Build your first Digimon deck: step by step

New to the Digimon Card Game? How to build a playable deck: 50 cards, Digi-Eggs, digivolution lines, memory and common mistakes.

The Digimon Card Game is all about digivolving: your Digimon grow level by level into ever stronger forms. Many people collect Digimon for the artwork but have never built a deck of their own. This guide takes you in 7 steps from “I have cards” to “I have a playable deck”. No prior knowledge needed.

Digimon in one minute

• Each player has 5 security cards. If you are attacked with no security left, you lose. You also lose if you can't draw.
• Both players share the memory gauge. What you play moves the counter towards your opponent. Once it lands on their side, your turn ends.
• From your Digi-Egg deck you hatch a Digimon in your raising area and raise it before it fights.
• When you digivolve, you place a higher level on a Digimon. That is cheaper than playing it directly, and you draw 1 card.

Step 1: Pick a colour and a favourite Digimon

Build the deck around a strong Level 6 Digimon and its earlier levels. Stick to 1 colour at first so the digivolutions fit together.

Step 2: Digi-Eggs

The Digi-Egg deck holds 0 to 5 cards. Use 4 to 5 eggs in your colour so you can hatch a Digimon every game.

Step 3: Exactly 50 cards

The main deck has exactly 50 cards, not counting Digi-Eggs. Each card number may be included at most 4 times.

Step 4: The skeleton

These are guidelines for a first deck, not fixed rules.

Step 5: The stairs have to work

Like a staircase, you need fewer cards the higher you go. Without enough Level 3 and Level 4 cards your Level 6 Digimon never gets into play.

Step 6: 4 copies beat lots of singles

Your most important cards belong in the deck 4 times, so you actually draw them. A deck of many different single cards plays differently every time and rarely well.

Step 7: Test and adjust

• Shuffle and draw 5 cards. Check that you can do something useful in your first turns. Do this 10 times.
• Play a few games against friends.
• Cards that never did anything go. Replace them with another copy of your best card.

The shortcut: a ready-made deck as a template

Bandai releases starter decks that are playable right away. Their card lists are online. Paste such a list into TCG-Completist and see what is already in your collection.

How TCG-Completist helps

1. Open 🃏 Decks in the account menu and click “New deck”. Choose Digimon as the game.
2. Paste a list, for example with “4xBT1-010”. Card codes and English names are recognised.
3. You see right away which cards you own, which are missing and roughly what the rest costs.
4. If you want to play a card as alternate art or parallel, set the print with one click. Add missing cards to your wishlist with one click.

The deck builder is free. Guides for other games are under Deck building.

The 5 most common beginner mistakes

1. Gaps in the line. Every level needs enough cards.
2. Too many colours. Stick to 1 at first.
3. No Digi-Eggs. 4 to 5 eggs belong in the deck.
4. Giving away memory. An expensive turn hands your opponent lots of memory.
5. Only single copies. Better 4 copies of your key cards.

That's all your first deck needs. Build it, play it and improve it after every game.