Digimon TCG – Red Hybrid Primer

Hybrid cards are a special typing in Digimon where a sizable chunk of them have the ability to Digivolve off a Tamer card by treating it as a Digimon. Hybrids were first released back in BT-4, at the end of 2020 and were only give a tiny bit of support in BT6. The following set, BT-7, focuses almost exclusively on them. BT4’s Agunimon and Lobomon were the only two to make any kind of meta impact up until BT7, mostly because a sizeable chunk of top decks have either been in red or blue since BT5. Their impact was really felt in BT6, where two of the strongest decks in the format ran a somewhat excessive amount of Tamer cards to fuel their strategy.

This particular article is going to focus on the red Hybrid family, namely these two boss monsters:

EmperorGreymon is 12-cost play and 4-cost digivolve level 6 with 12000 DP. Upon Digivolving it gains Blitz (letting him attack even if your memory goes negative), and has one other once per-turn effect:

When this card is blocked, recover it. Then gain +1 memory for each material under this card with hybrid typing. EmperorGreymon is a very situational boss, but a strong one none the less. Blitz is a very powerful skill, letting a player progress through their turn and then end on a blitzer to potentially deal a finishing blow. Emperor’s second ability is where things get awkward. No one is ever going to block this thing if it’s not a killing blow. There’s almost no situation where blocking Emperor will pay off unless you know for sure you’ll die…and if you’re playing Emperor properly, there’s a good chance he’ll have pierce, rendering most blockers moot anyways. If he does get blocked though, he’s reset for another attack, and will pretty much refund his Digivolution cost. This most common way to get Emperor out is via the effect of Takuya Kanbara.

He’s a 3-cost Tamer Card with 3 effects. First is the typical Tamer security effect of play him when he is revealed, and the second is a main phase-only ability that lets you stack 5 Hybrid type cards underneath him from your trash to then Digivolve him into EmperorGreymon by paying its Digivolution cost. Finally, Takuya has a material effect that grants +2000 DP to whoever is stacked above him during the player’s turn, and if their total damage is over 10000, he gives them Security Attack +1.

Note that the stacking 5-cards underneath Takuya is a cost, and not part of the effect. So, you could stack 5 Hybrid card underneath him and then go up a normal Digivolution line from a level 4 Hybrid instead. There aren’t too many good reasons to waste your play on this, but Takuya does have some fun combos with cards that have Digi-Burst skills, or skills in similar veins. A lot of these are just going to be over-costed board wipes, since you’ll need anywhere from 5 to 9 Memory if you want to successfully reach Level 6 with a stacked Takuya. However, here are a few that I think are worth mentioning if you want to get gimmicky.

You can turn RizeGreymon into a very powerful field builder who can deploy up to 3 different red or yellow tamers in 1 turn. Red is kind of limited, since none of the better Tamer choices can do much outside of fix your starting memory to 3 or improve your offense, but yellow has a whole cavalcade of options that can force your opponent to either kill you on your next turn, or face a potential game loss with the amount of memory and Hybrid targets you’ll have.

You can go into BlackWarGreymon or his equally black-colored, but not named so, partner MetalGarurumon by using BT6 Megadramon and Gigadramon. BlackWarGreymon is able to check a full security stack easily thanks to Takuya’s security effect, but you’re dedicating at least 2 or 3 turns to get there. It’s probably just better to build him in the Raising area, where your opponent can’t interact with or mess with him. BlackWarGreymon is already capable of a full wipe normally, so doing this is kind of a “win more” strategy. MetalGarurumon is unfortunately a bit kneecapped since you can only use his [Digiburst] once, but it can be a stressless way to clear through a security card or blocker.

Some non-burst Digimon that gain effects based on their materials include Starter Deck WarGreymon, who becomes a full security swipe,

Dorugoramon, who can clear out 2 different 8-cost or less Digimon through his deletion effect…

and finally, the Omnimon line, who gain various effects by trashing or returning materials. The ones worth mentioning include the BT5 variant, since it can protect itself rather easily (EmperorGreymon is a Hybrid, so you could technically stack multiples of it underneath Takuya) and the X-Antibody variant that turns into a wall capable of stopping 3 attacks if Digivolved off a cheated EmperorGreymon.

Let’s go back a bit now and talk about the other Lv6 Hybrid Boss, AncientGreymon. It’s a 12-cost play/5-cost Digivolve with 13000 DP with 2 different effects: During the player’s turn it gains a stack of Security Attack +1 for each card in its materials that is either “Hybrid” type or has “Greymon” in its name.

When deleted, it’s controller can play a Lv4 or lower red Hybrid Digimon from their hand without paying its cost.

AncientGreymon wasn’t really that good when he first came out, a 5-cost Digivolve practically guaranteed you’d be passing the turn over to your opponent before you could do anything, opening yourself up to getting destroyed and losing all your hard work. The trade off, if he did survive, was a respectable 4-card security check on a 13000 body.

All of that changed in the very next set thanks to a special printed variant of Agunimon.

A 5-cost play/2-cost promote 5000 DP with one very, very, very good effect. When this card attacks, you can Digivolve it into an AncientGreymon from your hand by paying a Digivolution cost of 2. It also gains “delete this card at the end of your turn.”

Suddenly a 5-cost to check 4 cards turns into a 2-cost to check 3, a 3-check that can happen as early as turn 2 before your opponent has even had time to set up a blocker. The end of turn destruction might seem like a negative effect, but it can lead into plenty of plays and extensions for your next turn. Two different variants of Flamemon have search effects, letting you dig a +2, and you could even go into another promo Agunimon to strike fear into your opponent’s heart for the following turn.

AncientGreymon has only gotten stronger with each new set thanks to the various forms of support red-Hybrid has received, and tends to be the main playmaker for most decks while EmperorGreymon comes in as the finisher. Agunimon’s Digivolution destruction effect is really beneficial for Emperor, since he’ll put, at most, 2 Hybrid types into your trash at the end of the turn. Your standard deck will have a 3/3 split of both Lv6 Digimon, but you could easily go with 4 of either if you wanted to focus specifically on them. Both Emperor and Ancient are strong enough to put in work with or without the other.

I’m going to very quickly go through the line of Hybrids in red, since most of them aren’t doing anything big or convoluted like the centerpiece cards above.

Starting off, there are currently 3 different versions of Flamemon available, and they should all be run at 4 copies. On top of them all being hybrids, 2 of them come with search effects when played. The BT4 version looks at the top 3 cards and adds a Hybrid type and red Tamer to hand, and the BT7 version reveals 4, letting you add a Hybrid type, Digimon named Susanoomon, or a Takuya. The BT7 also comes with a material effect that lets you play a Takuya from hand for free when it’s destroyed. Finally, The third one comes with a material effect that grants a Digimon [Pierce] if its typing is “Hybrid” or “Ten Warriors” (Oh yeah, by the way, AncientGreymon isn’t a Hybrid).

There are currently 3 Lv4 Hybrids (ignoring the promo Agunimon), and all of them come with the ability to Digivolve off a red Tamer as if it were a Lv3 Digimon, but some go a little farther.

The two that are commonly ran at 4 are BT4 Agunimon and BT7 Vritramon (BurningGreymon). Agunimon is just a very basic and cost-efficient Hybrid. It’s mostly used as an extender to go into Lv5s or Digivolve a Tamer for that game-winning attack. Vritramon has a bit more useability. It can Digivolve off a Lv3 for a cost of 3, a Tamer for a cost of 2, or another LV4 for a cost of 1. It also has a Digivolution effect that lets it pop an enemy Digimon with 4000 or less DP if there there is a Hybrid type or “Takuya Kanbara” in its materials.

Lastly, there’s BT4 Vritramon, who has a 3-cost Digivolution, and gains an additional 3000 DP during the Player’s turn. He’s a decent inclusion, but his steep Digivolve cost can make him off-putting to use. He does have the nice bonus of becoming an 11000 DP beater when Digivolved off Takuya, checking 2 security cards to boot.

There are only 2 Lv5 Hybrids, and both of them are Aldamon. The BT4 variant is a base 7000 with security attack +1, and gains an additional 4000 DP during the player’s turn if it has a Hybrid type or Tamer card in its materials. Much like BT4 Vritramon, this Aldamon is a generally strong beater when combined with Takuya, being able to check a total of 3 cards at 13000. It’s almost as good and as strong as a cheated in AncientGreymon. However, due to the total cost required to get Aldamon out this way, you’ll rarely see it happen or show up in decks that aren’t going for a mid-range or slower playstyle.

BT7 Aldamon is sort of similar to its BT4 incarnation. It’s a base 8000 that can reduce it’s total Digivolve cost by 2 if it’s being placed on top of a Digimon that has a tamer in its materials. Also, when Digivolved into, it gains an additional +4000 for the turn if there is a Hybrid card in its materials. This Aldamon is a lot cheaper and easier to get out, but trades an extra security check for a slightly better base attack. The main draw here is Aldamon’s material effect though, which cancels any security effects on option cards revealed by the Digimon its under as long as its type is “Hybrid” or “Ten Warriors”. Some decks will run 1 or 2 of Aldamon, just so they can hopefully get one in their trash when going into a EmperorGreymon later.

Red Hybrid decks generally shy away from Lv5s, since they go so fast and don’t need them to reach their bosses. AncientGreymon is pretty much only going to be played off a Promo Agunimon, and EmperorGreymon will almost always be coming in off Takuya. The general strategy for the deck is to either Rookie rush down with Flamemon while searching out one of the two Greymon bosses, or build up a field of Flamemon to end the game after Ancient or Emperor clear out a large chunk of the opponent’s security.

Deck space is pretty tight in a red Hybrid, so you don’t have that much room to flex unique cards around, but here are some of the staple support cards:

Bokomon is typically ran at 2 or 3 copies. On play he reveals the top 5 cards of the deck and lets you add a Hybrid or Ten Warriors type Digimon and a Tamer to hand from the revealed cards. There’s not really a way to search out AncientGreymon in the deck without him, so he’s incredibly helpful.

Blockers are typically ignored. Red goes so fast that you’ll be wiping out your opponent’s security and ending games by turn 3 or 4, hopefully before they’re able to wipe through your security.

The primary staple Option card for the deck is Atomic Inferno, a 1-cost that gives one Hybrid type Digimon a 3000 DP boost and Security Attack +1. If the Digimon it’s boosting is blocked, you gain 3 memory. If it’s revealed from your security, it gives all Digimon you control Security Attack +1 until the end of your next turn. It’s quite a lot of value for practically no cost. This can turn any Flamemon into a potential double-checking hazard on turn 2 if you didn’t open with an AncientGreymon and Agunimon. The memory refund on block not only pays for the card, but gives enough back that you can potentially get another 1 or 2 cards out before passing the turn to your opponent.

Any other options tend to be at the player’s discretion. I’m personally a big fan of Gaia Force, I hate fighting bosses, and this gets rid of them. It’s 8 play-cost is steep, but setting your opponent back a turn can potentially win you the game if you hit the right target.

I’ve seen some players opt for Trident Revolver since it lets you put a Tamer into play when it resolves, but most targets you’ll be picking off will be over the 6000 DP threshold except for some very specific fringe cases.

You’re probably better off with Either Giga Storm, Red Reamer, or Atomic Blaster, since they give higher thresholds.

If you want to get spicy you can run Win Rate 60%. Since it reduces any Digivolution cost by 4, you can play it to warp Takuya into Emperor for a cost of 2 instead of his normal 4 cost. Just remember that putting 5 cards under Takuya is his effect’s cost, so you can’t discard a Hybrid for Win Rate to get a 5^th Hybrid in trash. Win Rate can get a little cloggy, but if the combo goes off, you can end up with a rather sturdy Lv7 through Omnimon. Just remember that Omnimon’s destruction-protection effect only works on your opponent’s effects. He’ll still die at the end of the turn if you try to do this on top of a Agunimon-warped AncientGreymon.

Lastly, Red Memory Boost is never a bad option if you want to fill in a few slots, and it gives you another way to search out AncientGreymon.

Okay, let’s talk Tamer options. There aren’t that many unique options in red, but there are enough to get the job done. You always want 4 Takuya, even if you aren’t running EmperorGreymon, Takuya gives plenty of fuel to your other red Hybrids. Typically you’ll also want 2 of BT1 Tai, since he sets your starting memory to 3, and gives any red Digimon you control with 4 or more materials underneath it [Security Attack +1]… And Takuya loads up Emperor with a nice fat 6-stack.

I personally like to run a 1-of Marcus. He’s gimmicky, but gives you another starting memory set option. He can rest himself whenever a Digimon with “Greymon” in its name attacks to give you +1 memory. The way you’ll most commonly get to use Marcus is with EmperorGreymon, or if you’re using a RiseGreymon build.

Analog Boy is another flex option, he can certainly help the deck by adding another way to grab AncientGreymon and giving you a new Lv2 when Ancient destroys itself at the end of the turn, but you can’t extend off of him into a Hybrid since he’s a white card.

Lastly, there’s the 2-cost Starter Deck Tai He gives all your Digimon 1000 DP during your turn. The only thing he’ll really do is make your Flamemon a tiny bit scarier. His cheap cost makes him a decent tech choice if you don’t want to run Marcus, since he is still a red Tamer that can go into an Agunimon or Vritramon.

Digitama can be whatever. Most decks I see either go with 4 DemiMeramon or 4 Kapurimon, since they both give easy to fill boost conditions. Demi only requires you to attack your opponent or their security to trigger his boost and Kapurimon just requires you to have a Tamer out.

Here are a couple of Red Hybrid example decks. The first is a just a generic Ancient/Emperor mix.

And here’s my current build that uses Emperor and Win Rate to combo with Omnimon, using some of the combo-specific plays I talked about earlier.