Author: Contributor

[EN] Jean Flores: 1st Place at CoreTCG Regional with Beelzemon (BT12)

Invited Author: Jean Flores

Country: Canada

Introduction

Hello everyone! My name is Jean Flores and I am from Canada. I just recently won the CoreTCG Regional that just passed on May 13, 2023.

I have been playing Digimon since the Super-Prerelease back in 2020-21. I am an avid fan of purple decks and have played them ever since the beginning and I am finally glad I won a big tournament with the colour I play with the most.

Deck Introduction

The deck I decided to play for this event was Beelzemon X. I primarily play purple so I was ultimately deciding between this or Hunters. Hunters I did not have as much practice with as I did with Beelze so I decided to play the deck I was most comfortable with and in the end it paid off. My version of Beelze played a few techs that most builds have seemed to drop but also is lacking from techs most builds have adopted recently.

 

Before the regionals, I was on the ST6 Pagumon instead of the ST14 Yaamon. I was always a very cautious player and the Pagumon helped with that by giving me some forms of interactions on my opponent's turn through its’ “on deletion” inheritable. The Yaamon was a last minute change since I believed that I had to go as fast as possible to combat either Wargrey/Blackwargrey variants and the mirror. It was the best decision I made for the deck and I will be playing the egg from now on.

In terms of the LV3s, the lineup is pretty standard with maxed out copies of ST14 Impmon, EX2 Impmon and BT12 Impmon (X-Antibody). The one difference is I played one copy of the BT6 Impmon. This choice did not make much of an impact and the card has not come up for me the entire tourney but was the reason I won my last match within the tournament. For future tournaments, I would be replacing this card with something else.

For LV4s, we have 4 copies of each promo Wizardmon and BT12 Wizardmon (X-Antibody) but we also play 2 copies of ST14 Witchmon. The Witchmon helped with speeding up the trashing from my deck but the main purpose of them was the DP boost they gave with their inheritable. Witchmon combined with ST14 Baalmon helped my Beelzemons have pseudo-jamming when swinging into security which came up multiple times with how popular Hunters was and Quartzmon being 15k DP.

With the LV5s, I kept it simple with just 4 ST14 Baalmon and 2 BT10 Baalmon. I did not run the BT12 Baalmon (X-Antibody) since I did not play the X Antibody option which has been very popular with every other variant of Beelzemon. I wasn't used to playing with the option so I opted for not playing the small package. The BT10 Baalmon was mainly to allow me to build a stack in the raising area and not lose out on potential trashing.

The top end was pretty standard: 2 copies of ST14 Beelzemon, 3 copies of EX2 Beelzemon, 2 copies of BT12 Beelzemon (X-Antibody) and 2 copies of ST14 Beelzemon Blast Mode. Not much to go off of here.

Finally, 3 copies of ST14 Ai & Mako were played to increase consistency and to help stack my deck for my trashing effects. The options have maxed out copies of EX2 Death Slinger and ST14 Rival’s Barrage because I want to see those when I trash cards as much as possible. For Seventh Full Cluster, I only ran 1 copy since it was a card that I didn't really want to see in multiple copies but I see the value in playing multiple copies for the Beelze X turn.

Matchups

R1 Hunters (2-0) : This matchup showed me how favoured Beelze is against Hunter, especially if they have a slower start. A trend that most of my Hunter opponents have been doing, is just blindly playing BT12 Damemon in hopes of hitting a tamer but they usually miss. My opponent this round never had enough tamers on board to tuck my digimon under my tamers.

R2 BWGX (2-0) : This round was simply because I had a fast start in both games and my opponent could not keep up. 

R3 Hunters (2-0) : Another Hunters matchup and it ended the same way as the first one with BT12 Damemon missing more often than it should. 

R4 Bloom/Hydra (2-1) : This was a surprising matchup because I have never played it before and as well seeing a Bloom/Hydra deck with a 3-0 record. Game 1 I pretty much bricked and my opponent quickly flooded the board and won. Game 2 was a swift win for myself with my opponent not being able to catch up. In game 3, the game was going back and forth with my opponent going through 3 Hydramons tucking three of my digivolution stacks but ultimately went with my victory. This deck always scares me whenever I play vs them.

R5 Hunters (2-0) : This was my last Hunters matchup this tournament and pretty much went the same way as the previous two matchups. Deck needs too much setup and some games have no out to a Beelzemon stack if you don’t play the Ai & Mako tamer outside of deletion effects.

R6 Beelzemon (2-1) : This was the first Beelzemon mirror this tourney and it was an emotional rollercoaster. Game 1 ended with my opponent digivolving their Impmon all the way up to ST14 Beelzemon and trashing the following with the “When Digivolve” effect: 2 copies of EX2 Impmon and 2 copies of EX2 Beelzemon. I haven't seen such a mill before. This turn also ended with me starting my turn with 1 memory. I conceded and went straight to game 2. Game 2, I was the one with an incredibly fast start and ended up winning that game. Game 3, my opponent sadly bricked and ended up losing the game because of it. 

R7 Beelzemon (2-0) : This one had game 1 going back and forth with it ending with my victory. Game 2 ended with my opponent bricking again. My opponent was a joy to play even though his luck was not there for siad match. 

R8 Beelzemon (2-0) : This was my first time in the finals and this was also the first mirror match my opponent has played today. Me coming off of playing two mirrors, I feel a bit more confident than my opponent. Game 1 was nothing really interesting but in game 2, on my final turn was the first time the BT6 Impmon was actually relevant. My Beelzemon X stack was deleted by a Rival’s Barrage in security. The Beelzemon X “On Deletion” effect brought back the Impmon which ended up grabbing back a copy of ST14 Beelzemon. Along with my one lone copy of Rival’s Barrage that was set the turn prior, it gave me the exact stack to rebuild a new stack using Wizardmon (X-Antibody) that was already on the board which resulted in my victory on that turn winning me the tournament.

Special Thanks

This was a very enjoyable experience and would love to feel this experience once more with the coming regionals/Ultimate Cups within the coming months. I would like to thank everyone from my locals: Untouchables Sports Cards & Gaming.They support me with playtesting as well as helping me get the cards I need to finish any deck I want to play. I would also like to thank everyone on the Brick City discord for supporting me throughout the tournament through cheers and motivational messages being sent to me in between rounds.

I would also like to thank Digimon Meta for giving me this opportunity to write an article. I am not used to writing articles but I hope you all enjoyed reading this article and hopefully I can represent my community at Nationals next year.

Thank you very much for having me and will be seeing you at future online tournaments.

[EN] Kristian with Hunter Deck (BT12)

Invited Author: Kristian Lee Kane Rodriguez

Country: Spain

Introduction

Hi everyone! My name is Kristian Lee Kane Rodriguez and I am from Spain. I've been playing the Digimon Card Game since its release and have tried out many different decks.

Today, I wanted to share my Hunter's Decklist from a local tournament that took place on May 12, 2023, at ManaVortex in Alicante, Spain.

Introduction to my deck:

This is a plain ol' Xros Hunter deck without any innovative or spicy tech. However, I had a lot of fun learning how to play the deck and its various level 3 Digimon with different effects. Once you understand how each Digimon works, the deck becomes quick and powerful in terms of drawing cards. The deck's success depends on not only the Tamers but also Arresterdramon and its superior mode. The new mulligan system helped, but I found that the deck's core is stable enough that I didn't need to use it often.

 
STRENGTHS:

This deck is very agile and has a lot of drawing power, making it challenging to brick. It also requires very little memory to perform many actions.

WEAKNESSES:

The security is weak, and the Tamers don't do anything when they hit the field. The deck's strongest Digimon is Quartzmon or a superior mode, which makes it easy for opponents to swing recklessly.

BONUS:

The large number of effects on the field due to the Tamers, plays, and digivolving can be overwhelming at first, especially for players who haven't tried the "save" mechanic. However, once you get the hang of it, it's a very fun deck to play with.


Matchups

The local tournament had 16 players, BO3, 4 rounds, and a variety of different decks.

FIRST MATCH:

Hunters vs. Hydramon w/ Quartzmon (2-0)

The first game was straightforward, and the Hydramon deck's strategy actually helped me by flooding the field in more than one occasion. I was able to clear the field easily thanks to OmniShoutmon and the Shoutmons that get added onto the sources thanks to the Tamers. I knew how Hydra and Quartzmon worked, which gave me an advantage. In this game, I was able to use Arresterdramon's superior mode to Xros Psychemon with Gumdramon, get back a superior mode from under my Tamer, evolve Psychemon into Arresterdramon for 1 cost, give him a +2000 DP with a Dracmon, and then evolve into superior mode, which helped me win.

SECOND GAME:

Hunters vs. Beelzemon (2-0)

This was a fast-paced game. We both knew that whoever gave the other even a little room to work with would lose. The first game was simple: we would both swing and hope for the best. In my case, I hoped my level 4 Digimon wouldn't die, and in his case, he hoped that my security wouldn't have any Tamers (which is difficult due to the sheer number of Tamers in this deck). This matchup is very close, as Beelzemon has a lot of ways to extend his turn and significant removal abilities. Beelzemon also melts your securities. In the end, I won thanks to my draws, and my opponent was not able to get his game going.

This matchup is a very close one. Beelzemon has a lot of ways of extending his turn and a lot of big removal, and Beelzemon will melt your securities. Alas, there is always a Tamer hiding in those securities, and Hunters only need 3 memories. The Tamers do the heavy lifting.

Gumdramon played with Digixros, an additional draw, Arresterdramon for 0 memories thanks to Tagiru and Taiki, and gave him 1 Dracmon with +2000 in his sources and a Clockmon with Jamming. His own effect gave him rush, a free swing to his last security, and he evolved for a cost of 1 into Superior mode, sending his Beelze under his Tamer, ended the turn, and took a free swing.

THIRD MATCH
Hunters vs ShineGreymon 2/1

This was arguably the weirdest game since ShineGreymon isn't in its strongest form (yet). It had some consistency issues and a few misplays from my part due to not understanding the nature of Masaru/Marcus and ShineGreymon Bt12. Nevertheless, a strange but fun game.

FOURTH MATCH
Hunters (me) vs Hunters 2/1

This game was extremely fun. The best thing about the Xros Hunters' deck, I would say, is even though a lot of the decklists are so similar, they are so different in playstyle. Here, you can also see the difference in style in players.

The first game was a loss for me due to not being able to draw enough cards. My opponent had Shoutmon and Shoutmon (King Version), and they would delete my own Lvl 4 before I could utilize them. The lack of Tagiru was also very noticeable.

The second game was just a game of who could bring out Superior mode first.

The third game is where I saw my deck shine. For the first three turns, we both prepared our board, and then it clicked, with four memories and a +1 thanks to Yuu. OmniShoutmon and some Watchmakers took down his securities in a swift swing. After that, on my next turn, Gumdramon Digixros  was played, evolved into Arresterdramon for a reduced cost thanks to the tamers, and a final evolution toSuperior mode was game.

[EN] Damian: Machindramon Deck (BT12)

Invited Author: Damian Galinac

Country: Argentina

Introduction

Hi all, my name is Damian Galinac from Argentina. I'm a relatively new player, started playing during BT10/EX3 format with my first deck that was Bloom/Hydra which didn't work for me.

So I started building Machinedramon since it's my favourite digimon, and fortunately it is pretty strong when it doesn't brick. I haven't really played regionals yet and this is my second win at locals, but I hope I get better as a player over time.

Introduction to my deck:

Upon playing a couple of test games with a regular black base machinedramon deck I realized that Beelzemon decks were going to OTK me before I built my board. So in order to match their speed at the expense of consistency, I decided to change the deck to red base, that is playing Guilmon P-041 and Gigimon EX2-001 for draw power and no level 4s.

I've seen these types of builds having success in asian tournaments so I wanted to give it a try. I used to run 2 DeathXmon but I quickly realized that they aren't useful against Beelze decks since you will probably play it for a cost of 11 or even 8 if you are lucky, so I replaced them with DG Dimension that works just as well for that match up. I removed BT11 Machinedramon since that one doesn't build a stack as EX1 does, and it plays for 11 cost which is a lot. During this tournament I was really lucky to not run into Hunter decks which can remove your stack and leave you defenseless very easily.

 
The first question that comes up for red base machinedramon decks is, why no level 4s? how do you digivolve? That's the neat part, you don't hehe. In all seriousness, machinedramon is really flexible with the builds to the point that you can play black base and digivolve with really strong inheritables, red base for a lot of draw power and early play of level 6s, there are even some blue base decks that play blue/black level 4s so you can use Kaiser Nail for making really strong boards.
 
Starting up with digi-eggs I run 4 Gigimon EX2-001 to combo with Guilmon P-041 ability to draw 2 on 1 attack. This enables you to go for early aggression as well as adding more cards to the hand which is a core need of this build. The other addition of rookies are 2 EX3 Guilmons for consistency and some potential removal of the opponent rookies.
 
As you can see the deck runs no level 4s which are not needed for this build, since the goal is to draw a lot of cards with Guilmon, Fire Ball and Hero of the Skies effects so you can get at least 5 different level 5 cyborgs to play a EX1 Machinedramon. 
 
The line up of level 5s is pretty standard. Here's the toolbox of the deck, when you play a machinedramon/chaosdramon you choose which cyborgs will be attached as digivolution sources. This allows you to get really strong effects like being able to attack unsuspended digimons, trash security after winning a battle, security+, blocker, reboot, etc. I made sure to run 2 Megadramon from BT9 since there are a lot of 3 cost tamers being played in this format (i.e. Tai, Ai & Mako, Takuya, Hunters, Xros, etc.) and some removal is always nice. Deleting Impmon, Bokomon/Neemon, and memory blockers is also great for this deck. The reason for playing so many at 1 copy is that you can't add cards with the same card number per each effect. This means that if you have 2 BT11 Metaltyrannomon you can only add 1 of them per effect (i.e. if you play a machinedramon). You can maybe add the other one to the stack when you digivolve to Chaosdramon or use other effects, but each effect you activate has to add different cards.
 
So, the main level 6s of this build are the before mentioned EX1 Machinedramon which are played once you need to pressure your opponent. If there aren't any memory blockers against you and if you have all of the necessary materials, the Machinedramon should cost you 7 memory after the memory gain (you have to make sure to have at least 2 memory or you can't play it, the memory gain doesn't bypass the play cost). Then you get the upgrades in the form of Chaosdramon EX3 and ChaosdramonX BT12 which evolve on top of your machinedramon for a bigger and stronger stack. The main removal of this deck is the De-Digivolve from Chaosdramon which most of the time will allow you to shrink your opponent stacks and attack over them. ChaosdramonX is the boss here, being able to inherit all of the effects from Machinedramon and Chaosdramon which are really strong.
 
The tamers for the deck are Analogman and Hiro Amanokawa BT8. Analogman is what brings consistency to this deck by letting you cycle through your cards and, it's also one of your defenses by allowing you to redirect any attacks on your security to your level 6 machine digimons. This is even better against Red Hybrid since they have effects that gain memory when you block attacks, however they don't activate when you redirect them. Hiro is the best red tamer you could get for this build, it allows you to play at least 2 of the options we use to draw cards per turn, it grants you enough memory to play your machinedramon, you can use the effect to gain DP. You could run 1 but I like consistency.
 
The options I played are Hero of the Skies and Fire Ball for draw power (fire ball also allows you to delete the opponent's rookies for 2 cost). DG Dimension is a great card for removal since the effects that grant you immunity to De-Digivolve are extremely rare (the most common is BT11 MetalgreymonX), which will make it easier for you to potentially clear the opponent's board with 1 card. Last but not least, is Attack of the Heavy Mobile Digimon. This card is, in paper, a -1 in cards in hand but compensates by letting you immediately play a big machine, gain rush and blitz and then obtain some advantage (or even attack for game). The security effect is also great allowing you to discard any cyborg or machine to delete any of your opponent's digimon of equal or lower play cost.

Matchups

The tournament had 16 players in a best of 3 format, we played 4 rounds.
 
First game: Red Marsmon
Won 2-0
The first game runned smoothly for me, getting the key pieces early such as the promo Guilmon and some fire balls and HotS. Marsmon is not a tough match up for Machinedramon since you can survive the Raid attacks from Marsmon and then attack over it during your turn. The second game I started by playing EX1 Metalgreymon since I hadn't had anything better to play, which passed the turn on 7 memory and allowed my opponent to evolve to Phoenixmon in the breeding area on 1 turn. Fortunately I was able to evolve to Chaosdramon on top of that and keep control of the board.
 
Second game: Bloomlord/Quartz
Won 2-1
The first game was a back to back fight for control of the board since my opponent sent to the bottom of my deck my first Machinedramon with the effect of Hydramon, after some struggle I was able to clear their board and attack for game. In the second game I was unable to set a good board and got OTK'd by a great combo. The third game started really bad for me playing EX1 Metalgreymon and passing the turn for 5 memory which allowed my opponent to play 3 digimons and green memory boost on their turn. I was lucky in that game, since they had the pieces to combo me for game except for any level 5s, which gave me time to set Analogman and clear his board with DG Dimension.
 
Third game: Purple Beelzemon X
Won 2-1
The game started as usual with me being able to draw some cards, set my board and all. However, I won the first game by pure luck when my opponent attacked with ST14 Beelzemon for 2 checks and died to ChaosdramonX in security. The second game I was not so lucky, my opponent set the board with EX2 Beelzemon and ST14 Beelzemon and proceeded to attack with both. Incorrectly, I didn't block the attack of the ST14 Beelzemon which allowed my opponent to combo for game (Beelze ST14 -> BeelzeX BT12 -> Beelze BM) and that was it. Game 3, my opponent bricked and played a Wizardmon for 5 cost on their first turn so I started to draw the things I needed and set up the board. After some turns of my opponent not drawing what they needed the game was over.
 
Fourth game: Purple Beelzemon X
Won 2-0
I started the first game by drawing a lot of the cards I needed and getting to EX1 Machinedramon on my third turn. I then started using fire balls, attacks, and DG Dimension to clear their side of the board. Fortunately, I was able to block the attack of ST14 Beelzemon which saved me from getting OTK'd. The second game was smoother for me since my opponent ran into DG Dimension in their first check in security which cleared their board. After that, I rushed a Machinedramon on board and my opponent bricked so after a few turns of deleting Impmons and trashing security the game was over.

Special Thanks

I want to thank DigimonMeta for providing me with the space to write about this and for all the effort they give to support this game. Also, I want to thank the Digimon Rosario community for teaching me a lot of stuff.

[JP]Andre: The Shinegreymon in BT13

Invited Author: Andre Valentino Putra

Country: Indonesia

Introduction

Hello, fellow Tamers. My name is Andre, I am from Indonesia. Welcome to the guide of one of the best, if not the best deck of BT13 meta, that is ShineGreymon.

ShineGreymon is a deck that revolves around two things ; ShineGreymon evo line, and his Tamer, Marcus Damon (Masaru Daimon in Japanese). While Tamer-centric deck is already exist for quite a while, this deck is probably the first deck that having the Tamer the main attacker without turning him into Digimon. Most of the time, you are going to punch the security with the Marcus(es) while your Digimon just sit there for a bunch of effect that triggered by simply having your Marcus suspended.

With how dominating this deck in BT13 meta, hopefully this guide will help you to learn how to play the deck, and punch your way out to winning when the set eventually comes out (or if you JP player, just straight up winning with the deck already), also with knowledge on this guide, you might be find a way to counter the deck, or at least, prepared for the match-up.

DECK GAMEPLAN

As briefly mentioned above, the deck gameplan is to keep playing Marcus, and keep attacking with him most of the time. Your digimon serve as both support for Marcus to either give him power and +1 security, reducing opponent digimon DP, or even drawing cards, and also for keep cheating Marcus for free, which this deck does really well. Your wincon is boiled down to either, a). Playing semi-aggressive while finishing your basic setup ASAP and win quickly, or b). Having a swarm of Marcuses and do the OTK swing with them and as little as a Digimon (sometimes even an Agumon is enough). 

The deck also has a lot of control tool, in the form of reducing DP, and the deck does this quite well, being able to either wiping a bunch of small digimon, or take down a single big digimon. Obviously, DP reducing is one of the strongest form of removal in this game, so that say something about this deck control capability. The deck does everything you want from a deck, and on how straightforward the deck played most of the time, makes this deck an easy to play and easy to win with. 

As for the basic setup, here is the deck bread and butter setup :

These card on your field (the RizeGreymon could be literally any RizeGreymon on your deck)

 

With this setup, you can rip at least 5 of your opp security, and if you have another digimon or active Marcus, you can easily OTK your opponent. The combo goes like this :

  • Because the fixer, you guarantee to have 3 memory, so first you use BT-12 Marcus to become active by paying 1 memory
  • Attack opponent security with Marcus, then use his effect to evo your RizeGreymon into ShineGreymon, now your Marcus become 6000 DP digimon with +1 Security Attack, and opponent digimon security get -6000 DP, thus making your Marcus a pseudo 12000 DP digimon (2 Security destroyed)
  • Use Burst Digivolution to return your Marcus to your hand and digivolve into ShineGreymon Burst Mode, and call back the Marcus you just returned to your hand, he gain Rush so he can attack immediately
  • Attack with Marcus, and now ShineGreymon BM will trash your opponent security, and the attack will land (1 Security trashed from ShineGreymon BM + 1 Security from Marcus attack)
  • Attack with ShineGreymon BM (1 Security), now you just removed 5 of your opponent security (2 + 1 + 1 + 1 = 5) and if you have any other active Digimon/Marcus and they have no security left, you can land a direct attack to your opponent.

This combo is pretty easy to pull off and also the setup can go alive as soon as your third turn (or if you get a lot of memories, even second turn is possible). The best thing about this setup though, is depending on the situation, you don’t even need all of those card above for the setup. For example, the Marcus BT-13 isn’t even necessary, it could just another Marcus BT-12, hell you can get away with only one Marcus BT-12. The ShineGreymon BM isn’t even that necessary, you can just stop with ShineGreymon BT-12. You might be dealing less damage, but remember, as long as you can give pressure to your opponent, and best case scenario, your ShineGreymon or Marcus still alive next turn, you can immediately do the same thing again, and potentially killing your opponent. Even if your ShineGreymon and/or Marcus get removed, you can just try to do the setup again, and with how easy this deck get the setup done, you will find yourself do this combo again on one or two turn later. 

Some basic tips for using the deck :

  • For the mulligan, as long as you have a Lv.3, a Marcus, and Lv. 4 or anything that can search it, you are good to go
  • DO NOT attack mindlessly with your digimon, if you want to rush down enemy, use your Marcus instead, and only start to attack with him if you either already have RizeGreymon, or GeoGreymon if you attack using BT 12 Marcus and evo the GeoGreymon into RizeGreymon. (Note : ShineGreymon/RizeGreymon X is also fine as long as you already have RizeGreymon as your Inherited Effect, as it does the same thing as when it’s on field)
  • The only time you will attack with digimon is when either you use Red Koromon that draw card when attacking and you need certain card so badly that the risk your digimon dying is overshadowed by the benefit of getting that card, and if your digimon attack is either win you the game, or setup for killing blow for the next turn
  • If you have BT12 GeoGreymon, don’t cast Marcus until you can cheat it with GeoGreymon. Otherwise it’s fine to cast Marcus as soon as possible, especially the BT13 one because he is a memory fixer. Also gambling with BT13 GeoGreymon is always worth it, even if you don’t get any tamer on your security, at least you can get info of your cards in your security.

Matchups

This is the basic rundown of this deck match-up :

  • Against slow/control deck, the key is to hoard your Marcus as much and as fast as possible. This deck can easily have multiple Marcus in no time due to the sheer amount of tamer cheating this deck have. Once you have a lot of Marcus, your ShineGreymon will make them all have +1 Security Attack, making OTK-ing your opponent a trivial task, even with the likes of Security Control. You can also do the basic combo over and over again, and as long as your opponent can’t deal with your tamers, you can get away with losing your digimon and evo the new one again, when still keep summoning tamer over again thanks to your BT13 GeoGreymon and both BT13 RizeGreymon and RizeGreymon X Antibody. Do watch out for some control tool that will be mentioned later. 
  • Against combo/OTK deck, just rush down them ASAP. As mentioned before, our deck can get the combo done as soon as third turn, and most of these combo/OTK deck is not even ready yet. Depending on the matchup, they might even barely have any digimon before their big turn, so sometimes attacking with digimon is safe here.
  • Against aggressive deck, try to outpace them. With how fast our deck combo go live, normally this shouldn’t be a big of a deal. But sometimes we have suboptimal hand, and they can go faster than us. In that case utilise our removal to deal with their board, and never to be afraid of attacking with Marcus even if you can only go to RizeGreymon, because Marcus dying while RizeGreymon on board is actually beneficial for this matchup, as RizeGreymon allows you to put Marcus from trash pile to security if your Marcus die, increasing our security count.

As you can see, this deck does well against all sort of deck. However, this deck does have some weak point, specifically on specific kind of control tools, and those tools are:

– Tamer Removal:

In case you missed the note, our deck is reliant heavily on Tamers. And one of the best way to deal with that is, we'll just destroy the Tamer. While our deck usually able to recover from losing our digimon, destroying tamer will set our deck back pretty far. RizeGreymon usually act as our Tamer recovery, unless of course most of deck that able to destroy tamer ALSO happened to be able easily destroy our digimon first, rendering the RizeGreymon useless. Losing both our digimon and Tamer will destroy our deck tempo and usually pretty tough to recover. Sometimes we can recover from this though, and with some planning, you might even be able to claw back to victory. 

– Attack Stopper 

“While not as annoying as tamer destruction, these thing still boil my blood”

Ah yes, the good of attack’s stopper. Sourai work because there is no way your Marcus going to have any digivolution cards. Kongou work because your Marcus will be treated as Lv.-, which is stopped by it, and also Marcus is more likely to attack player than digimon. Ice Wall is Ice Wall, although against this deck, probably the least effective among those (but still quite effective). Our deck gameplan is involving rushing their security down, so card like these will stall our gameplan, and despite our good removal tool, our deck really lacking at defensive tool beside removal, wide open for any comeback. Despite this, they still need to draw onto these card, and even if they do stall us, if they don’t have any way to swing back or setup another stopper, we are still going to win the game anyway.

As a bonus, let me give you a brief rundown of BWGX matchup, because this is the only one matchup that I think is relevant enough to care:

  • Try to rush them down ASAP. BWGX need some times to setup their board. If you managed to complete your setup before theirs, your chance of winning is would be improved
  • Wait for your BT-12 Marcus to be on field and stick there, then evo your digimon until RizeGreymon (or GeoGreymon if you have enough memory to do the combo), only then you can safely moving out your digimon. Doing that prematurely would risk your digimon getting deleted, and not only that would set you back, but with the delayed turn, even your Marcus would be deleted as well.

PROS AND CONS

Pros:

  • Really good matchup spread
  • Easy to play
  • Almost unbeatable if you open really good
  • Lots of DP reduction, and also quite flexible, can be used either as board wipe or as one big removal
  • Easy to setup for OTK, with sheer amount of cheating Tamer for free, you might easily swarm your board with bunch of Marcus

Cons:

  • Pretty bad matchup against BWGX, which is happened to be one of the most popular deck
  • Bricking with this deck is painful. Mulligan kind of help this, but still can happened
  • Without Tamer, this deck feels pretty useless.
  • Lack of defensive option besides removal, making it pretty vulnerable if you don’t get your game plan quick enough.

[EN] Abel Yantorno:1st Place LATAM Online Regionals with BWG

Invited Author: Abel Yantorno

Country: Chile

Introduction

Hello everyone! My name is Abel Yantorno from Chile and fortunately I got win the April Regional in LATAM. I'm part of "Los Numemon" channel in YT together with my brother Leonardo and friend Jeremy. I've been playing Digimon since BT1.5 with a few good international and local results, but it's my first time I win a real important tournament and it makes me very happy.

Introduction of my Deck

I decided to play BlackWarGreymon because it's the deck I've been using for the last months, with the ban list its power was diminished but Jeremy was able to find a good list that gave me confidence and made me decide on this deck. Also, with ST-14 and the ban list, the use of Beelzemon and XH increased, for this reason I was determined to play a deck that had big and solid bodies. 

Thanks to Win Rate, the match-up against XH improved significantly and the deck recovered the speed it had lost so I was calm playing BWG. The result was a faster and more consistent deck than before the Greymon X restriction, also the addition of the fourth Cool Boy gave me the draw and searching power I needed. On the other side, the weakness to Grandis is very big but luckily I didn't see any in the tournament, but in that case it's waiting to be saved by an Hades Force in security.

Click into the image for deck featured in DIGIMON CARD META

THE DECK

Thanks to the search and draw power Koromon BT5 was not necessary so I chose BT9 Koromon that gives 1k DP just to not be repetitive with the abilities, anyway I included an old Koromon just to have 5 digiegg lol.

Rookies are standard with the exception of Agumon X BT11 and their main reason is the inherited ability, together with Greymon X BT9 I can have a digimon with multiple protections, after the tournament I added a second of those Agumon X to have more consistency and get more profit by CoolBoy. It's important to say that never evolve that Agumon without having virus Greymon in hand because otherwise you'll have a digimon unable to evolve and that is so bad.

Champions are a classic configuration for me, Greymon virus x4 to have a big blocker and be able to extend the games more time, it's the most important Greymon and the first one I want to have on the battle area. On the other side ST1 Greymon (Sec+1) is the one that helps me finish uncomfortable games quickly, it's also a great alternative for a secondary big body. The X antibodies needs no explanation haha.

 Ultimate are standard too, before I played Alterous Mode but with the addition of Greymon X BT9 it wasn't necessary and it doesn't provide the aggressiveness that MetalGreymon X gives me. Without a doubt the games get very difficult if I don't see a lvl5 quickly, they're the starting point to start having a fluid game. Having the ability to eliminate 3k and then 6k digimon is awesome, their inherited abilities are the main engine of the deck. 

Finally the Mega and the reincorporation of BlackWarGreymon BT8 to the metagame, with the overpopulation of XH it was necessary to ensure a total advantage, for this reason I included BWG togheter Hades Force, Blue Flare is quite popular in LATAM and lately Blue Hybrid has been gaining power, so this combination of cards gave me safety for those match ups. Gaiomon and BWGX are mandatory, having a lvl6 blocker with reebot is a very big advantage that the opponent will hardly be able to eliminate due to the multiple protections I have. In this oportunity I didn't want to play any Omnimon or another lvl7 because I didn't think it would contribute to the strategy. Maybe RagnaLoardmon but that means too many changes. 

Seeing the Tamers, the most notable thing is Cool Boy x4 because it helps to draw many cards and give extra memory to extend the turns without fear of memory blockers, a problem that Red Memory Boost has. Another important justification is that half of the digimon are x antibodies and the search target is wider than usual. Options are standard with the exception of the mvp of the tournament: Win Rate 60% was the best card of the day. It's basically the same ability that Greymon X BT11, for that reason the deck doesn't lose speed. Another important thing with WR is that it's flexible, it is not an obligation to use it to evolve from lvl4 to lvl5 because it can also be used to have a Mega without passing turn and generate pressure in early.

Matchups

R1 vs BWG W-W: The key to win the mirror is wait for Gaiomon. I think the extra protection from AgumonX helped me on specific turns and WR was important to pass my rival in speed. Also the residual damage thanks to MetalGreyX puts a lot of pressure on the opponent. 

R2 vs XH W-W: An easy match for me, the presence of blockers in the first turns is important because most of lvl4 and below have only 4k and that helps to generate momentum and be able to build my big towers, already in mid/late BWG and Hades Force only confirm the victory.

R3 vs Blue Flare W-W: Another match that I had studied, playing with only one digimon on the field is the key to winning. I quickly got the perfect BWG X with blocker and both lvl5, so I only had to worry about controlling the opponent's field 

R4 vs Gabumon BoF: L-W-W; My opponent in this round was Luciano, a very good Argentinian player with a high level. The opening hand was horrible and I even did mulligan but it was a horrible hand too. I couldn't do anything and he hit me quickly thanks to GabuBoF, it was surprising for me because I didn't expect to see that deck but in theory it's not difficult because the concept of the deck works around tamers. 

In G2 and G3 I was able to compose myself and thanks to the good draws I won, it was very important BWG and Hades Force to control Matt Ishida, also MetalGrey X broke securities without activating them, the best way to win against decks with a lot of tamer. 

R5 vs MetalGaruru W-W: Exactly the same as the previous round, a bad hand made me lose advantage at the beginning and my opponent did 4 damage in one turn, luck saved me and he couldn't otk thanks to not having protection from GaruruX, from there I was able to recover position and I built a decent stack. The important moment was when my opponent uses the delay without promoting his digimon to the battle area, that mistake cost him the game and I could win the next turn. 

In G2 I started perfect and having a big blocker with a lot of protections I was able to win comfortably. It was a lucky game that thanks to the consistency of the deck I could recover momentum and be able to get the victory. 

R6 vs XH L-W-W: My rival was a popular player admin of the fb page: Digimon Latam, we're good friends. I was calm because I knew he was playing XH but I started badly too, the mulligan didn't help and I started playing Metalgreymon X on field, from there I tried to play but it was impossible, it was a lot of damage in a short time and I lost. In the next two games Greymon virus helped me a lot to stop the attacks and then the combination of both MetalGreymon made everything easier. 

R7 vs Beelzemon W-W The Grand Final: vs Facu Graña one of the best Uruguayan players and a good friend of Los Numemon (our YT channel) I was very excited because I was one step away from getting my first major tournament, I was relatively calm because the match against Beelzemon had been studied. Unfortunately for me, I started as badly as in the last rounds and he was in control of the game until something unexpected happened, we noticed that he had no security after mulligan and that meant a game loss. That was decisive because I was in a really bad position. 

G2 was very fluid for me, I was able to play my game without a problem, I think his game was influenced by what happened in G1 and his had really bad hands

Special Thanks.

First of all thank the Latin American community, I streamed the tournament and all day they supported me a lot. I also want to thank my brother Leo and friend Jeremy, without a doubt one of the best Chilean players and I'm sure they'll soon do the same as me, their support was endless ❤ 

To our group of friends La NumeFamily: Bastian, Francisco, Ciro, Gonzalo, Jonathan, Camilo, Enzo, Paulo, Victor, Carlos, Victor, Juan, Seba and Rodrigo. 

To my local shop and sponsor Hunter Card TCG for trusting me and also helping me prepare thanks to their high level local tournaments. 

To finish I want to thank DigimonMeta for the opportunity. I want to invite everyone to follow us on YouTube, we're the biggest Digimon TCG channel in Latin American and we work hard to make quality content for everyone. 

https://www.youtube.com/@losnumemon

Thank you very much! See you in the next tournament.

[JP] “ASSEMBLE THE THIRTEEN!” – BT13 Royal Knights Guide

Invited Author: Mickey

Country: Indonesia

Greetings, Tamers across the world! I’m Mickey from Indonesia! Welcome to my guide on one of the most popular decks of BT13 meta – Royal Knights!

Royal Knights (RK) is probably the most unique deck in DCG history so far – they eschew evolution and conventional playstyle for directly playing Mega-level RK Digimon to be absorbed into Yggdrasil_7D6. Then, Omegamon would summon the absorbed RK for a final attack!

In this guide, I was specifically requested by Digimon Card Meta to address this deck’s matchups against other competitive decks in the current metagame. We will not be discussing deckbuilding and card choices here. I also have included some tips that can be beneficial when playing this deck.

Without further ado… Digital Gate – Open!!

Strength and Weaknesses

STRENGTHS:

  • Ability to play powerful Digimon (all are Megas except Magnamon) at a discount.
  • Variety of powerful effects that can answer almost any situation. When multiple RK are present, their effects work with each other and increase their effectiveness!
  • Very flexible build. The amount of RK you put is based on preference. However, some RK are very useful that 3-4 copies of them is highly recommended.
  • Pressures your opponent to defeat you ASAP before you have a lot of sources under Yggdrasil.
  • Excels at mid / late game.
  • Very fun and satisfying to play – especially when Omegamon arrives!

WEAKNESSES:

  • Vulnerable to early game aggression.
  • Play cost reduction floodgates e.g. Psychemon, Chikurimon, Solarmon are very effective against it.
  • On average, can only play 1 RK per turn.
  • Very dependent on Omegamon to win.
  • Skill ceiling and decision-making level required is moderately high.
  • Very expensive $$$

TIPS & REMINDERS

  • A lot of players tend to forget that most RK have more than 1 effect and that can significantly impact a game’s flow. I recommend you (esp. if you can’t read Japanese) recite their effects when you play them. That helps you to remember any other effects they have and keeps your opponent informed (technically this is basic player etiquette in card games). 
  • Yggdrasil_7D6’s discount is optional – you can choose which RK to apply the discount on. I saw some players wasting Dukemon’s innate discount because they thought Yggdrasil_7D6’s discount is mandatory when they would play an RK.
  • Our boi Omekamon is an X-Antibody Digimon so it is a valid target for Alphamon’s effect.
  • Examon’s [All Turns] effect works against Digimon that unsuspends when they attack. After they attack (suspend) and unsuspend themselves first due to turn player priority, Examon’s effect will activate and suspend them back – preventing another attack.
  • You can evolve after Yggdrasil_7D6 is deleted by Omegamon’s second effect. So, you can evolve a Red / Blue RK into an Omegamon to delete something or Jogress a Green + Blue Lv. 6 RK (Duftmon + UlforceVeedramon) into an Examon for extra attacks!
  • Some RK effects that require other RK or Digimon to be played will trigger when multiple RK are played simultaneously. This applies to e.g. Dynasmon, Duftmon, and UlforceVeedramon’s second effects. The latter even counts itself for its second effect when it’s played alone!
  • Omegamon’s second effect gives [Rush] to all your Digimon for the turn – it’s not limited to RK only. Get Omekamon and Sistermon to join the fray!
  • Sleipmon’s first effect gains you 3 memory if the total security of both players is 6 or less. With Sleipmon under Yggdrasil, you can safely play Omegamon if you’re at 1 memory and have at least 3 RK under Yggdrassil (10 cost reduction, play Omegamon for 4, Sleipmon adds back 3). It is a solid play too since you’re able to attack 5 times (Sleipmon can attack twice).
  • Sometimes, using Omegamon’s second effect and passing turn can be the right play. Don’t tunnel vision and think that you only should play Omegamon when you have enough memory and RK under Yggdrasil to win the game on the same turn. This requires thorough judgment though – so weigh your options carefully!

DECKLIST

For reference, this guide will use the decklist below:

Click into the image for deck featured in DIGIMON CARD META

MULLIGAN GUIDE

Keep if you open with any of cards like ST12 Sistermon Blanc, Omegamon, BT13 Magnamon, BT13 Dynasmon or the option card "Purge of the Royal Knights".

VERSUS GUIDE

1. Versus: ShineGreymon

Watch out for these card(s):

Key card(s) in this matchup:

Possibly the strongest deck in the current meta right now. ShineGreymon’s strength comes from its ability to play multiple Masarus for free and overwhelms you with free evolutions from BT12 Masaru Daimon’s effect, multiple minus DP effects against your Digimon, and finish you off with Burst Mode.

Try to remove any Agumon / Greymon on the field so they can’t promote Masaru as an attacker. 

Omegamon’s first effect is a surefire way to remove a ShineGreymon in play. For the smaller Digimon, you can use e.g. Jesmon, UlforceVeedramon, or an RK played by Purge of the RK to answer them e.g. Dynasmon or Sleipmon. 

Don’t rely too much on Duftmon or Magnamon to block since the minus DP effects can remove them easily. Craniummon is the best blocker in this matchup because it blocks anything other than ShineGreymon: Burst Mode. Don’t hesitate to sacrifice it to block a big attack. Winning or losing can be decided by blocking the correct attack!

You may need to play Omegamon early because this deck puts high pressure on you as well as having lots of security at mid / late game due to Masaru attacking and recovered by RizeGreymon’s effect when it is deleted, so you don’t have the luxury of time and may need 2 turns to finish your opponent after Omegamon’s second effect. With a myriad of removals and blockers, ShineGreymon doesn’t have an easy way to rebuild while answering a board full of RK.

2. Versus: Royal Knights

Watch out for these card(s): [BT13-075] Alphamon and BT13 SEC Omnimon.

Key cards for this matchup: [BT13-075] Alphamon, BT13 SEC Omnimon and option "Purge of the Royal Knights".

Kind of self-explanatory: In the mirror match, in general, whoever is first to play Omegamon and attack wins. Alphamon changes that dynamic into whoever was first to stop playing Alphamon loses.

Keep track of the number of sources under your opponent’s Yggdrasil. Play Alphamon if you think that they will have enough sources and play cost reduction to play Omegamon next turn.

Purge of the RK helps to speed up your race for the Omegamon timer. Be careful on using the Delay effect, since your opponent can easily remove the RK you brought out.

Don’t miss an opportunity to attack or remove an opponent’s RK, but don’t become too intent on it that you end up spending key RK effects that are better used at a different timing.

A good thing to remember in the mirror match is that Yggdrasil_7D6’s inherited effect works anytime an Option with RK trait is placed – doesn’t matter who does it. So, if you check security and it’s Purge of the RK or From Master to Disciple, you will gain memory. However, since it’s a mandatory once per turn effect, you won’t gain memory if you place your own RK trait Option after.

3. Versus: WarGreymon

Watch out for these card(s): BT9 MetalGreymon X, BT12 WarGreymon, BT9 WarGreymon X, BT11 BlackWargreymonX and BT10 OmnimonX

Key card(s) in this matchup: Royal Knights BT13 Alphamon and BT13 Dukemon (Gallantmon)

WarGreymon’s position in the metagame might be affected post April 1, 2023 due to BT11 Greymon X-Antibody being limited. However, it is still a strong, explosive deck that needs to be respected.

Beware of the deck’s ability to suddenly check 3-4 security out of nowhere and have your RKs removed by their Mega lineup such as the cards shown above.

Dukemon is good in this matchup because the Greymon Megas tend to have high DP, so it will delete them twice, which can push through their protection effects in general. 

Alphamon and Examon can buy you time as well. Remember that Examon’s [All Turns] effect can activate on BT12 WarGreymon when it unsuspends and stops it from attacking again.

4. Versus: Belphemon

Watch out for these card(s): BT8 Spychemon, BT13 Kurata Tamer and duo Belphemon Sleep Mode and Rage mode.

Key card(s) in this matchup: BT13-081 Porcupamon ([On Play][On Deletion] Delete one of your opponent's LV3 Digimon.), BT13 RoyalKnights Alphamon and Ulforce, the option card "Purge of the Royal Knights".

This matchup is quite favorable if not for Psychemon. It is the reason why most RK decks now include either BT13 Porcupamon or BT13 Masaru Daimon to remove it ASAP.

RK is severely hindered if it’s being locked by Psychemon for multiple turns and it can be a decisive factor for the matchup. Jesmon is your last resort if you don’t have Porcupamon / Masaru, or a Purge set to bring out removals like Dukemon or Sleipmon. It’s better to pay 11 memory rather than being unable to play at all. There were games where I had to play Jesmon for 11 to remove multiple Psychemon and I still won.

I chose Porcupamon because it can delete twice, costs 4, and an extra body to attack. Masaru is also a good choice since it’s a memory setter and can work when checked from security. In my opinion, RK doesn’t really benefit much from starting at 3 memory every turn and in practice, my opponents have another Psychemon to play again after I remove 1. This is up to player’s preference, so there are no right or wrong choices.

Control the board from the small Digimon and the Gizmon. UlforceVeedramon is good in this matchup since it bounces and prevents any on deletion effects, which is Purple’s main gimmick.

Keep an eye on your opponent’s hand count – the magic number is 6. Don’t attack recklessly if Belphemon: Sleep Mode is in play and they have 8 or less cards in hand. It’s better to lose 2 security instead of 4.

One thing that RK can capitalize against Belphemon is that they always telegraph Belphemon: Rage Mode by playing Belphemon: Sleep Mode first. When that happens, play Alphamon. Belphemon: Rage Mode won’t be able to attack and next turn it can be easily removed by the likes of Dukemon, Omegamon, and UlforceVeedramon. Also, Belphemon: Rage Mode’s boardwipe effect doesn’t really affect RK other than Magnamon and deleting cards like Omekamon helps you instead.

Beware of Akihiro Kurata’s [Opponent’s End of Turn] effect that deletes 1 Lv. 6 Digimon by attaching it under a Belphemon. Remember that it’s a Tamer effect, so even Craniummon is not immune to it. That’s why Alphamon is perfect for this matchup since it stops Belphemon: Rage Mode from attacking and can protect itself against Kurata.

5. Versus: Beelzebumon

Key cards for this matchups

Beware of the many removal tools this deck has – at least during mid game where they have enough trash setup to delete your RK. This can get very annoying since it prevents your RK from being absorbed into Yggdrasil. LordKnightmon can recycle a key RK that was removed.

Try to block as much attacks as possible from their small Digimon. Only their Megas can get through your RK and they’re only enabled when the trash is filled enough.

In this matchup, accept that eventually your security will be gone because of Beelzebumon X-Antibody. Don’t be afraid – if they can’t land the final attack on you, you are still in the game. Craniummon is risky since Seventh Full Cluster can trigger when they evolve into Beelzebumon X-Antibody. Having multiple blockers from Duftmon’s effect or Gankoomon is better in this matchup. Alphamon stops their Beelzebumon > Beelzebumon X-Antibody > Beelzebumon: Blast Mode finisher from happening.

Dukemon gets a bonus in this matchup since the Trash fills up fast. Go figure.

6. Versus: Hunters

Watch out for these card(s):

Key Cards for this matchup: BT13 RoyalKnights Leopardmon, Ulforce and Craniamon.

Unless they have a very good start and aggro you fast, RK should have a good matchup vs. Hunters. OmegaShoutmon needs to be juiced up with sources to be able to delete anything besides Magnamon. Arresterdramon: Superior Mode can’t remove an RK easily because the deck rarely has more than 1 Digimon in play and rarely plays Tamers at all. Craniummon absolutely stops them. However, don’t underestimate them, because they can suddenly make an explosive move out of nowhere and catch you off guard.

Use UlforceVeedramon’s effect to strip as many sources as possible. The small [Save] Digimon can’t pass through blockers such as Magnamon, Gankoomon, and any other RK affected by Duftmon’s effect easily.

An inherent benefit that RK has against Hunters is that our security is filled with high DP Digimon, and their boss monsters OmegaShoutmon and Arresterdramon: Superior Mode doesn’t have material save if they die (unless Clockmon is in their sources).

Quartzmon is not even a threat to RK because we usually don’t have a lot of Digimon and Tamers out on the field and all our suspended RK are absorbed into Yggdrasil anyway. It is also very easy to remove with Dukemon, Omegamon, or stalled by Alphamon or Examon.

7. Versus: Red Hybrid (Takuya)

Key cards for this matchup: BT13 Royalknights Ulforce, Alphamon and Craniamon.

Red Hybrids can pressure you fast with a combination of Flamon swarm and high DP Hybrids, then finish you off with KaiserGreymon.

Defend as best as you can – blocking attacks and removing their Digimon at any given opportunity. Be prepared to sacrifice your blockers, as this is now a battle of attrition of whether you can hold on until your opponent runs out of fuel. 

Alphamon is perfect to stop KaiserGreymon from attacking and protects itself from the deletion effect. Craniummon is ready to serve Yggdrasil with its life by taking a big hit from KaiserGreymon. Always learn to accept that you will lose security against aggro decks and try your best to prevent the final attack to the player.

UlforceVeedramon is the perfect counter to Red Hybrids since it strips sources and bounces, preventing on deletion effects to trigger. Against BT12 KaiserGreymon, it is very good because it will completely stop it from gaining anything when removed. Keep in mind that you need 3 RK to do this on a KaiserGreymon stack (6 sources), so Gankoomon / Duftmon / Purge of the RK helps to increase the RK count.

Beware of BT7 KaiserGreymon and Brahmastra since they will grant lots of memory if you decide to block them. It’s your call to decide the importance of the attack and whether to block or not.

8. Versus: Blue Flare

Key Cards for this matchup: BT13 RoyalKnights Ulforce and Craniamon.

Blue Flare is a very difficult matchup for RK. They are very hard to interact with since BT10 MetalGreymon appears on their turn with [Rush], while also stunning your blockers. Even Alphamon can’t stall them since only ZekeGreymon have a play cost above 10. They also discourage you from having more than 1 Digimon in play, or else it will enable a lot of their effects.

UlforceVeedramon helps in trashing MetalGreymon’s sources so they will have less materials saved. Craniummon is very important because it’s immune to stun and no Blue Flare Digimon can get past through it naturally.

Just like against any other aggro decks, you need to defend and control the board as best as you can. If there is any opportunity to remove their Digimon, especially MetalGreymon, then do so. Purge of the RK helps you with that.

Beware of Sourai because it will completely stun you and it’s even worse when checked in security during your Omegamon turn. Duftmon and LordKnightmon can salvage the game for you when that happens. The former can create a lot of blockers – hopefully more than your opponent can stun. The latter limits the number of your opponent’s plays if they decide to attack.

CONCLUSION

That concludes my guide on Royal Knights in the BT13 meta. I hope this guide can benefit all Tamers who seek to be better at playing the deck and assemble The Thirteen!

If you have any further questions, feel free to contact me at Discord. My user ID is kyrios99999#8451. 

I would also invite you to join our Digimon TCG 2020 Discord – we have a channel dedicated to RK deckbuilding and discussion there. 

I wish you all good luck and to have fun every time you play this awesome card game!!

[EN] Jorge: 1st Place Ultimate Cup Europe with Blue Ulforce

Invited Author: Jorge Pardos

Country: Spain

Introduction

Good to all , I am Jorge Pardos and I am from Valdemoro (Madrid/Spain). I am the champion of the  Ultimate Cup in Spain in March. I have been playing digimon since the day it came out and after so long trying to finally win an important tournament makes me very happy. 

BT11 Ulforceveedramon Deck

When Bt11 came out, I had been away from the competitiveness, my last regional was in August last year and I wanted to take the game more relaxed. Then I was lucky to get a Ulforce alt art in my booster box, I had always been a green player but I liked the art so much that I decided to buy the rest before the price of the Rina skyrocketed.

Click into the image for deck featured in DIGIMON CARD META

I started to play it for fun, I didn’t get many good results, but the deck was fun so I kept trying and trying to improve it. When the special rules of the Ultimate Cup were announced all of a sudden my tier 3 deck playing for a good time became a tier 1 /goal contender who could aspire to anything. Although I would have liked to play Bloomlord because I had always been green player but, I decided for Ulforce because either I played it now or it would never be as good as it was now, and with the disappearance of Xross and the low priority of BlackWargreymonX towards the deck was really good.

Now I’ll show you every single thing on the list.

We start with the options that I think is the simplest, 4 memory boost are necessary because the deck needs to search its parts and the search and filtering that gives the memory boost are necessary x4. Ice Wall there is not much to say, possibly of the most broken options of the game, buys turns in an abysmal way and a stack deck if you steal it gives you a high capacity.

The Digimons and tamers of the deck I think are quite standard, x2 Modoki Betamon is for memory choke, especially for those decks like Machindra , Bloom, Ulforce. And in this format, almost all decks will gain memory either from memory boost or cards' effect, so this type of Digimon will help to reduce the lost.

x4 BT11 Veemon for search, x3 EX1 Veemon to gain memory, and x3 ST Veemon is to warp-digivolution when necessary. The most interesting of the list I think are the lvl 4. x4 Bt11 Veedramon is the standard, now that Veedramon zero? Veedramon Zero contributes a lot for its inherited ability, as in many Match Ups like Machindramon, yellow Hybrids and even Blue Flare.  To have the confidence to recycle the trash and recycle resources was very important and that gives you the advantages in match ups of stall to be indeckeable and when it works with AeroVeedramon we will have SecurityAttack + 1.

Then the 3 Kumamon are necessary, to utilise tamers and leaving the opponent the ability to prepare for one or two attacks using the hybrid, without BWGX it is almost impossible to block them all.

The last digimon "tech" was the BT11 MirageGaogamon, use it when you don’t draw an Ulforce and you need to buy time. The blue lvl6 can control board and earn back memory are pretty good to stall the game and buy more time for the real combo to appear.

Now the most important thing, the decision of the Tamers , Why the deck without ex2 Jery and why Tommy and x4 of Tai V-tamer?

I sincerely believe that here is the decision of the victory of the tournament, throughout the tournament the putting the fourth Tai V-tamer was the key. I do not like Jery for its high cost (and the deck does not run Leomon so it is a waste) and Tai gives you more versatility, Tommy has the same idea a tamer of lower cost than Jery or matt/sora and that brings you a lot advantage in some MatchUps.

Matchups

1-YH 

2-Machindramon 

3-Minervamon

 4-Minervamon

 5-Bloom/Hydra 

6-Bloom/Hydra 

7-DarkKnightmon

Match up vs yellow hybrids/SecCon is a match up that depends on the luck of both players, evade does not save you from the options of reducing dp if it is very important to paste and reduce their lives with care of options, the moment in which you have tamers and hybrids and do not reveal options in opponent's security is the best.

 The Machindramon match up was decided by that I was faster than him, the round lasted 15 minutes as I managed to leave him no security and finish the next turn, the Tai V-tamer chocking to 1 was the  key.

Next two matchups against Minervamon were very difficult. My opponents controlled their deck in an incredible way, but Ulforce has the ability to return opponent's Digimon to hand so Minerva cannot activate the deletion's effect and stop it from playing a Mervamon for free. It would be bad for the matchup if Mervamon can summon two blockers which can destroy Ulforce's strategy.

 Now the hardest MatchUp of this format, BloomLord is a deck that requires a series of Digimon and combos in a specific order to win. In both rounds I won with the same strategy, I set level 5 in breeding and wait for the opening, Bloom Lord without Kimera has a very small access to the otk and has a very vulnerable turn in which he leaves almost his entire table suspended and taken away 2/3 securities. That moment is where Ulforce shines, you have to go out and clean the table, although you have otk almost certainly clean the table of 3/4 digimons to your opponent gives you a 90% chance of winning, since Bloomlord is to be left without so many resources so even if he has 1 or 2 hits to win it is still very difficult to recover so the victory was almost assured. I had to play and not to make a single error in those rounds else I will have to pay a very expensive price.

The final against DarkKnightX was a Match up favorable for me, since I can return to the hand so they are not able to activate their "on deletion" effect. I think in this Matchup if I could focus on playing the otk and play super aggressive that except for a Fist that I can avoid with evade was very safe, even if it is a mistake to not catch the lvl5 of a Davis revealing and take a lvl 4 when I already had lvl 4 in hand and not lvl 5 that almost cost me the round. 

Special Thanks.

The first thing to thank the Spanish community that was giving me a brutal support throughout the tournament and to see how everyone celebrated my victory was incredible. Hito, Javixuky, One Trick, Escudero, Paindart, SirGoblas, Riku,  Omega, Gerardo, Antonio, Juanma, Sukiti, Delfa and many more that I may forget. Also the community of Valdemoro madakiba that taught me to play tcgs and without them would not have enjoyed, also people who taught me to travel and learn from competitive tcgs , and big thanks to PoW Santi, Paula, Dani, Christ, Hugo, Victor, Santi… that helped me get out of my comfort zone and see the world. And I won't forget Alex De Digimon Tcgs SP who with his amazing work has brought out the community The Olympus that probes what I take best from digimon Balles,kurim,Dante,Tafifa,Unlucky,Gadoka…. Those of the chiringo who were always there, Kibalex, Sanote and Lomachu I will forget for sure many people in the community but to each and every one of those who send me messages of support and congratulations thank you very much. 

To finish my Family, my parents, my brother and my guys who in victory and defeats were ah. To finish off my family from my team CVV, Tayron who trust me on the journey and process, Sara, Danielss, Aaron, Javi, Julia, Irene, Yerals, Cap, Carre, Migu and many more I want to thank to be my family and be with me and obviously Digimon Meta for giving me the opportunity to write this. 

Thank you very much.

[JP] Salihin: BT13 Blue Flare has perseverance

Invited Author: Salihin Suran

Country: Singapore

Introduction

Hello everyone! My name is Salihin, you can call me “Sally” or “Sali”. BT6 era was the time when I started playing Digimon TCG. Started off with Blue ST-2 Starter Deck to get used to the gameplay and mechanics. I was just playing with a friend till I decided to try out some tamer battles at the locals. 

Gabu-bond was the meta then. I came weekly to participate and got trashed always 😅😅. Personally, I prefer to play competitively. For a start, I chose to only play blue decks however as time goes by, I’ll try to switch around to understand how other decks work just so I can play with blue confidently.

Blue Flare

BT10 introduction to digixros definitely changes a lot of the meta. As a blue player, Blue Flare is definitely the way to go! Been piloting it ever since and managed to get top 8 in one of the previous Evo Cup that happened last year.  

Blue Flare came short with its power despite its rush and stun ability from MetalGreymon. With only 8K DP it’s always a gamble. And with many otks and counters, it’s quite tough to play it.

EX04 MailBirdramon + Kiriha & Nene is the game changer! When I saw the release of EX04 MailBirdramon, I knew immediately this is the best card for Blue Flare. Rush+Stun+Jamming+2Checks?!?! Top it off by evolving it into DeckerGreymon for armor purge protection. Opponent bounce back your digimon? You have Kiriha & Nene to bring them back from trash! 

Click into the image for deck featured in DIGIMON CARD META

BT13 Meta

With introduction to Royal Knights & Burst Modes, it doesn’t make the meta any better with the ever raging Wargreymon, Hunters, Bloom/Quartz and many more.

Everything is happening so fast and every turn counts. 

The build you’re seeing now is the best Blue Flare I’ve built to face with all the gangsters in the meta.

I play test it with my good cousin, every night and day. I’m thankful for all the meta decks that he have built. 

This is my answer to other decks that preventing me from digixrossing or gaining memory, evolving into BT11 MetalGreymon + CyberLauncher or playing BT5 Supreme Cannon.

My recent win from Evo Cup match was against WarGreymon, Jesmon & Blue Flare. 

WarGreymon

Been playing against this deck back to back that I knew what I needed to do. I would normally go second against WarGreymon. WarGreymon will need some set up, which gives me enough time to get my tamers and rush it down. My first opponent didn’t get his Agumon early, so he hard cast a Greymon. Never leave a lvl 4/5 on field unanswered. I knew immediately I need to stun it next turn. With 5 memory, hatch Wanyamon and evo into Gaossmon, played a blazing memory, summon Kiriha free and get my MetalGreymon & others. Played MetalGreymon for 3 cost to stun his Greymon. This is to slow him down and preventing him from dealing early damage which might be dangerous in subsequent turns.

The strategy to fight against WarGreymon is to never leave your digimon unsuspended if he has one ready on field or in the hatchery. This is to prevent him from raiding and lethal. You can set up your lvl 3 to get that extra draw and play Greymon to search for your missing pieces in the first turn. By 2nd turn, you should start hitting his security. Push out the lvl 3, summon MetalGreymon with jamming Mailbirdramon. If there’s nothing on field I would slot in EX04 Greymon to get that extra draw. I will end my turn with evolving into Deckergreymon for armor protection. This will prevent Wargreymon from raiding or piercing. 

Sadly, my opponent was bricking. That’s when I start to play Kuzuhamon and go wide. He couldn’t answer my board that turn which gave me the victory.

Jesmon

The strategy to beat this monster was to wait till he summon his sisters for me to do multiple hits.

This match was fairly easy for me. My opponent chose to go first. I knew he was missing his pieces as his first move was summoning a Sistermon. Similar to how I played against Wargreymon, did the same thing and the rest is history. All I have to do is wait for him to push out or play his searchers again. It’s was a fairly quick round. You know the drill. Stun, swing, jamming, restand, repeat. For the first round, he didn’t had the chance to push out into Jesmon.

Second round was slightly different. I couldn’t get my hands on any MetalGreymon. I knew I had to poke a few as quickly as possible. He was at 2 life and managed to go into Jesmon GX and clear all my life. With all the Sistermons as blockers including his GX, he was fairly confident. His mistake was passing me to 7 memory. With 2 memory boost still on board, I pushed out my rookie, hard cast MailBirdramon to bring back MetalGreymon to my hand. Stunned all his Sisters, evo into DeckerGreymon, slot another Deckerdramon, stun his GX. Game over.

Blue Flare

The final match was a mirror. Wasn’t as easy as it looked. He got a different build. I played the usual but I don’t waste any time waiting for him to have more than 1. When I have my pieces, I straight went into MetalGreymon stun and swing. Same strategy but making sure I evo into DeckerGrey/CyberLauncher so he won’t be able to stun me if he were to play MetalGrey due to the insufficient ess. 

The game changer was after stunning and swinging, I evo into Kuzuhamon to spread my board, playing a Greymon and Kaizer Nail to pull out another MetalGreymon. Bringing home the Omnimon!

Matchups

Bloom Hydra/ Rosemon BM

I don’t really have a problem facing them due to their mechanics relying on having multiple bodies. So it’s quite a comfortable game. The only issue when Terriermon is out or they managed to go Quartzmon early. That’s where I’ll play Supreme Cannon to remove Terriermon or summon Dexmon to remove their Quartz.

Mirage BM

Mirage is a fun deck, but I feel it need to meet certain requirements to make it great. It bounces off your lvl3/4 or even lvl 5 if it goes into Mirage, but it won’t do much as it’s not that fast. You can go lethal and have your board set up quick while he still searching for his line.

Shinegreymon BM

One of the guy that I actually have an issue with. The ability to push out and swing with their tamers and go lethal or even with ruin mode is quite an issue. I would recommend to set up your tamers and blazing memory early. Try to choke them out, probably avoid hitting the security early to prevent them having their tamers from it.

Royal Knights 

Haven’t faced any Royal Knights yet, however I feel you’ll have enough time to win by spreading your board with Kuzuhamon quickly. Mailbirdramon definitely a must in your MetalGreymon to prevent from dying from the big boys in the security. You might want to add in Sourai if you’re not confident. This can come in clutch preventing them to come out and lethal from Omnimon.

Examon

I feel playing against Examon shouldn’t be much of a problem since you don’t usually push out your digimon from hatchery. And the moment when you push out, you probably want your Gaossmon to be dead anyways to summon your free searchers and MetalGreymon will be able to stun them both if you’re playing the right MailBirdramon. 

Hunter

The next problem I feel Blue Flare having issue is against Hunter decks. Their ability to slot a digimon to the bottom of another or tamer is an issue. I can’t think of a sure win way to go against them. Their draw power is just insane and fast.

Conclusion

I feel Blue Flare isn’t a deck that you want to take lightly on. With many different options and ways to break your opponent momentum, it’s definitely a deck you might want to consider playing and not to go against. It’s definitely not an easy deck to use as well. Give it a try with various build to match your preference. 

Good luck!!!

Salihin 

[EN] Andres: North America 1st Place 2022 Championship final with Gaio-BWGx

Invited Author: Andres Perdomo

Country: USA.

Introduction

Hi everyone! I’m Andres Perdomo from Florida. I was the champion of the 2022 championship finals for North America. I am happy to represent NA in the upcoming world championship. I have always been a fan of the franchise since I was a child. I have played most of the videogames and I like all of them. I started playing the Digimon TCG when it first came out. I can say I usually like midrange decks that can be both offensive and defensive when needed, once BWG X came up I thought it would fit my playstyle a lot, that’s the deck I decided to take nats and I am very happy with how it performed.

Click into the image for deck featured in DIGIMON CARD META

Deck Introduction

I think it was clear that BWG X would be very impactful to the meta once BT11 arrived, but there was a big uncertainty on how all the new decks would perform since nationals was the first big event we had in the BT11 format, from the Japanese results we already knew BWG X would be one of the decks to beat, after testing decks for so long in preparation for nationals it was clear to me that BWG X has great cards to deal with almost any matchup, with the biggest problem for the deck being Grandis, with this in mind I expected a lot of people to play Grandis to counter BWG X and also expected a lot of mirror matches since BWG X has been anticipated to do well for so long, and I believe this two things were what influenced my decklist choices the most, my goal was to increase my odds in both the mirror match and the Grandis matchup. 

I will try my best to explain each of the card decisions in my list. 

First the lvl 3 and lvl 4 line up I think is very standard, the Agumon promo is great for DP increases and it is usually what you want to evolve into in the raising, while the other Agumons are there to search for your other pieces. Playing the BT5 search Agumon and evolving it into Agumon X is a super strong way to cycle your deck and get all the pieces you need quickly, having cool boys out just make this play even stronger. For the lvl 4, I really like to have the black greymon for the blocker inheritable against matches that want to rush security like Xros Heart, and the BT5 Greymon is great because of the memory gain, a 1 cost evolution is huge, lastly Greymon X is probably the best card in the deck, evolving into a greymon for 0, making all your lvl 5 evos cost 2 is huge, while also providing protection and trigger cool boy’s effects. 

For the lvl 5s we just play 4 BT8 Metalgreymon and 4 of the new BT11 Metalgreymon X, both help to clear the board of small bodies and their inheritables are big factors that make the lvl6 super strong. I like Metalgreymon X effects to safely trash security while BT8 Metalgreymon allows it to deal with big stacks on the opponent side. 

Finally in the lvl 6 line up, we play 2 BWG X since he is just a big wall that is hard for some decks to deal with. Gaiomon allows to quickly clear security while he is probably the best card to see in the mirror match, that is why I decided to play 3 to make sure I always see it, and one of my tech choices was certainly the promo Blackwargreymon, I must said this card did win my some of my games but I would not say it was better that the other lvl 6s in the deck, I considered it just a nice option to close out games because of his unsuspend effect, and the cheap evo cost can be very useful. 

Then we have Omnimon X from BT5, which I think is one the key pieces of my deck since it can win the Grandis matchup by itself, I played 2 to make sure I always see him, the only way Grandis can deal with this card is by having two different stacks that can go into grandis during the same turn which is very hard to accomplish since we can keep the board clear with the Metalgreymons. I usually have to go into a Gaiomon, using blitz to swing with X-antibody option inheritable to go straight into omnimon X, this play along costs 11 memory but it’s worth it in the Grandis matchup, for other matchups I think omnimon X while not necessary can still be a defensive option that can make a huge difference. 

For the option cards and tamers choices I think the only one that might need explanation is the 1 hades force, I particularly think that while hades force is super strong, I don’t see myself playing it more than once per game and I don’t like to gamble for it to be in security, since it is an option that requires both players to have a board established to be good, I think it makes sense for it to be a one of, the only time I think it would be worth to play more than one is probably in the Xros Heart matchup.

Matchups

My matchups for each round day 1 was as follows, I will try my best to give a general description of the matchup against each archetype. 

1 – Grandis
2 – BWG X
3 – Metalgaruru X
4 – Grandis
5 – Sec Con
6 – Xross Heart
7 – Jesmon
8 – BWG X
9 – Xross Heart

First as I mentioned previously the Grandis matchup is a matter of having omnimon X in play before Grandis comes out, Gaiomon and X-antibody can allow to make this play very quickly since Greymon X can allow to go into from a lvl 3 to a lvl 5 for potentially just 3 memory..

The mirror match can be hard, but I think the main plan is to have two different stacks and hope to see Gaiomon to clear the opponent’s stack.

Metalgaruru X can still be very scary, you need to see BWG X early to make sure they cannot start attacking early with their Weregarurumons. 

My game against Jesmon was very interesting, I think it can be super hard for BWG X if Jesmon sees all their cards, if they can make all their sistermon by 7K+ DP, it makes them super hard to remove. I was lucky that my opponent was only able to boost their sistermon blancs to 5K so I could remove them with metalgreymons and then clear the rest of the board in the both games I won. 

The one sec control matchup was scary mainly due to going to time during the second game, Yuuya is definitely the best card for this matchup along with BT11 Metalgreymon, these two cards just allow you to make early attacks without much risk. 

Lastly Xross Heart, I think after the event it became clear to me that Xross Heart is a super strong deck, both Mervamon and Shoutmon X7 variations are very strong, to win this matchup it is important to have a blocker early so they cannot just rush security, seeing Hades force at some point during mid game is also huge to try stop then for making huge plays for cheap.

For day 2 and Top 32 matches I will explain each game more in detail. 

Top 32 match vs Wargrey X

In this match if I remember correctly I won the first two games but they were both very close. I feel my opponent got a bit unlucky with their starting hands but was able to clear my security very quickly anyway, since BWG X is not a particularly fast deck in winning the match, he was able to find his pieces eventually to try to win in a single turn, at the end I was able to clear his stacks and make my way to the win. 

Top 16 match vs Grandis

This was one of the most intense matches I had, in general omnimon X was able to stop the OTK all 3 games but all games were very close, during the 2nd game I unfortunately checked a Snimon while going into Omnimon X, this left my opponent with two digimons in play, 10 memory and had two green memory boost ready for the delay effect to gain memory, essentially having 14 memory ready, this allowed them to make two grandis stacks to remove my omnimon X, I was later able to clear those two stacks but unfortunately my second Omnimon X was my last security check so my opponent was able to go into a third grandis to win the game. 

Top 8 match vs Grandis

For this match my opponent was able to see grandis very quickly most of the time, one of the games I was just not able to see my pieces soon enough so they were able to OTK. In the other two omnimon X was the MVP in the matchup as usual. 

Top 4 match vs BWG X

For our first game I think there was a lot of back and forth, drawing into Gaiomon was very important to clear the opponent's board, at the end I was able to see get two big stacks so I got the overall advantage, during the second game I feel my opponent just bricked very hard and I was able to capitalize on it. 

Top 2 Match vs Xross Heart

I was already scared of Xross Heart from day 1, and I knew my list was not optimal for facing Xross Heart. My best bet was to get blockers early and try to put pressure on my opponent with Gaiomon. I was very lucky to see my one Hades Force both games when I needed to leave my opponent with little options. During the first game I tried to play it extra safely and I think it was a mistake, while I was able to clear all the board including tamers, my opponent still had enough resources to go into an X7 with 15k DP that made it more difficult for me to try and finish the game, I realized my opponent already had all 4 shoutmons in play or trash so they could not do a digi xross with rush, this allowed me to win the first game at the end but I could have taken the risk earlier and swing at their security to win, extending the game was actually dangerous for me here. During the second game I unfortunately did not see a lvl 3 at the start but I did have everything else I needed, I hard played a greymon during the first turn knowing it would be hard for them to answer right away, this allowed me to get a Gaiomon pretty quickly to rush security and was also able to see Hades Force again to secure the win.

Special Thanks

I would like to thank all my friends that supported me during the event, all the support messages I got meant a lot to me and I am very happy I was able to win the event after all. A special thanks to Jacob Puusalu for helping me test with proxies the BT11 format before it came out in English, I think all the testing we did was a key part of being able to win the event. To Julio Montalvo for helping me test a lot for the BWG X mirror match. Also to my cousin Luis Perdomo because he always helps me think about strategies, tech cards and combos, we just love to talk about the game a lot.

I will try my best to do well in the upcoming Worlds championship and wish the best luck to all the qualifiers. 

[JP] Alvin Tan: 1st Attempt on BT13 RoyalKnights

Invited Author: Alvin Tan

Country: Brunei

Introduction

Good Days Digi Tamers!
First of all, I would like to thanks “Digimon Meta” for giving me opportunities to write this article.

I am Alvin Tan coming from a small country located in South East Asia name Brunei Darussalam. Recently joined Digimon Tourney at local store in my country named Gamer’s Tavern with a total of 24 players participating and won the tournament using Royal Knight deck.

I made this deck days ago and thinking of piloting in at the first event after BT13 release.

I personally like multiple color decks. I start Digimon since BT01 as an “aggro player” and slowly turn out to play midrange & control through the journey.

I personally used to brick a lot since the journey begin which I belief most of us as well. I am not a lucky guy as no mulligan rules in Japan format which makes me no choices and starting BT03 release until today make me go into the path of playing toolbox and zoo kind of deck.

Let’s start talking about the deck.

Click into the image for deck featured in DIGIMON CARD META

The deck I used during the event is the Royal Knight Deck which mostly focus on Royal Knights Digimon card. I plan to build this deck when my friends tell me about the card Yggdrasil.
In here I will talk some advantages, disadvantages and how the deck works.

Let’s talk about the build
In the build personally I didn’t include in any Tamers as BlackWarGreymon and some Tamer destruction card still exist in my country environment. By doing this I reduce the chances of card get destroy by my opponent and giving more slots to play Digimon as well less target for opponent to hard cast Dexmon and less value for Quartzmon.
I add in a lot of random pieces of Royal Knight Digimon as for me I belief more option = Options.
For playing this version of deck main focus is to put as much card under King Drasil as possible reduce hand size and disturb opponent board state.

There are also many disadvantages. If opponent plays a Digimon with effect cannot reduce play cost it may shutdown the deck but what is the odds.
Probability the chances is about 4/50 if opponent play 4 pcs. And if they play this will need to sacrifice slots for it.

Most people might think this kind of deck will gives a lot of memory to opponent perhaps it’s not. Digimon is a fair game all player has 10 memories for use and the more you use you will give more to your opponent. This deck play style is one for one. Once you can one for two or more its time you win the game.

Over all this deck major focus is on reduces play cost and call big Digimon with on play effects out to settle with opponent board state build up Digitama source and final call BT13-112 SEC Omegamon retrieve all Royal Knight out from Digitama and swing for the win. There is as well other winning method. As I say this is a toolbox kind of deck. There is randomness and solutions.

Below will talk about some of the Royal Knights cards and why I choose to use them.

Yggdrasil, It a good Digitama as 1st turn it reduces 4 play cost to play Royal Knights and every subsequent turn after for every source reduce play cost by 1. I think of playing a Mother digitama in it but thinking about consistency it may slow me down for 1 turn which by not using it.

It comes with ESS which play options with RK traits reduce play cost by 1. At the start of next turn as well can flip card on Digitama and place card to the bottom of the Digitama.
On 1st turn allows you to play 14 cost Digimon card. It gives extra 4 more memory. Which allows to play mostly all card in the deck except the EX3-074 SEC Examon which is 15 costs which I choose to play only 1 copy in this deck. Your Digimon can as well been safe for future use as for current there is no card to destroy Digi egg.

Option Purge of the Royal Knights: For me this is also a 4 off in the deck as I no play other Royal Knight option from ST Jesmon.
In this version I play only 4 option cards as need to save more slots to play Royal knights.

This card allows to draw one and place a Royal Knight card under the Digitama as source.
As well for the delay effect it allows to play a royal knight in breeding area & give rush but there is drawback as on play effect won’t trigger which make me think of adding in Digimon with static effect or on attacking effect.

SEC Omnimon: This is another a must 4 card pieces in the deck as this is one of the key cards of the deck. By playing a playset increase the chances to draw into it.

It’s a good end game card as its 2nd on play ability allow you to call all different name Royal Knights out and give them Rush as well all of their on play abilities will trigger.

If too much in hand at early game can be uses as a source of discard. It can be retrive back to hand by other Royal Knight unit from trash such as LordKnightmon if cannot find in later draw.
Normally when this card is out its game deciding already.

BT13 Jesmon: This card "on play" ability helps in clearing some/all opponent's on field Digimon.

It can destroy any amount of creature up to 6K DP and additional of 2K for each other of your Digimon and it 2nd ability pumps up your Digimon DP for each Sistermon & Royal Knight on field. It’s gives good power boost in offensive and defensive purpose.

BT13 Leopard: I play 3 copies of this card in the deck, another card which can safe you at bad situation.

Although this card has no "on play" ability nor on attacking ability but have static effect when you play another Digimon all royal knight and green Digimon gain blocker until end of opponent turn which create a wall of defense.

If with Sistermon Ciel in play after attack all Royal knight on field as well gain reboot which gives you enough blocker if cannot finish opponent in this turn

BT13 Dynasmon: This is another playset of card in the deck. One of the key cards of the deck which allow you to take up to 2 Royal Knight from the top 4 card of the deck.

Its 2nd ability as well helps a lot in the deck by play another Royal Knight down it destroys all opponent level 4 or lower Digimon.

ST12 Sistermon Blanc: For this card I only play 3 copies in the deck as not enough slots and it can be retrieve back from trash by other Royal Knight such as Gankoomon. I sacrifices 1 slot for another Royal Knights.

This card is good to have in opening hand as by discard one card it allows to draw 2. It also a decoy card to red/black Digimon.

BT13 Omekamon: This is another playset card use in the deck as its one of the of the engines which on play allow you to draw 1 card and when on deletion allow you to put 1 Royal Knight traits Digimon to the bottom source of King Drasil which allow 1 more cost reduction.

A good card for opening hand as well in trash it can act as a source for your BT13 Alphamon and can be return to deck again ltr for deck out prevention.

This deck uses many different Royal Knights and each has its own role for defence or offence purposes. It does not feel bored as a deck like Mother Reaper since there are different effects for you to choose once the game comes to difficult phase. There are some old cards like BT6 Alphamon or BT3 Craniamon would give the opponent some surprises as they are all good to protect the board.

Matchups

After small introduction about the cards and why I choose to use them. Below allows me to talk how this Royal Knight deck perform during the tournament

The tourney that I joined recently at Gamers Tavern Brunei Darussalam, It’s based on Swiss 5 matches (30 min/game).

During this tourney I'm not sure if I have been unlucky when I got paired up 3 match-up against ShineGreymon.

Decks Distribution during the event: (24 players)

2 R.K Yggdrasil 1 Dorbrick
1 Red Hybrid
1 R/B WargeyX 1 R/B Gaio

6 R/Y Shinegrey
2 Blue Miragegaoga
1 Y/P SecCon
1 G/B Examon
1 Green Bloom/Hydra 1 Green Diarbbitmon 1 Green Rosemon
1 Purple Ravemon
1 Purple BeelzeX
1 Black Galactic
1 Black Alphamon
1 B/Y Monkey King!!

My game result on first attempt using this new Royal Knight deck. ( 5 – 0 )

Against BoomLordmon and ShineGreymon deck is a tough match as they can swing and finish the game fast before I can stabilize.
I played against ShineGreymon deck before BT13 and knows how the deck works. This BT13 set make it more aggressive than before.

For my 1st game against ShineGreymon
I try to maintain board state using Jesmon and Gallantmon destroying and kill all in play Digimon and use Gankoomon and Craniamon on field to maintain the tempo later on slowly build up the King Drasil and prop Omegamon call out Royal Knights and swing for the win.

For my 2nd game against ShineGreymon
I play like 1st game but this turn during first few turn I unable to find Omegamon for first 10 turn. In between the turn I call out Dynasmon to draw and use Gankoomon to calling Sistermon from trash to draw as well use Lordknightmon to recycle option from my trash to reuse. Finally take down the game in 29 min swing with 7 Royal Knights for the win.

For the 3rd game against Galacticmon
I play slowly set up King Drasil. For the turn call out Jesmon and kill Vemmon maintain opponent board state slowly and luring my opponent slowly to play Galacticmon After that kill the Galacticmon by calling out BT13 Gallantmon on play and when attack destroy 2 times to maintain board state. Later on, Omegamon for the win calling out Royal knight to swing with Jesmon in play.

For the 4th match against ShineGreymon
I used the same tactic build up King Drasil, destroying opponent field and slowly poke opponent security. Opponent called out Ruin mode to buy turns which it’s a good target I call out new BT13 Gallantmon destroy it. I prolong the games until I have enough Royal Knights in King Drasil. Play Omegamon and opponent scope while having full board of Royal Knights with rush on my field.

For the 5th match against BoomLordmon
I have old Examon on my opening hand. On first turn I early game setup old Examon into King Drasil and called out Alphamon on field. Opponent have Hydramon in play but manage to keep Alphamon and place it on digi source in King Drasil.
I call out old Examon slowly destroy and disturb the field. Opponent is very aggressive which manage to reduce my security to 0 make me no choice but to prop King Drasil early calling Omegamon with 5 Royal Knights with blocker and high power on field. Opponent scop for the game.

If using this to playing against other deck such as
MirageGaogamon, my tactic is to play slow and try to reduce hand size either by aggressively placing resource under Digitama and destroy its board state waiting enough Royal Knights in King Drasil prop Omegamon and swing for the win.

BlackWargreymon / Gaiomon
Got cards like Alphamon and Craniamon helps to slow down their tempo.

Against other high power OTK deck can call out card like BT13 Gallantmon to destroy them.

Major ways of using this deck is to maintain the tempo, control the board state and swing with swarm of Royal Knights.

For me the method to pilot this deck is by maintain board state and swing with multiple big Digimon for the win or slowly poke opponent with big Digimon. For me the key of this deck is all the Royal Knight cards. They synergize well together.

1 Royal Knight power is limited but if they team together miracle will happens. There are also weaknesses.

The major weakness of this deck is that it may die off or get shut down to some card that prevent play cost reduction or prevent play Digimon by effect cards.

I belief some other player will play card to destroy those but in here I am not playing. I rather stick to big creatures and improve the deck synergies.
What are the odds that meet up with those deck playing those cards.

Conclusion

Zoo is a toolbox kind of deck which allow player to have a wide variety of choices of cards. It’s consider as a midrange or control type of deck which counters 1 for 1 what your opponent play which by when the time reach when you can 1 for 2 or more its time you win the game. Thus, it sets itself apart from other aggressive decks. Zoo decks general aim is to flood the board with big creatures, overwhelming the opponent and achieving victory through board control.

Hope you all enjoy the game.

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