3v3 Digimon TCG Format Details – Team Based Play!

Digimon 3v3 is coming to the TCG! Despite traditionally being a 1 on 1 affair, fans of TCG anime will be no stranger to a team based format. Teams of 3 face off in a series of consecutive or concurrent 1v1s, each match adding towards an overall best of 3 (BO3) score.

Unlike its anime counterparts, where matches are often BO1, the Digimon 3v3 official format has all involved parties playing BO3s. Their series results will give them a point towards their team. Teams have to win at least 2 games to be the overall winner.

Digimon 3v3 – technically not a new format

Digimon 3v3 is not new in the wider sense of TCG formats, and also isn’t new to its own ecosystem. Back with the game’s launch in 2020, the second official event was touted to be a 3v3 event, which debuted the official ruleset and some expensive prize cards.

Unfortunately, due to COVID-19, the Digimon 3v3, as well as most in person events were cancelled and pushed back. The game largely shifted towards online play, until it was safe to start holding in person events. Since then, a handful of eastern and western hosts have occasionally held teams events. The Official Digimon Card Game Channel [JP] and AVAULT have held 3v3 show matches to show off new decks and increase channel variety.

Snippets of the Meta

Coverage of store level events is somewhat limited, but there is some data to be gleaned from existing matches. Consistently strong teams tend to consist of an offensive core, control deck, and then a flex spot. Older metas such as BT8-9 would often see Mastemon or Security Control. It was ofen paired up with Imperialdramon or Alphamon. The third slot would likely end up as Yellow Hybrid, leaning more into control, or Blue Hybrid, which could play both offence and defence excellently.

The current meta in the east (BT14) at the time of writing has been largely played around ShineGreymon.

Shine Bright

ShineGreymon is the backbone of many strong teams duo as it’s a very strong deck capable of playing offence and defence. Leaning towards blanket board control in the form of Ruin Mode allows for more defensive teams. Burst Mode allows for strong control while keeping up hyper offence. This is especially true in the east, where the “Training” series of cards are widely available.

These 2 cost option cards allow you to search the top 2 cards of your deck. Add a card of the same color to your hand, and send it to the battle area. The delay effect allows you to reduce the cost of digivolution by 2, effectively making the card free.

These incredible staples are absent from the west’s BT13 meta. They are hotly awaited in BT14, boasting new ACE cards, where they will be present as box toppers.

Right now, Shine’s place in the meta seems promising. However, its peak won’t be seen until these staple consistency pieces are added. Red Hybrid remains a solid offensive slot to pair with this swiss army knife deck.

Alternate rules make Rogue decks a threat

Hyper offence + ShineGreymon + Control deck is a well established core due to its balance. Triple offensive teams can still work quite well. Unfortunately, or rather ingeniously, Digimon 3v3 adds an additional ruleset to the global ban list. While players can converse during matches to strategize, cards cannot be shared between team mates in lists. This means if 1 copy of a card is in your deck, neither of your teammates can use even 1 copy of it. Due to this, fringe picks and rogue choices that don’t use common cards helps build teams around meta staples.