Overview
With more than half the cards revealed so far, its time again to take a look at what this expansion set gives!
New Mechanics
<進撃> or <Blitz> in English (until Bandai gives us the official name) is introduced as a new effect in BT-05. Usually paired with [When Digivolving], this effect allows the Digimon to attack even if the memory is 1 or higher at your opponent's side. This effect is similar (albeit weaker) to [BT4-090] Chaosmon's, but does not naturally unsuspend your Digimon or allow you to attack an opponent's active Digimon.
A handful of Digimons with same-level digivolution (LV6→LV6) were also introduced. These Digimons typically have a [When Digivolving] effect and cost significantly less memory when digivolving from it's same level.
White tamer and option cards were also introduced for the first time. The rules to play a white option card are still unconfirmed, but we shall know in the coming weeks whether a white Digimon or white tamer is required as a pre-requisite for playing white option cards.
Dual tamers are also introduced in BT-05, granting a stackable +2 memory at the start of your turn if a condition met. There will be 3 of these tamer cards in BT-05, one each for blue, green, and white.
A pilot Shoutmon lineup
The Shoutmon lineup (from the 2010 anime series Digimon XROS Wars) finally makes an appearance, piloting the <Blitz> ability. [BT5-009] Shoutmon has a solid search effect when played, and can warp digivolve into LV5 [BT5-014] Omnishoutmon at cost of 4 memory, offering additional digivolution robustness and lowering bricked-hands. At LV6, both [BT5-017] Zekegreymon and [BT5-019] Shoutmon DX pilots the <Blitz> effect. Shoutmon DX can also digivolve from the same level at a lower memory cost.
While there is undeniable synergy between Digimons from this Shoutmon lineup, it is too early to tell whether <Blitz> is a truly formidable effect or one that is rather easy to overcome (since it might end up being a glorified security check since it cannot target active Digimons without inheriting Zekegreymon). Furthermore, same-level digivolutions such as Shoutmon DX may end up stacking and wasting too many LV6 Digimons within one digivolution chain, increasing the risk of losing everything in just 1-hit!
Watch an early gameplay video showing Shoutmon pulling off a marginal win over an existing red build (with Blitzgreymon and Victorygreymon), perhaps indicating that it is not so much better than what red already have.
Score: 6/10 (can be higher if the deck is further optimized and LV distributions are reworked)
Blue can finally freeze!
Since the beginning of DCG, blue cards run effects that tends to weaken or disable the opponent (akin to a freezing effect in most animes and games). This was originally conceptualized using digivolution-removal effects, but happened to be pretty subpar in actual competitive gameplay. Things did not improve even with the addition of Shakkoumon back in BT-03, as putting a <SecurityAttack-1> on Digimons without digivolution cards does not make them much less formidable.
Now in BT-05 we have the Hexblaumon lineup, which is significantly more intimidating than what we have seen for blue before. [BT5-032] Hexblaumon disables all your opponent's Digimons without digivolution cards from attacking or blocking, which is extremely effective at stopping your opponents. In addition, with simultaneous access to <Jamming>, and synergy with not only his own digivolution chain but also tons of other blue cards, should put blue decks back in the forefront of tier lists.
While undoubtedly oozing with potential, early gameplay videos show that heavy reliant on Hexblaumon can be detrimental. Since effectively removing him from play can immediately undo all his "freezing" effects. More trials will be needed until his full potential is unlocked.
Score: 8/10
Holy warriors
While looking a little underwhelming at first, [BT5-045] Crusadermon seems to have managed to give yellow a slight boost in this set. From this early gameplay video we got a glimpse of Crusadermon's potential, and incredible synergy with warrior-type Digimons. In particular, the LV5 Digimon [BT5-042] Knightmon can be played from your hand at 0-cost whenever Crusadermon attacks, allowing very fast paced board build and control.
Score: 9/10
Green loses it's edge
Bandai very recently announced its first DCG restriction list, limiting green staples [BT2-047] Argomon and [BT3-103] Hidden Potential to just 1 copy per deck. This news is expected to hit green decks really hard, potentially dethroning them from their Tier-1 dominance.
With this nerf, Bandai is seemingly trying to revive a more defensive green. All 3 green LV6 Digimons revealed thus far appear to have a defensive nature, while the new green dual-tamer card [BT5-089] Izzy & Mimi triggers when LV5 Digimons attack. This seems to indicate a trend encourages green Digimons to attack at as soon as they reach LV5, and then digivolving into a defensive LV6, and then an offensive LV7 when necessary.
However, none of the newly introduced cards seem to be appealing additions to the current green inventory hence might just end up warming your binders.
Score: 4/10
Diaboromon's Revenge
Back in BT-01, Diaboromon has not very popular in competitive play due to his high costs, low DP, and lack of overall support. This will be very different in BT-05 with a plethora of Diaboromon lineup and support being announced. While it might not live up to its hype (there are several weaknesses in a pure Diaboromon deck that can be easily exploited) there is certainly room to optimize and offer some fresh new plays for Diaboromon fans out there.
You can watch some early gameplay videos from this channel to see how a BT-05 Diaboromon deck would fare against some different deck profiles. Will Diaboromon dethrone D-brigade as a rush-type black deck?
Score: 5/10 (there is certainly a lot of hype, but still much to prove)
Zwart puts purple back into the spotlight
Purple will become an exciting color in BT-05: not only did Bandai introduce some powerful new purple Digimons, but also improved its synergy with many existing cards.
Kimeramon's very popular effect is now also accessible in [BT5-081] Chaosgallantmon, at a more memory-efficient package and synergy with his second effect, while also boasting a very respectable 12000 DP. The Gallantmon digivolution line is also further buffed by the addition of [BT5-083] Megidramon: being the only Digimon that can play a LV6 Chaos/Gallantmon from your hand or trash for free (we expect him to be very popular in new megazoo decks).
Further along we have the new black/purple [BT5-087] Omegamon Zwart, which should prove very popular in upcoming purple decks. He already has some exciting synergies with some existing and new cards, and by being such an iconic Digimon should see himself in many upcoming deck experiments.
PS Somehow Omegamon Zwart looked more appealing to purple than he is to black, since he is only the second LV7 for purple (after Millenniumon) while black already has access to 4 different LV7 Digimons (not even including the upcoming Armegeddomon) prior to Zwart.
Score: 9/10
White tamer and option cards
White tamer and option cards are introduced in BT-05, and so far all of them have exciting effects that solve existing problems in the current meta. [BT5-091] Takumi Aiba encourages digivolution while penalizing rookie rushes. [BT5-092] Nokia Shiramine boosts the efficiency of Greymon, Garurumon, and Omegamon-centric decks (which are actually well distributed across all colors except green) which helps to level the playing field against the speed of green decks. [BT5-093] Tai & Matt increases the aggresiveness of Omegamons, while [BT5-109] Fuse Into The Ultimate Digimon! fills in the weaknesses of some LV7 Digimons such as [BT1-084] Omegamon and [BT5-087] Zwart. We should expect to see them used extensively in all upcoming decks!
Score: 9/10.
A plethora of Omegamons
Omegamon is easily one of the most iconic Digimon in the entire franchise, if not the most iconic. The [BT1-084] Omegamon Alternate Art card remain the highest valued card in the collector market, and [BT3-112] Omegamon Alter-S being very close behind. Exploting this fact and releasing 4 different Omegamons in a single expansion is close to unfathomable, and it remains to be seen how the second-hand market reacts to this set (and the overall prices of all Omegamons). Regardless, it is undeniable that BT-05 has so much value packed into it, and these 4 Omegamons might just become the only chase cards running this set (with the other 8 SR cards taking the dip).
Score: 10/10.
Summary
Compared to previous sets, BT-05 exhibits outstanding value (the last time we saw such good value was in BT-02 and BT-03). Looking back, BT-01 was too heavily skewed towards a single Omegamon card (being the only chase card in that set) while BT-04 features 3 SEC cards that are either barely usable in competitive game, or having incomplete support.
With 4 Omegamons and a handful of other exciting SR cards, a BT-05 box might just remain one of the most exciting boxes to pull for many months to come.
Score: 9.5/10