞ for the attack.
＜Barrier＞	When this Digimon would be deleted in battle, by trashing the top card of your security stack, prevent that deletion.
＜Blast Digivolve＞	Your Digimon may digivolve into an Digimon card in your hand with this keyword without paying the cost. This effect is often activated from the [Hand] and preceded by the timing "[Counter]".
＜Mind Link＞	Place this Tamer under 1 of your Digimon without a Tamer in its digivolution cards. This effect is exclusive to Tamer card.
＜Fortitude＞	When this Digimon with digivolution cards is deleted, play this card without paying the cost.
＜Partition＞	When this Digimon that has 1 of each specified cards in its digivolution cards would leave the battle area other than by your own effects or by battle, you may play 1 of each card without paying their costs.
＜Collision＞	During this Digimon's attack, all of your opponent's Digimon gain ＜Blocker＞, and must ＜Blocker＞ if possible.
＜Scapegoat＞	When this Digimon would be deleted other than by your effects, by deleting 1 of your other Digimon, prevent that deletion.
＜Blast DNA Digivolve＞	You may DNA digivolve into this card using 1 of your specified Digimon and 1 specified Digimon in your hand. This effect is often activated from the [Hand] and preceded by the timing "[Counter]".
＜Vortex＞	At the end of your turn, this Digimon may attack an opponent's Digimon. With this effect, it can attack the turn it was played.
＜Overclock ([X] trait)＞	At the end of your turn, by deleting 1 of your Tokens or other [Puppet] trait Digimon, this Digimon may attack a player without suspending.
＜Ice Clad＞	This Digimon compares its number of digivolution cards instead of DP in battles other than with security Digimon.
＜Decode (X Lv.X)＞	When this Digimon would leave the battle area other than in battle, you may play 1 X colour Level X Digimon card from its digivolution cards without paying the cost)

Conclusion

Hopefully, I've covered the basic, but if I haven't, feel free to post a comment below, and I'll add them next time. I'll also post the Basic Rule (here) as this is the basic rules for Digimon Card Game that I've might missed, since I didn't want to bored people reading, and it is better to learn the game through playing rather than reading.

If you got any questions, feel free to post this below and I'll see if I can answer the questions. But usually, most of the cards do what they say on the text and it won't be something totally different.