Images courtesy of Bandai
The first major Digimon event of 2025, BCGFest Orlando, has declared that purple decks reign supreme. To the surprise of many, top contenders MirageGaogamon, Magnamon X, and Imperialdramon were all over the last Ultimate Cups and BCGFests of 2024, but this event was all about purple. Seven Great Demon Lords, Leviamon, Purple Hybrid, and Fenriloogamon came prepared and ran the tables, securing their spot at the top of the meta.
1st Place – Seven Great Demon Lords (Onion)
4 Gate of Deadly Sins EX6-006
4 Lucemon EX6-018
4 Lucemon: Chaos Mode EX6-054
1 Lucemon: Chaos Mode BT7-111
3 Leviamon EX5-063
4 Beelzemon EX6-056
1 Lilithmon EX6-057
4 Creepymon EX6-058
2 Belphemon: Rage Mode EX6-060
2 Leviamon EX6-061
2 Belphemon: Sleep Mode BT13-088
1 Leviamon (X-Antibody) BT15-081
2 ShineGreymon: Ruin Mode EX4-074
2 Ogudomon EX6-073
3 Digimon Emperor BT8-094
2 Akihiro Kurata BT13-103
3 Shoto Kazama EX7-064
2 Rival’s Barrage ST14-12
3 Biting Crush EX5-069
3 Rise of the Seven Great Demons Lords EX6-069
1 Calling from the Darkness BT7-107
1 Seventh Lightning BT15-100
While Seven Great Demon Lords has had its share of top finishes, what sets this build apart from previous iterations is its consistency. Traditionally, the deck runs a lot of single copies of cards with the Seven Great Demon Lord typing to maximize having unique names under the Gate of Deadly Sins. This makes it easier for them to build into the combo kill by playing Ogudomon at the end of the opponent’s turn since Gate needs seven unique names under it. It doesn’t count having duplicates so most shells opt for having variety with several single copies of cards.
This version, however, went for a more dedicated control role with the increased number of Leviamon and Biting Crush to punish decks that cheat out bodies through effects. This was a great call against most Purple decks as well as MirageGaogamon and Imperialdramon since their level 5s can play bodies by effect and set up their combo turns.
This deck defeated MirageGaogamon, Leviamon X, and Fenriloogamon before beating Leviamon X in the finals. These are all decks that can walk right into Biting Crush, and trying to play around it with a single stack is difficult against the steady stream of [On Play] removal effects. ShineGreymon: Ruin Mode, Shoto Kazama and Digimon Emperor help keep aggressive Ukkomon decks under control, with the Emperor also acting as much needed card draw. The build to the Ogudomon turn is slower in this version as it sets up the different names under the Gate, but it has a much easier time surviving to that point.
2nd Place – Leviamon X (Momin/DonkeyKnogg)
4 Tsunomon BT6-006
1 Gabumon (X-Antibody) EX5-015
1 Labramon EX5-057
3 Gazimon BT3-077
1 Psychemon BT8-071
4 Goblimon BT14-070
1 Lopmon (X-Antibody) BT16-067
1 Octomon EX5-058
4 Dobermon (X-Antibody) EX5-059
3 Dobermon BT16-068
2 Dragomon EX5-060
4 Cerberusmon (X-Antibody) EX5-061
1 Cerberusmon BT16-075
1 Anubismon EX5-062
3 Leviamon EX5-063
3 Leviamon (X-Antibody) BT15-081
1 ShineGreymon: Ruin Mode EX4-074
3 Purple Memory Boost P-040
4 Wisdom Training P-108
1 Purple Scramble LM-032
2 Biting Crush EX5-069
4 X Antibody Proto Form EX5-070
2 Seventh Lightning BT15-100
This deck is the epitome of the purple “good stuff” archetype that was introduced in EX05. In contrast to more recent decks to use the Dark Animal package like Lordknightmon X that need setup to hit hard, the Leviamon X deck is straight to the punch. It goes for the throat with additional security attack on its boss monsters, and like in Seven Great Demon Lords it can play from the trash with Biting Crush and Leviamon X as a punish against decks that cheat bodies into play. It builds its stack quickly through options like Wisdom Training and Purple Scramble so it can put opponents on the backfoot quickly and keep them there.
This Leviamon X deck defeated some of its better matchups in two Purple Hybrid decks and MirageGaogamon before falling in the finals. The deck’s biggest weakness, and this where a dedicated control shell of Demon Lords will shine, is that a stalling control deck can keep you on the backfoot after stopping your initial stack. If they answer your early threat they can use the time bought while you rebuild to get their own game plan started, and the next time you push up a stack they can just delete that as well.
It also doesn’t have much in the ways of DP buffs, and since Demon Lords are all large bodies, Leviamon can often die while checking security if it hits another Leviamon or a level 7. If a control deck can keep them off of a stack and play around Biting Crush, Leviamon can have a difficult time getting its footing.
3rd Place – Purple Hybrid (SupaDupaRoach)
4 Demimeramon BT3-006
1 Cupimon BT16-006
1 Ukkomon P-123
1 Guilmon EX4-006
4 Gabumon ST16-03
3 Gazimon BT3-077
4 Ukkomon BT16-082
1 Ginkakumon Promote BT6-075
4 Duskmon BT18-078
4 Velgrmon BT18-079
1 Argomon BT17-048
3 Nidhoggmon BT7-077
1 DeathXmon BT9-112
1 Lui Ohwada P-130
3 Matt Ishida BT2-090
4 Koichi Kimura BT7-091
2 Koichi Kimura BT18-094
4 Rival’s Barrage ST14-12
4 Jack Raid BT4-111
1 Calling from the Darkness BT7-107
4 Mist Memory Boost BT8-108
I’ve written extensively about how strong this deck can be, so it’s not surprising to see it crack the top 4. In fact, in the top 16 there were a total of four different versions of the deck. What sets this version apart from the others is that, rather than running alternate finishers like Mervamon or the yellow top end of Venusmon, this version looks to go lower to the ground and check security more aggressively.
Full sets of Jack Raid and Mist Memory Boost, as well as the inclusion of Nidhoggmon give this build incredible memory control to extend its plays. The single copies of Guilmon, Lui Ohwada, and Ginkakumon Promote help you continue to apply pressure even when all of your tamers have gone through the Velgrmon loop and can no longer attack.
This deck used that extra aggression to defeat two slower versions of Purple Hybrid in top 16. The yellow top end and Mervamon shells are better suited to handle matchups where the opponent has Digimon on board, so this build was able to apply enough early pressure to clean up. It did end up falling to Leviamon, which makes sense since Leviamon is a mono-color deck, so Velgrmon often isn’t big enough to survive the security check and pop its end of attack effect to blow up the board.
A Leviamon X in trash is also extremely dangerous for Purple Hybrid since it can digivolve from trash when a tamer is played by an effect and then delete said tamer, so trying to perform the core loop can end up hurting them. Purple Hybrid was well represented in this event, so it will be interesting to see which builds excel in future events.
4th Place – Fenriloogamon: Takemikazuchi (Cherryz)
4 Bowmon BT14-006
4 Loogamon BT14-071
2 Loogamon BT15-071
3 Ukkomon BT16-082
3 Tyrannomon BT15-011
4 Dorugamon BT16-058
3 DexDorugamon BT17-065
2 SkullBaluchimon BT10-080
2 Helloogarmon BT14-078
4 Soloogarmon BT16-076
4 Kazuchimon BT17-040
4 Fenriloogamon BT17-069
3 Fenriloogamon: Takemikazuchi BT17-101
4 Analog Youth EX1-066
2 Eiji Nagasumi BT14-087
3 Code Cracker Fang BT17-091
3 Mist Memory Boost BT8-108
Fenriloogamon is one of the scariest OTK combo decks in the game since it can combo on as little as one memory thanks to the inherited effect of Bowmon. With a Loogamon, a tamer mind linked, and Bowmon in its sources, it can use the various draw and discard digivolving effects to chain up into Fenriloogamon and play a Kazuchimon. Then, with some set up, you can DNA digivolve into Fenriloogamon: Takemikazuchi from the trash and reset the memory gauge, deleting the opponent’s Digimon in the process.
From there it’s a matter of using alliance and Kazuchimon’s inherited effect to burn through their security in one shot. It’s a glass cannon since it can be time consuming to rebuild if you can’t pull off the OTK, but all of the draw power helps sculpt your hand so you can dig into those cards if necessary.
This deck defeated a mirror match and MirageGaogamon before falling to Seven Great Demon Lords. While the mirror is always a coin toss with a deck like this, the MirageGaogamon match is actually pretty good since their early turns are focused on playing options to accelerate into Mirage, so Fenriloogamon can get online and win before they’re able to get going. It also helps that the core game plan of MirageGaogamon is getting the opponent to eight cards in hand, so it’s possible that they give you the pieces necessary to win before they can doing anything about it.
Falling to the control version of Seven Great Demon Lords is unfortunately the nature of most glass cannons. Digimon Emperor slows the Loogamon from coming in by forcing them to build up to a level 4 in raising, and playing Kazuchimon by Fenriloogamon’s effect can trigger Biting Crush and wipe out your stack. This deck has a much harder time playing around Biting Crush so if they play one early it can buy them more than enough time to get established.
How Will This Impact the Digimon Meta Going Forward?
Purple decks put up tremendous numbers in this event, and there’s no reason why this trend shouldn’t continue going into the EX08 Chain of Liberation and Special Release 2.5 metagames. Barring any major shakeups to the restricted list, these decks only stand to gain more tools to work with. Looking at Japanese tournament results, there’s a sizeable increase in red and blue decks popping up mostly due to the influence of Gallantmon X, but the purple decks still have their seat at the table.
Based on the Japanese lists these decks also don’t really change all that much, showing that the power level of the current state should carry over. But whether this will continue to influence the North American metagame remains to be seen.
Want to know what’s coming up for Digimon in 2025? Check out details for the upcoming sets here.
