#black – DIGIMON CARD META

Ridhaudin: BT10 DarkKnightmon Deck Review

Invited Author: Ridhaudin
Country: Malaysia

Introduction

Hi to my fellow Digi-Destined readers here! This is Ridhaudin from Malaysia giving you my deck review that I used recently in the first week of the BT10 meta which is the Darkknightmon, the Immortal King.

Darkknightmon recently received a handful of supports in the latest BT-10 which improves more aggressiveness, defensiveness and consistency to the deck overall. With the only Digi-Xros deck that does not having any Save mechanic. The deck does have its own stickiness to stay in the field giving constant pressure to opponents battle area. Thus, being one of the top contenders in the current meta.

This is my deck list profile that I piloted and won in my local’s tournament:

The deck in general having to run a lot of rookies and champions which does have some similarity with the Armor Rush deck.

What I love the most about this deck in having a great consistency and efficiency, is the number of searchers it provides. Having up to 4 searchers in total does makes a lot of differences to the lack of the draw power that black has.

General Gameplay Objectives

This deck in general is to rush out your opponent’s security as fast as you can with the rookies and with the Darkknightmon packages. Another gameplay that would drag you out into the late is to be able to hold out your field with the new Blocker effects from the new Tamer in BT-10 while having bodies to pressure your opponent’s board. The ultimate combo with this deck can achieve up to 4 checks with 9k-14k DP in one turn with low resources used.

Digitamas/Level 2

Pagumon (BT6-005) is the only Digitama suitable with the decks, as all the color in the deck are black and not running much option and Tamers is a plus draw for your hand. I also run the Dorimon (BT7-005), this other one copy of Digitama is not really important other than the main one so I just run it because it can compliment with the effect of BT7 SkullKnightmon to slot the sources underneath just for additional draw.

Rookies/Level 3

To start with the Monitamon (BT10-058) is one of my favorites cards in the deck having to take 2 cards that is the Darkknightmon key pieces from the 4 cards revealed is super helpful! I also run the Dorumon (P-070), having 25-27 Digimons with play cost 4 or less in the deck you could spawn the card from top of your deck 95% most of the time. Next, I run the Chikurimon (BT6-056) as a good measure in the security to counter most of the OTK decks, Ie: Alphamon Ouryuken & GrandisKuwagamon . Being able to select one of your opponent’s Digimons to De-Digivolve is a solid effect to slow them down. Last lvl 3 is the latest Chikurimon (ST-13) which is a great counter to the current Digi-Xros meta especially to the Xros-Heart and the Blue-Flare. Those decks in general needed to recycle their materials through their Tamers thus making them vulnerable to the Tamer deletion effect of the Darkknightmon X (BT10-069) while them passing me a lot of memories to my turn.

“Why didn’t run the ToyAgumon (BT2-055) with the Reboot?”

Personally, it’s one my favourite rookie in black overall. But what makes me don’t run it is because most of the time you wouldn’t go with the setup gameplay in the nursery with this deck and you would not be able to inherit the reboot effect in time while setting up the Darkknightmons package.

Darkknightmon Package

The latest Darkknightmon (BT10-066) only cost 4 to hardcast in the field while putting 2 materials underneath is super strong. Having a strong effect when played and Digi-Xros is making it able to remove opponents’ level 5 and below. My suggestion is as early as you could in the game if you have the hand to play this one you should play it straight away to give early pressure to your opponent. Whereas the other Darkknightmon (BT7-063) you should cast it whenever you have a decent memory before passing to the opponents most of the time.

SkullKnightmon (BT7-058) being the next aggro character in the deck. The When Attacking effects allow you to digivolve to Darkknightmon for free and having a good ess Security Attack +1 is a must included material to put beneath your Digi-Xros Darkknightmon. For the other materials that you can go as the DeadlyAxemon spot I would suggest putting the searchers lvl 4 in the sources. Such as, the DeadlyAxemon (BT7-059)/Skullknightmon: Mighty Axe Mode (BT10-061) thus provides additional materials from searching when the deletion from Darkknightmon above triggers for your hand ready for the next turn in case it got controlled by your opponents.

I also run 2 copies of the SkullKnightmon: Cavalier Mode (BT8-062). Most of the people wouldn’t run this in the deck as it only has a When Digivolving that gains Jamming and Blocker, and also not having any ess. My preference towards this card specially just wants to have extra materials to be slot in the Darkknightmons just because it is also treated SkullKnightmon/DeadlyAxemon is an alternative in case I’m short with the materials.

Last but not least, how is my experience with the Darkknightmon X-Antibody (BT10-069) in general? It’s the only Mega level in the deck but it does have a strong presence when on field. Being able to delete any Tamers is such a strong effect in the current meta. My advice if you have Amano Nene (BT10-092) in hand you should cast it as early as you can. This provides two-way of playing with the Darkknightmon X-Antibody (BT10-069). The 1^st one is being able to be aggressive to your opponent’s Digimons or last-hittting your opponents after all your Digimons have finished swinging and evolving it on top of your Darkknightmons and deleting the Amano Nene for just 2 cost evolution. The other one is to have it as a Blocker while your opponents are swinging with a greater DP than this Digimons thus making it procs the On Deletion effect to play your Darkknightmon from trash and you should play the BT10 one to De-Digivolve your opponents and stopping them for a while.

“Why didn’t include any Dexmon in the deck?”

I personally feel my type of playstyle for this deck is not a board-controlled purpose since my sole was to rush it as fast as I can. This is my personal opinion, but it is a good card to include inside the deck if anyone prefers it.

Tamers & Options

Of course, Amano Nene (BT10-092) is a must to include. I would suggest to run only 2-3 copies in the deck as you didn’t really need it too much on the field. The other Tamer is the Izzy Izumi (BT4-096) is your go to memory Tamer and does have a good effect inside security by gaining one memory if all 3 cards on your top deck is black, which it is gonna be XD. I run Izzy with 3 copies since I tried with 2 copies before realizing you wouldn’t see it much in your hand or security.

The options I used are the Kongou (BT9-103) is one of my favourite options in black since then, stopping level 5 below to declare any attacks have been really helpful to me. Pride Memory Boost (BT7-105) you already know how suitable it is for the deck and having a delay +2 memory to extend your plays/combo.

Matchups

VS Blue Flare:

The freeze mechanics is a struggle while facing this deck. Having to get your Digimons in battle area, you can’t really avoid being hit by it. The play is to take it slow with the rush and choking your opponents as much as you can and bring out the Darkknightmon X-Antibody (BT10-069) when the Blue Flare Tamer Christopher Aonuma (BT10-088) appears because without the Tamer they can’t take materials underneath different Tamers. Make the necessary characters stay unsuspend to be able to use the Blocker effect when needed as Blue in general have a strong resource with the memory and draw powers.

VS Xros Heart:

The Xros Heart needs a lot of materials to summon the key pieces which of the deck which is Shoutmon X4 (BT10-009) & Shoutmon X5 (BT10-013) otherwise they are gonna pass a lot of memory to you. The deck also is almost the same as Blue Flare as it needs to have the Tamer Mikey Kudo to be able to use the materials underneath all Tamers. But in this case, you shouldn’t really use your Darkknightmon or Twilight type to block the X4 & X5 since they are gonna have Piercing from Ballistamon (BT10-049). The plan is to wait until Shoutmon X5 (BT10-013) came out and use the effects of Darkknightmon to De-Digivolve 1 and destroy the Shoutmon (BT10-008) underneath which it’s the only material will be saved, and the rest will be discarded so it will not be looped in the next plays. And delete the Mikey Kudo (BT10-087) if you have the chance.

VS Jesmon:

Jesmon deck does offer both good offensive and defensive playstyle. With the latest support from BT10 provides Jesmon with Piercing and an even more amounts of Sistermons spawn. Your opponent would opt to play the Sistermon Blanc (BT6- 082) to stop the Darkknightmon aggressiveness. Your only concern would be deleting the Sistermon Blanc to cancel the Blocker gain effect to all the other Sistermons with the Skullknightmon: Mighty Axe Mode (BT10-061)by Digi-Xrosing with 2 materials underneath to pop 4 cost or less easily by paying 2 just costs. And this is one of the reasons why I include Kongou (BT9-103) in my deck profile, it will slow the Sistermons down from rushing the security since Jesmon wouldn’t be able to finish the game. My suggestion would be playing the Kongou (BT9-103) last before ending your turn by setting up your next play with deleting the necessary Sistermon that would slow you down and choking your opponent memory since Jesmon deck usually don’t really rely on memory Tamers.

VS Bagra Army:

Eventhough Bagra Army have the same Save mechanic with the Xros Heart and Blue Flare. It relies too much on Amano Yuu (BT10-093) in my opinion. Without the Tamer on the field, they wouldn’t be able to loop the sources underneath their Digimons and from the trash. You can easily pop the Tamer as quick as you can since they can’t loop the Tamer from trash unless they play the Hybrid packages which is not that consistent with the deck I believe. But do be careful of Troopmon (BT10-076) and MadLeomon (BT10-077) when youre gaining hand size or playing your Darkknigtmon package. As it would end your turn quickly just by pulling the sources underneath those Digimons from the memory gains. If you’re not able to delete the Amano Yuu (BT10-093) in time, do watch out from Blastmon (BT10-070) summoning that can have Rush and Blitz when played with just 3 sources underneath it and prepare some Blockers when you have the chance.

VS Ragnaloardmon:

Ragnaloardmon provides a faster rate chance to Jogress from the new Starter supports eventhough for a lvl 7. But Ragnaloard playstyle wouldn’t really go for nursery gaming as it needs to use the spawning effect to have two bodies to Jogress. So, use that opportunity to pop the lvl 5 using the Darkknightmon (BT10-066) but be aware of the deletion negate effect that Bryweludramon (ST13-14) and RaijiLudomon (ST13-13) provides. But all in all, the pace of the Darkknightmons is even faster than Ragnaloardmon playstyle.

This is just some of my favourite matchups for now. I would love to go against the Yellow Hybrid Venusmon in the future and other types of Security Control decks to see how good it is to hold up against these strong control/recovery decks that roamed through the meta for a long time.

Conclusion

Overall, Darkknightmon deck is a very fun deck to play with. Have faith in the deck and don’t be afraid with your hand early in the game as it would get better as the game goes on even in the early stages.

Finally, thank you for giving me the chance to share this deck review/strategy insights for the readers out there. Although I just started playing in this year, I hope this article provide helpful tips for you guys that wanted to play this deck. Lastly, all my opinions written above doesn’t reflect any Darkknightmon deck players out there.

Thank you and cheers!

This site uses english-translated cards from digimoncard.dev.

Justimon Blitz Arm, an Aggressive OTK profile

Bandai is going to release the ban / restriction list that is potentially to reduce the longtime-dominating meta decks such as Blue Hybrid, Yellow Recovery with Zoe Orimoto and her evolution line, the Jesmon and Lilith-loop (Eyesmon).

These days we see a lot of discussion about D-Reaper deck and new Beelzemon deck. BT8-EX2 meta is going to be dominated by EX2 D-Reaper, Dukemon and Beelzemon. While D-Reaper is complained a lot in tournament or casual game because it is boring and no creativeness, Beelzemon and Dukemon (Gallantmon), in the other hands, give more excitement as well as the game-tech.

And since those 3 are so popular, we almost forget another one that is not so bad to play (in my opinion) Justimon Blitz Arm. We haven't seen many Justimon deck winning the tournament yet because everyone is focusing on D-reaper. In this article, we are presenting a game scenario to show how Justimon can win the game in by using its OTK tech.

The Combo

It is not that hard to build a Justimon deck, it is still preferable to use max 4 copies of his evolution line cards from LV2 to LV6 for search power and game set-up. For the board-control, I don't think Justimon can be better than EX2 Gallantmon and Beelzemon deck. For the game speed, Justimon needs more time to setup and not as fast as D-reaper. But it is just the matter of who can reach there game-state first.

The tamer-searching power relies on the "On Play" effect of Monodramon or "When Digivolving" of [EX2-032] Strikedramon. But for the current meta, Digimon is so easy to be destroyed if they stay in the battle so the LV4 Strikedramon is normally evolved in the raising area for its safety. We tend to move this Digimon out to the battle when it evolves into LV5 Cyberdramon. Cyberdramon's "when digivolving" effect allows us to play 1 [Ryo Akiyama] tamer for free, this is the good thing of this LV5. With 10 000 DP, Cyberdramon can also be used to attack opponent's rested Digimon or Security within a safety level.

Ryo Akiyama is the main source to search for Digimon with [dramon] or [Justimon] in its name. When I play this deck, I found it's hard to draw Cyberdramon to hand even though there is 4 copies of it (the LV4 Strikedramon is not as important as Cyberdramon for the game's strategy). I also use 4 copies of Ryo Akiyama in the deck to increase the chance of drawing it from Monodramon searcher or get it from security stack.

OTK Scenario 1: 5 checks + last hit

The OTK starts with LV5 Cyberdramon evolution build with Sunarizamon in its digivolution source. We also have 2 Ryo Akiyama in the field which is important to boost-up DP for attacking Digimon.

This portion was ill-written and has been revised. Many thanks to Ben for pointing this out!

Attacking with Cyberdramon will grant him +1000 DP from the inherited Digitama Hopmon, and +2000 DP when we have 2 Ryo tamers in play. A 13000 DP security swing is very respectable, more so coming from a LV5 Digimon! He will also gain "SecurityAttack+1" when inheriting Sunarizamon.

In addition, Strikedramon will help to regain +1 memory since we have 2 or more black tamers in play.

After the attack, Cyberdramon is in suspended state.

The success of OTK lies on the scenario where we digivolve Cyberdramon into Justimon with the memory counter still at our turn, so it is recommended to play the duo tamer Izumi & Joe and Black Memory Boost early.

Justimon is actually a very powerful Digimon with both a "when digivolving" and "when attacking" effect, with just 3 cost to digivolve.

Since Cyberdramon is suspended from its previous attack, Justimon Blitz Arm can choose to trigger "Unsuspend this Digimon" when digivolving. Casting Final Zubagon Punch on Justimon to give him an additional +3000 DP boost, on top of the earlier +3000 from Hopmon and Ryo hence pushing him to a massive 17000 DP, with "SecurityAttack+1", "Reboot", and "Blocker". When an inherited Sunarizamon, he can now swing for a total of 3 checks!

Under ideal circumstances, this would've already taken all 5 of your opponent's securities. And since we have black tamers in play, Justimon will trigger its "When Attacking" effect to again, unsuspend itself for the win!

OTK Scenario 2: 4 checks + last hit

If under the scenario, but with your opponent having only 4 security cards left, it is also possible to use Final Zubagon Punch on Cyberdramon instead of Justimon. While this will not grant the additional [SecurityAttack+1], [Reboot], and [Blocker] goodies, it would give Cyberdramon a near fail-safe 16000 DP when swinging security.

A 2-checks from Cyberdramon followed by another 2-checks from Justimon and a final swing would elegantly seal the game!

Summary

The OTK scenario is not really an ideal scenario, but it is easy to play 2 or more Ryo since you can play him for free from Cyberdramon's "when digivolving" effect. However, in order to setup for this scenario, we will require at least 4 memory in your turn to digivolve into Justimon and play Final Zubagon Punch, so the memory overhead has to be prepared beforehand.

Deck Profile

Here is my current build for Justimon.

This site uses english-translated cards from digimoncard.dev.

Early Review: BT-08 New Hero

Not exactly a very early review since we are only 1 week away from a full card list reveal, but BT-08 has not been the easiest set to break down. Many cards appeared rather mediocre (at least to us) in the beginning, so we continued to wait for more releases before going into this review.

So lets go!

Multi Coloured Digimons

So far, there are 21 dual-coloured Digimons revealed for BT-08. They do not necessarily mean much, but they do allow many previously unattainable effects to now be stacked. For example, a green LV5 or LV6 Digimon can now inherit [Retaliation], and yellow LV6 Digimons can now inherit DP+ effects from red Digimons. Many more cross-coloured digivolutions can now be explored, and we might see some nice engines as a result.

Score: 9/10

Armor Digivolutions

Armor Purge is an effect exclusive to Digi-Egg Armor Digimons, and a pilot effect in BT-08. While this effect seemed quite lacklustre (at least to us) weeks ago, it now looks to be quite a solid effect, as demonstrated by a proxy gameplay video by the File Island Residents.

The armor digivolutions are pacing to become a solid aggro engine, and should replace the standard rookie rush engine in terms of stability.

Score: 8/10

[BT8-012] Flamedramon

Digivolve: 2 cost from Veemon

Effect 1: [Armor Purge] When this Digimon would be destroyed, you may discard 1 card from the top of this Digimon stack to prevent it from being destroyed.

Effect 2: [When Attacking] This Digimon +3000DP for the turn.

[BT8-038] Magnamon (SR)
Digivolve: 3 cost from Veemon
Effect 1: [Blocker]
Effect 2: [Armor Purge]
Effect 3: [When Digivolving] Unsuspend this Digimon, and until the end of your opponent’s next turn, this Digimon gains +2000 DP for each [Armor] type card in your trash.

Digimon Adventure 02 Jogress

As the main theme of this set, we have 3 new jogress (or DNA digivolution) Digimons such from the year 2000 anime. While they are not super exciting (since we have already tested the jogress effects extensively in ST-09 and ST-10), they do buff up the rest of the colors.

As of now, blue and yellow are leading the jogress game by having access to 3 jogress digivolutions, while black having none (not including Kimeramon, see below).
– Blue: Paildramon, Dinobeemon, Shakkoumon
– Yellow: Mastemon, Silphymon, Shakkoumon
– Green: Paildramon, Dinobeemon
– Purple: Mastemon
– Red: Silphymon
– Black: None

[BT8-015] Silphymon should play well with a number of Digimons such as red Digimons with [Blitz] and yellow Digimons such as [BT4-048] Wargreymon and [BT7-040] Rasenmon.

[BT8-042] Shakkoumon is also a very solid card, having both a recovery and board control mechanism in place. He should also do well with the yellow [BT4-048] Wargreymon.

[BT8-015] Silphymon
Jogress: Red LV4 + Yellow LV4 at 0 cost

Effect: [When Digivolving] 1 of opponent’s Digimon get -5000 DP for the turn. After that, if this Digimon is jogress evolution, destroy 1 opponent’s Digimon with 5000 DP or lower.
Inherited: [When attacking] Destroy 1 opponent’s Digimon with 5000 DP or lower.

[BT8-042] Shakkoumon

Jogress: Yellow LV4 + Blue LV4 at 0 cost

Effect: [When Digivolving] If you have 5 or less cards in your security, [Recovery(deck)+1]. Then, if Jogress digivolved, return 1 of your opponent’s Digimon whose LV is equal or below the number of your security cards.

Inherited: [When Attacking] 1 of your opponent’s Digimon gets -3000 DP for the

As for [BT8-084] Kimeramon, he is possibly the first card that allows bridging any colors together, allowing previously incompatible effects to be fused into potentially deadly engines. One such engine was raised by @ageno81040409 on Twitter, fusing Kurisarimon's effect with Eosmon for a deadly aggro loop.

Score: 8/10

[BT8-084] Kimeramon

Jogress: Any LV4 + Any LV4 at 0 cost

Effect 1: [When Digivolving] You may put 1 LV5 or lower Digimon card from your trash to the bottom of this Digimon’s digivolution cards. Then, until the end of your opponent’s next turn, up to 4 of your opponent’s Digimon gets -1000 DP for each color that this Digimon has.

Effect 2: [Your Turn] This Digimon gets the color of it’s digivolution cards. When this Digimon has 4 colors or more, this Digimon gets +4000 DP

A New Pulsemon Digivolution Line

A green Pulsemon digivolution line has been revealed, moving along Exermon, Pistmon, and Shivamon. [BT8-057] Shivamon is a highly raved card, being the first Digimon to be able to disable option cards. This should put pressure on security control decks!

Score: 6/10

[BT8-054] Pistmon
Effect: [Digisorption-2]
Inherited: [Both Turns] For each of your other suspended Digimon, this Digimon gets +1000 DP.

[BT8-057] Shivamon

Effect 1: [Opponent’s Turn] If all of your Digimon are suspended, your opponent cannot play option cards.

Effect 2: [Your Turn] When this Digimon is unsuspended during your unsuspend phase, your opponent trashed 1 card from the top of their security.

Blackwargreymon Support

We now have new line of black Agumon to Wargreymon, with [BT8-067] Metalgreymon being the highlight of this line. With an inheritable effect that allows attacking unsuspended Digimons, the new Metalgreymon has suddenly made the old BT-02 Blackwargreymon very playable (which saw its price more than double on YYT and Bigweb).

And this is not discounting how good the new [BT8-070] Blackwargreymon is, as demonstrated in this proxy play by the File Island Residents.

Score: 8/10

[BT8-067] Metalgreymon

Effect: [When Digivolving] 1 of your opponent’s Digimon gets [De-digivolve 1]. Then, delete 1 of your opponent’s Digimon with 3000 DP or lower.

Inherited: [Your Turn] If this Digimon has [Dragonkin] or [Machine] in it’s type, this Digimon can attack the opponent’s unsuspend Digimon.

[BT8-070] Blackwargreymon

Effect 1: [When Digivolving] When this Digimon has a red card in it’s digivolution cards, choose your opponent’s Digimon, a black card in it’s digivolution cards, choose your opponent’s Tamer, with a combined play cost of up to 6, and deleted those selected cards.

Effect 2: [Both Turns][Once Per Turn] When an opponent’s Digimon is deleted, you may unsuspend this Digimon.

Mamemon Support

Very surprising was the additional support for the Mamemon line, given [BT8-065] Catchmamemon and [BT8-068] Banchomamemon. It is now possible to play the Mamemon archetype pretty much on it's own, and boy the engine does seem strong! We had written an article for Catchmamemon before Bandai revealed Banchomamemon, but you get the gist!

Score: 9/10

[BT8-065] CatchMamemon

Effect: [When Digivolving] Return up to 4 Digimon cards with [Mamemon] in their name from your hand or trash to the top of your deck in any order. If this effect returns 3 or more cards, 1 of your opponent’s Digimon gets [De-digivolve 1].

[BT8-068] Banchomamemon

Effect 1: [When Digivolving] Reveal the top 3 cards of your deck. For each of your opponent’s Digimon, you may play a card with [Mamemon] in their name and has a play cost of 10 or lower without paying its cost. Trash the remaining cards.

Effect 2: [Both Turns] When you have another Digimon with [Mamemon] in it’s name in play, this Digimon gets [SecurityAttack+1].

Proper Alphamon Support

While in BT-07 we had the Dorumon-Dorugoramon line, that was more of an independent x-antibody line that did not require or support Alphamon. Fans of Alphamon will rejoice in BT-08, as Ouryumon has finally been revealed and will give Alphamon decks the much needed independence.

There is also a very high chance that we will see Alphamon Ouryuken Mode as a SEC in this set, and that is definitely very good news for this set!

Score: 6/10 (and 10/10 if OM is revealed)

[BT8-069] Ouryumon

Effect 1: [When Digivolving] By putting 1 [X-Antibody] card from your hand to the bottom of this Digimon’s digivolution cards, delete 1 of your opponent’s Digimon with a play cost of 7 or lower.

Effect 2: [Your Turn][Once Per Turn] When your Digimon’s digivolution cards is increased by your effects, until the end of your opponent’s turn, this Digimon gains +2000 DP and cannot be deleted by your opponent’s effects.

Inheritable: [End of Attack][Once Per Turn] If this Digimon has [Alphamon] in it’s name, unsuspend this Digimon.

Belialvamdemon Returns

We wrote about Vamdemon/Myotismon support in EX-01, and then again recently for the upcoming Belialvamdemon/Malomyotismon. This is a tricky one, as some recent proxy gameplay videos show that even the new [BT8-083] Belialvamdemon struggle against an non-meta, older BT-03 Belialvamdemon build.

Vamdemon builds so far had been pretty unsuccessful, blaming on a very slow start and very situational late game advantages. We still believe that the new Belialvamdemon can find space in this meta, but someone will have to be more creative or further optimize it's current engine.

Score: 6/10

Secret Rare (SEC) Predictions

All 10 SRs have been revealed, but none of the SECs yet.

So far we would bet on 2 of these 3 cards being SEC: Alphamon Ouryuken Mode, Imperialdramon Paladin Mode, and Gulusgammamon.

Alphamon Ouryuken Mode (OM) would be the easy one, having Ouryumon revealed for this set. However, it is still possible for Alphamon OM to be saved for a later set given how Bandai likes to stagger fan favourites. Furthermore, Alphamon OM has almost nothing to do with the theme of this set (being New Hero) so let's not have our hopes too high.

Imperialdramon Paladin Mode (PM) is our second guess for SEC, based on the fact that this is a Digimon Adventure 02 themed booster, and there is no big protagonist cards yet other than [BT8-032] Imperialdramon Fighter Mode which was revealed very early for this set. There is also no LV7s yet for this set, so Imperialdramon PM could make a good, in-theme SEC.

Our third guess for SEC would be Gulusgammamon, as it would be quite weird for Gammamon to appear in the pack art, and then to have the only "Ghost Game" cards in this set being a Digitama, a LV3 Gammamon, a LV4 Betelgammamon common card, and his tamer Hiro. Gulusgammamon would make a good art, and does not interfere with Gammamon's digivolution line in the future.

Summary

Comparing this set to BT-07 Next Adventure, we'd think that this set "liberates" the card game.

Back in BT-07, Bandai has put so much emphasis on tamer and hybrid digivolutions that it had eventually powercrept almost every other standard decks. Aside from purple, every other winning deck were almost certainly built around tamers and hybrids. The card game had suddenly felt restrictive, with almost only a way or two to play any deck.

In BT-08, the focus once again shifts away from hybrids, and with multi-colored Digimons the door to creative freedom is larger than ever. However liberating this may feel, there is a always some chance that a dominating engine could appear to steer and restrict the meta once again, but at least this is Bandai's first step to open up colour restrictions and hopefully drive creativity back into the game.

Final score: 8/10 (with a refreshing feel to the card game)

A Brilliant Engine Using Kimeramon

[BT8-084] Kimeramon is a unique card that bridges different colours together. With Kimeramon, we could be taking advantage of effects not meant for certain Digimons and/or across colours.

[BT8-084] Kimeramon

Jogress: Any LV4 + Any LV4 at 0 cost

Effect 2: [Your Turn] This Digimon gets the color of it’s digivolution cards. When this Digimon has 4 colors or more, this Digimon gets +4000 DP

So what sick combo can come from this?

The Hasty Eosmons

This brilliant combo came from @ageno81040409 on Twitter. By inheriting [BT5-063] Kurisarimon along the new Kimeramon, and subsequently digivolving into LV6 Eosmon, will grant all Eosmons in play [Rush].

And since the LV5 Eosmon is can summon another Eosmon when attacking, this essentially becomes a neverending loop of summoning and attacking (that is until your hand runs out of Eosmons to play).

And to ensure that you have a (close to) never ending supply of Eosmons in hand, you will need draw power. This is where [BT2-053] Keramon comes into the spotlight, providing [Draw +1] whenever an Eosmon is played using the above engine.

So I guess the only thing left is to see how anyone could build a robust deck around this engine, since there are only 4 Kimeramons. Nevertheless, brilliant engine and can't wait to build around it! Kudos again to Agemo-san.

Can Yukio Revive MaloMyotismon?

I was hyped for the Myotismon/Vamdemon archetype months back in EX-01, but that type was short lived. Despite trying numerous different decks to showcase Myotismon, the setup was far too expensive for the gains.

Usually, it would take more than 7 memory to setup a MaloMyotismon/BelialVamdemon that does not have any protection against deletion effects whatsoever.

It would also cost the same to have a [EX1-063] VenomMyotismon set-up but while VenomMyotismon has effects that look better on the book (having Retaliation and a board-widening effect), he wasn't able to catch up to the other meta deck's speed and board control.

Enter Yukio

[BT8-093] Oikawa Yukio

Effect 1: [Both Turns] When your Digimon with [Vamdemon] is deleted, you may suspend this tamer to gain +1 memory.

Effect 2: [End of Opponent’s Turn] If this tamer is suspended, by deleting this tamer, you may play a [BelialVamdemon] from your trash without paying its cost.

Security: Play this card without paying its cost.

Geneticist Oikawa Yukio has been revealed as a tamer card in BT-08, providing support to MaloMyotismon. His second effect in particular, allow MaloMyotismon to be continuously revived, which is a big effect given that we now have a better MaloMyotismon!

The New MaloMyotismon

The new MaloMyotismon has a formidable [On Play] effect, allowing the player to delete an opponent's unsuspended Digimon (aka Trump Sword) and also trash the top security card. There is no denying the impact of this effect, so this becomes a matter of optimizing the play.

[BT8-083] MaloMyotismon/BelialVamdemon

Effect 1: [On Play] If you have 5 or more cards with [Myotismon/Vamdemon] in their name in your trash, delete 1 of your opponent’s unsuspended Digimon and trash 1 card from the top of their security.

Effect 2: [When Digivolving] Trash the top 5 cards of your deck. Then, if you have a card with [Myotismon/Vamdemon] in your trash, gain +1 memory.

There are currently 2 ways to play MaloMyotismon efficiently (without paying 13 memory) and activating his [On Play] effect. The first being [BT3-086] Arukenimon and [BT3-087] Mummymon, which require a digivolution route (at least a LV4). The second way would be to trade with Yukio.

While this new MaloMyotismon is undoubtedly strong, there may still be need for the older BT3 MaloMyotismon for several reasons. Firstly, the BT3 MaloMyotismon would be a better card when the opponent does not have an attractive (unsuspended) deletion target. Secondly, for when you have not yet satisfied the "5 cards with [Myotismon] in name in your trash" for the new MaloMyotismon. Thirdly, the BT3 MaloMyotismon has a much better passive effect.

The Yukio/MaloMyotismon Engine

The current MaloMyotismon archetype seems to require some heavier initial investments in the form of usual digivolutions and playing Yukios. In a sense, every Yukio played will eventually become a MaloMyotismon, so there is a high level of memory efficiency during the mid/late game.

With Yukio being the core component of this engine, he should be recycled as much as possible. This puts [BT7-074] Antylamon in the perfect spot to recycle Yukio from trash. Antylamon can subsequently digivolve into the BT8 MaloMyotismon for milling, or the BT3 MaloMyotismon for passive board control. Either way, that MaloMyotismon will now be revivable thanks to Yukio.

[BT8-107] Pandemonium Flame

Effect: [Main] By deleting 1 of your Digimon, delete 1 of your opponent’s unsuspended Digimon with LV equal or lower than your deleted Digimon.

Security: Delete 1 of your opponent’s unsuspended Digimon.

The new [BT8-107] Pandemonium Flame can also give this engine even more control over your opponent's board, essentially a Trump Sword when triggered from security. This is a card that can trigger the MaloMyotismon/Yukio engine, which at 2 cost, allows you to delete an opponent's LV6 or lower unsuspended Digimon at the expense of your MaloMyotismon, which will be revived at the end of your opponent's next turn.

This engine will inevitably encourage your opponent to attack during their turn and leave their Digimons suspended (or risk deletion when MaloMyotismon is played/revived). Therefore, it would be ideal to include Digimons with [Retaliation] such as [BT2-074] Devimon, [EX1-056] Demidevimon, or even the Digitama [BT4-006] Xiaomon. In this aspect, the BT3 MaloMyotismon would also fare well with [Piercing].

Synergy with Eyesmon?

Eyemon is pretty much defining the current purple meta hence should not be so easily discarded. Thankfully, the MaloMyotismon engine should synergize well with Eyesmon, since there are only 8 copies of Eyesmons at LV4 while the Myotismon archetype begins at LV5.

The more important question is whether the MaloMyotismon engine would work better than the current Lilith-loop engine at LV6.

While Lilith-loop allows for an insane amount of value while looping, concurrently widening your board with big Digimons while hitting the opponent with [Rush] from Ceberusmon and Ginkakumon Promote, the new MaloMyotismon engine could do the same, requiring Yukios instead of Omegamon Zwart for the concurrent board-widening and security trashing. Furthermore, one could argue that security trashing is far more effective than the standard checking or even [Jamming] in today's meta landscape, especially against security control-like decks.

Quick Share: The Revival of Blackwargreymon

With the reveal of [BT8-067] Metalgreymon, will we be seeing a revival of the highly underrated SEC [BT2-112] Blackwargreymon?

Metalgreymon has an inheritable effect that allows him to attack the opponent's unsuspended Digimon. When this effect is inherited by Blackwargreymon, he will be able to attack all of the opponent's Digimons, in sequence from the highest DP onwards. DP boost-up can easily gain from using option cards of other Digimon's inheritable effects.

Additionally, with Biyomon in his digivolution cards, Blackwargreymon will be able to draw a card for every of the opponent's deleted Digimon. Guadromon will be able to do the same if your deck is lined with [Machine] and [Cyborg] cards. Will this engine work as mill for Mugendramon as well?

ST10 Mastemon Has Started Winning

It is week 1 for the new themed decks ST-9 and ST-10, and the yellow/purple Jogress deck seems to be a fan favourite in Japan.

We will check out 3 winning decks, and will take a deeper look at why they are winning in at their locals.

The Obvious: Lucemon and MagnaAngemon

There is no surprise in the natural synergy between the new ST10 Mastemon and these cards.

Lucemon: Chaos Mode is now such a significant force when played for free using Mastemon's effect, ridding him of heavy reliance on the Dead or Alive option card. However, he may be an overkill if your opponent does not give you a good deletion candidate. Meanwhile, the [BT1-060] MagnaAngemon has a recovery effect that is almost always welcomed.

We observe that both these cards are almost always played at maximum copies, with MagnaAngemon having a slight edge (see Nero-san's deck).

The Slightly Less Obvious: Zwart Defeat

Some may argue that Zwart Defeat being unnecessary, having a DP not larger than Mastemon and the fact that Mastemon has a [Both Turn] effect that makes her a valuable asset on the battle area.

However, one cannot deny the devastation of a Zwart Defeat that is checked/played from security while Mastemon is in play, allowing you to delete a LV7 or lower Digimon (from Mastemon's effect).

The winning decks above tend to rely on heavy recovery engines in order to mill Zwart Defeat into their security.

The Less Obvious: Security Control

2 of the 3 winning decks shown above play a large number of option and tamer cards, in security control fashion.

In Mamoru-san's deck, we see a total of 14 option cards, and amongst them 8 recovery cards. He runs maximum copies of Reinforce Memory Boost, having a large pool of candidates (14 options, 4 Defeats, and 2 tamers) to be put into security for control.

Mamoru also plays 4 copies of Tactical Retreat, which not only work wonders when hit from security, but also synergizes extremely well with Zwart Defeat. Since Zwart Defeat is now a "Gaia Force" when hit from security (when you have Mastemon in play), returning him to the security becomes invaluable.

In the case of Morio-san's deck, while he also ran maximum copies of Reinforce Memory Boost, he did not opt for Tactical Retreat but instead, relied more on deletion options.

Playing this deck in security control fashion made a lot of sense, since Mastemon is a LV6 Jogress which requires 2 LV5 Digimons in play, which can be obnoxiously expensive. However, with security control, the efficiency of memory usage becomes significantly less important, relying instead on expensive and big plays.

Remark: it is also interesting to note that both decks only run 4 to 6 copies of LV4 Digimons.

The Less Obvious: Eyesmon Control

In the 3rd deck, Nero-san complemented Mastemon with the standard Eyesmon engine. While it is common knowledge that Eyesmon is a very meta engine that not only provides a strong milling bed but also board aggression, he is now made stronger with Mastemon since he will also trigger Mastemon's [Both Turn] effect when he is played from a discard, allowing you to delete an opponent's LV4 or lower Digimon.

In actual games however, this combo may be a little harder to pull off, since Eyesmon is usually played in early game if possible while Mastemon would require some setup. Furthermore, Mastemon is formidable enough with MagnaAngemon and Lucemon in mid/late game hence may not put Eyesmon in the spotlight. However, the Eyesmon engine would be able to provide an efficient foundation of LV4 Digimons during the early game, in order to move into LV5 therefore should make the Jogress evolution much easier.

Nero-san's deck relies on sheer speed, efficiently milling and growing his board while controlling the opponent's.

Another Loop with Omnimon Zwart

Digivolving Mastemon into Omnimon Zwart using Mega Digimon Fusion can create another loop for Jogress evolution. The ST10 Tailmon and a Purple LV5 can be retrieved back from the trash by triggering OmniZwart's effect, then digivolve the Tailmon into another LV5 yellow Digimon such as Angewomon or HolyAngemon. (Omnimon Zwart can declare attack to return the LV6 ST10 Mastemon in its digivolution source to back to our hands for the next Jogress evolution).

Even if the memory is already in the opponent's side, you can still trigger [ST10-04] Tailmon's inheritable effect to Jogress the LV5 yellow (with Tailmon in its digivolution source) and a LV5 purple Digimon into ST10 Mastemon.

For more decks, do check out in our site BT7 deck-list.

CatchMamemon: from Gatcha to Catcha

Are you excited with BT-08 New Hero?

With the reveal of CatchMamemon, I told myself that I am going to have some fun with a Mamemon deck this time!

CatchMamemon, despite his oddity, has a rather unique effect which allows you to finally control your top-deck draws, which was previously limited only to the black tamer Izzy Izumi.

Could this simple common card revive some severely underplayed SR cards such as CresGarurumon and Mamemon?

[BT8-065] CatchMamemon

The return of CresGarurumon?

By digivolving the LV4 Digimon into CatchMamemon I can trigger its [When Digivolving] effect to return up to 4 cards with [Mamemon] to the top of my deck. We then digivolve CatchMamemon into [BT3-073] CresGarurumon and by triggering his [When Digivolving] effect I will be able to guarantee playing a LV5 Mamemon for free (as long as my opponent has at least 1 Digimon in play).

Since CatchMamemon's effect can return up to 4 [Mamemon] cards to top of the deck, the first Mamemon on top of the deck will always be bonus-drawn (when digivolving into Cresgarurumon) hence the only free-playing candidates are the second Mamemons onwards. We will be able to control which Mamemon goes back to hand and which will be played.

As of now, there are 2 LV5 Mamemons that are great candidates to return to hand (due to having a [When Digivolved] effect), and 2 other that are great to play directly. The BT3 MetalMamemon and BT8 CatchMamemon can be recycled to hand, while the BT6 Mamemon and BigMamemon can be great candidates for Cresgarurumon's free play.

Other Supporting Cards?

Due to the sheer number of recyclable LV5 Mamemons, it might be viable to play this deck with heavy LV4s. The LV4 Digimon Nanimon (security Digimon, 3 cost to play) or Mekanorimon (blocker, 4 cost to play) may be great candidates.

Omegamon Zwart may also be useful in this deck, not only to prepare more LV4 foundations for all those recycled LV5s in hand, but also to return Cresgarurumon to hand.

We are still very early into the BT-08 leaks and reveals, so it may be too early to think about this as a deck or even its base color. But I can't help thinking about a purple base with Eyesmon for draw power (yes i know Eyesmon cannot digivolve into Mamemon lolx).

BanchoMamemon

BanchoMamemon is revealed on 3rd Nov, which is a totally powerful support for Mamemon deck.

[BT8-068] Banchomamemon

Effect 2: [Both Turns] When you have another Digimon with [Mamemon] in it’s name in play, this Digimon gets [SecurityAttack+1]

Compared to Cresgarurumon, BanchoMamemon is cheaper to digivolve and can gain "Security Attack +1" if there is a [Mamemon] is played in the turn. While there is possibly 1 or more Mamemon can be played from Banchomamemon's digivolving effect (depends on number of Digimon the opponent has in the battle), ONLY 1 Mamemon is played from Cresgarurumon's "when digivolving" effect.

BT7 X-antibody, a new wave for black color.

I was a bit surprised when I saw X-antibody Dorumon winning a lot in Japan even though we tend to think that black cannot be faster than red/blue/green hybrid. For now, for black X-antibody, we have access only to Dorumon's evolution line, BT6's Alphamon, and Omni X-antibody from BT5 (a white Digimon that can digivolve from either red or blue or a Digimon with [Omnimon] in its name).

This deck's playing style may sound very straightforward, but it's not. There are multiple facets in this deck's gameplay, moving diligently between memory control, draw power, OTK damage, and defense.

This is a basic build for X-antibody Dorumon line that I was playing with. I am still learning more tactics as I practise with this deck, and that has made me recognise the potential of this deck. (You can check for more Dorumon deck profiles in our site).

I chose to run with 6 LV6 Digimons because I feel that my hand will brick if I run any more than that. For LV5 Digimons, besides the 4 copies of DoruGreymon, I feel that it is important to use Warumonzaemon (either 3 or 4 copies) since it is the cheapest cost to play and digivolve among black LV5s.

For LV4 Digimons, 2 copies of blocker Mekanori will give just enough board control against rookies, and forces your opponent to build a proper digivolution line instead of rushing with rookies. This deck needs to stall the game a little in order to perform some of the deck's key strategies, so some LV4 blockers can be useful for this purpose. I also run 2 Tankmons because it is the best vanilla lv4 Digimon costing only 1 to evo and has a respectable 6000 DP, and 1 copy of hybrid Grumblemon as a backup plan for endgame.

For my LV3 Digimons, besides 4 copies of Dorumon the other 3 are very important for the deck. Chuumon is vital when dealing with all the memory cheats in current meta, the promo Sunarizamon is a must-have element that works really well with the X-antibody line and 2 copies of stater set ToyAgumon for that additional draw-power.

The Kouta tamer plays an important role for me to secure the 3 memory at the beginning of turns, while also providing a search for X-antibody Digimon when he is played. The duo tamer meanwhile gives +2 memory when the opponent has 2 or more Digimon in play which is very easy to achieve.

How Do I play this deck

In early game, there is no hurry to attack the opponent's security. I will perform my digivolutions inside the nursing area if it is not safe to move out, otherwise I will move it out and digivolve into LV5 DoruGreymon (and by placing 1 X-antibody card under its digivolution source) to gain a turn invulnerability towards deletion effects and DP-reduction. If possible, I would play Kouta early or a delay option card to maintain a good hand for digivolutions.

While building my digivolution inside the nursing area, I will play a LV5 Warumonzaemon from hand for 5 cost if I need to pass the turn to the opponent.

OTK

With a starting memory of 3 (from Kouta or the duo tamer), I will move Dorugreymon from nursery and digivolve into Dorugoramon for 3-4 security checks (by inheriting Sunarizamon and/or putting another Dorugreymon in his digivolution sources). In addition, his DP can be easily buff past 15000 DP or more when properly built, making him quite a viable OTK machine.

Under more ideal circumstances where I have 5 memory or more, it is possible to digivolve from LV4 to a Dorugreymon and then to Dorugoramon in the same turn, as long as I am inheriting Dorumon or if I can put Dorumon into my digivolution sources along the way. When digivolved this way, Dorugoramon would be able to gain Dorugreymon's turn invulnerability for security checks, somewhat rivalling a red deck's "option jamming"(though this does not protect against non-deletion option effects).

Board Control

An attacking Dorugoramon can easily remove (up to 2 of) your opponent's LV3 and/or LV4 Digimons on the field, since a properly digivolved Dorugoramon will have 6 sources when attacking hence be able to remove 2 6-cost or lower Digimons.

This level of board control is very desirable in this meta, allowing pesky Bokomons to be removed with ease, or erase a wide board of LV4 hybrids or Eyesmons. If left alone, Dorugoramon can begin to delete 7-cost Digimons in the next turn, moving well into the realm of LV5 Digimons.

Depending on matchup and situation, it is also possible to digivolve into Zwart Defeat just to remove an opponent's tamer card that can threaten my game during the next turn.

Defensive Manoeuvres

I play Power Of Breath and Final Zubagon Punch to give this deck a defensive angle.

Power Of Breath will allow me to give Dorugoramon [Reboot] and some immunity, increasing his odds of surviving through the opponent's turn. In addition, when triggered through security this card can pretty much save my game.

Final Zubagon Punch is another card that work wonders with Dorugoramon, granting him a plethora of effects allowing him to hit hard, and block during the opponent's turn. I usually play this card on my Dorugoramon to pass the turn if I do not have enough memory to play it before it attacks.

Another much-overlooked defensive card is Alphamon himself, as when triggered from security will grant a turn protection while adding himself to my hand.

Other smaller additions include a single copy of Shademon (offering a from-security blocker potential) and the fact that we have 4 copies of LV4 blockers in Dorugamon and 2 Mekanoris.

Draw Power

I find that Metal Cannon can be invaluable for a much needed draw power. With a tall stack of Dorugoramon, playing a 2-cost Metal Cannon for a 6-card draw is immense! This can be a great card for turn passing, filling up your hand with solutions for the next turn.

Also, Dorimon and Toyagumon's inheritable effects provide a gradual but consistent drawing power, which helps to manage my hand size as I continue to slot Digimons under digivolution sources.

Final Thoughts

I find this deck being very versatile: to be able to hit as hard as a red deck, and then moving immediately into a defensive mode, can be very painful to the opponent. The game can be pretty much over if they are unable to remove a tall stack Dorugoramon immediately, and the stunners from security can really tilt my opponent's game plan.

Thanks to Rock Braud for pointing out a mistake in my earlier writing, I went back to the drawing board and revised this article after playing another good few rounds (against 3 different decks) to walk through some of the technicalities of this deck.

Defying a Hyper Spirit Evolution

So Kanbara and Koji can pull 5 [Hybrid] cards from your trash or hand respectively in order to digivolve into Kaisergreymon or Magnagarurumon respectively. But did you know that the second (digivolution) clause is actually a choice?

A choice not to digivolve. This was made clear in Q12 of today's FUN Digica #99 (around 7:40). The question went like this: by discarding 1 card from using "Win Rate: 60%!" and activating Kanbara's effect to put 5 [Hybrid] cards under him, can he defy digivolving into Kaisergreymon but instead, digivolves into Agunimon for 0-cost? and the answer is a resounding YES!

In other words, the first clause "by putting 5 cards" is a pre-requisite to the second clause "can digivolve into Kaisergreymon". The second clause is optional, and the first clause can be triggered regardless.

Effects that trigger this way are quite an oversight, and will usually not be exploited unless confirmed through official channels. So now that we've gotten our confirmation, what exactly do we expect to exploit?

Maximum firepower

By putting 5 [Hybrid] cards under Kanbara, and opting to digivolve into a LV4 hybrid (such as Agunimon) instead, leaves the door open for a larger variety of further digivolutions: one such route would be to digivolve into [BT4-113] Ancientgreymon instead (through any other LV5s, preferably a 1-cost hybrid), which would make for an insane 8 security checks in one hit, potentially bundled with other effects such as option jamming and piercing.

Under a similar configuration, one can also digivolve into a [ST1-11] Wargreymon for a simple 5 security checks (though this is far less effective compared to Ancientgreymon).

Rizegreymon and Rasenmon

Another digivolution route under this configuration would be to go for the LV5 [BT4-017] Rizegreymon, and subsequently into [BT7-040] Rasenmon.

With a total of 7 digivolution cards, Rizegreymon can digi-burst up to 3 times, allowing the player to field more tamers such as Kanbara or others (depending on deck config) in one fell swoop!

When digivolving into Rasenmon, the large surplus of digivolution cards can also be used to guarantee maximum DP reduction (of -12000 DP).

OTK Blackwargreymon

Another idea would be to digivolve into [P-026] Blackwargreymon (through any red/black LV5s such as Megadramon). When digivolved this way, Blackwargreymon will have 8 digivolution cards, allowing him to unsuspend up to 4 times! And since he will also inherit Kanbara's [SecurityAttack+1], he will be able to translate his attacks into 8 security checks + 1 winning hit!

And many more ...

Above are just some combos that came into mind with this exploit. What other exploits do you see? Do you think they will work in a competitive deck? We are excited to find out in the coming months!