Chapter 4
Basic Game Terminology
4-1Memory
4-1-1Memory refers to the resources used to pay for in-game costs. When paying a cost, a player moves the memory gauge toward the opponent's side (right side) according to the numerical value of the cost.
4-1-2"X or less memory" refers to X on your side of the memory 7 gauge or further to the right. "X or more memory" refers to X on your side of the memory gauge or further to the left. (Example: "[Start of Your Turn] If you have 2 or less memory, set it to 3" includes a condition where the memory must be at 2 on your side or further to the right.)
4-1-3"If your opponent has X or less memory" refers to X on your opponent's side of the memory gauge or further to the left. "If your opponent has X or more memory" refers to X on your opponent's side of the memory gauge or further to the right. (Example: A "[When Digivolving] <Blitz> (This Digimon can attack when your opponent has 1 or more memory)" effect includes a condition where the memory must be at 1 on your opponent's side or further to the right.)
4-1-4"Gain X memory" means moving the memory marker X spaces toward your side (the left side) of the memory gauge. "Lose X memory" means moving the memory marker X spaces toward your opponent's side (the right side) of the memory gauge.
4-2Digimon
4-2-1Digi-Egg cards and Digimon cards placed on the field are treated as Digimon.
4-2-2Cards stacked under Digimon are considered "digivolution cards," regardless of their card category. (For details, refer to 4-6 "Digivolution Cards")
4-2-3A Digimon gains the inherited effects of the digivolution cards placed under it. (Example: If a Digimon has a digivolution card that has <Piercing> in its inherited effects, that Digimon will have <Piercing>.)
4-2-4A Digimon gets the link DP value on its link card.
4-2-5A Digimon gains the link effects on its link card.
4-2-6Digimon in the battle area can attack. (For details, refer to 11 "Attacking")
4-2-7Digimon with <Blocker> in the battle area can block. (For details, refer to 12 "Blocking")
4-2-8Digimon can perform 1 security check. (For details, refer to 13 "Security Checks")
4-3Tamers
4-3-1Tamer cards placed on the field are treated as Tamers.
4-3-2When placing a card under a Tamer that already has cards stacked under it, unless specified otherwise, you place the 8 new card at the bottom. (Example: If using <Save> to place a card under a Tamer that already has cards stacked under it, place the new card at the bottom.)
4-4Security Digimon
4-4-1A Digimon card flipped over from the security stack upon a security check is treated as a Security Digimon. (For details, refer to 13 "Security Checks")
4-5DUAL Cards
4-5-1A DUAL card is a card that can be treated as being in either the Digimon card category or the Option card category.
4-5-2A player declares whether they will use either the Digimon information or Option information on a DUAL card, then it can be used.
4-5-3A DUAL card on the field is treated as a Digimon. It can't be referenced as an Option card on the field. (Example: If you digivolve a DUAL card by placing it on top of one of your cards on the field, it will be treated as a Digimon and can't be trashed by a "trash an Option card in the battle area" effect.)
4-5-4A single DUAL card has both Digimon information and Option information.
4-5-5Digimon Information
4-5-5-1This refers to a DUAL card's traits and the information above them.
4-5-5-2A DUAL card's Digimon information can be referenced when referencing the card as a Digimon card or Digimon.
4-5-5-3Effects in the Digimon information are considered Digimon effects. (For details, refer to 15-2 "Effect Types")
4-5-6Option Information
4-5-6-1This refers to the lower text on a DUAL card. For details, refer to 2-3-13 "Lower Text")
4-5-6-2A DUAL card's Option information and traits can be referenced when referencing the card as an Option card.
4-5-6-3Effects in the Option information are treated as Option card effects. (For details, refer to 15-2 "Effect Types")
4-6Stacked Cards
4-6-1"Stacked cards" refers to all of the 1 or more cards in a stack 8 of cards on the field.
4-6-2Only 1 card isn't considered "stacked cards."
4-6-3The stacking order of cards can't be changed.
4-6-4The bottom cards of a stack are spread out so that inherited effects are visible. A card without an inherited effect is placed in the stack so that its name is visible. A face-down card must be stacked so that it's clearly under the top card.
4-6-5Unless specified otherwise, the bottom cards of a stack are placed face-up.
4-6-6Bottom cards of a stack are placed vertically, but they don't have an orientation. When the bottom card of a stack becomes the top card, the stack's previous orientation is carried over. This isn't considered unsuspending or suspending of a card. (Example: When <De-Digivolve 1> is used to trash the top card of a suspended Digimon, the top card of the stack under it will carry over the suspended state.)
4-6-7The bottom cards of a stack are treated as part of the information on the top card. They aren't considered to be placed on the field. (Example: When "[When Digivolving] Place one of your opponent's level 3 or lower Digimon under another of your opponent's Digimon as its bottom digivolution card or under an opponent's Tamer" is used to place a Digimon under a card, that card is considered to be removed from the field.)
4-6-8When a card with cards stacked under it would be removed from the field, the cards under it are trashed at the same time. (Example: When a Digimon or Tamer would be removed from the battle area, any cards under it are trashed at the same time.)
4-6-9A face-down card under another card is considered to be a card without card information, and its information can't be referenced. (Example: When a face-down digivolution card is placed for <Training>, information such as its card name or color can't be referenced for other effects.)
4-6-10A face-down card under another card is hidden information, but the cards' owner may freely look at the content of a face-down card under one of their cards.
4-7Digivolution Cards
4-7-1A digivolution card refers to a card placed under a Digimon. (For details, refer to 4-5 "Stacked Cards")
4-7-2When referencing digivolution card information, the information is referenced on cards that are treated as digivolution cards.
4-8Link cards
4-8-1A link card is a card plugged in sideways upon a link.
4-8-2A link card isn't considered a stacked card. (For details, refer to 4-5 "Stacked Cards")
4-8-3A link card is plugged in from the right and positioned so that the link portion of the card is visible. When multiple link cards are inserted under 1 card, a newly inserted link card must be placed so that its link portion is visible under the existing cards.
4-8-4A link card isn't considered to be a card on the field. (For details, refer to 3-4 "The Field")
4-8-51 card can have a maximum of 1 link card. When linking to a Digimon that has already reached the link limit, the same number of the existing link cards are trashed at the same time as the newly linked cards.
4-8-6If a card with a link card would become a new card, its link card is trashed at the same time. (For details, refer to 3-1-3-1 "New Cards")
4-9Linked Cards
4-9-1A linked card is a card that has a link card.
4-10Players
4-10-1A "player" refers to a game participant.
4-10-2If a rule or effect specifies an "owner," it refers to the player that is currently using that card in the game.
4-10-3"Opponent" refers to the other player in the game.
4-11Turn Player and Non-Turn Player
4-11-1The turn player refers to the player that is performing the procedures for the current turn, and the non-turn player refers to the other player.
4-12Card Orientation
4-12-1Cards on the field have an orientation. A card's orientation shows whether it is unsuspended or suspended.
4-12-1-1Unsuspended
4-12-1-1-1An "unsuspended" card refers to a card placed vertically.
4-12-1-1-2"Unsuspended state" refers to an unsuspended card.
4-12-1-2Suspended
4-12-1-2-1A "suspended" card refers to a card placed horizontally.
4-12-1-2-2"Suspended state" refers to a suspended card.
4-13Draw
4-13-1"Drawing" refers to drawing cards from the deck and placing them in the hand.
4-13-2Unless specified otherwise by a rule or effect, a player draws cards from their own deck.
4-14Deletion
4-14-1When deletion processing is applied to a card by a rule or effect, that card is trashed.
4-14-2When a trigger-type effect is triggered by the deletion of the card where that effect is written, it triggers in the area where the card was deleted, and the effect will be pending activation once the deletion processing moves that card to another area. (Example: An [On Deletion] effect triggers in the battle area, then it is pending activation after the card is moved to the trash.)
4-15Trashing Cards
4-15-1"Trashing" refers to placing a card in the trash.
4-15-2When a trigger-type effect is triggered by trashing the card where that effect is written, it triggers in the area where the card was trashed, and the effect will be pending activation once the trash processing moves that card to the trash. (Example: "When this card is trashed from your hand by one of your effects, <Draw 1>" will trigger while the card is in the hand, then it will be pending activation when the card is in the trash.)
4-15-3Trashing isn't considered deletion.
4-16Moving
4-16-1"Moving" refers to moving a Digimon between the breeding area and the battle area. A player can move a Digimon from the breeding area to the battle area as one of their actions during the breeding phase.
4-16-2Only Digimon with DP can be moved.
4-16-3When a card is moved, it keeps its orientation. (For details, refer to 4-11 "Card Orientation")
4-16-4Any effects applied to a Digimon before it moves are kept after the move.
4-16-5If a Digimon is moved, the effects status of that Digimon 1 isn't carried over. (Example: If a Digimon has an effect that's pending activation when it's moved, that effect will no longer be pending activation.) (For details, refer to 15-4 "Effect States")
4-17Hatching a Digi-Egg
4-17-1"Hatching" refers to flipping over the top card of your Digi-Egg deck and placing it in the specified area. You can hatch a Digi-Egg from the top of your Digi-Egg deck into the breeding area as one of your actions during the breeding phase.
4-17-2You can't hatch a Digi-Egg when you don't have any cards in your Digi-Egg deck.
4-17-3You can't hatch a Digi-Egg when you already have a Digimon in the breeding area.
4-18Overflow
4-18-1<Overflow> is a rule on Digimon ACE cards. When a card with <Overflow> moves from the field or from under a card to another area, the memory marker is moved according to the value specified for <Overflow>.
4-18-2When <Overflow> causes the memory marker to move, the processing for moving it is performed immediately, even if the processing for another action is already being performed.
4-18-3<Overflow> isn't processed when a card is moved from another area to the field. (For details, refer to 3-4 "The Field")
4-18-4<Overflow> isn't processed when a card is moved from another area to under a card. (For details, refer to 4-5 "Stacked Cards")
4-18-5When multiple instances of <Overflow> are processed simultaneously, they are processed using the following procedure.
4-18-5-1The turn player chooses 1 instance of <Overflow> on their cards and processes it. The turn player repeats this procedure until there are no more unresolved instances of <Overflow> on their cards.
4-18-5-2Once all instances of <Overflow> on the turn player's cards have been processed, then the non- turn player chooses 1 instance of <Overflow> on their cards and processes it. The non-turn player repeats this procedure until there are no more 10 unresolved instances of <Overflow> on their cards.
4-19Arts Digivolve
4-19-1Arts Digivolve is a rule on DUAL cards. Instead of the trashing from the pending processing after using an Option card, one of your cards on the field may digivolve into that DUAL card without paying the cost.
4-19-2Arts Digivolve is overwrite processing that replaces the trashing of an Option card from the pending processing. (For details, refer to 18-1 "Pending Processing")
4-20Tokens
4-20-1Tokens are non-game cards played by effects. Such effects play tokens as if they have card information.
4-20-2The number of tokens is always public information.
4-20-3Cards can't be stacked with tokens.
4-20-4Tokens can't get linked.
4-20-5When a token is removed from the field, it is removed from the game instead of being placed in a different area.
4-21Color Requirements
4-21-1"Color requirements" refers to a requirement that must be met in order to use an Option card. (For details, refer to 9 "Using Cards")
4-21-2To meet color requirements, you must have a Digimon or Tamer on your field that's the same color as the Option card you want to use.
4-21-3An Option card with multiple colors can't be used unless the color requirements are met for all of its colors.
4-21-4A multicolor Digimon or multicolor Tamer can meet the color requirements for multiple colors.
4-21-5An Option card's color requirements don't have to be met when activating its effects without using it.
4-22Cards "With XX in Their Texts"
4-22-1A "with XX in its text" card is a card that has the "XX" term or icon in the information printed on that card. (Example: A "card with <Save> in its text" refers to a card with the <Save> icon included in the information on that card.) (For details, refer to 2-3 "Information Written on Cards")
4-22-2When an effect is gained, that doesn't mean that text is gained. (Example: A Digimon won't gain the <Save> text from a digivolution card whose inherited effect reads "[Your Turn] While this Digimon has <Save> in its text, it gets +2000 DP.")
4-22-3When a card with an effect's text is specified, as long as the card has that text written on it, it can be referenced even in situations where the effect can't be triggered or activated. (Example: A card with <Save> shown in its inherited effect is considered a card with <Save> in its text even when that card isn't placed in digivolution cards.)
4-22-4When a card with an icon's text is specified, only a card with the matching icon can be referenced. (Example: When an effect specifies a card with <Save> in its text, <Material Save> can't be referenced because its icon isn't the same.)
4-22-5Notes aren't included in text. (Example: A Digimon card with <Alliance> and <Security A.> in the notes enclosed in parentheses for Alliance isn't considered to have <Security A.> in its text.)
4-23"XX/YY"
4-23-1When a card shows "XX/YY," it means the same as "XX or YY," and either one of them will meet a requirement. However, this doesn't include when individual traits are separated by slashes. (Example: "[On Play] 1 of your opponent's Digimon/Tamers can't suspend until the end of their turn" means that you choose 1 of your opponent's Digimon or Tamers, then the chosen card can't suspend.)
4-24"With different XX" Cards
4-24-1A "with different XX" card refers to a card whose information is different from the information specified using XX.
4-24-2If a card that has multiple instances of the information specified by XX, the differing portions can be referenced and be treated as differing combinations.
4-25"With/have X cards"
4-25-1"With/have X cards" refers to a requirement that is fulfilled when that number of cards is present. (Example: "[On Play] When this Digimon has 3 digivolution cards, <Blitz>" can be activated if that Digimon has 3 or more digivolution cards.)
4-26"Each" or "Every"
4-26-1"Each" or "every" is used when an effect references a number of something.
4-26-2When processing targets cards from the top of a stack for each X, the targets will be up to X number of cards starting from the top of the stack. (Example: If an effect reads "[On Play] [When Digivolving] For each of your Digimon with the [Royal Knight] trait or each of your blue Tamers, trash the top 2 digivolution cards of 1 of your opponent's Digimon" and you have 2 blue Tamers, you would choose 1 of your opponent's Digimon and trash its top 4 digivolution cards.)
4-26-3When processing targets cards from the bottom of a stack for each X, the targets will be up to X number of cards starting from the bottom of the stack.
4-26-4In the case of a "process A and process B" effect that applies to each X, after processing A for each X present upon activation, you then process B for each X present upon activation. (Example: For text that reads "[End of Opponent’s Turn] [Once Per Turn] For each of this Digimon's link cards, trash your opponent's top security card and return 1 of their Digimon to the bottom of the deck," if that Digimon is linked to 3 cards, you trash your opponent's top 3 security cards and then return 3 of their Digimon to the bottom of the deck.
4-26-5A triggering from 1 trigger condition is considered to only trigger once, even if it occurred multiple times at the same time, but if the effect text contains "each" or "every," the specified number can be referenced. (Example: If an effect reads "[All Turns] When an opponent's Digimon is deleted, gain 1 memory for each Digimon deleted" and multiple opponent Digimon are deleted at the same time, 1 memory is gained for each Digimon deleted.)
4-27"Option Card in the Battle Area"
4-27-1An "Option card in the battle area" refers to an Option card that was placed in the battle area by an effect. (Example: A "trash an Option card in the battle area" effect can only trash an Option card that was placed in the battle area by an effect.)
4-12Merged 4-2-3 and
4-4-1Updated 4-3-3 through
4-3-4Updated and made deletions in 4-4-1 through
4-4-6Updated 4-12-2-1 through
4-12-2-2Updated 4-12-2-2-1 through
4-12-2-2-3Deleted
4-12-2-3Merged 8-1-2-5 with 4-3-3 through
4-3-441 Updated 11. Merged 11-1-2 and
4-25Updated 4-25-1 through
4-25-6Updated
4-2-6through 4-2-7 with
4-10-2Updated
4-11-2Updated 4-21-1 through
4-21-3Updated
4-21-442 Updated
4-22-3Updated
4-19-2Overall rewrites/revisions to "4-20-1. Slashes" Added '4-23. "With different XX" cards' 4 Added "4-24. With/have X cards" Updated
4-24Updated
4-21-3Merged
4-2-9Updated
4-19-4Updated
4-21-3Updated
4-2-5through
4-19through
4-22to "15-16. Rules for Effect Text" Updated
4-2-7through
4-2-8Deleted
4-3-2Updated
4-5-3Updated
4-5-4Updated 4-5-7 through
4-5-9Updated
4-7-3Updated 4-7-5 through
4-7-64 Updated
4-5-4Updated
4-15-5Updated
4-3-2Updated
4-7-6Updated
4-18-3Deleted
4-18-4Updated
4-18-5Updated
4-2-1Merged 4-2-2 and