Digimon TCG

The release date of Digimon TCG of the first BoosterPack after the first 3 decks was on Friday, April 24, 2020. Although there were already tutorials on the official TCG YouTube channel at that time, there wasn’t official information on how to play in another language other than Japanese. 

For those who aren’t still sure about the trading card game basics or don’t know where to find Digimon TCG, we’ve got them. If you are interested in learning Digimon TCG basics, stay tuned for more information!

How to play Digimon TCG?

To begin with, each player must have his or her colored deck on the playing mat and his or her 5 Digi-Egg cards in the corresponding area. After shuffling the decks and having the 5 Digi-Egg cards on the assigned pile, the first 5 cards of each deck are separated and assigned, without seeing what they are, to the area of "Security Cards", in which the 5 cards dealt face down will be. 

More information on them will be given later.

After having the game mat in order, players draw 5 cards each and decide the order in which they start, either by throwing a coin, with stone, paper, or scissors or simply having the loser or winner of the previous game start.

The Beginning of Turns: The Action of Stealing and the Digi-Eggs

At the beginning of each turn (unless it is the first) the "Draw Phase" begins, in which you must draw a card and add it to your hand. Then start another new phase in which, if there is no Digimon in the training area, you can turn one of the cards of Digi-egg and place the Digimon in phase "In-Training" (level 1) on it. If there is already a Digimon in that zone at this stage, move it to the playing field and wait until the next turn to put another Digimon on it.

Play Cards: Digimon, Digi-evolution, and Energy

To play your cards you must use energy, which is indicated with a special tile in the center of the game mat. The first player starts with 0 power, but that doesn’t matter, as it’s still your turn even if it’s 0. 

When playing Digimon you’ll see that they have two numbers that indicate the energy cost, that’s because you have two options: play it directly on the playing mat by moving the energy counter to the opponent’s side as many times as indicated by the top left of the card or Digi-evolution, placing it on top of another Digimon of the same card color and paying the cost below, which is inferior. 

When you evolve a Digimon you must say "SHINKA, draw 1!" and draw a card. You can choose to pass your turn, even if you have energy left, in which case your opponent’s power meter would be 3.

Digimon at child level (level 2) has a Digi-evolution cost of 0, so you can play them on your level 1 Digimon of that color without having to move the energy counter. Then you can continue to evolve your Digimon, paying the energy cost indicated in level 3, but be careful, when the energy marker passes to the counter of the opponent your turn will end.

As an example, player 1 has just started the game, has 0 power, and as Digimon from level 1 to Tsunomon, color blue. Player 1 could play his Bearmon card on Tsunomon without moving the power counter, as his Digi-evolution cost is 0, but after that player 1 places Ikakumon on Bearmon, with a Digi-evolution cost of 2 power, making the energy counter move from 0 to 2 of player 2.

Now it is the turn of player 2, who turns his Digi-egg card around and places a level 1 red Koromon, to which Dracomon evolves for 0. However, having spent no energy on this Digi-evolution, Player 2 takes advantage that it is still his turn and plays Phoenixmon directly, Digimon level 5 costs 10, making the energy counter move up to player 1’s number 8 as it had 2 power, and ending player 2’s turn.

Skills and Special Cards

When you evolve your Digimon, you will see that some have an ability at the bottom of the card, so it is important never to cover them up by placing a card on top. These abilities have very varied effects ranging from giving 1000 DP to eliminating the previous evolutionary phases of an enemy Digimon, sending them to the discard pile.

Apart from Digimon cards, there are also special cards, which cost energy and can also be used in different ways, such as abilities. These special cards indicate their function at the bottom and their cost at the top, but, unlike Digimon cards, they only have an energy cost and are single-use (such as giving 1 extra energy point with cost 0 or spinning a card).

Victory: Attack with Digimon and Security Cards

At any time during your turn, you can choose if you want to attack with any of your Digimon to try to remove any of the opponent’s "Security Cards" or defeat any of their Digimon, after which you turn attacking Digimon. 

However, when you attack the "Security Cards" with one of your Digimon, your opponent chooses if that attack is directly received by his "Security Cards" or if he prefers to defend himself with one of his Digimon, which can be rotated. If he decides to defend with one of his Digimon, his DP is shared and the winner remains turned on the playing mat, while the loser is sent to the discard pile. 

In the event of a tie, both Digimon are sent to the discard pile. However, in that case, the attacking player may prefer to attack one of the opponent’s Digimon and send it directly to the discard pile. 

If Player 1 decides to attack directly and Player 2 does not want to defend (or if he cannot defend), he will play one of his 5 "Security Cards", which can be any type of card (except Digi-egg cards). 

If the "Security Card" is a Digimon, its DP’s are compared and, if Player 2’s new Digimon’s are higher, Player 1’s attacking Digimon is sent to the discard pile, but Player 2’s new Digimon is also sent to the discard pile. If the DP’s of the new Digimon of player 2 is inferior, the attacking Digimon stays on the playing field. 

However, when the "Security Card" turns out to be a different card from Digimon’s cards, it activates its extra "Security Card" effect and overrides the attack. This effect is below its normal effect and works differently, but it should be noted that it is only activated when it works as a "Security Card".

If Player 1 attacks and Player 2 has no more "Security Cards" and no more Digimon available to defend, Player 1 wins, ending the game.

The Effects of Cards/ Common skills

Like almost all card games, there are common abilities among several Digimon with a very specific effect. The information we provide may vary from product to product.

-Blocker: If your Digimon is active (straightened) and you are going to receive direct damage or damage to your Security Cards, you can make this Digimon receive the attack and, if its DP is equal or superior to those of the attacker, it eliminates it. If the Digimon with Blocker survives, passes rest (is turned);

-Jamming: This Digimon cannot be defeated in battle with Security Digimon;

-Piercing: If this Digimon defeats another through an attack, check a Security Card;

-Reboot: This Digimon straightens both your turn and that of the opponent;

-Security Attack +1: this Digimon checks an additional Security Card (the number of additional Security Cards is that of the ability if the Digimon is defeated before checking all Security Cards, it is for this purpose);

-Recovery +1: Add a card from the top of your deck to your Security Cards (the number of Security Cards obtained is that of the ability);

-Retaliation: if this Digimon is defeated in battle, he also eliminates the Digimon who defeated him.;

-Draw 1: You draw a card (the number of cards stolen is that of the ability);

-De-Digivolve 1: Remove the top card of an enemy Digimon, if that Digimon does not have Digi-evolution cards below or is level 3 you can no longer remove cards (the number of cards removed is that of ability);

-Absorb Evolution -1: When you play this card by evolving it over another Digimon, you can rest one of your active Digimon to reduce the cost of evolution by 1 (The reduced amount is shown by the ability);

-Haste: this Digimon can attack in the turn in which it enters the battlefield;

-Digiburst 1: Choose 1 of the Digi-evolution cards of this Digimon and remove them, if you do, activates the following effect (the number of Digi-evolution cards is indicated in the speaking and the effect varies depending on the card, it is included in its description).

If you are interested in trying Digimon TCG, check our trading card section and purchase your dream set!