Welcome to the Digimon Partners Rules & Changes. This page goes over any Partners format rules that are added to make the format function, as well as any changes to the core rules that let the flow of the game work.
If you would like to watch a video on the rules of the format, you can check it out here. Unfortunately, as of now, the video is slightly outdated as the rules have been constantly shifting and updating as the community learns what works better for the format. To keep the rules clean and readable, there are no examples here.
Partner Specific Changes
- Choose a Mega (level 6) Digimon to be your Partner, this will be put in a separate zone from your hand called the Partner Zone.
- We went with a level 6 Digimon to be a strong Digimon you always have access to and we believe that level 6s are what define a deck’s theme as well.
- If you would like, and if the play group is alright with it, you may use a Mega (level 7) as your Partner.
- Deck size changes to 80 cards total.
- We like the decks to be a bit larger for the multiplayer format, as you can imagine, the games go on for quite a bit longer than normal games.
- The Partner does not count towards the 80 cards in your deck; you will have 80 cards, plus the 1 Partner card.
- Egg deck is set to 0-8 cards total.
- With more cards in the maindeck, you need more Digi-Eggs to go with it.
- Card limit in your deck is set to 2. You may not use your Partner in your deck.
- Originally, the 2-card limit was introduced because the format had a smaller card pool, but even as the card pool has expanded, 2 copies has remained the widely accepted sweet spot for balance and deckbuilding.
- If a card says, “Up to 50” this will supersede the card limit rule.
- The card limit for Digi-Eggs are still set to 4 copies
- We thought about limiting this to 2 copies as well, but we thought that would stretch the Digi-Eggs too thin, we may change this in the future.
- There are no color or type restrictions when choosing cards to play in your deck.
- You do not have to follow any color or type restrictions when deckbuilding.
- This format uses a different ban list from that of the main format; only cards on our ban list are banned and the official B&R list does not apply here.
- A lot of the cards on the restricted list aren’t nearly as powerful when you have three other opponents, two copies in a deck, and a deck size of 80.
- We do, however, have other cards that can be problematic, so we have our own list of cards we recommend banning or watching out for.
- Cards are constantly being tested and looked at; a card on the ban list now does not mean it will stay there, as the game and rules will change over time.
- Check out the ban list here.
Game Rule Changes
- Starting hand is set to 7 cards.
- This gives players a little more to work with at the start, since the deck size has increased and the card limit cut in half.
- Starting security is set to 10 cards.
- We tried many different security totals and found that ten was a good number to mitigate teaming up and to make you feel less vulnerable.
- When using memory that passes your turn, the memory will pass to the player clockwise of you.
- You always move memory towards the next player.
- Until you have completely passed your turn, and it becomes the next player’s start of turn, any memory you gain at the end of your turn will bring it back towards your turn.
- If your partner were to leave the battle area for any reason, treat the card as going to that zone, then place it back in the Partner Zone.
- Part of the fun is having the theme for your deck come from your Digimon Partner, and as such we wanted them to always be around.
- Leaving the battle area as far as the Partner is concerned is: being de-digivolved and put into the trash, being bounced to the hand, being deleted and put in the trash, being removed as a digivolution card and put into the trash, being put under a tamer or other non-Digimon card, or being put either on top or bottom of the deck.
- The Partner does not leave the battle area if: it has been digivolved on top of or was part of a DNA digivolution.
Timing Changes
- Turn Cycles
- This is implemented for the multiplayer aspect of the game.
- A full turn cycle is from the end of your turn to the beginning of your next turn.
- An effect which grants a debuff to an opponent or their Digimon and Tamers will wear off at the end of the effected opponent’s turn.
- An effect which grants a buff to you or one of your Digimon and Tamers will wear off at the end of the last opponent’s turn in the turn cycle.
- When Attacking
- This triggers normally when attacking, but any ability that targets an opponent or opponent’s Digimon or Tamers when attacking can only target the player that Digimon is attacking.
- Targets cannot be split to different opponents for [When Attacking] abilities.
- This triggers normally when attacking, but any ability that targets an opponent or opponent’s Digimon or Tamers when attacking can only target the player that Digimon is attacking.
- End of Attack
- This triggers normally at the end of an attack, but any ability that targets an opponent or opponent’s Digimon when attacking can only target the player that Digimon had attacked.
- Targets cannot be split to different opponents for [End of Attack] abilities, but can be split amongst Digimon that opponent has.
- This triggers normally at the end of an attack, but any ability that targets an opponent or opponent’s Digimon when attacking can only target the player that Digimon had attacked.
- Reactions
- When you attack with a Digimon, trigger [When Attacking] and “When one of your Digimon attacks” effects first.
- Then, trigger your opponent’s effects that read “When an opponent’s Digimon attacks.”
- When an opponent declares an attack all players get a reaction/counter timing.
- If the trigger of the effect is “When an opponent digimon attacks” then it can only be activated if you are the defending player.
- Only the defending player can use a [counter] effect during Counter timing.
- Only the defending player can block in Blocker timing.
- When you attack with a Digimon, trigger [When Attacking] and “When one of your Digimon attacks” effects first.
- On Play
- If you have an [On Play] effect trigger on an opponent’s turn, if the effect targets an opponent or an opponent’s Digimon or Tamers, you do not have to choose the player whose turn it is.
- When Digivolving
- If you have a [When Digivolving] effect trigger on an opponent’s turn, if the effect targets an opponent or an opponent’s Digimon or Tamers, you do have to choose the player whose turn it is,
- On Deletion
- [On Deletion] effects that target Digimon or player can target anyone or anything on your turn, but if its an opponent’s turn, it can only target yourself, that opponent or opponent’s Digimon.
- Opponent’s Turn
- [Opponent’s Turn] effects that trigger only affect the opponent whose turn it is.
- [Opponent’s Turn] effects that grant bonus abilities will always give those abilities as long as it isn’t that player’s turn.
- [Opponent’s turn] (Once Per Turn) effects are optional and only can be activated once per turn cycle.
- You can choose which opponent to trigger these on, and it doesn’t have to be chosen ahead of time.
- All Turns
- [All Turns] effects only affect the current player whose turn it is and its owner.
- [All turns] (Once Per Turn) effects are optional and can activate once on your turns and once on an opponent’s turn once per turn cycle.
- End of Opponent’s Turn
- [End of Opponent’s Turn] will always activate at the end of the next opponent’s turn in the turn cycle.
- [End of Opponent’s Turn] (Once Per Turn) effects will have the option activate at the end of the opponent’s turn in the turn cycle, if you chose to activate it.
- Options
- [Security] effects of checked Option cards that target an opponent or their Digimon and Tamers can only target the opponent who checked that card, and all effects will effect only that player.
- If you have an option trigger a [Main] effect on an opponent’s turn, and it didn’t come from the security, you do not have to use its effects on the opponent whose turn it is.
- A few option cards effect all players, even for their [Security} effect, these effects will still target all players, even when it isn’t their turn.
- A Dual card Digimon/Option card may be played as your partner, but you cannot use Option cards from your Partner zone.
Keyword Changes
- Blocker
- Blocker may only be used to block attacks to yourself, you cannot use for an attack against another opponent.
- Reboot
- Reboot triggers on all opponents’ turns.
- Blitz & Engage
- You can attack any opponent when activating Blitz or Engage; the Digimon does not have to attack the player whose turn it is becoming.
- Raid
- Raid can only switch targets to the player that is being attacked.
- Counter
- Counter can only be used if you are the player being attacked.
- Counter (Once Per Turn) can only be used once per turn cycle.
- Overflow -X
- If a Digimon with Overflow would leave the battle area, you lose that much memory; this will either effectively gain memory for the opponent whose turn it is or lose you memory if it is your turn.
- Collision
- Only the Digimon of the opponent who is being attacked by the Digimon with Collision will gain Blocker during the attack.
Clarification Rules
- The Partner Digimon is not actually in your hand when a card is referencing ‘card in your hand’ and therefore cannot interact this way.
- This keeps in line some abilities that would be much stronger should you always have access to them as though they were in your hand.
- Abilities that don’t require the Partner to be in your hand when played, like DigiXros, can still be used from the Partner Zone.
- The Partner Digimon is not looked at when covering color requirements for Option cards (unlike Breeding).
- The Partner Digimon is not considdered in play while in the Partner Zone.
- Cards that have the ability to target multiple things will target opponents differently based on a set of criteria; see Individual Card Rulings for more clarification.
- We had gone through a lot of changes with how cards target, but with the way Bandai words cards so differently, we decided that each card could be put into a specific category based on a set of criteria.
- If an effect says “all Digimon” then it will affect all players’ Digimon; see Individual Card Rulings for more clarification.
- Pretty self explanatory, this only affects a small handful of cards that use the term “all Digimon.”
- If an effect would specify a certain number of Digimon to target, this effect may be split among any players’ Digimon.
- This allows cards to be more useful overall and give wider abilities to more cards.
- If a Digimon has an effect that looks at all opponent’s Digimon for a static effect, it will only look at the opponent that is currently interacting with it.
- This goes slightly off with Targeting Rule Changes, but keeps Digimon power levels in line with other effects that are similar but have a more concrete targeting purpose.
- For example: If an effect gives +1000 DP for each of your opponent’s suspended Digimon, it will only do so if that is the player who is currently interacting with it.
- If an effect leaves an effect on the board, depending on what it targets will determine when the effect falls off.
- If an effect targets an opponent’s Digimon or tamer and they gain an effect until the end of your opponent’s turn, the effect will end at the end of the targeted opponent’s turn.
- If an effect grants you or a Digimon or tamer you control to gain an effect until the end of your opponent’s turn, the effect will end at the end of your last opponent’s turn.
Rules for Targeting and Looking at Opponents
Reasoning behind each decision:
- Options and Tamers that cost 6 or more memory to play look at all opponents when resolving abilities.
- Note that there are no Tamers that cost 6 as of now.
- Mega level Digimon (level 6 or higher) look at all opponents when resolving abilities that trigger on your turn.
- Conditional effects that rely on a the opponent’s current board state will be granted against only the opponents who meet that condition, unless the Digimon is a Mega level Digimon (level 6 or higher).
- If a Digimon or Option is gaining memory, reducing costs, drawing cards, gets extra security attacks, or it interacts with an opponent’s security, it can only look at or effect one opponent when resolving the effect.
- If a Digimon or Option can recover multiple cards, it will only look at one opponent unless there is a recovery limit.
- If a card references “both players” or “neither player” this will be you and a single chosen opponent.
- Any ability that targets a specific number of Digimon, players or Tamers can be split among any of those targets unless otherwise stated in the Individual Card Rulings.
Game Tools
There are two primary changes to the game board that pertains to the partner format.
The Partner Zone
This zone should be separate from your other zones, and this is where the Partner is always placed when it is not in play.
The Memory Gauge
This is a functional change to the way memory passes turns. Treat each part of the memory gauge as an individual two-player gauge between you and the person after you. You can print this image out to use as your memory gauge, or you can use the memory gauges that come with the starter decks.
