Digimon TCG Deck Tech: Royal Knights, the List That Won the Glasgow Regional!

Royal Knights is not a new Digimon TCG archetype. It first appeared in BT13 and was quite relevant in the meta at the time. Then, BT20 gave it very powerful new tools, and put it back at the top of the competitive meta!

Overall, the idea behind this list is to discount how much your Royal Knights cost with Yggdrasil to control the board while you feed your breeding area with them.

At the end, you'll set up a turn with Omnimon BT13-112 and play each Royal Knight with a different name under Yggdrasil.

This was the only way to win with this deck... at least, so far.

BT20 gave us a new Omnimon (X antibody) that lets us attack our opponent's Security more frequently. Furthermore, with The Last Guardian, also released in BT20, we'll be able to keep Omnimon X in play for longer.

This deck became more flexible, as you can now win the game without deleting your Yggdrasil and attack your opponent's Security bit by bit. It is certainly a meta-defining decklist.

In this article, we'll explore the list played by DoodsCollection to win the Glasgow Regional - which 191 players attended on March 23rd, 2025. This tournament was held before the last banlist update announced by Bandai, which means you might have to change this list a bit. For instance, you can add a few tech cards that are better in the current meta, or adapt it into the next meta, that is, how it will be after BT21 is out officially.

The fact you can adapt this deck to fit any meta is one of its biggest strengths. It is basically a toolbox list, so you can use nearly all cards in it as long as it is a Royal Knight card.

Let's see this list:

Digitama

We'll only use one Digitama: King Drasil_7D6 BT13-007, the key piece that makes this entire list work. Its effect discounts the cost of Royal Knight Digimon by 4, and further discounts their cost by 1 more for each material under your King Drasil. Its Start of the Main Phase effect lets you put all Royal Knight in play under it as materials in your breeding area. This essentially makes playing Royal Knights on the board even cheaper throughout the game.

Furthermore, its Inherited effect creates a sort of memory cashback when you use options in this archetype, which makes this deck more consistent and enables a few plays. Overall, this deck is very efficient memory-wise.

However, you won't be able to Digivolve Digimon on your turn. As such, this deck struggles with card draw, considering Digivolution is the most common way we draw cards in Digimon TCG.

Back when BT13 was released, we couldn't play around this restriction, but now we can because of certain special cases that were introduced to the game as time went on. For instance, Blast Digivolution in ACE Digimon, and the new Omekamon effect when you play it on your opponent's turn with King Drasil's Inherited effect.

Please note that, when you remove ACE Digimon from play with King Drasil's effect and put them below it as material, you won't activate Overflow!

Level 3 Digimon

This deck doesn't need Digimon Rookies, so their slots are up to you.

At the Glasgow Regional, the champion decided to play two copies of Gotsumon BT14-009 as tech cards for that particular meta. The idea was to prevent decks like Takemikazuchi and Imperial U/G from playing Digimon through effects.

Level 4 Digimon

Let's start with Magnamon - BT13-040, the cheapest Royal Knight in the deck and the one you'll want in your opening hand. Because it is so cheap, on turn 1 King Drasil will let you put it in play for 2 Memory, and, on the next turn, when you put it in your breeding area, it will draw you a card.

Omekamon BT13-093 and Omekamon BT20-083, with Cool Boy BT20's effect, can go into play for free whenever one of your Royal Knights leaves the battle area during your opponent's turn. This will essentially draw more cards for you as the game goes on, and, as such, you'll be able to feed your King Drasil more often.

Furthermore, the new Omekamon works as a small barrier, as it goes into play for free and has Blocker, and can change the game entirely.

If you're behind and have 1 Security or less, you can evolve Omekamon into Omnimon X Antibody for free with its On Play effect. This will destroy the opponent's board and put a level 7 Digimon with Blocker in play.

Please note that you can only use this effect if you play Omekamon on your opponent's turn, considering King Drasil doesn't let you Digivolve anything on your turn.

Furthermore, Omekamon BT20-083 has a very unique Inherited effect while it is in your breeding area: when one of your Security cards is removed, you can tap your King Drasil and play Omekamon on the board. It is a big red button for emergencies!

Level 6 Digimon

Yeah, we skipped straight to level 6 Digimon! This deck doesn't use any level 5 Digimon. Because it plays Royal Knights for less resources than usual, most of the deck are these level 5 Digimon.

Let's see them, our Royal Knights:

Dynasmon BT13-087, this deck's searcher, reveals four cards from the top of your deck and lets you keep 2 Royal Knights among them. The rest goes to the trash.

Furthermore, Dynasmon is a great tool against decks that fill the board with lower-level Digimon and try to win the game with multiple attacks, like Green Ranger and Bloomlord. Its second effect lets you clear the board in these matchups, but only if you play another Royal Knight with it.

LordKnightmon BT19-072 interacts really well with Dynasmon BT13-087, considering Dynasmon's effect doesn't let you get any Omekamons. If you can't get Magnamon BT13-040 with Dynasmon and end up trashing it, you'll be able to play one of the cards you trashed for free with LordKnightmon. Furthermore, its second effect is another barrier your opponent will have to go through to kill you.

Jesmon BT20-017 will put pressure on your opponent in the very first few turns. However, you can't send the token it creates to your breeding area through King Drasil's effect, as it isn't a "Royal Knight". Nonetheless, this token will be a lot of help on your board, as many times you'll attack your opponent's Security with its 6000 DP and it has Reboot and Blocker, so it is an offensive and defensive tool, all at the same time!

Furthermore, it has Decoy (Red/Black), so you can use it to protect other Royal Knights in these colors from deletion effects. Later on, you'll be able to use these Digimon as material for King Drasil.

Also, Jesmon itself activates its effect when it creates a token, and, as such, lets you remove Digimon with 8000 DP or less. This will slow down your opponent and help you control the board.

Alphamon BT20-056 might seem just a Recovery card in this list at a first glance. However, when you play it with Royal Knights of the Purge BT13-110, it is your best way to remove floodgates like Psychemon BT8-071.

When you attack your opponent's Security or block with it to activate its Barrier, you'll be able to deal -8000 DP to an enemy Digimon, which is more than enough to remove any floodgate. This way, you'll also be able to discount the cost of the Royal Knights in your hand even more.

Alphamon BT13-075 is a great tech in a meta infested by Hybrids. It prevents them from attacking your Security for one turn, and, as a result, also prevents your opponent from activating their effects one after the other when they attack with a level 4 Digimon to Digivolve them up to a level 6 Digimon. This might get you the time you need to set up a lethal attack or build a board presence they won't be able to go through!

Gallantmon BT13-111, besides being a great removal in this list, also interacts really well with Royal Knights of the Purge BT13-110. It is the best option to deal with floodgates, which are quite disruptive to this list when they're attacking. You can also use it as a finisher because of its Rush.

This list also plays one copy of Leopardmon BT13-056, as it is incredibly versatile.

With this card, you'll be able to put even more Royal Knights under King Drasil, as it lets you play one of them for 4 less resources and, consequently, build an even bigger board. It also has synergy with Royal Knights of the Purge BT13-110.

Keep in mind you can use this effect in your main phase however you want. For instance, you can use it to discount Omnimon BT13-112's play cost by another 4 resources even before you discount it with King Drasil.

This way, you'll be able to set up the main explosive combo in this deck earlier, and save more Memory as you do it.

MedievalGallantmon EX8-074 is the only level 6 Digimon in this list that isn't a Royal Knight. As its discount and deletion effects are extremely generic, MedievalGallantmon makes up for certain matchups this deck often struggles to handle, like larger boards. It essentially lets you delete an enemy Digimon and attacks a second Digimon with Vortex.

Furthermore, its All Turns effect handles many decks in the meta really well, particularly those that play combos with Digimon or tokens. If you use a MedievalGallantmon when your opponent doesn't have a Digimon in their breeding area, you'll swing the game hard in the other direction. If your opponent decides to play a Digimon, and this Digimon can't handle MedievalGallantmon, it will probably be deleted.

Gankoomon BT13-019 is the last level 6 Digimon in this list. Gankoomon lets you put in play any Royal Knight under King Drasil and activate their On Play effects again. It is a very versatile card, as you can put in play Digimon like Jesmon BT20-017 with it, or put in play Alphamon: Ouryuken ACE and remove an enemy Digimon.

Level 7 Digimon

Alphamon: Ouryuken ACE is one of the best cards from the 2.5 Special Booster in this archetype. As it is an ACE Digimon, its play cost is already cheaper than what you expect for a level 7 Digimon: it only costs 9. Its On Play effect removes most of the threats in the meta, and its DP debuff lasts until the end of your opponent's turn, so it plays around most protections and "immunities" in the game.

Its All Turns effect is pretty great too. For instance, if you combine it with Omnimon X Antibody BT20-102, you can play the Omnimon BT13-112 combo for even less Memory. When you activate Omnimon X Antibody's end of turn effect, you'll be able to attack your opponent's Security and gain 3 Memory. Then, you'll still have a turn to play to finish the game.

As you'll also play many level 6 Digimon, you can also take advantage of the counter timing window to protect yourself even more.

Jesmon GX ACE is a great removal and also has a counter effect, so you can also use it with Omnimon BT13-112's On Play effect. Its When Attacking effect lets you attack the enemy Security twice, and, when you combine it with the other cards in this list, you'll be able to play the final combo with just a few Royal Knights in play!

Omnimon X Antibody BT20-102 is the great new support card in this list. It has so many effects! We've already discussed how powerful and devastating it is with Omekamon BT20-083.

However, this card's end of your turn effect is also critical. It lets you remove threats, all while you deal damage to the opponent's Security.

When you play it through Royal Knights of the Purge BT13-110, Omnimon X Antibody will be able to attack twice, and you won't even have to tap it in one of these times.

This effect also means that, sometimes, Omnimon X will be able to attack three or more times per turn, delete ACE Digimon in battle with its Raid or give you Memory with Alphamon: Ouryuken ACE's effect. Once it is your turn again, you'll be able to activate its end of your turn effect again!

With The Last Guardian, Omnimon X can stay on the board for several turns, and, as such, put pressure on the opponent and win the game even without Omnimon BT13-112!

You can use its end of your turn effect in many different ways to win. All you need to do is explore them!

Gallantmon: Crimson Mode ACE is not a Royal Knight! In this deck, it is a strong removal, an ACE Digimon and also has counter. So it can stay on the board a long time, considering King Drasil doesn't affect it.

However, its main role is finishing the game. As turns go on, both trash piles will fill up. When you play it with Omnimon X Antibody BT20-102, you'll activate its On Play effect and remove any threats. Then, Omnimon X Antibody will let you attack your opponent's Security with it, and trash 1 Security card for each 10 cards in both your trash piles! At times, it will trash their last Security cards and win the game for you!

Finally, we have Omnimon BT13-112. If King Drasil is what makes this archetype works, this Omnimon is what makes it scary.

Overall, your game plan is to feed your breeding area and eventually play this card without passing your turn! After playing 1 copy of each Royal Knight under King Drasil, no one will be able to survive the storm of On Play effects you'll activate.

After you resolve all of them, your Digimon will gain Rush and be able to attack the opponent's Security to finish the game!

Tamers

Cool Boy BT20-091, which gives you Memory when you play a Royal Knight, is another way to discount costs, but, particularly, it also draws cards in this list.

Furthermore, it lets you play an Omekamon on the board if one of your Royal Knights is removed on your opponent's turn, and, as such, it will be a lot of help whenever you need to draw cards. For instance, it'll be great both when you play Omekamon BT13-093 to defend yourself, or Omekamon BT20-083.

Options

Firstly, we have Royal Knights of the Purge BT13-110: feeding your breeding area directly is already quite powerful, but what's charming about this option is its Delay effect.

If you use its Delay effect to put key cards in play, like Alphamon BT20-056 and Gallantmon BT13-111, you'll be able to play around floodgates that prevent you from discounting costs. When you remove them, your deck will be at full force again.

As for The Last Guardian, it is a great option that makes this deck a lot more consistent, but, most of all, it keeps Omnimon X Antibody BT20-102 in play for another turn. As such, it'll put even more pressure on your opponent!

The Royal Knights archetype was already a favorite among Digimon TCG fans, but BT20 gave it a breath of fresh air. The new tools made it a lot more flexible, and, with them, it can now put pressure on the opponent in many other ways - like controlling the board bit by bit, or finishing the match with an explosive turn.

With Omnimon X Antibody, Alphamon: Ouryuken ACE, and The Last Guardian, this deck now has other viable strategies besides the classic Omnimon BT13-112 play.

The fact it can adapt to any meta, combined with its offensive and defensive tools, makes Royal Knight a heavyweight contender in the current competitive setting - and it is, without a question, a meta-defining list!

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!