Digimon Card Game offers a unique twist to the card game genre that is easy and fun for any skilled player to get into. Like the TV show, you battle it out while Digivolving your Digimon into powerful forms.

This card game has simple mechanics, with both players pulling from a single resource and well-defined special effects. The gameplay systems allow players to develop unique strategies to damage and control their opponent's options leading to intense battles. For players without experience, the game offers an exciting way to help them create a deck that fits their unique playstyle.

Basics Of The Game

The Digimon Card Game is played with a 50-card deck and a one to five Digi-Egg Deck. Digi-Egg Deck is a separate deck from your main deck and does not count toward the 50 cards in your deck.

The game's goal is to attack your opponent after getting past their Security. You use Digimon Cards to attack the Security or the other player's Digimon. Once you attack with a Digimon, the card becomes Suspended.

A Suspended Digimon Card, unless with the help of a special effect, will not become Unsuspended until the start of your next turn. You can only attack Suspended Digimon , so you should think carefully if you want to leave your Digimon vulnerable to Deletion.

Phases Of The Game

There are four phases of the Digimon Card Game. The first phase is the Unsuspend Phase, and this phase is simple any Digimon and Tamer Cards that are Suspended become Unsuspended.

The next phase is the Draw Phase, where you draw one card from your main deck. When the first player goes first, they do not have a Draw Phase.

The Breeding Phase is next. This phase is where you want to play a Digi-Egg Card in the Breeding Area. Digimon in the Breeding Area are safe from effects on the Battle Area, and their When-Digivolving Effects will not activate in the Breeding Zone.

During this phase, you can also move Digimon from the Breeding Able to the Battle Area. However, you cannot hatch and move Digimon to the Battle Area on the same turn. Playing a Digimon from the Breeding Area to the Battle Area is not considered playing a Digimon, which means you have the option to attack during the Main Phase.

Finally, there is the Main Phase, where all the action happens. During the Main Phase, you can play Digimon to the Battle Area, Digivolve Digimon, play Option and Tamer Cards, and do battle.

You can perform these actions in any order , and you can Digivolve a Suspended Digimon, but it will still be Suspended.

Your Main Phase lasts as long as you have the Memory to spend.

Battling With Digimon

Digimon battles all come down to DP or Digimon Power. You can see a Digimon's DP in the top right corner of the Digimon Card.

Digimon, on the turn you played them, cannot attack unless they have a Special Effect to do so. Once the next turn comes, battling in Digimon is simple; if your Digimon has a higher DP, your Digimon survives while the other Digimon is Deleted.

If the two Digimon battle with the same amount of DP, both are Deleted. These rules remain the same during a Security Check when you attack an opponent's Security.

The Security Area

When you start the game against another player, you take the first five cards of your Deck that set it off to the side in the Security Area. When you declare an attack on the opponent's Security, they perform a Security Check.

When a Security Check is performed, they remove one card from the Security. If that card is a Digimon, then the rules of battle take place, but Security Digimon will always be Deleted even if it has a higher DP and destroys the attacking Digimon.

When Option and Tamer Cards are flipped in a Security Check, at the bottom of the card, they have a Security Effect that activates . Usually, the Security Effect for an Option or Tamer Card is the activation of their effects without Memory Cost .

Once all five cards are flipped from the Security area, you must perform one more attack to finish the game .

Managing Memory

Memory is the central resource of the game, and both you and your opponent play off of it. A standard Memory Counter shows a line with the numbers zero to ten on each side, and the game starts at zero Memory.

Your turn ends when all effects are over, and the Memory Counter passes zero in your opponent's direction. You spent your Memory playing a card with a Memory Cost that moves the Memory Counter toward your opponent.

A basic game strategy is to manage Memory, so the other player has as little Memory to play with as possible. Many cards boost Memory. Also, passing on your turn, put the Memory at three for the other player .

The Three Card Types

Your Digimon Deck will consist of three types of cards, excluding the Digi-Egg Deck. Those cards are Digimon Cards, Option Cards, and Tamer Cards. No matter the type of card, in the top left corner of the card, you will find its Memory Cost.

Digimon Cards consist of the monsters you do battle with. Option Cards have single-use Special Effects. Tamer Cards, on the other hand, are placed in the Tamer Area and have Special Effects but when used, the card becomes Suspended until the next Unsuspend Phase.

In the center of the cards, you will find the Special Effects of the card. This Card Game has a handful of Special Effects, all explained on the card. Words highlighted in red are the effect's name, and words highlighted in blue tell you which phase the effect activates.

At the bottom of some Digimon Cards is the Inherited Effect. An Inherited Effect is a special effect that only happens when that Digimon is a part of another Digimon's Digivolution .

The bottom of Option and Tamer Cards have their Security Effect. Security Effects are activated when they are revealed during the Security Check.

Digivolving Your Digimon

Digivolving is the game's core and how you bring out more powerful Digimon. Next to the Digimon's name is the Level of the Digimon. Digimon Levels start at Level 2 with Digi-Eggs and end at Level 7. Digi-Egg cards are free to play and cost no Memory, and they cannot attack and can only be played in the nest area.

When looking at a Digimon Card, below the Memory Cost is the Digivolution Cost. The Digivolution Cost is the amount of Memory it costs to Digivolve. The circle shows the Color the Digimon must be and its Level; every time you Digivolve, you draw one card.

Some Digimon have two colors, which means they can Digivolve into or from both colors.

The Colors Of Cards

The Colors of the cards define a general gameplay style for a deck. If you are new to card games, the Color system can help you find the play style you prefer. You can design decks outside the Color's general style, but if you find yourself going against a Deck with Purple Cards, you can assume they are manipulating cards from the Trash.

Option Cards required one card on the Field to be the same Color to be activated . Tamer Cards do not have that requirement, but cards of the same Color tend to help each other.

Red

This is an offensive Color with many effects that focus on damage. Not only do they specialize in dealing damage to enemy Digimon, but they also specialize in attacking the Security, with effects to damage two Security Cards.

Blue

Blue can control your opponent's ability to counter play and has powerful Mega Level Digimon. A Blue Deck can remove Digivolve Sources from an opponent's Digimon, removing an Inherited Effect and returning their Digimon to their hand. At the Mega Level, some Blue Digimon can Unsuspend themselves making them great for attacking combos.

Yellow

A Yellow Deck can control the pace of the game. This Color has many effects that manipulate their Security Cards, and they are the only Color able to add and pull cards from their Security. A Yellow Deck also has many cards that can reduce the DP of your opponent's Digimons.

Green

A Green Deck is focused on Digivolving. They have many effects of drawing cards to search for Digimon and have tools to lower the Memory Cost of Digivolving. They also specialize in Suspending the opponent's Digimon, making them unable to block and vulnerable to attack.

Black

This is a defensive Color with many cards with the effect Blocker or the ability to give a Digimon Blocker. Blocker allows a Digimon to intercept and defend against an opponent's attack. Some cards and effects boost DP when a Digimon is blocking an attack. They also have the option to De-Digivolve the opponent's Digimon.

Purple

This Color manipulates the Trash, which is the opposite of the Yellow Color. Purple has many effects that Self-Delete their cards but also have effects that have On-Deletion Effects. They can play Digimon from the Trash and can control the opponent's Digimon with effects like Retaliation, which destroys the attacking Digimon when Deleted.

White

White is a unique set of cards that cannot make up a deck by itself. The White Color has Level 7 Mega Digimon and Tamer and Option cards that can help other Color Decks.