In addition to official terminology when learning the Digimon TCG, it’s important to learn unofficial terms and shorthand. Here’s a list of things to know.

Source: DigimonCard

Official terminology for Digimon Ranks

In the interest of readability, the Digimon TCG opts for “Levels” instead the names of each evolution. Starting at Level 2, you may hear Digimon fans say these instead of levels.

“Lvl.2s” – “Babies” / “(Digi)Eggs” / (Digi)Tamas” (Digi-Tama being Japanese term for Digi-Egg)
“Lvl.3s” – “Rookies”
“Lvl.4s” – “Champions”
“Lvl.5s” – “Ultimates”
“Lvl.6s/7s – “Megas”

Digimon TCG Shorthand

Most slang named after a Digimon often (but not always) shorten the Digimon’s name to exclude the “mon” at the end.

“Psychemon” – Refers to the most common floodgate the prevents playcost reduction.
“Pomu” – Refers to the most common floodgate that prevents play by effects.
“Gazi” – Refers to the most common floodgate that prevents non-Tamer effects gaining memory
“Nidhogg” – Refers to BT4-062 Nidhoggmon‘s effect to Spin all suspended Digimon.
“Lobo/Hybrid for Game” – Evolving a tamer to Lethal. BT4-025 Lobomon was the most popular.

Digimon TCG Terms

A mix of shortened and completely custom terms that players commonly use in place of official terminology.

“Retal” – First half of the “Retaliation” Keyword. Usually as part of a Retaliation + Blocker combination.
“Searcher” – Digimon with (usually On Play) effects that reveal the top X cards and add to hand.
“Jogress” – The Japanese term for DNA Digivolution.
“Warp” – Digimon (usually Rookies) that can Digivolve ignoring Digivolution requirements (usually to Megas.)
“Mem” – Short for Memory.
“Setter”/”Fixer” – Tamers (Usually 4 cost) that have the effect “[Start of Your Turn] If you have 2 memory or less, set your memory to 3.“
“Stack” – Refers to a Digimon and all the cards in its Digivolution Cards.
“Choke” – Passing turn leaving as little memory as possible.
“Heal” – Recovery of a security card.
“Swing”/”Crash” – Attacking.
“Graveyard”/”Drop”/”Discard Pile” – The Trash (Card Zone).

Disruption

“Tuck” – The process of taking the top card of an opponent’s Digimon and placing it under another Digimon or Tamer.
“Load” – Putting a Digimon from your Hand under a Digimon or Tamer.
“Bounce” – Returning a Digimon/Tamer to the Hand.
“Spin”/”Bot Deck”/”Cycle” – Returning a Digimon/Tamer to the Bottom of the Deck.
“Burn” – Trashing the top card of Security.
“Crack” – Sending an Option Card from the Battle Area to Trash using its “Delay” effect.
“Shrink” – Reducing a Digimon’s DP by a card effect.
“Strip” – Trashing a card from a Digimon’s Digivolution Sources.
“Pitch”/”Discard” – Trashing a card from the Hand.
“Stun”/”Freeze” – Preventing a Digimon from Attacking and/or Blocking. Interchangeable with “Lock”. As such, some opt to use “Freeze” in place of Stun to prevent confusion. Due to most cards with this effect having Ice themes.
“Lock” – Preventing a Digimon from Unsuspending. Used interchangeably with Stun. “Quartz Lock

Source: Bandai

” is an example of a blanket Lock effect.

“Pop” – Delete a Digimon/Tamer.
“Spark” – Gaining memory by an effect. This is a reference to ST2-13 Hammer Spark.
“Ice Wall” – Giving a Digimon or the field “When Attacking: Lose X memory”. Referencing EX1-068 Ice Wall.

Card Positions and Text

“Tribe”/”Ride Line” – The canon evolution line of a Digimon. e.g. EX2-008 Guilmon searches Growlmons, WarGrowlmons and Gallantmons (The Tribe) plus Takato Matsuki.
“Tagged” – The Traits of a Digimon, Tamer or Option. e.g. searching “for a card with X (e.g. Blue Flare) in its traits.”
“Mill” – Trashing the top card of the Deck.
“Tap”/”Rest” – Suspending a card.
“Stand”/”Restand” – Unsuspending a card.
“Top Deck” – Drawing (with the intent to find an Out)
“Out” – A card to get you out of a situation.
“Sack” – Top Decking or revealing your Out in Security to Win.
“Scoop” – Forfeiting the game.
“Bombo”/”Doing your Donuts” – Doing your full uninterrupted combo sequence, often for Lethal.
“Lethal” – Doing enough damage to Win.