Digimon Card Game is the seventh Collectible Card Game under the Digimon franchise, and the third primary Japanese Digimon card game. The game was released concurrent to Digimon Adventure: (2020), and was localized worldwide about a year after its initial release.
Unlike earlier Digimon TCGs like Hyper Colosseum and Alpha, DTCG 2020 uses entirely new gameplay mechanics with two standout mechanics: Memory and Digivolution. In DTCG 2020, players begin with a deck of 50 standard cards and a 5-card Digi-Egg Deck. Digimon can either be hatched from the Digi-Egg deck and Digivolved to make them stronger, or played directly from a player's hand for a higher memory cost. Players aim to attack the opponent's Security stack with their Digimon to deplete itnote , and then directly to win the game. Players assist their Digimon with Trainer cards (who continuously apply effects) and Option cards (who apply a single effect when used).
Memory is this card game's central "mana" mechanic, but is implemented in a unique way; both players share a single memory bar going from 10 to 0 to 10. Every card has a memory cost, and when a player uses Memory they move a memory marker that many steps into their opponent's direction. If the memory marker goes below 0 (i.e. into positive numbers on the opponent's side), the initial player's turn ends, and the opponent begins their turn with that much Memory. This means that playing powerful, high-Memory cards will compensate the opponent with a large boost of Memory, creating an engaging back-and-forth dynamic.note
Digivolution, meanwhile, allows players to play Digmon cards from their hand at a reduced cost by placing it over a (corresponding) Digimon that is already in the battle area; cards underneath a Digimon can still impact the game by granting the Digimon at the top with their Inherited Effects. This allows players to create powerful Digimon with unique mixtures of effects to control the game and eventually emerge victorious.
While designed around the 2020 reboot of Digimon Adventure, the game pulls from Digimon's vast history which includes various Digimon media including, but not limited to, the various Anime series, the library of Manga and Novelizations, the Movies both original and based on its Anime, the different Video Games, and even the previous Card Game versions. It's popularity also spawned off a Web Manga series called Digimon Liberators, a spin off tied through the Digimon Card Game itself.
Tropes present in Digimon Card Game:
- Bowdlerise: The artwork for the Deputymon and Gundramon cards from Double Diamond was changed in western releases to remove the smoke coming from their gun barrels. In the same set, BaoHuckmon's artwork was slightly altered: the original version had all three Sistermon (Blanc, Noir and Ciel) behind him, while western releases removed Noir since Ciel completely replaces her outside of Japan.
- Color-Coded for Your Convenience: There are seven primary colors in the game, each following a specific theme or gameplay mechanic. Cards released after New Awakening can have two colors at the same time. Note that color matching is primarily used for Digivolving and option cards. In addition, starting in Blast Ace and its supporting Starter Decks, the cost also shows the color of said cards in a seven segmented area surrounding the cost going clockwise in the order listed below. The Digivolution cost(s) also show the same color segments but only for their required color to Digivolve on top of.
- Red is mainly used for the main leader characters and often associated with Digimon based on dinosaurs, birds, dragons, or fire. In terms of gameplay, red is the aggressive color, often having easy access to high levels of DP and Security Attack bonuses. They also have several effects that allow them to hit easier or allow them to attack after the turn has passed. Their means of controlling the board is through DP based deletion.
- Blue is mainly reserved for the lancer characters with Digimon based on beasts, aquatic life, and cold life. In terms of gameplay, blue is the technical color, usually having means to extend their plays by gaining memory and card draw, and will usually have a means to add extra attacks through unsuspending and replaying Digimon from their own sources. Their means of control is to bounce Digimon back to the hand, removing that Digimon's sources in the meantime, or to strip away sources from Digimon to remove inheritable effects, some effects will even punish Digimon who don't have any sources under them.
- Yellow is usually meant for Digimon based on angels, holy beasts, and light. In terms of gameplay, yellow is the stalling color, often having abilities to recover security, buff security Digimon to make it riskier for the opponent to fight against, they can even use effects to remove their own security to gain a major advantage. They can also play lower level Digimon without spending memory to swarm the field. Their means of control lie squarely in their ability to reduce a Digimon's DP allowing them to delete Digimon that have 0 DP or lower or simply reducing it enough to allow another Digimon to defeat them. They can even reduce an opposing Digimon's Security Attack to maintain their defense. They can also throw Digimon into the opponent's security stack as an alternative strategy with the obvious risk of giving the opponent another security for you to have to go through, even if you already know what the Digimon in question is.
- Green is typically designed for Digimon based on insects, plants, wood, and electricity. In terms of gameplay, green is the powerhouse color, often wanting to attack other Digimon utilizing high DP and will often have piercing to deal damage when defeating another Digimon. They typically have a means to play and Digivolve for lower cost, accelerating their game and an easier time searching for other Digimon. Their means of control is through suspending Digimon, making them easy battle targets for your stronger Digimon, some will even allow you to make an attack towards the suspended Digimon to prevent said Digimon from surviving to their next turn. Some will even lock down Digimon disabling their ability to unsuspend at the start of the turn.
- Black is the color meant for Digimon based on machines, cyborgs, metal, earth, and the primary source for the X-Antibody. In terms of gameplay, black is the defensive color, having the most blocker Digimon in the game. Effects will also reinforce DP on the opponent's turn an will often turn to the reboot ability to both make an attack and then hide behind their strong defense. Their means of control is to delete Digimon based on their play costs which is supplemented by their ability to De-Digivolve their opponent's Digimon, not only allowing these effects to activate easier, but reverting them to a weaker state to easily suppress their power and abilities.
- Purple is mainly meant for Digimon based on demons, fallen angels, corrupted or evil forms of Digimon, and darkness. In terms of gameplay, purple is the counterplay color, having the means to gain advantage through multiple means, even sacrificing their own Digimon to achieve victory. Purple also has a lot of effects that fill the trash pile to allow players to play cards from the trash to recycle them. Their means of control is to delete Digimon based on their level, often removing weaker Digimon. Their Digimon also comes with retaliation to delete Digimon that defeated them in battle.
- White is often theme-less but usually reserved for ascended Digimon like Omnimon, or unusual or undefinable Digimon. In terms of gameplay, white is a supporting color, usually reserved for very specific plays. Decks that are mainly white are unconventional decks that perform a very specific strategy. Note that white is defined as its own color unlike other games which would normally be designated as a colorless card.
- Difficult, but Awesome: DNA Digivolving, DigiXros, and Blast Digivolution are alternative forms of the standard Digivolution mechanic that makes it easier to play out stronger Digimon. Each have their own limitations though.
- DNA Digivolution requires 2 Digimon of specific colors to be put together. In other words, you are trading 2 Digimon of a certain level for one stronger one. Because of this, you have to be able to play them on the board and depending on the Level of the Digimon in question, you have to get both Digimon to the appropriate Level, some more difficult than others. In return, DNA Digivolving is usually free, you still draw for the Digivolution, you have two stacks worth of inheritable effects now, and because of the unique state the fused Digimon is, it is both considered a new Digimon, which means once per turn effects reactivate and it is Digivolved as unsuspended, and one that's been on the field which means it can attack immediately even if both Digimon used for the Digivolution just entered the field. To assist, some Digimon have abilities that let you summon an appropriate partner for it, and others will allow you to activate DNA Digivolving at the end of the turn.
- DigiXros allows you to play cards from hand by placing cards from hand into its evolution sources to reduce the cost of playing the card. By doing so, you can get a powerful Digimon out on the field at a reduced cost. However, you cannot refill your hand as it's not a digivolution; you have to spend more memory than normal digivolution if you lack the correct pieces, and unless it has the Rush keyword the digimon still cannot attack the turn it's played. To assist, the Tamers from Fusion can use Digimon attached to them, either by placing them there directly or using the Save and Material Save X keywords, to maintain your pieces.
- Blast Digivolution is simply Digivolving on the opponent's turn to take advantage of an When Digivolving ability. It's often labeled with the Counter timing which happens after the opponent attacks and resolves all When Attacking abilities. This, of course, requires precise timing to maximize the counter play. This also assumes that the Digimon you want to Blast Digivolve with is still on the field by the time you want to Blast Digivolve. Since most of them are Level 5 or 6s, you need to leave a Level 4 or 5 so it's rather easy to telegraph and remove before you even get the chance. They are also tied to Ace Digimon which has an Overflow penalty where you lose memory if the card (not just the Digimon) is removed from the field so recklessly dropping these cards could come back to bite you.
- Taken one step further with Blast DNA Digivolution. As the name suggests, it combines the elements of Blast and DNA Digivolution methods. Fortunately the designers figured you wouldn't be able to naturally do this on the field as DNA Digivolving already has you commit two Digimon on the board and already puts the fused Digimon in an unusual state, so Blast DNA Digivolution requires you to have one of the specified Digimon on the field while the other comes from your hand. That being said, the balancing factor of this method means that the evolution requirements are going to be different and most likely, more precise. For example, DNA Digivolving naturally into Mastemon ACE requires a Yellow and a Purple Digimon, Blast DNA Digivolving requires an Angewomon and a LadyDevimon. Also, because one of the Digimon comes from the hand, Blast DNA Digivolving does not treat the Digimon as a new Digimon since it's obvious who the Digivolved Digimon is. And of course, this is still tied to ACE Digimon mechanic so the above drawbacks still come into play.
- Dub Name Change: It gets flip-flopped depending on the card in the English regions. Tamer-wise, the characters from Adventure (including Tri, Last Evolution Kizuna, and the 2020 reboot) to Data Squad retain their respective character's dub name, while the characters from Digimon Fusion onward retain their Japanese names. While it makes sense for a series like Digimon Ghost Game, which hasn't seen a release overseas as of this writing, there are hints that they were going to use the dub names of Fusion due to the international card database actually using them when Xros Encounter first came out in Japan, alongside an errata that accidentally kept the name Christopher Aonuma on a card's effect instead of the card's actual name of Kiriha Aonuma.
- One very odd example is Henry Wong (dub name) and his sister. Instead of getting her dub name of Suzie, she's named "Shu-Chong Wong", a combination of her dub surname and original given name.
- Another example includes several Digimon whose names have been changed for one reason or another, namely any card that had been renamed to a Greymon such as BurningGreymon, originally Vitramon, and (Dex)DoruGreymon, which is more along the lines of DoruGuremon, who aren't actual Greymons, thus card text had to be added in to exclude those Digimon from the effects of any Greymon based effect. At this point, it is put into the official rules that those are not Greymon Digimon, the same thing goes for any Digimon that was renamed in a similar manner like KendoGarurumon.
- A different case comes in the form of the Digimon, Sistermon Noir. In international media, Sistermon Noir was changed to Sistermon Ciel for censorship purposes. As such the official rules state that Sistermon Ciel is also referred to in gameplay as Sistermon Noir with the Virus attribute (Ciel is a Data attribute).
- And then there are just some bizarre changes. Most popular was that of Raidramon, who was changed in the TCG to the Japanese pronunciation, Lighdramon.
- Exact Words: The game defines a Digimon not just with the card representing it, but all other cards under it to represent its evolutions. It becomes important as some effects will specify a card as opposed to a Digimon for the effect. This is very important for the Overflow penalty as the card itself has to leave the battlefield at the end of an effect's resolution as opposed to the Digimon it was apart of. If, say for instance, you take a Digimon and put it under another card on the field, the Digimon left the field but the Card has not.
- Expansion Pack: The game is supported by new booster sets released approximately every other month, consisting of about a 112-cards each sold in randomized packs, and bi-annual ready-to-play starter decks with 54 (50 standard and 4 Digi-Eggs) unique cards not available in boosters.
- First-Player Advantage Mitigation: The memory counter always starts at zero, so whoever goes first will have their turn ended the moment they spend any memory. It's usually enough to hatch a Digi Egg and either Digivolve it twice, or Digivolve it once and play a low cost Digimon, Tamer, or Option. The second player can do a little bit more thanks to however much the first player spent.
- Level Drain: De-Digivolving removes the top card of your Digimon if your Digimon has sources under it or is not Level 3, the lowest possible level a Digimon can assume. Under normal circumstances, this would level your Digimon down by a level, more if you had Warp Digivolved, a.k.a. skipping levels. In very rare occasions, some cards will be placed under a Digimon as its sources in which case your opponent might accidentally invert this trope by going from a lower level to a higher level.
- Mana: Playing cards costs "memory", and if your memory is below zero when your cards resolve play passes to your opponent and they have memory based on how much you played.note There are plenty of cards that can increase your memory, including those that do so on play and can potentially extend your turn if the memory gets back to zero before everything on your side resolves. Furthermore, many Red cards have the "Blitz" keyword that lets them attack as soon as they digivolve, enabling their controller to get a hit in even if said digivolution pushed the memory gauge over.
- Mythology Gag: Digimon based on the various series and games will often emulate events and gimmicks onto the game itself.
- Much like in 02, DNA Digivolving involves two Digimon of specific colors combining and Digivolving into a new, singular Digimon.
- Also like in 02, Digimon can Armor Digivolve into an Armor Digimon, losing said armor if the Armor Digimon would be deleted.
- In reference to Frontier, the spirits of the Ten Legendary Warriors can use a Tamer as a host to Spirit Evolve a Tamer into a Digimon. Later sets would introduce their respective Tamers with inheritable effects to allow the Tamer to power up their Digimon form.
- Referencing Data Squad, Burst Mode can be achieved for free by returning the Tamer representing the Burst Mode Digimon's partner to the hand, representing the Digisoul/DNA Burst.
- Similar to Fusion, DigiXros allows to combine more Digimon in a single unit by placing them under their combined form in order to reduce its play cost. Also, while most DigiXros units have pre-estabilished materials, some Bagra Army Digimon can use any of their comrades as materials, representing how the bigger members absorb their cohorts to get power. Yuu Amano can give such abilities to the Bagra Army units that normally don't have it, representing his "Forced DigiXros" gimmick.
- Across Time would add in the Hunters version of DigiXros where, upon Digivolving, can Xros Up their Digimon with various other Digimon they have loaded to reduce their Digivolution cost further as well as enhance their Xros Up Digimon with various effects.
- In Digimon Seekers, select humans can Mind Link with their Digimon allowing them to fight as one. Tamers from Seekers can put their tamer card under a Digimon's digivolution sources to grant them their own source. But as Mind Link has a time limit, you can remove the tamer card from the Digimon's digivolution sources to revert it to being a tamer.
- Various Digimon related to Leomon often have effects when they are deleted, often fulfilling the role that Leomon has become infamous for. In fact, Fist of the Beast King, Leomon's signature move, can be found in the Digital Hazard booster box set and can be used when Beelzemon is on the field, referencing the death of Leomon in Tamers.
- A few Gatomon and Wizardmon cards have effects that synergize with each other, representing their relationship in Digimon Adventure.
- The Marcus Damon card in Across Time enables him to fight on the battlefield, referencing his own ability to fight Digimon in Data Squad. In fact, doing so by suspending Marcus gives an Agumon the power to Digivolve, similar to how Marcus would obtain his DNA Charge through fighting Digimon which allowed his Agumon to Digivolve. Versus Royal Knights expands on this, introducing a card of Marcus's father Spencer who can become a Blocker unit and a ShineGreymon Burst Mode card that allows any Marcus card to do the same.
- Takato from Across Time utilizes the Biomerge Digivolution method which allows Guilmon to Warp Digivolve into Gallantmon by adding in the Takato card that enables it. Henry from the Double Typhoon Starter Deck can do the same with Terriermon to Warp Digivolve into MegaGargomon.
- Takuya and Koji from Next Adventure can put 5 hybrid Digimon under them as sources to enable Hyper/Unified Spirit Evolution like how they take 5 of the 10 warriors each to reach their Mega form. Taken a step further with Susanoomon which requires 10 Hybrids or Tamers to be placed under the deck to enable Ancient Spirit Evolution.
- Many Dark/Corrupted forms of Digimon are represented in the card game and usually have an effect that either destroys themselves after a certain action, replays their lower form when they are destroyed, or both. Examples include EX-01 and BT-14 SkullGreymon, BT-05 and EX-02 Meggidramon, EX-04 ShineGreymon Ruin Mode, and BT-09 Ophanimon Falldown Mode.
- Angemon from Blast Ace has an effect that allows him to delete himself in order to remove any Virus Digimon by sending it into the opponent's security stack, but upon deletion, sends himself to the player's security stack and hatches a new egg, a reference to Angemon's debut in Digimon Adventure.
- Another recurring form of reference is found in the card artwork, which sometimes recalls a specific appearance of a Digimon in other media.
- BT-02 Gigimon is shown in a bakery eating bread, referencing how bread was the Trademark Favorite Food of Takato's Guilmon in Tamers.
- Various illustrations, like BT-01 Tanemon, BT-03 Penguinmon or Battle of Omni Monochromon, show the respective Digimon in the same facilities they ran in the original Digimon World.
- Art like the first promo Palmon, Battle of Omni Tsunemon or the promo variant of Battle of Omni Gabumon are set in the Kowloon setting of Digimon Story: Cyber Sleuth, with Gabumon's art clearly showing the Galacta Park area.
- Double Diamond Volcanomon is shown doing commentary to a Digimon Card Game tournament. This references how Volcano Ota (the ideator of Volcanomon's design and his voice actor in all of his anime appearances) did commentary during big tournaments of the earlier Digimon card games in Japan.
- Later expansions actually take advantage of this kind of reference. For example, most of the cards in the Dimensional Phase set have references to areas and plot points of either Digimon World 3 or Digimon World Re:Digitize.
- No-Sell: Cards with the "Jamming" keyword cannot be destroyed when they battle a Digimon in the Security stack. There are also several cards that inflict other Digimon with "Security -1", which means unless they were able to increase their number of Security attacks they'd check zero cards.
- Not the Intended Use: New Awakening introduced an alternative Digivolution cost by putting a specific Digimon the card can Digivolve into, usually a specific name to keep in line with the intended Digivolution line, or a specific description or attribute to keep the deck consistent. While consistent, this can also lead to Digimon that are not apart of the deck's structure to be included. The most egregious example is with the Blue Flare deck wherein the Digi Xros materials for BT-10 MetalGreymon is Greymon and Mailbirdramon intended for the Blue Flare version which is blue. It didn't specify this so players would regularly add in ST-01 Greymon, which is red, to allow MetalGreymon to attack with an extra Security Attack. This goes both ways as this is still a MetalGreymon in name, you can use MetalGreymon X Antibody or any Level 6 Greymons that ask for MetalGreymon, not just ZeigGreymon to Digivolve on top of.
- Obvious Rule Patch: At the start of the game, you could not mulligan your hand to fix your starting hand. Considering the game actively encourages players to Digivolve to build up your ultimate Digimon, it became difficult to do if you started by missing pieces of your line or any means to fix your hand. They toyed with the idea during Digi-Fest events and Ultimate Cup online events by putting cards on the bottom and drawing a new hand, though because the game does not shuffle the deck after your initial draw, savvy players would know which cards would appear if they cycled the deck once. Thus on April 1, 2023, a new mulligan rule was instituted; at the start of the game, you first draw your hand. If you decide to mulligan, you put your hand back, and reshuffle and draw a new hand which you must now start the game with. Regardless of if you performed your mulligan or not, you then set your initial security stack.note
- Starting with Blast Ace and the supporting Starter Decks, several cards now include the Counter keyword allowing them to play it during your opponent's turn. However unlike most games where any card with Counter can be done as a response to any action, as long as card text lets them do it, the Counter timing can only be done during your opponent's attack.
- Overflow Error: Implemented in-game as a keyword called Overflow, which is a memory penalty if the Digimon card with this keyword leaves the field, even if the Digimon is removed from a Digimon's Digivolution sources. This is used with Ace Digimon as they have a lower play cost and has Blast Digivolve, which allows them to Digivolve on the opponent's turn at 0 cost.
- Power Creep: Cards for a Tamer and their partner will generally have effects that synergize well with each other, but those introduced early in the game's run were vague enough that they could be mixed with several other archetypes. But as time went on, more mechanics have been introduced and many effects have become more specific and complex. While many archetypes have received additional support as time goes on that allow them to keep up with newer cards, they're usually only focused on the protagonists of the various media. The result is Tai from Adventure having nine
solo Tamer cards, while Sora from the same season only has two.- Upon the release of X Record, many Digimon now have X Antibody versions that their base forms can digivolve into at a reduced cost. Not counting Alphamon or Dorugoramon decks, this gives a huge boon to any archetype supported with their X Antibody forms whether in the form of an X Antibody version of each stage like Greymon or Garurumon, or an X Antibody of their Mega form like Magnamon or Jesmon. This is additionally supported if your deck takes advantage of various X Antibody support such as the option card itself and the Cool Boy tamer. While it doesn't guarantee the deck will be good, X Digivolving usually comes at a reduced cost, usually no cost at low levels, allowing for more cycling than usual.
- The Training series of Option Cards are six cards spanning the primary color types. All of them do the same thing, reveal the top two cards of the deck adding a card of the color used and bottom decking the rest and then setting the card on the field for its delay effect. Said Delay effect allows you to Digivolve a Digimon to the specified color but reducing the Digivolution cost by two. Compare this to the similar generic Memory Boost series of Option Cards which revealed the top four cards of the deck adding a Digimon of the color used, bottom decking the rest, stays on the field for its Delay effect which grants two memory. The biggest difference between them is the Training Cards are 2 to play vs the Memory Boost's 3. While that doesn't make the standard Memory Boosts obsolete, it does make it preferred in most decks.
- Protagonist Power-Up Privileges: Carries over from the anime for many archetypes, since the various power-ups usually give them not only more cards to work with but also flashier effects than other characters. For example, playing Greymon or Veemon decks will get you all manner of support thanks to them being common partners to protagonists in various media. Even some lancer characters and their Digimon like Matt and Gabumon will see their fair share of support. But if you wanted to focus on, say, the Gomamon line? You'll have to hope his typing gets support or be satisfied with several interchangeable cards that don't synergize with each other any better than several other blue Digimon. Exaggerated with the Across Time set which, because of its premise, supports every lead up to the final season of Fusion.
- Set Bonus: While technically any Digimon can Digivolve from any other Digimon so long as the color requirements are met, certain Digivolution lines are specifically designed to work better together, whether it's from inherited effects that all have the same trigger, effects that only work if certain other cards are in their Digivolution cards, or outright searching for more cards of the same archetype. This extends to Tamers as well, as many have effects that either follow the same theme as their partners or explicitly mention them. A deck made from a random assortment of red digimon won't fare very well against a deck entirely devoted to the Greymon family.
- A better example is with the ShineGreymon line in BT-12 to BT-13. These cards are both Red and Yellow Digimon with a higher than normal Digivolution Cost, unless it sticks to its own line in which their Digivolution Costs are more in line with what a player would expect.
- Taking You with Me: When destroyed in battle, cards with the "Retaliate" keyword instantly destroy the opponent Digimon they just battled against.
- Timed Power-Up: The Burst Modes introduced in Versus Royal Knights have this if they are Burst Digivolved (which costs 0 memory and returns a Tamer to your hand, as opposed to a full 5 memory), as the top card of the digimon is trashed at the end of the turn it entered play. This also effects ShineGreymon Ruin Mode from Draconic Roar, which fully destroys the Digimon and the opponent's but allows you to hatch a new Digi-Egg for free.
- Retraux: The themed booster set Classic Collection from the Digimon Card Game utilizes art from the original Hyper Colosseum cards for almost every card in the set, including options. There are also rare alternate art cards that have a special edition frame which matches the Hyper Colosseum frames almost exactly, with the only changes being the ones necessary to keep the cards playable in the modern game.
- Vanilla Unit:
- The game has a wide variety of vanilla cards. In a game where lots of weak Digimon have beneficial effects to give to their Digivolutions, this can be seen as a downside, but they tend to shine in two main areas. 1) Vanilla Unit Digimon tend to have a higher printed DP than other cards of their level, especially 5000 DP Rookies in a tier mostly consisting of 2-3000 DP ones, as well as 12-13000 DP Megas instead of the more standard 11000 DP. 2) These same Digimon tend to be cheaper, in terms of play cost and/or being lower-rarity.
- There are also lots of virtually vanilla cards (for both Digimon and Tamers) that only have effects when they are played or Digivolved, and are vanilla after that.
- Whole-Plot Reference: Many booster sets are mainly tied around specific pieces of Digimon media. As a rule of thumb, most main boosters focus on two pieces of media while EX and mini sets focus either on one reference or a theme of Digimon types.
- The first six Booster sets have a common theme of showing stuff that was appearing in Digimon Adventure: (2020), though mostly they work to introduce cards for the various popular digimon just to get the ball rolling.
- Ultimate Power introduces Taiga and Rina from Digimon World Re:Digitize, as well as support for their partners Tyrannomon and Veemon.
- Union Impact adds Davis, Ken, support for their partners, and several villains from Digimon Adventure 02.
- Great Legend contains the main characters from Digimon Data Squad, as well as introducing the Agunimon and Lobomon lines from Digimon Frontier.
- Battle of Omni features references Digimon Story: Cyber Sleuth and to the second arc of Digimon Fusion, since those plus the 2020 anime all had a focus on the titular Omnimon.
- Double Diamond is tied around elements from Digimon Adventure: Last Evolution Kizuna, including Tamer cards depicting the adult version of the Adventure characters rather than them as children.
- Classic Collection is themed around both the original Hyper Colosseum cards and the original Digimon World.
- Next Adventure is focused on Frontier (with the Spirit Evolutions of the main cast being able to digivolve on top of Tamers instead of Digimon and giving said Tamers their own inheritable effects). It also brings in characters from the manga Digimon Chronicle, the Herissmon line from Digimon ReArise, and the Pulsemon line from the Vital Bracelet toy.
- New Awakening is focused on 02, with bits of Chronicle and the Digimon Ghost Game (which had just started airing a few months prior).
- Digital Hazard is entirely based on Digimon Tamers and its films.
- X Record is balanced between elements from Digimon X-Evolution and Digimon Adventure tri., with some more bits of Chronicle and Ghost Game.
- Xros Encounter is, as one would expect, based almost entirely on Fusion, with a few cards dedicated to Ghost Game.
- Draconic Roar features elements from the mobile game Digimon Links.
- Dimensional Phase features characters from Re:Digitize and Digimon World 3, plus some bits from the second arc of Fusion.
- Across Time features elements from Digimon Xros Wars: The Young Hunters Who Leapt Through Time with the element of the prior heroes and their Digimon uniting as well as finishing the remaining references to the Fusion series.
- Alternative Being subverts this as it's mostly focused on the idea of alternate forms and evolutions, and thus has characters from various iterations.
- While Rising Wind is primarily a reprint set, all of the new cards work to round out the cast of Ghost Game.
- Versus Royal Knights is completely themed around Digimon Data Squad, introducing the supporting cast, Burst Mode, Gizumon and Belphemon, and the titular Royal Knights.
- Blast Ace is themed around the original Digimon Adventure focusing on Tai, Joe, Mimi, and T.K., as well as the recent web novel Digimon Seekers. It also adds the titular Ace Digimon.
- Animal Colosseum is themed around beasts. They also include the Devas and their Sovereigns, which many remember from Tamers, as well as the cover Digimon from Digimon World: Dawn/Dusk.
- Exceed Apocalypse continues the Digimon Adventure theme focusing on the remaining characters, Matt, Sora, Izzy, and Kari, as well as the villains; Myotismon and the Dark Masters. This also continues the support for "Digimon Seekers".
- Beginning Observer is themed around the most recent movie set in the original Adventure continuity, Digimon Adventure 02: The Beginning, and expands on Armor and DNA Digivolutions as well as continuing the support for the Digimon Seekers novel.
- Secret Crisis is themed around the various movies.
