Digimon TCG: Deck Guide - Medusamon and Dragonkin!

The new Digimon TCG set, World Convergence, or BT21, is what we call a high power level set when it comes to Bandai TCGs. These sets usually include strong decks Bandai wants to see in the meta and support cards for old archetypes they also wish to promote. Most times,

Bandai considers these new decks and old archetypes healthy or popular for the game.

For instance, the Hero archetype works really well by itself, but it also includes great new tools for all the decks in the game centered around the anime protagonists. Another example is Digimon Appmon, which is considered the odd one out in the Digimon franchise and was only featured in the TCG now, nearly five years after the entire game was released and nearly 30 sets later.

However, out of all the decks this set includes, the ones that really stood out to me were the new Liberator decks. Digimon Liberator is actually a multimedia project, something between a manga and a light novel, released to promote Digimon TCG itself. And that's precisely the strategies we'll discuss today - the new deck played by Owen Dreadnought in this manga series, the Medusamon deck!

The most classic version of this list leans on red cards and a very specific Digimon type, Dragonkin Digimon. A great, aggressive Medusamon Dragonkin build can attack through different effects and stack a lot of DP. It can also defend itself pretty well against threats in the opponent's security and deal with yellow decks.

The deck we'll work with today was built by Javix13, who focused pretty heavily on some new cards from BT21 - World Convergence. The result is quite what Bandai had in mind when they designed this set.

Progress

Before we discuss the main cards in this deck, let's go over the new mechanic that Medusamon introduced into the game: Progress. This ability states, "While your Digimon with "Progress" attacks, your opponent's effects don't affect that Digimon".

This means they're immune to effects like a Megadeath ST9-14 in your opponent's security or a simple Retaliation. However, this doesn't mean they're immune to effects like Blocker because they affect attacks, and not the Digimon itself.

You'll find this keyword in the main Digimon in this deck, Lamiamon and Medusamon, so, with them, you can be as aggressive as you want - you won't have to worry about any enemy effects blocking your way. This list also plays support Inherited effects, more specifically from Medusamon's Digivolution line, and effects from another archetype in this list, Dragonkin, that buff your Digimon.

The Digi-Egg

Gigimon BT21-001 is known as Guilmon's baby form, but it is also the base for the very new Medusamon. You can activate its Inherited effect during your turn, just once, whenever your opponent loses a card from their security stack. When that happens, you may pick one of your Digimon in play and Digivolve it into a Digimon with the Reptile or Dragonkin trait in your hand for its Digivolution cost reduced by 1. You still have to follow all the standard rules regarding Digimon compatibility and level.

Right now, we can play some very cool red Digi-Eggs that have really generic but great effects, like Koromon BT14-001 and the classic Gurimon BT8-001. However, Gigimon BT21-001 is still the one that best interacts with this entire deck because it lets you Digivolve your weakest Digimon faster and for less resources. It performs really well with the aggressive strategies in this deck.

h2]{Level 3 Digimon}

We should start going through our Level 3 Digimon with Elizamon BT21-008, the rookie in this new Digivolution line. When you play it, you'll reveal the top 3 cards in your deck and pick up to two of them, namely: one with the Reptile and Dragonkin trait, and another with the LIBERATOR trait. This is a superb card selection effect. It actually makes this entire strategy even more consistent, considering it gives you easy access to a considerable number of key cards in this list.

As for Elizamon's Inherited effect, it is this: once during your turn, it will give you 1 memory when a card leaves your opponent's security stack. Like so, it also encourages you to be aggressive with this list.

The other Level 3 Digimon in this list are much simpler to understand, and better in specific situations. Agumon BT21-007 recycles cards with the Reptile or Dragonkin trait from the trash pile and puts them in your hand. You can use it to get back a Digivolution line you lost as you pushed forward with the aggressive game rhythm red promotes. This Reptile's Inherited effect is simple and effective: it gives this Digimon +2000 DP during both turns, so you'll have at least one strong Digimon in both turns that can fight enemy Digimon head on and attack your opponent's security earlier.

Gotsumon BT14-009 prevents both players from playing Digimon through effects, so it's great against opponents like Royal Knights. If you need a reminder, this meta deck wins by playing incredibly valuable cards with Rush for no cost at all. We only use one copy of this rocky fella because it leads you into a "nonbo", that is a "no combo", or two cards that counter each other in some way. That's because Gotsumon prevents Medusamon BT21-029 from creating a petrification token on the enemy board. So, you'll have to know exactly when playing this card will be useful and when it will only get in your way. You'll have to know this to win a few matchups.

Finally, this list plays Guilmon ST7-03 solely because of its Inherited effect. It draws a card once during your turn when an enemy Digimon is deleted. As we'll see later on, this ability interacts really well with Medusamon ST21-029.

Furthermore, it also has the Reptile trait, so that's another way it interacts with this deck. In an alternative build, you might be able to fit a Gallantmon to get more out of its main effect.

Level 4 Digimon

Once again, let's start with Dimetromon BT21-017, which lets you play a Tamer named Owen Dreadnought from your hand when it Digivolves. This will greatly speed up your game plan because of how many extra resources it will give you. As for its Inherited effect, it is the same as Elizamon BT21-008's. It gives you 1 memory when cards leave your opponent's security stack once during your turn. This effect makes your strategy more consistent and you can easily stack it.

You can play Cyclonemon BT21-015 from your security when you reveal it in combat, and it has an On Play/When Digivolving effect that deletes an enemy Digimon with 4000 DP or less. This effect will be quite useful in the future once Medusamon is on the board. However, when Medusamon isn't on your board, it will still help you deal with a few smaller threats. Cyclonemon's Inherited effect also gives it +2000 DP.

You can also play Tyrannomon EX8-011 from your security when you reveal it from there. It is, overall, a decent Level 4 Digimon for this deck, but it's also clearly not the perfect choice. It Digivolves from Reptile Digimon, that is, all our Level 3 Digimon apart from Gotsumon. Furthermore, it also has two effects. One gives it +3000 DP until the end of the opponent's turn when it Digivolves and at the beginning of your Main Phase, and, once again, its Inherited effect gives it +2000 DP.

Level 5 Digimon

Lamiamon BT21-025 is Medusamon's Ultimate form, and our first card with Progress. Its effect also sends the top card in the opponent's security stack to the trash when any of your Reptile or Dragonkin trait Digimon attacks changes through effects like Blocker and Raid.

This list can't really give Raid to its Digimon all that easily, but this effect will make your opponents think twice before they use Blocker. Furthermore, this ability can stack if more than one Lamiamon is in play. Multiple of them will trash more than one card if just one of your attack changes.

Lamiamon's Inherited effect lets you play a Digimon with the Reptile or Dragonkin trait and 5000 DP or less from your hand when a card leaves your opponent's security stack. It essentially lets you grow your board with future threats and synergies.

Cyberdramon BT21-026's effect is a bit different from what we're used to. When it Digivolves or you play it, your opponent will have to trash the top card in their security and put another card from their hand at the bottom of the stack. The gist of it all is precisely that this counts as "a card leaving from the opponent's security stack", and triggers all effects of this sort in this deck. Its Inherited effect is another DP buff, this time +4000.

Level 6 Digimon

Finally, we have Medusamon BT21-029, which some TCG content creators have called a "Monolith", considering it is the core of your deck, the foundation for the entire strategy. When it Digivolves, or at the end of your attack, it lets you delete your opponent's lowest DP Digimon. This is useful and strong, but not the real reason why we built this deck.

As it goes, once during your turn, when an enemy Digimon is deleted or a card leaves their security stack, they'll have to play a "Petrified" Digimon token with 3000 power. This Digimon token can't suspend, that is, your opponent can't attack with it or tap it to activate other effects, like Alliance. Nonetheless, the main idea behind this token is its final ability, that is - when it is deleted, your opponent will have to discard the top card in their security stack.

Then, consider the fact that Medusamon's first effect and other Digimon in this deck can do this very easily, and you'll instantly realize you'll basically be able to play with your opponent's security as if it were your own. You can be fast and aggressive, while many memory and On Play effects will trigger at once. The icing on the cake is that Medusamon also has Progress and Security +1.

Finally, we have Wargreymon BT21-026, a Mega Digimon that you can play for very little because it reduces its own cost and has Rush, Raid, and Blocker. Furthermore, it unsuspends once during your turn whenever an enemy Digimon is destroyed. This means you can use it to attack twice or block with it on the next turn.

Level 7 Digimon

Our last Digimon is Omnimon (X Antibody) BT20-102. This list plays it purely because of its second effect, which gives Rush to a Digimon at the end of your turn and lets it attack without unsuspending. It is perfect to end the game. Furthermore, it has Piercing, Blocker, and Raid.

I'm not really into the idea of using it just because, but it does play its role well.

The Tamers

As we mentioned before when we discussed Dimetromon BT21-017, it lets you play an Owen Dreadnought from your hand for no memory. We play two Owens in this list. The first is Owen Dreadnought BT18-087, which not only is a memory setter, but also lets you delete a Digimon with 4000 DP when your opponent loses cards from their security stack. It is perfect to delete the Petrified tokens Medusamon will create on their board.

As for Owen Dreadnought BT21, it will give you less memory than a setter, but it will also give Piercing to your Digimon, which is very welcome in an aggro deck.

The Options

Besides Offense Training P-103 and Red Scramble LM-027, great staples that are vital to manage memory and get cards from your deck to Digivolve, this list also plays the new Raging Serpentine BT21-093, Medusamon's own option.

You can discount Raging Serpentine's cost when your opponent has 3 or less life, so it's quite efficient and a great removal. Furthermore, because of its delay, it can, later on, be a great way to Digivolve your Digimon efficiently and for very cheap.

As we said before, this deck's main strategy is putting Medusamon BT21-029 in play as fast as possible. This Level 6 Digimon is the main engine in this list, and it's how you'll consistently remove enemy threats and create Petrified tokens. These, in turn, will be easy targets to effects like Cyclonemon BT21-015.

With the Dragonkin DP buffs, weaker Digimon will be able to enter play earlier and more safely. Their effects will also trigger when your opponent loses cards from their security or their Digimon are deleted.

As for Tamers, Owen Dreadnought BT18-087 is your best first choice because it is a setter, one of the most useful types of Tamer. Furthermore, its ability deletes small Digimon, so it will be great with the tokens Medusamon creates. These, in turn, will make your opponent discard cards from their security when you destroy them.

Finally, this is an incredibly powerful and interesting list. And it was only possible because of Digimon Liberator, the manga series, and the new set, BT21 - World Convergence. It is the next deck I'll get, even if I can only get a different version of it, but I believe it will probably see a lot of play as Owen Dreadnought gets more support.

What did you think of this list? Tell us your thoughts in our comment section below.

Thank you for reading, and see you next time!