Digital Monster Card Game Alpha

The Digital Monster Card Game Alpha (デジタルモンスターカードゲームα) is the second Digimon card game, being released in 2006.
=Information=
The Alpha card game is split into two categories. One set of cards are played normally, while the other set, Battle Terminal, have a bar code on the bottom of the cards, making them compatible with the Data Carddass machine, an arcade machine where card games become playable in a 3D environment.
==Terminology==
===Play Area===
The Field () or Play Area is the area in which the card game takes place. 
The Field consists of the following fields:
* Net Ocean (): The 'Net Ocean' is the name used to refer to your deck in this game. Your deck will consist of 32 cards, at least one of which must be a Level III Digimon card, and you may only include up to 3 cards with the same name in your deck (regardless if they have different card numbers), unless the card itself states otherwise. 
* Dark Area (): The 'Dark Area' is the name used to refer to your discard pile in this game. When your cards are discarded or 'sent to the Dark Area' during play, place them face-down onto your Dark Area.
* Digimon Box (): The Digimon you use for battle (in other words, your current Digimon) will be placed here.
* Option Slot (): Option cards to be used will be placed here. They are typically played face-down during Preparation Phase.
===Digimon Cards===
====Top Row====
* Cost (コスト): The Cost value of the card (e.g. Cost 7). The total Cost of the cards played by a player each turn should not exceed 10; if it does, the player undergoes the Burst Process during the Evolution Phase.
* Speed (スピード): The Digimon's speed (e.g. Speed 2), which affects which player acts first in certain parts of the game.
* Evolution Requirements (進化条件): States which Digimon this card can evolve from (e.g. Rize Greymon, Wingdramon, Groundramon). For cards who have two Digimon joined by a '⇔' in their evolution requirements, Jogress Evolution (ジョグレス進化) must be carried out; when you have one component card on the field and the other component card in your hand, place the card to be evolved to onto the component card on the field, and discard the one in your hand to carry out the evolution.
* Battle Type (バトルタイプ): An icon on the card's top right depicting either A, B, or C (e.g. Battle type B). Your Digimon's battle type will determine the type of attack the opponent has to use.
* Hit Points (ＨＰ): The stamina of your Digimon (e.g. HP 1230). During battle, when the opponent's attack power exceeds your card's HP, your Digimon gets deleted.
====Middle Row====
* Card Name (カード名): The name of the Digimon on your card (e.g. Shine Greymon). Each deck may only contain up to 3 cards with the same name, including Digimon with the same name but different effects. Digimon with the X-Antibody (Ｘ抗体) in their names are treated as the base Digimon without the X-Antibody when considering card limits or evolution requirements (for example, a War Greymon X-Antibody can meet evolution requirements that just state 'War Greymon'). X-Antibody Digimon are also counted as their base Digimon when considering the '◎One card limit'; when you play a War Greymon with a one card limit, you may not play a War Greymon X-Antibody at the same time.
* Card Number (カード番号): The card's number (e.g. DM02-095). A 'Dα-' prefix denotes Card Game Alpha series Digimon cards, a 'DM-' prefix denotes Battle Terminal series Digimon cards, a 'DM02-' prefix denotes Battle Terminal 02 series Digimon cards, and an 'SPα-/SP-/SP02-' prefix denotes promotional Digimon cards.
====Abilities Box====
* Attack Type (アタックタイプ・攻撃): Your Digimon possesses 3 attack types - A, B, and C; the attack type used will depend on the opponent's battle type. The attack power written on the card is also known as the basic attack power (基本攻撃力) (e.g. Shine Greymon has a basic A attack power of 1120). If your Digimon's A attack goes to zero due to the opponent's attack C's effect, '0' is now considered your basic A attack power.
* Field (フィールド): The Field that your Digimon belongs to (e.g. Dragon's Roar). The Fields included in this game are Dragon's Roar (DR - ドラゴンズロアー), Nature Spirits (NSp - ネイチャースピリッツ), Nightmare Soldiers (NSo - ナイトメアソルジャーズ), Jungle Troopers (JT - ジャングルトルーパース), Wind Guardians (WG - ウインドガーディアンズ), Deep Savers (DS - ディープセイバーズ), Metal Empire (ME - メタルエンパイア), and Virus Busters (VB - ウィルスバスターズ).
* Level (レベル): Your Digimon's level (e.g. Ultimate level). The standard levels are Level III (Child level: Yellow) > Level IV (Adult level: Red) > Perfect level (Blue) > Ultimate level (Purple). （　→　　→　　→　） There also exists Hybrid level Digimon (ハイブリッド体), used for Digimon that evolve through Spirit Evolution in previous series; in this game, their cards will typically state a level equivalent for them to follow.
* Type (種族): Your Digimon's type (e.g. Light Dragon). 
* Attribute (属性): Your Digimon's attribute (e.g. Vaccine). Attributes typically come in 3 types - Vaccine (ワクチン), Data (データ), and Virus (ウィルス), as well as Unknown (属性不明) and Variable (ヴァリアブル). Variable-attribute Digimon will gain whatever attribute their opponent has (e.g. when a Variable-attribute Digimon faces a Data-attribute Digimon, their attribute becomes Data), and will also change along with the opponent if the opponent Digimon's attribute changes due to card effects or otherwise; when facing a Variable-attribute Digimon, their attribute remains as Variable-attribute. 
* Group (所属): The group that your Digimon belongs to, if applicable. 
* Special Abilities (特殊能力): Any effects and abilities are listed here. Abilities marked with are Battle Terminal effects used in the Battle Terminal Arcade game; abilities marked with are used when playing the Card Game Alpha game. Of the Card Game Alpha abilities, abilities marked with '◎' are either constantly active, or activate immediately during their activation timing. Abilities marked with '[Action:]' are special abilities that are only activated when the player decides to, during the activation timing stated in the ability.
====Bottom Row====
* Barcode (バーコード): The barcode that has to be scanned to use the card in the Data Carddass Battle Terminal arcade game. These barcodes are not present in Card Game Alpha series cards, and are not used when playing the Card Game Alpha game.
===Option/Command Cards===
* Cost (コスト): The Cost value of the card (e.g. Cost 7). The total Cost of the cards played by a player each turn should not exceed 10; if it does, the player undergoes the Burst Process during the Evolution Phase. Command cards do not have Costs.
* Card Name (カード名): The name of the card (e.g. Vaccine Killer). Each deck may only contain up to 3 cards with the same name.
* Card Number (カード番号): The card's number (e.g. OP-009). An 'Oα-' prefix denotes Card Game Alpha series Option cards, an 'OP-' prefix denotes Battle Terminal series Option cards, an 'OP02-' prefix denotes Battle Terminal 02 series Digimon cards, and an 'SP-' prefix denotes promotional Option cards. An 'LTP-' prefix denotes Option cards bundled with the Digimon Battle Junction. A 'Cα-' prefix denotes Card Game Alpha Command cards; Command cards are not found in any Battle Terminal/Battle Terminal 02 sets.
* Effects (効果): Any effects and abilities are listed here. Abilities marked with are Battle Terminal effects used in the Battle Terminal Arcade game; abilities marked with are used when playing the Card Game Alpha game. Of the Card Game Alpha abilities, abilities marked with '◎' are either constantly active, or activate immediately during their activation timing. Abilities marked with '[Action:]' are special abilities that are only activated when the player decides to, during the activation timing stated in the ability.
* Barcode (バーコード): The barcode that has to be scanned to use the card in the Data Carddass Battle Terminal arcade game. These barcodes are not present in Card Game Alpha series cards, and are not used when playing the Card Game Alpha game.
===Game Terminology===
* Lifespan Process (寿命処理): The Lifespan Process takes place when a player has insufficient cards in their Net Ocean to replenish their hand to 6 cards during the Preparation Phase. When it occurs, send all of your cards in play except for Option cards to the Dark Area and shuffle it, drawing cards from there until you have 6 cards in your hand. Lifespan arrangements may only be carried out during the Preparation Phase, and a player who has carried out lifespan arrangements cannot play any cards during that Preparation Phase.
* Burst Process (バースト処理): The Burst Process takes place during the Evolution Phase when the player turns the cards they played during the Preparation Phase face-up, and the total Cost of the cards they played during the Preparation Phase exceeds 10. For every Cost point exceeding 10, send 1 card from your Net Ocean to the Dark Area. Should the Net Ocean have insufficient cards to discard, all the cards played by the player during the Preparation Phase are sent to the Dark Area (the Lifespan Process will not occur at this juncture; it only occurs during the Preparation Phase).
* Untapped/Tapped (未行動/行動済み): Refers to a Digimon's state of action. If a Digimon is untapped, it is placed vertically; if a Digimon is tapped, it is placed horizontally. Tapping of Digimon usually occurs during the Battle Phase, or due to the effects of abilities or the using of an [Action:] ability. All Digimon are untapped at the start of each Preparation Phase.
* Deletion (デリート): After a battle, if the Digimon has lost the battle and the opponent's attack power exceeds their HP value, that Digimon is deleted. Deleted Digimon cards are removed from the game, and cannot be brought back into play through the Lifespan Process.
* ◎One card limit (◎一枚制限): If this requirement is stated on a Digimon card, you cannot have more than one Digimon in play with the name of the card on which this requirement is stated. X-Antibody Digimon and their non-X-Antibody counterparts are treated as the same Digimon.
=Playing the Game=
The below rules apply to the standard 'Card Game Alpha' format.
==Game Setup==
Before the start of the game, decide which player will be the first or second to attack through a game of rock-paper-scissors (or any other method such as coin-flipping). Each player starts off with 100 life points (this also acts as the upper limit; players cannot have more than 100 points at any given time).
After this, each player shuffles their and their opponent's decks, and draws 6 cards from their deck to form their hand. If no Level III Digimon cards are present in the 6 cards drawn, the player shows the opponent their entire hand and shuffles it back into their Net Ocean, drawing another 6 cards. This redraw can only be done once, even if the resulting hand still does not contain any Level III Digimon.
==Preparation Phase==
Each turn begins with the Preparation Phase (). At the start of the Preparation Phase, the player who has less points remaining will become 'first to attack'; however, if both players have the same number of points, the turn order from the previous turn will be retained. During the Preparation Phase, each party will carry out the following steps. The player who is first to attack will complete their Preparation Phase first, followed by the person who is second to attack, before moving on to the next phase.
# Untap all of your cards (this does not take place on the first turn).
# You may discard as many cards as you like from your hand, placing them face-down into the Dark Area; ensure that your hand contains 6 cards or less after discarding (this does not take place on the first turn).
# You may discard as many Digimon and Option cards that you have in play as you like (this does not take place on the first turn).
# Draw cards from your Net Ocean until you have 6 cards in your hand. If both your play area and hand do not contain any Level III cards, show your entire hand to your opponent and shuffle it back into your Net Ocean, redrawing 6 cards only once. If your Net Ocean does not have sufficient cards, draw everything from your Net Ocean and begin the Lifespan Process (): send all of your cards in play except for Option cards to the Dark Area and shuffle it, drawing cards from there until you have 6 cards in your hand. Lifespan arrangements may only be carried out during the Preparation Phase, and a player who has carried out lifespan arrangements cannot play any cards during that Preparation Phase.
# Play cards face-down onto your field, ensuring that the total Cost of cards played this turn does not exceed 10. You may only play up to 3 Digimon cards in your Digimon Box and up to 3 Option cards per turn; Level III Digimon cards can be put into play directly in the Digimon Box, but Level IV and above Digimon cards must be placed onto a card already in your Digimon Box that meets the evolution requirements of the Digimon card you are playing, in preparation for evolution. You may choose to place multiple cards on the same Digimon to prepare for multi-stage evolution, provided the number of cards played adheres to the 3 Digimon card limit and 10 total Cost limit.
# You may activate any abilities or Option cards now that require to be activated during the Preparation Phase.
==Evolution Phase==
After both players have completed their Preparation Phase, the Evolution Phase () begins. Unlike the Preparation Phase, both parties will carry out their Evolution Phase at the same time.
# Turn all cards played during the Preparation Phase face-up, into untapped position.
# Ensure the total Cost of cards played by each player during the Preparation Phase does not exceed 10. If the total Cost of a player's played cards exceeds 10, they will undergo the Burst Process (): For every Cost point exceeding 10, send 1 card from your Net Ocean to the Dark Area. Should the Net Ocean have insufficient cards to discard, all the cards played by the player during the Preparation Phase are sent to the Dark Area (the Lifespan Process will not occur at this juncture; it only occurs during the Preparation Phase).
# Ensure that all Digimon cards to be used for evolution played during the Preparation Phase have their evolution requirements met. If the evolution requirements are met, the evolution occurs and the evolved Digimon remains on the field, while the cards prior to evolution (including Level III Digimon cards) are sent to the Dark Area. If the requirements are not met, the evolution fails and the cards to be used for evolution are sent to the Dark Area, while the original card remains on the field.
# Line your Digimon cards up starting from the left, from highest to lowest Speed. If 2 or more of your Digimon have the same Speed, you may line them in any order you wish.
==Battle Phase==
During the Battle Phase (), each Digimon on the field moves according to their Speed (so the Digimon with the highest Speed goes first, regardless of who is first to attack). If 2 opposing Digimon on the field have the same Speed, the player who is first to attack moves their Digimon first. Each Digimon may choose to take one of three actions:
===Attack===
The Digimon attacks a single target.
The player chooses the target of the attack: either 1 of the opponent's Digimon, or the opponent player themselves. The player being attacked may choose to use one of their Digimon to block the attack; only a Digimon that is on the field, untapped, and has a higher Speed than the attacking Digimon can be used to block the attack. If the player has no Digimon able to block the attack or chooses not to block, the attacked player will take 10 damage and the attacking Digimon will become tapped, ending their action. If the player chooses a Digimon to block the attack, that Digimon becomes the target of the attacking Digimon. When the target of a Digimon's attack is an opponent Digimon, a battle is initiated between them:
# The technique each Digimon will use is determined by the opponent's battle type, denoted by the A, B, or C written on a card's top-left corner. For example, if the opponent Digimon's battle type is A, your Digimon will use its A technique.
# Each player uses any Command cards they wish, starting with the player whose Digimon is the one attacking.
# The attack power of each Digimon is then calculated by taking the base attack power of the technique written on the card, and applying and abilities or card effects that affect the amount. The Digimon with the higher attack power wins the battle; if both Digimon have the same attack power, both Digimon are treated as having won the battle.
# If the HP value of the Digimon that lost the battle is lower than the attack power of the Digimon that won the battle, the Digimon that lost the battle is deleted.
# The attacking Digimon becomes tapped. If a Digimon that was used to block an attack lost the battle but was not deleted, that Digimon becomes tapped as well.
All damage sustained during the battle is only applicable for that battle; damage does not carry over between battles.
===Alpha-Attack===
Multiple Digimon are used to attack the opponent player; the opponent player is treated as the target of an alpha-attack.
Aside from the attacking Digimon, the player chooses at least 1 other Digimon to support the attack. The supporting Digimon must currently be untapped, and share the same battle type and field as the attacking Digimon. The player being alpha-attacked may choose to use one of their Digimon to alpha-block the attack; the Digimon initiating the alpha-block must currently be untapped (Speed does not factor in for alpha-blocking), and the player must also have Digimon available to support the alpha-block, equivalent to the number of Digimon that are being used to support the alpha-attack. Similarly to an alpha-attack, supporting Digimon for an alpha-block must also currently be untapped and be of the same battle type and field as the alpha-blocking Digimon. If the player is unable to or chooses not to alpha-block the alpha-attack, the alpha-attacked player will take 10 damage and the alpha-attacking and supporting Digimon will become tapped, ending their actions. If the player is able to alpha-block the attack, an alpha-attack battle is initiated:
# The technique each player will use is determined by the opponent's battle type, denoted by the A, B, or C written on a card's top-left corner. For example, if the opponent Digimon's battle type is A, your Digimon will use its A technique. The technique with the highest base attack power among all of the alpha-attacking Digimon and its supporting Digimon, or alpha-blocking Digimon and its supporting Digimon, will be chosen as the technique used by the alpha-attacking side and the alpha-blocking side respectively.
# Only the special abilities of the alpha-attacking and alpha-blocking Digimon, and not the supporting Digimon, can be used unless otherwise stated.
# Each player uses any Command cards they wish, starting with the player whose Digimon is the one alpha-attacking.
# The attack power of each side is then calculated by taking the base attack power of the technique written on the card, and applying and abilities or card effects that affect the amount. The side with the higher attack power wins the battle; if both sides have the same attack power, both sides are treated as having won the battle.
# If the HP value of the Digimon that lost the battle (not including the HP values of the supporting Digimon) is lower than the attack power of the side that won the battle, the alpha-attacking or alpha-blocking Digimon from the side that lost the battle is deleted. Supporting Digimon do not get deleted.
# The alpha-attacking Digimon and its supporting Digimon become tapped. If the alpha-blocking side lost the battle, the Digimon supporting the alpha-block become tapped, along with the alpha-blocking Digimon if it survived the battle.
===Pass===
The Digimon does nothing and remains untapped. This Digimon can still be used to block or alpha-block later attacks as long as it is still untapped.
The turn ends once all Digimon on the field have taken action, and the next turn starts again from the Preparation Phase. 
==Winning Conditions==
The player wins and the game ends when one of below conditions has been met:
* Immediately when the opponent player's remaining points drop to 0.
* All of the opponent's Digimon cards are deleted, and they are unable to play any cards to continue the game.
* When the opponent's Net Ocean is exhausted and they are unable to continue even after undergoing the Lifespan Process.
* By fulfilling the winning conditions stated on a card.
=Card Sets=
See also: Full Card List Alpha
==Alpha Card Series==
Set Name 	Japanese Name 	No. of cards	Release Date
Alpha Evolve 1 	デジタルモンスターカードゲームα Evolve.1 	79 	April 13, 2006
Alpha Evolve 2 	デジタルモンスターカードゲームα Evolve.2 	81 	July 14, 2006
Alpha Expansion 	デジタルモンスターカードゲームα 拡張シート 	36 	August 9, 2006
Alpha Evolve 3 	デジタルモンスターカードゲームα Evolve.3 	99 	October 13, 2006
Alpha Evolve 4 	デジタルモンスターカードゲームα Evolve.4 	64 	December 8, 2006
Alpha Evolve 5 Savers Attack 	デジタルモンスターカードゲームα Evolve.5 セイバーズアタック 	84 	March 11, 2007
Alpha Evolve 6 Seven Great Demon Lords Advent Compilation	デジタルモンスターカードゲームα Evolve.6 七大魔王降臨編 	58 	June 15, 2007
Alpha Evolve 7 X-Antibody x Hybrid 	デジタルモンスターカードゲームα Evolve.7 X抗体×ハイブリッド体 	48 	September 21, 2007
Alpha Evolve 8 The Four Holy Beasts' Reign Compilation 	デジタルモンスターカードゲームα Evolve.8 四聖獣君臨編 	42 	January 24, 2008
==Data Cardass Series==
===Battle Terminal===
Set Name 	Japanese Name 	No. of cards	Release Date
Battle Terminal Version 1 	バトルターミナルＶｅｒ．１ 	50 	May 27, 2006
Battle Terminal Version 2 	バトルターミナルＶｅｒ．２ 	31 (+18) 	July 21, 2006
Battle Terminal Version 3 	バトルターミナルＶｅｒ．３ 	37 (+12) 	September 22, 2006
Battle Terminal Version 4 	バトルターミナルＶｅｒ．４ 	41 (+8) 	November 22, 2006
Battle Terminal Version 5 	バトルターミナルＶｅｒ．５ 	36 (+13) 	January 19, 2007
Battle Terminal Version 6 	バトルターミナルＶｅｒ．６ 	39 (+11) 	March 20, 2007
Battle Terminal Version 7 Seven Devil Attack	バトルターミナルＶｅｒ．７ セブンデビルアタック 	35 (+14) 	May 2007
===Battle Terminal 02===
Set Name 	Japanese Name 	No. of cards	Release Date
Battle Terminal 02 Version 1	デジモンバトルターミナル０２ 第１弾 	51 	August 8, 2007
Battle Terminal 02 Version 2	デジモンバトルターミナル０２ 第２弾 	49 	September 28, 2007
Battle Terminal 02 Version 3	デジモンバトルターミナル０２ 第３弾 	55 	December 20, 2007
==Merged Series==
Set Name 	Japanese Name 	No. of cards 	Release Date
United Booster 01 	デジモン ユナイテッドブースター 	29 (α) + 10 (BT)	August 11, 2006
Digimon Evolve File Set	デジモン Evolve File セット 	26 (α) + 8 (BT) 	November 20, 2006
United Booster 02 	デジモン ユナイテッドブースター 02 	29 (α) + 10 (BT)	January 19, 2007
United Booster 03 	デジモン ユナイテッドブースター 03 	29 (α) + 10 (BT)	July 13, 2007
Subspecies Discovery 	デジタルモンスターカードゲームα 亜種発見 !! スペシャルシート 	30 (α) + 10 (BT)	August 28, 2007
==Alpha and Cardass Promotional==
* Promo
=Promo=
Category:Arcade Games
Category:Cards
Category:Digital Monster Card Game Alpha