With the release of EX04 expected on Friday 23rd of June, the Digimon TCG sees “Alliance” added as a new keyword. This follows on from the Terriermon and Lopmon support featured alongside series staples Blue Flare and Omnimon Alter-S. As EX04 is an Extra Booster, it does not have a pre release like standard Booster Set releases.
It does, however, feature an increase Alt Art (AA) and Secret Rare pull rate, elevated from 2 slots, to 3-4 AA/Secret Rare slots. Alongside the introduction of Alliance, the increased hit rate on alt arts and strong generic support puts EX04 as a likely contender to join our list of top booster boxes for new and returning players.
Alliance
Keywords like Alliance in Digimon are shorthand words for effects, marked in orange hexagonal borders. Often older cards, or cards where a keyword was introduced will have the explanation of the keyword in brackets.
The Digimon TCG Alliance keyword reads the following:
“Alliance (When this Digimon attacks, by suspending 1 of your other Digimon, this Digimon adds the suspended Digimon’s DP and gains Security Attack + 1 for the attack.)”
This means that should the attacking Digimon unsuspend for any reason, you would need to suspend a new target to gain the Alliance effects again.
These combos do require you to have two Digimon on the field, one to suspend, and the attacker. Support cards for the Alliance archetype EX4-068 Henry Wong & Shu-Chong Wong allow you to play a support Digimon for suspending if you only have 1, although it is deleted at the end of the turn.