Image credit to the author/Bandai
Digimon starter decks have had an interesting history with regards to power level. While Advanced Deck Set Beelzemon ST-14 and Advanced Deck Set Double Typhoon ST-17 have been format warping in their own right, for the most part the regular starter decks have had middling success competitively. They’re great for teaching players how to play the game, but the overall power level of the cards can leave something to be desired.
That all changes with Protector of Light ST-20 and Hero of Hope ST-21, the strongest regular starter decks they’ve printed so far.
Protector of Light and Hero of Hope Deck Lists
Protector of Light – ST20
4 Koromon ST20-01
4 Biyomon ST20-02
4 Birdramon ST20-03
4 Garudamon ST20-04
4 Gatomon ST20-05
2 Angewomon ST20-06
4 Tentomon ST20-07
4 Kabuterimon ST20-08
4 MegaKabuterimon ST20-09
4 Agumon ST20-10
2 WarGreymon ST20-11
4 Sora Takenouchi & Kari Kamiya ST20-12
2 Tai Kamiya & Izzy Izumi ST20-13
4 Our Courage United ST20-14
4 Island of Adventure ST20-15
Hero of Hope – ST21
4 Tsunomon ST21-01
4 Gomamon ST21-02
4 Ikkakumon ST21-03
4 Zudomon ST21-04
4 Angemon ST21-05
2 MagnaAngemon ST21-06
4 Palmon ST21-07
4 Togemon ST21-08
4 Lillymon ST21-09
4 Gabumon ST21-10
2 MetalGarurumon ST21-11
4 Joe Kido & Mimi Tachikawa ST21-12
2 Matt Ishida & T.K. Takaishi ST21-13
4 Believe in Our Friendship ST21-14
4 Gennai’s House ST21-15
How Do These Starter Decks Work?
Protector of Light and Hero of Hope are centered around the original eight Digidestined and their Digimon from the Digimon Adventure anime, and as such the decks are all about teamwork and cooperation. Both decks are focused on the new [ADVENTURE] trait, which every one of these cards has, and every Digimon in the deck can digivolve over a Digimon with that trait.
This means that you digivolve Gomamon ST21-02 into Togemon ST21-08 into MagnaAngemon ST21-06 without worrying about having the right color Digimon in play. This also gives you access to a wider variety of effects than a single color could.
Combine These Decks and Make Them Your Own
This flexibility is key for the other selling point to these decks: customization. Since everything has the [ADVENTURE] trait, you can mash the decks together in any combination and perform in roughly the same capacity. You simply pick which effects you want at each level and build from there. You can run floodgates like Gomamon ST21-02 and Tentomon ST20-07, Biyomon ST20-02 to search, or Agumon ST20-10 and Gabumon ST21-10 to aggressively warp into your top end. How you build the deck is entirely up to you!
Another unique part of these decks is the tamer package. Traditionally you’d only get the one tamer that’s on theme with the deck. These starters each have two different tamers that make it easier to play out your Digimon, either by gaining memory at the start of your turn or by reducing the play cost. These effects stack, so the more tamers you have the more memory you’re able to save.
Tai Kamiya & Izzy Izumi also acts as a massive brick wall to your opponent by granting all of your [ADVENTURE] Digimon blocker, and since the deck is able to generate bodies efficiently, this can be a major headache. Matt Ishida & T.K. Takaishi, conversely, gives the deck incredible aggro potential by giving all of your level 5 or higher [ADVENTURE] Digimon rush. With the cost reduction effects of the tamers and Alliance triggers, this can be a lot of damage out of nowhere.
Hitting Hard and Scaling Your Effects
The level 5 package is really where these decks shine. Every one of them can gain Alliance when your other Digimon are played or digivolve, and they also have it as an inherited ability so you can take the teamwork motif and really let your Digimon swing for the fences. Your level 5s also have [On Play] and [When Digivolving] effects that scale with the number of colors among your tamers.
All of the tamers in these starters are dual-color, so with just one of each tamer in play your Zudomon ST21-04 can strip an entire stack of digivolution sources and Garudamon ST20-04 can give Security Attack +1 and +4000DP. The variety of effects the level 5s have also gives you a lot of flexibility in deckbuilding so you can tailor it toward your meta as you see fit.
The level 6 ACE Digimon, Wargreymon ACE ST20-11 and Metalgarurumon ACE ST-21-11 are powerful on their own, and their low play cost can be reduced even further with your tamers so they’re threats even if you can’t assemble a stack.
Like your level 5s, these each have effects that scale with the number of colors your tamers have. Wargreymon ACE can protect your Digimon from Digimon effects for the turn, and with enough tamers you can make an entire table immune. With enough tamers Metalgarurumon ACE can be devastating to single stack decks as it bounces a level 4 or lower Digimon to hand, and for every two colours among your tamers you add one to that level. With enough of the Digidestined behind you, Metalgarurumon ACE can even bounce level 7 Digimon!
Your ACE Digimon also have abilities that help shift board parity in your favor. Wargreymon ACE’s [When Digivolving] [When Attacking] ability deletes your opponent’s lowest DP Digimon, whereas Metalgarurumon ACE’s [When Attacking] effect plays a level 4 or lower Digimon from your trash. What’s interesting is the Wargreymon ACE effect isn’t once per turn, so if you have a way to unsuspend Wargreymon ACE you can keep deleting the opponent’s Digimon. Furthermore, Metalgarurumon ACE’s effect isn’t restricted by color and also doesn’t require the [ADVENTURE] trait, so this has applications beyond just the [ADVENTURE] archetype.
Support Options
Since so much of these decks are focused on the Digimon, there isn’t a lot of room for options like in previous starter decks. But the ones we do get are incredibly powerful for what these decks are trying to do. Believe in Our Friendship functions as a searcher much like Biyomon, but it also has the delay effect to gain two memory, making it akin to a Garnet Memory Boost that isn’t restricted by color.
Our Courage United, on the other hand, is just a raw draw-two with a delay effect that lets you play a level 5 or lower [ADVENTURE] trait Digimon when one of your level 5 or higher Digimon would leave the battle area. Since all of the deck’s level 5s have scaling [On Play] effects, this can potentially be devastating if the opponent tries to remove one of our threats.
Gennai’s House and Island of Adventure, like Deep Savers and Nightmare Soldiers before them, act as your “field spells” that sit in security and buff your Digimon. When played, Gennai’s House swaps for your bottom security card and gives all of your Digimon a +3000DP buff on your turn. Gennai’s House also lets you play a level 3 from your trash when triggered, so you can treat it like a Scramble and set up for your following turn.
The buff from Island of Adventure is only +2000DP, but it’s active on all turns. It also goes to the top of security and it lets you play a tamer from your hand when triggered, so it can add to your board faster than Gennai’s House.
These options are also not restricted to [ADVENTURE] trait, so these are going to be very good cards to have in your collection since they can go into any deck.
How to Build [ADVENTURE] Competitively
3 Biyomon ST20-02
1 Garudamon ST20-04
4 Angewomon ST20-06
1 Tentomon ST20-07
4 Kabuterimon ST20-08
2 Agumon ST20-10
3 WarGreymon ST20-11
2 Sora Takenouchi & Kari Kamiya ST20-12
2 Tai Kamiya & Izzy Izumi ST20-13
2 Our Courage United ST20-14
1 Island of Adventure ST20-15
4 Tsunomon ST21-01
1 Gomamon ST21-02
1 Ikkakumon ST21-03
2 Zudomon ST21-04
3 Palmon ST21-07
2 Togemon ST21-08
2 Lillymon ST21-09
2 Gabumon ST21-10
3 MetalGarurumon ST21-11
2 Joe Kido & Mimi Tachikawa ST21-12
3 Matt Ishida & T.K. Takaishi ST21-13
4 Believe in Our Friendship ST21-14
This is what I’m planning to use as the starting point for the [ADVENTURE] deck when the cards are released. The power level of the level 5s and 6s makes it so that I want to focus on getting those online as easily and frequently as possible. Getting tamers down for free is important for scaling the deck’s effects, so Kabuterimon and Angemon are the best options to run as a set for the level 4s. I opted for just Kabuterimon rather than splitting, since the Piercing is much more valuable on a Digimon with Alliance than just giving something -2000DP.
Angewomon does a lot of the heavy lifting in the deck as she allows you to build up your stacks for free, and by doing so also trigger gaining Alliance.
From there the deck leans into the toolbox effect by sampling bits and pieces of each effect among each level. Source stripping is important against the Galaxy Box and Imperialdramon decks so Ikkakumon and Zudomon gets the inclusion, whereas Lillymon can send any suspended Digimon to the bottom of the opponent’s deck, not just the ones suspended by her effect, so she’s fantastic for clearing large bodies after they attack.
Since there aren’t any level 7s with the [ADVENTURE] trait, I’ve elected to cap the deck at level 6. But there are a couple options that are worth mentioning.
Omnimon BT5-086 and Omnimon (X Antibody) BT20-102 can digivolve over both of our ACE Digimon and can get in the last security check even if we pass the turn, whereas Omnimon Zwart BT5-087 can work in more controlling shells since it can grab two ACE Digimon from the trash and put them directly into play. The archetype gets some new support in BT21 for the Black Greymon and Purple Garurumon lines, so once those are a factor Omnimon Zwart becomes a lot more valuable for swarming the board.
Should You Get The Protector of Light and Hero of Hope Decks?
Short answer? Yes. Emphatic answer? YES! These are, hands down, the most powerful starter decks they’ve ever printed outside of Advanced Starters, and the potential to tool them however you want is amazing. On top of everything, each deck comes with a copy of each Scramble card from Special Limited Set with alternate art, so it’s worth it to get a pair of each deck just from a collecting standpoint.
The upcoming BT21 set has even more tools for the [ADVENTURE] archetype, so it’s getting immediate support to further increase the power level. And with the proper tuning, I can see these decks becoming competitively viable.
Want more Digimon? Check out my guide to updating Sakuyamon for the post-ban meta.
