These little “P” symbols used to be called “Partner Options”. Option like choice not the card type. I bet you can see how this is confusing. Especially when DATA and Evolution cards have the “P” symbol now. There’s a new term change—Proxy. It starts with P, it’s thematic, and it’s what you’ll use now! Just a heads-up.
The new template uses the full word Proxy.
Because there clearly aren’t enough updates today, I made a nifty little KO token for Ａ Ｅ Ｓ Ｔ Ｈ Ｅ Ｔ Ｉ Ｃ digitial monster murdering.
Print it and use it? It’s on Tabletop Simulator at least!
With the release of Bit Depth, it’s time to officially unveil a change to the game’s basic deck construction rules that we’ve been playtesting. This is something that came about after we announced we would be working on the new set (Bit Depth) 9 months ago. As this has had incredibly positive results, damn-near zero negatives, and fixes several aspects of the game, we’re proud to announce a very carefully crafted change to deck size! If you’re just here for the rules and don’t care about the “why”, skip to the Pre-Setup Procedure section. Full Article
One of the hallmarks of western card game design since the early 90s with Decipher Inc, is the “location” or “mission” card. You can see its presence even today in some of Fantasy Flight’s biggest earners. I’m here to say that I don’t think this style of game design really works for dueling card games. Their apparent primary narrative purpose is to give a sense of dimension to the board—making it somewhat like a board game, and add a layer of depth to the game. Its apparent mechanical purpose is to split player resources across various goals (locations/missions tend to give rewards). This is a style of prescriptive design wherein the designer assigns a mechanic to the game and players must play around this mechanic. This is opposed to a freestyle game such as Magic the Gathering and Yu-Gi-Oh or a semi-prescriptive game such as Pokemon. In those games, you can pretty much do what you want within a much larger constraint space. Players tend to value that large space because it acts like a sandbox that gives them authority and power to craft their own style of play and consequently, their own player-driven narrative. But maybe mission cards are just kinda bad. Full Article
For high skill players, the deck also tends to have a lack of good prediction effects. Only Millenniumon and Airdramon have good To-Zero specials, with the former’s requiring a turn to set it up. Airdramon won’t be a body on the field for long, but that can hypothetically increase the usability of its To-Zero. Kimeramon has a Cross To-Zero but would rarely use it unless it’s time to evolve or the opponent can gain way too much advantage from a 1st Attack, x3 VS, or Drain ability. Outside of these mundane cases, Set EX Palmon exists in the deck which can give an attack-prediction for +400 Power. This can be absolutely crucial, but if not recycled, is highly limited. Due to the limited predictive power, it is an easier deck to play but also one with less maximum potential.
Primary type: (22)
Lesser types: (8) | (5)
Rare types: (4) | (2)
Mostly weak to Wind x3 VS, but several additional weaknesses occasionally.
Prioritize removing these particular cards in the pre-setup. Adjust to your matchup.
This pre-setup removal will prioritize getting as much early-game as possible and minimizing late game. Most games, I will remove the Mutates and Silver Ball over the 3 Firewalls in the deck, just because Firewalls are technically more viable early game most of the time. Level crush is absolutely dead. Millenniumon DATA could be good but only if you lead with an early lot of trashing, which is rare. Vending Machine is even worse because it’s also slow.
Credit for the original list goes to member SubZero.
See visual list for specific card versions whenever ambiguous.
In the briefest of terms, this is a juggernaut of a deck. It’s incredibly fast and incredibly tooled. Let’s take a look at some of its strengths and weaknesses, and keep these in mind while playing:
If Digimon Battle Evolution had tournaments, this is the style of deck I would expect to see at top levels of play. It gets checked hard against Rookie-counter, low-level Crash, and rush decks that pack Circle-hate, but it plays the long game while also setting up totally insurmountable Digimon early. In this respect, it might be comparable to Magic‘s “Tron” deck type in modern. If you’re the type of player that likes to get in early, have a ton of contingency plans, and set up for the long winter, give Time Stop a go!
Credit again, for the original deck list should go to member SubZero. Mostly with respect to the bold idea to have the DATA as the proxy, repeatedly abuse Download, and use a Wind core for consistency. This version of the deck has been adapted to the deck list legality changes that allow more cards (50 shared between the DZ and main deck, adding +6 cards to the deck) and to further refine its main strategy.
Puppet Switch—Setup your hand and DP.
What’s good about it: Puppet Switch puts any card in your trash in your hand. This card is fantastic for reusing powerful cards, and setting up for high DP cost Digimon. Just imagining the possibilities with Ace cards, for instance: you could re-use Warp Dimension, netting you 18 cards of deck damage. Also, since you can change your type, this is usable with an attachment that fell into the trash along the road that your current active zone can’t use. You could change your type to Metal and re-use a Miracle crest to suddenly gain support effects outside of Metal’s domain.You can do almost everything Puppet Switch does with other cards, but it always takes more than one card (and therefore turn) to set up these sorts of scenarios. This is a high-value card that can give players a host of new and unexpected outs. Most opponents wouldn’t consider a clutch Puppet Switch when playing out their turn. The fact that it gets back cards like evolutions or Digimon that were paid into DP means you can get insane DP value for later evolutions. Example: rack a Redotamamon for +40P, evolve, support with Puppet Switch and get back the Redotamamon, then it gives you +10P. By your next opportunity to evolve, you’ll have a guaranteed 50P and a net card advantage of +0. Lastly, a deck with x3 VS against your type can fall apart if you change your type away (plus you’ll net some sweet cards and DP out of the deal).
What’s bad about it: This card can’t be charged into DP normally—you have to play it as support to get it there. If you’re not set up for multi-color, you lose one of its effects; and if you are, you need a tight evolution-box line. Tips: If you’re looking to reuse specific cards in your deck, Puppet Switch is a good universal way to do it without splashing into Jungle or Enigma. In fact, Puppet Switch is a good way to unlock the potential of your existing cards and therefore provides good universal synergy. Many games can come down to a well-timed Ace play that doesn’t get voided, so Puppet Switch on reusable Aces can give you the edge to win.The card templates for Digimon Battles now reflects the subtypes better. Instead of a permatext denoting that it’s “Also ” etc, it now displays all the subtypes in a new black bar under the primary type icon. The site currently has all the new images updated but TTS and OCTGN do not yet. The change is superficial only, so you won’t be required to update your decks. Example of the change below:
Along with some emergency-erratas taking place after the launch of Data Breakers, we’re bringing two new Promo cards that will be legal for play and available on both Tabletop Simulator and OCTGN: Dukemon and Herculeskabuterimon.
Originally, these cards were slated for a much later set release that would likely come out at the end of the year. Instead, we’re moving them up since they’re fully ready for play and to apologize for the mini-errata coming soon, as well as the lack of COTDs. Those COTDs did have to be put on hold temporarily however, since much of our attention has been diverted attempting to convert Alsciende’s NetrunnerDB into a DigimonDB, as well as other side-projects. For now, we’re shelving it since it’s eating up too much time and should return to COTDs and design shortly. Without further ado, here are the new cards!
These aren’t being released as part of a specific set. Instead, they are numbered for the “PR” or “Promo” pool of cards. We’ve had promotional cards before, but they were always previews of upcoming sets. This time, we’re starting a promo pool so cards can be released in-between sets, especially ones that would be nice to have in the game but won’t fit within the parameters of the next set.
These aren’t really an apology and were going to be released anyway :)
Black Gear—If own level is lower…
What’s good about it: Black Gear is a crazy mix-n-match that tries to give you the best possible answer to whatever lower-level situation you find yourself in. Since you gain every effect cumulatively, unlocking the Level U effect also automatically means getting the Level C. Since each level has an “OR”, you could potentially play this card with any 3 of 6 different effects. Each of those effects is easily comparable to other option-potence cards. At the highest level, it even gives the option for “Turbo” which means change the Support to “Any Phase”, so you can stack the remaining effects and still play a support; or else you could just get your Ace and play something devastating. With 2 KOs on the line, turbo OR Ace is a heavy advantage. Even if you’re not lower level, you can still draw 2 in a pinch. What’s bad about it: You get nothing unless you’re behind in evolution. Everything you get is based on your opponent, which you can nudge but never control. If you unlock only the Level C ability, you’re Level R and at that point, a mere Power -400 or HP -300 might be nothing when you’re so weak. Voiding while the opponent is higher and U/M usually leaves you open to a beating from their superior body and the alternative for Trash 6 may do nothing to help you in that particular instance. Turbo and Draw 2 isn’t particularly devastating to a Level M, regardless of your level. Any Ace searched can’t be supported on the same turn. Each effect on its own is hard to justify. Tips: At first, Black Gear looks difficult to control. But it’s important to remember, you don’t get more effects the further behind you are, you get them for being any number of levels behind, but with an opponent’s that’s further up the evolution stages. Therefore, the maximum value of Black Gear isn’t when you’re Level R, it’s when you’re Level U and they’re Level M (or any level just under theirs). Simply use a slow-evolution deck—Marine type usually excels at this. Any Digimon with high HP at each level can go slowly and allow the opponent to eventually reach Level M with very little risk. You won’t need to focus on your damage much, which gives you time to prepare for the biggest effect. Try using this as a guaranteed 2 KO card, either by searching your Ace (while Level U ideally) or turbo for a last-ditch KO. If you chose “trash 6”, the opponent may not be able to effectively recover from losing their Level M, as you now threaten to reach your own Level M unchallenged. If you plan to wait for the best effect or not, it’s still a good idea to include other “low-level” cards such as [card img=”https://www.v-mundi.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/170-Whistle.png” name=”Whistle”], and cards that work better if level is lower, like [card img=”https://www.v-mundi.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/199-Data-Copy.png” name=”Data Copy”].Turbo is not a unilaterally worse choice than your Ace, since Turbo allows you to stack every other effect, draw 2, and still support with [card img=”https://www.v-mundi.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/068-Silver-Ball.png” name=”Silver Ball”], which covers the same bases as Black Gear’s turbo condition. The real weakness of Black Gear is comparing it to Silver Ball in the first place, since the ball is a far more straightfoward card that gives high value every time, regardless if your level is lower. All the ball and gear care about is whether your opponent is high enough. With that in mind, black gear can be extended beyond this microcosm of level, which isn’t very common anyway (U and M aren’t the mode of the game) and provides an additional benefit for opposing Level C. It’s not a devastating effect, but -400 Power can sometimes be as good as Whistle, since the highest Level C power is 600, most circles are around 500, most triangles around 300, and the average incoming attack will be somewhere around 400 after all. With that in mind, it’s like a soft Whistle if you’re R (where Whistle works at higher levels too, so long as you’re lower), but with the additional option to soften them up by 300 HP before hitting. Some Level R are quite strong, such as [card img=”https://www.v-mundi.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/011-Goblimon.png” name=”Goblimon”], which has the highest base power of any R, and Crash Rookies such as [card img=”https://www.v-mundi.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/010-Ghostmon.png” name=”Ghostmon”], which has the highest damage potential of all Rs. Goblimon’s circle plus Black Gear is 780 damage! Ghostmon’s crash + gear is 1050 damage on a Rookie!
In fact, Crash with any lower level is going to benefit from the HP -300 effect, so keep that in mind. Just throwing this one out there: you can Data Break on the turn you support with black gear, since you probably don’t want Level M anymore (unless you have a plan), and breaking will pile on even more powerful effects. What’s extra devastating is piling black gear on after using [card img=”https://www.v-mundi.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/164-Level-Crush.png” name=”Level Crush”] to ensure maximum carnage. Crushing for an HP reset, a ton of bonus HP, plus all the gear effects you can handle is a pretty strong turn. Surprisingly, that’s not the only Evolution card this low-level option pairs well with—[card img=”https://www.v-mundi.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/167-Mutate.png” name=”Mutate”] can keep your HP reset and fresh, while providing a body swap to another of the same level (which would obviously be lower). Another counter-intuitive pick is [card img=”https://www.v-mundi.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/166-D-Link.png” name=”D-Link”], since you can play an abnormal Level C and evolve to Level U, assuming you waited for an opponent Level M. So it’s not even a matter of keeping your own active alive through this process to maximize the effectiveness. You might think it’s tough to ensure you’re exactly 1 level lower, but since Mutate, Level Crush, and D-Link all assist in fine-tuning this, it’s actually quite easy. Not to mention there’s more than one card in the game that evolves you from R to any C from the deck (or Destiny Zone). You don’t have to be “lowest” level, just a little lower will do.
Whamon (Level U)—The magic of an Ultimate that evolves from itself.
What’s good about it: Whamon (like his Champion form) has the highest printed HP of any Digimon in its level. The Evo-box bonuses featuring “Whamon” push the HP even higher. Whamon in the Evo-box gives this card a built in “Mutate” letting you evolve from U to U if you would like. Its Support ability is also very nice getting tons more HP if you can keep your hand relatively stable. What’s bad about it: This card has low Power—closer to a Champion rather than an Ultimate. Its to zero ability is very under-powered. Tips: Whamon (like most Ultimates) wants a dedicated deck with lots of evolution cards that can supplement its built-in Mutate. Running “Download” as your ace with cards like “level Crush”, “Plugin Back-up” and “Burst Growth” can give you extra effects with your extra Evolution, and keep the Whamons coming.
Data Hijack—Evolve from your deck and charge extra DP.
What’s good about it: Data Hijack’s primary effect is to evolve to level C straight from the deck. Evolve from deck is bonkers, letting you take full advantage of every Champion in your deck, as long as it’s a legal target. It’s second effect doesn’t require you to evolve, meaning you can use it even if you can’t go up—If that’s the case, the second effect lets you virtually charge twice before Evolving (by DP instead of the primary effect), or reveal the top card of your deck before the support phase. After use, it deletes itself so you don’t accidentally get flooded with this card after recycle effects (this is usually a good thing, since re-using a card like this is rare and requires tricky timing, while it clogs the hand). What’s bad about it: At mid to late game, this card can be rather dull— especially if you are not at Level R or you didn’t have a valid card on the top of your deck (cards with +P). Tips: Data Hijack loses consistency as the game progresses. If you have no other evolution to play and this is stuck in your hand (usually stopping you from draw 2 each turn), consider playing it and checking the top of the deck—at the very least, you get to check your upcoming card. Mixing this into decks with extra Champions or a variety of them can let you toolbox your evolution. Try running with “Shogungekomon”, “Cherrymon” or Champions with a wide variety of evolution-box effects.
A partner can be any Level R (Rookie) in the game. You’ll want to have one in every deck, since they confer distinct and inarguable advantages that normal Rookies just don’t offer. Things can get a bit complicated, so it’s let’s break down what a partner can do:
Partners can be used in one of a couple scenarios in the game, and have several rules tailored specifically for odd cases they create. They’re essentially, a dedicated rule-breaker. Here are some of the scenarios, and a walkthrough of how partners change them: Full Article
Plug-In Backup—Keep your DP even when you evolve.
What’s good about it: Since you often have to make tough choices about what to rack, this eliminates that responsibility by taking all those cards back. Since it has “recycle any 3”, you’ll get to choose which cards are returned—including partner, Ace, DATA, Firewalls, situationally good cards, and anything the opponent trashed or sniped that you wish to keep. What’s bad about it: Early game, you don’t have much to recycle. Requires evolving by DP and provides no discount. In fact, discounts of any kind make this hypothetically less useful since racking means needing the Backup less. On the same note, it doesn’t shine by default in decks that can evolve with 1 rack. This effect can be a low return value unless planned for properly. While rare, it can’t take anything from DP unless it’s a Digimon card. Tips: Make sure you’re not trying to use lots of external DP-gain effects such as [card img=”https://www.v-mundi.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/002-Monodramon.png” name=”Monodramon”], [card img=”https://www.v-mundi.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/043-Raremon.png” name=”Raremon”], or evo bonuses for this. If you do, you’ll lose out on a lot of its potency. This is similar to a [card img=”https://www.v-mundi.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/182-Vending-Machine.png” name=”Vending Machine”] that you use during evolution. If you’ve already used [card img=”https://www.v-mundi.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/099-SuperTag.png” name=”Super Tag”] or some other method of “ignore DP”, Plug-In Backup interferes heavily with this by taking everything back into hand. This card is best used a little after the early game, when you have some trash to recycle or in decks that need to rack more; OR after deliberately using a mulligan a few times to search your Ace, use it, evolve with this, then recycle the Ace. A property common to all “recycle any” cards is the ability to trash your deck on purpose of the bulk cards, then put the strongest cards back in for easy access later. Since it’s a Plug-In, it benefits from [card img=”https://www.v-mundi.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/019-PluginQ.png” name=”Reload Plug-In Q”] (Quick), which gives it another draw 1 if Q is in the Destiny Zone—even more cards!Backup asks two opposing things of you: Ensure you can be independent with your evolution (no DP reduction necessary), and rack more than 1 cards to make best use of it. Normally, if not using your Evolution card to make the evolve itself easier, you should at least have high +P or low DP cost, to ensure fast and smooth evolution. Therefore, what Backup actually asks is that you make best use of it in decks that have trouble evolving, which will pay everything back to you. In some ways, this is more powerful than Super Tag since you can re-use all the DP for different purposes. In other ways, it’s worse—if you need to re-rack them, it’s going to take time.
If you evolve fast and regularly, [card img=”https://www.v-mundi.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/036-BurstGrowth.png” name=”Burst Growth”] is probably better than Backup. If you’re slow or have high trash costs and low hand (or need to maintain hand), Backup is great. The [card img=”https://www.v-mundi.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/136-WhamonU.png” name=”Whamon”] Level U support and [card img=”https://www.v-mundi.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/145-Wargreymon.png” name=”Wargreymon”] or [card img=”https://www.v-mundi.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/090-Rusttyrannomon.png” name=”Rusttyrannomon”] Activate both benefit from larger hands. In those Level M cases, it’s difficult to keep the hand size large due evolution requiring resources from hand. Backup can ensure a much more potent and more reliable activation. A minor point, but using DP to evolve to [card img=”https://www.v-mundi.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/001-Herculeskabuterimon.png” name=”Herculeskabuterimon”] means everything in DP is taken, you might draw 2, and that massive hand of cards is protected from discard, plus your deck is now 3 cards larger which helps enable the deck protection passive.
If you get the evo-bonus of [card img=”https://www.v-mundi.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/148-Rosemon.png” name=”Rosemon”] or [card img=”https://www.v-mundi.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/008-Megidramon.png” name=”Megidramon”] (when evolving by DP of course), an added Backup is a total of Recycle any 8! That’s a very powerful way to create the most potent deck for upcoming plays. This also heavily fuels discard costs such as an attached TOY [card img=”https://www.v-mundi.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/034-Missile-Pod.png” name=”Missile Pod”] and [card img=”https://www.v-mundi.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/065-MetalParts.png” name=”Metal Parts”], where every discard counts.
[card img=”https://www.v-mundi.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/016-Puppet-Switch.png” name=”Puppet Switch”] is a notoriously strong card but it can’t be used with Backup! Pay attention to where Plug-In Backup is restricted to only taking “Digimon DP”. [card img=”https://www.v-mundi.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/030-Kyuubimon.png” name=”Kyubimon”] particularly loves and hates this plugin. Love because you can switch what supports Kyubimon activates at no extra DP cost to you. Hate because you may not want to switch, but using this in the same deck will eventually force one or else face the consequences of a dead Evolution card in hand.As we see, Plug-In Backup is best in decks that “slow rack” and can obtain all their DP from Digimon cards in that zone. It’s very specific but there are several cards that shine extra bright this way. Any Digimon with “Put this into DP.” somewhere in its effects, such as [card img=”https://www.v-mundi.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/041-Ogremon.png” name=”Ogremon”], [card img=”https://www.v-mundi.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/031-Armadillomon.png” name=”Armadillomon”] (or [card img=”https://www.v-mundi.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/039-Armadillomon.png” name=”Armadillomon”]), [card img=”https://www.v-mundi.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/014-Mushroomon.png” name=”Mushroomon”], [card img=”https://www.v-mundi.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/043-Patamon.png” name=”Patamon”], [card img=”https://www.v-mundi.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/036-Falcomon.png” name=”Falcomon”], [card img=”https://www.v-mundi.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/051-Akatorimon.png” name=”Akatorimon”], [card img=”https://www.v-mundi.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/134-Angewomon.png” name=”Angewomon”], [card img=”https://www.v-mundi.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/089-Devimon.png” name=”Devimon”], [card img=”https://www.v-mundi.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/048-Minotaurmon.png” name=”Minotaurmon”]…this list could go on for a while. In the great case of PR [card img=”https://www.v-mundi.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/009-Witchmon.png” name=”Witchmon”], she doesn’t just put herself into DP, she can also be used after you take all yours with Backup and swap DP with the opponent to give them 0 DP. Weirder, you could swap and then play backup, giving you the unprecedented ability to hold your opponent’s cards in your hand! Also any evo-bonus with “Put … into DP” (usually the top 1 Digimon of deck), example being [card img=”https://www.v-mundi.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/090-Devidramon.png” name=”Devidramon”]. So when using this card with a huge list of Digimon, there’s a lot of value that can be had for re-using those same cards over and over.
Coliseum—Changing both players attacks to with various bonuses for yourself.
What’s good about it: Coliseum boosting your power is very helpful. Forcing a fight can be very necessary when you need to prevent abilities like drain and 1st attack. Especially if you want to use your circle with impunity. What’s bad about it: tends to be the strongest attack for the majority of digimon. the bonus effects aren’t always that helpful at letting your attack happen on your opponents turn. Tips: Coliseum is a tricky card to pin down, its extra effect tends to seem more random than it is, if you can figure out you opponents best move generally you know what effect your going to get. it’s best to use this on your turn when your opponent is most likely to use abilities to get extra damage out or survive to evolve on their turn. In some instances, you can get 200 Power and the change, making it comparable to an Attack Chip without the threat of counter (or “to zero” effects).
DB-014 Hagurumon—A Rookie fit to assist Crash.
What’s good about it: Immediately, you’re drawn to the Support ability which attaches and saves you from the perils of Crash. Since —the type Hagurumon most easily assists, has a staggering amount of Crash, it fits right in. Circle to zero helps tremendously to keep it alive on a medium-strength body. One of the rare attachments where you will be able to use the ability the turn it attaches, so you don’t waste a turn. What’s bad about it: You shouldn’t hang out on this Active (it’s not Goblimon after all). You’re still going to lose HP, diminishing the possibilities of this card far more than it may first appear. Takes away the slot of the valuable “Miracles Crest” which lets you use your own Active’s Support (something crash-centric decks already strive for). Tips: Well now you don’t have to run Concert Crash anymore. Pair this with other possibilities such as Chainsaw, Data Copy (for an instant kill with almost no downside), Waspmon, or add Drain when you Crash with cards like Dark Wings. Try changing your type to after attaching, so you unlock access to more Drain. Or change to to unlock access to powerful HP-based conditionals like Icemon.
