Category: Digimon

Timeless Bonds is the main-line set that followed the launch of a Digimon video game, and the publisher has built the set around that connection rather than treating it as a coincidence. Several of the points Bandai highlights on the product page are about which game characters appear and which of them arrive as a new kind of card.

The set is also one of the clearest examples of how much of a Digimon set can be stated from official sources alone. The card count, the rarity distribution, the pack and box contents and the six points the publisher wants a buyer to know are all on one page, which is why this article can describe the set rather than speculate about it.

Quick answer

Timeless Bonds holds 108 card types and is the set in which the Olympos XII arrive as Dual cards. Its character draw is a video game: the set features more characters from Digimon Story: Time Stranger, and it is built to recreate that game’s climactic battle. The Digimon Card Game index covers the game’s card types and colours; this page covers the set itself.

The set, as the publisher states it

Field	As published by Bandai
Product name	Timeless Bonds
Product code	BT-26
Set type	Booster Pack
Pre-release date	28 August 2026
Release date	4 September 2026
Card types in the set	108
Cards in a pack	12
Packs in a box	24

The rarity split, as published

A hundred and eight card types is a large set by this game’s standards, and the distribution shows where the weight sits: the bottom two steps account for well over half the set, while the top three together come to nine types.

Rarity	Card types
Common	40
Uncommon	26
Rare	21
Super Rare	12
Ultimate Rare	3
Secret Rare	2
Special Card	4

The presence of three Ultimate Rare types is worth noting for a reason that has nothing to do with scarcity: Ultimate Rare is a published step in the official breakdown rather than a marketing label, so the three of them are counted in the same list as everything else, sitting between Super Rare and Secret Rare. What that step means against the steps below it is covered on card numbers and rarity codes.

The six points the publisher highlights

Bandai lists six things about this set on the product page. They are worth reproducing in full, because they are the publisher’s own statement of what the set is for.

#	What the publisher highlights
1	More characters from the game Digimon Story: Time Stranger appear
2	The Olympos XII, who feature in the game, join the card game as Dual cards
3	The set is built to recreate the climactic final battle
4	More characters from DIGIMON BEATBREAK and DIGIMON DATA SQUAD appear
5	Each box comes with a special bonus pack
6	The set introduces decks that can be built from it

Read together, those six points describe a set that is doing two jobs at once. Four of them are about characters arriving from other Digimon media, and the other two are about the product itself: what extra a box carries, and what the set is intended to let a player build. That combination is why this set was picked for an article about the game’s current line rather than an older one.

What a Dual card is

The second point above is the one that changes how the set plays rather than what it contains. A Dual card is a card that is both a Digimon and an Option, which means the same card can enter play as a body or be used for its effect. The Olympos XII arrive in this set that way.

That matters most for deck building rather than for collecting. A card that can be either a creature or an effect occupies one slot while offering two uses, which changes the arithmetic of how many cards a deck wants at that position. The four card types themselves are unchanged, and DiGi-Egg, Digimon, Tamer and Option sets them out.

What a box adds

The fifth point is a product fact rather than a card fact, and it sits alongside one other thing the publisher states about the box. Between them they describe what a box is worth opening for beyond the cards themselves.

• A bonus pack with every box. The publisher states that each box comes with a special bonus pack, which is part of the box rather than a pull from the packs inside it.
• Twenty-four packs of twelve cards. The pack and box sizes are the line’s standard, so nothing about opening this set differs in format from any other booster pack in the game.
• A larger set than the Extra Boosters. At 108 card types this set is larger than the theme-focused Extra Boosters, which is the normal difference between the two product lines.

What this page does not claim

No prices, and no pull rates. The publisher states how many card types sit at each rarity, what a pack and a box contain, and the six points above; this page reproduces those statements and stops. It does not estimate how often any individual card appears, because the publisher does not publish that, and it does not rank the cards in the set, because a set this recent has no published basis for a ranking. Where the publisher’s product page does not define something, this page says nothing about it rather than filling the gap.

Frequently asked questions

How many cards are in BT-26 Timeless Bonds?

One hundred and eight card types, as published by Bandai. The split runs from 40 Common types to 2 Secret Rare types and 4 Special Card types, with three Ultimate Rare types in between.

What is a Dual card?

A card that is both a Digimon and an Option, so the same card can be played as a creature or used for its effect. The Olympos XII arrive in Timeless Bonds as Dual cards, which is the publisher’s own description of the set.

Which video game does this set connect to?

Digimon Story: Time Stranger. The publisher lists more characters from that game as one of the set’s points, and names it again as the game the Olympos XII feature in.

What comes in a box of Timeless Bonds?

Twenty-four packs of twelve cards, plus a special bonus pack that the publisher states comes with each box. The bonus pack is part of the box rather than something pulled from the packs inside it.

Where does Ultimate Rare sit in the breakdown?

Between Super Rare and Secret Rare. The official breakdown lists forty Common types, twenty-six Uncommon, twenty-one Rare, twelve Super Rare, three Ultimate Rare, two Secret Rare and four Special Card. Whether the step is new to the game is not something the product page states, so this page does not claim either way.

Sources

Sources and further reading

1. Bandai — the official Digimon Card Game product page for Booster Pack Timeless Bonds (BT-26): the release and pre-release dates, the number of card types, the pack and box contents, the rarity breakdown and the six highlighted points reproduced on this page. Accessed 6 October 2026.
2. Bandai — the official product listing that dates Timeless Bonds and its surrounding products, and which carries the publisher’s standing note that product specifications are subject to change.
3. Bandai — the Digimon Card Game official rules and glossary, which establishes the card types and the rarity steps used above.
4. This page was compiled 2026-10-06. We publish no price for Digimon cards, and no appearance rate the publisher has not published.

Related reading

• The Digimon Card Game index on this site
• DiGi-Egg, Digimon, Tamer and Option
• Digimon Card Game sets: booster, extra booster and starter decks

A Digimon booster pack is built from four slots, and one of them is a foil by design. That structure is published, and so is the composition of every set — how many card types sit at each rarity. What is not published is a rate, and knowing the difference between a count and a rate is the thing that makes set announcements readable. This page covers what is in a pack, what is in a box, and the layers that sit outside the pack altogether.

Quick answer

A Digimon booster pack contains twelve cards across four slots: seven commons, three uncommons, one rare printed as a foil, and one further foil slot holding a rare or something above it. Unlike a standard Yu-Gi-Oh! pack, the rare is a foil, and there is a second foil slot above it. A box holds 24 packs, which is 288 cards. The publisher states how many card types exist at each rarity in a set, and does not state odds, which is why a set breakdown is a description of a checklist rather than a prediction about a box.

Twelve cards in a pack

The pack is twelve cards, and the shape is fixed: seven commons, three uncommons, one rare, and one further foil card at rare or above.

Two of those slots are foils, which is a meaningful difference from the older card games a new player may have come from. The rare slot is printed as a foil by design rather than by chance, and the slot above it is a second foil, so an ordinary pack contains shine by default. What varies is which rarities the upper slot lands on, and that is where the whole range of a set’s top end comes from.

The slot that carries the top of the set

The fourth slot is the one worth understanding, because everything above the rare comes through it. Depending on the set, it can hold a Super Rare, a Secret Rare, an alternative-art printing, or — in sets that carry the tier — an Ultimate Rare.

That means a pack does not tell you what tier you received; it tells you that the top end of the set passed through one slot. how card numbers and rarity codes work explains how to read the printed rarity mark on the card itself, which is the reliable way to identify what came out. the Ultimate Rare page covers the tier that sits above Secret Rare in the sets that include it.

The box: twenty-four packs

A box is 24 packs, which comes to 288 individual cards. The published figure is worth holding next to the pack structure, because it shows how much of a box is the middle of the rarity ladder: most of what you open is common and uncommon, and the cards a deck is actually built from are largely there.

The top of the ladder is a small part of any given box. That is not a complaint about the product, it is what a rarity ladder is for, and it is the reason a box is a reasonable way to open a set and a poor way to obtain one named card.

The layers outside the pack

Two layers sit outside the pack entirely, and they are easy to miss when reading about a set.

• Box toppers. English boxes ship with a promotion pack distributed at the box level rather than inside the packs, which places it in a different collecting category from anything you can pull.
• Alternative art. A set’s alternative-art cards sit alongside the numbered list rather than replacing anything on it, so a card name can appear both as a base card and as an alternative at once.

That structure is worth knowing before starting a checklist, because it decides how many slots each card name occupies. the Advanced Booster page covers a product line where the alternative-art layer is nearly half the set.

Counts are not odds

The last point is the one that prevents most confusion about this game. The publisher states a set’s composition — how many card types exist at each rarity — and does not state how often any of them appears.

Those are two different kinds of number. A composition figure describes the checklist; it says nothing about a pack. Reading a set breakdown as though it were a probability is the most common error in this area, and it leads people to expect a box to deliver a proportion of its contents that a box does not deliver. the sleeves and holders page covers protection once the cards are open, and the Digimon card index collects the pages covering the rest of the structure.

For the rest of the game’s structure — the set list, the rarity codes and the other article lines — the Digimon card index is the place to start.

Frequently asked questions

How many cards are in a Digimon booster pack?

Twelve, in four slots: seven commons, three uncommons, one foil rare, and one further foil card at rare or above.

Does every Digimon pack contain a foil card?

The rare slot is printed as a foil, so a pack contains foils by design rather than by chance. There is also a second foil slot above the rare, which is where the upper rarities come from.

How many packs are in a Digimon booster box?

Twenty-four, which comes to 288 cards in the box.

Does Bandai publish pull rates for Digimon sets?

The publisher states a set’s composition — how many card types sit at each rarity — rather than odds. A composition figure describes the checklist, not the contents of a pack, so the two should not be read as the same thing.

What is a box topper?

A promotional card distributed with a box rather than inside the packs. Because it arrives at the box level, it belongs to a different collecting category from anything found in a pack.

Sources

Sources and further reading

1. Bandai — Digimon Card Game official product pages
2. Bandai — published set composition and card lists
3. Third-party sealed-product previews (published set sizes and structure)

Game rules, product contents and card counts are quoted from the publisher’s own materials at the date stated and can change without notice. Prices quoted anywhere on this site are secondary-market observations and move quickly; nothing here is a valuation or an investment recommendation. Our own asking prices for the cards we hold are on each product page.

Authenticating a Digimon card starts somewhere different from authenticating cards in older games. Every Digimon card carries a printed set code and a rarity mark as part of its design, which means the first check is not about paper or ink at all — it is about whether the printed encoding on the card is one the set actually contains. This page runs through that check and the four that follow it, in the order worth doing them, and is honest about what a photograph of a card can and cannot establish.

Quick answer

Start with the printed set code and rarity mark, because a counterfeit has to invent an encoding and the publisher’s list of what exists is the reference. Then check the foil at a tilt, check the print pattern under a loupe, check the card back and the cut edges, and finish by comparing against a copy you already trust. No single step settles it. The first one narrows the field quickly, and the last one is the only step that can raise your confidence rather than lower it.

Start with the printed code

Every Digimon card carries a set code and a rarity mark printed as part of the card. That pair is checkable against the published card list for the set, and it is the fastest way to find a card that should not exist.

The failure mode is specific: a counterfeit has to reproduce an encoding, and reproducing one that is not in the set, or one that does not match the art on the card, is easy to do by accident. how card numbers and rarity codes work explains how the encoding is read. Do this check first, because it costs nothing and it either narrows the field or ends the question.

The foil, at a tilt

Tilt the card in the light rather than looking at it straight on. A genuine foil in this game carries its texture across the surface in a way that responds to the angle, and on the textured upper rarities the pattern is a deliberate design element rather than a reflective wash.

Counterfeits reproduce the impression of shine more readily than they reproduce how shine behaves. Look for a pattern that stays flat as the card moves, or one that breaks into scattered points where the real card holds a continuous surface. the Ultimate Rare page covers the finishes where this matters most, because those are the cards worth counterfeiting.

The print pattern

Under ten times magnification the coloured areas of a genuine card resolve into a regular pattern of small printed dots. Counterfeits printed digitally generally show a softer, uneven field, or a pattern that does not hold at the edges of a coloured area.

Two places are worth the magnifier in particular. One is a large flat area of colour, where digital reproduction tends to show banding. The other is the small text near the bottom of the card, where the reproduction has the least room to be imprecise. the card types covers what the rest of the card design is doing while you are looking at it.

The card back and the cut

The back is where counterfeits are least careful, because the front is where the appeal is. On a genuine card the wordmark and the small print are sharp and the background art is finely detailed rather than pixelated.

Then look at the cut edge at an angle. A genuine card is cut from layered board and the edge shows a faint banded appearance; a counterfeit cut from a single sheet tends to show a bright uniform edge with no layers. This is the check people skip, and it is one a good reproduction still sometimes fails.

Compare, and know the limits

Finish beside a card you trust, from the same set where possible, comparing the code placement, the rarity mark, the border and the art registration. Different print runs vary, and older cards wear differently, so the comparison that carries weight is against a card of the same period.

Two limits are worth stating. A photograph cannot settle authenticity, because the checks above that matter most are the ones a camera does not capture — how the foil behaves as the card moves, what the print pattern does under magnification, and how the edge is built. And a card passing every check is still not certified; the checks rule out classes of fake rather than confirming a genuine card. the grading page covers what a grading company will and will not tell you, and the sleeves and holders page covers protection once you are satisfied.

For the rest of the game’s structure — the set list, the rarity codes and the other article lines — the Digimon card index is the place to start.

Frequently asked questions

How can I tell if a Digimon card is fake?

Start with the printed set code and rarity mark and check them against the published list for the set, then inspect the foil at a tilt, look at the print pattern under magnification, and check the card back and cut edges against a copy you trust.

What is the fastest check?

The printed set code and rarity mark. A counterfeit has to reproduce an encoding, and one that is not in the set or does not match the artwork is the quickest thing to find.

Can I authenticate a card from a photograph?

Not reliably. The strongest checks depend on how the foil behaves as the card moves, what the print pattern does under magnification and how the cut edge is built, and none of those survive a photograph.

Does a textured card prove it is genuine?

No. Texture is a design feature that counterfeits reproduce readily as an impression. What is harder to reproduce is how the surface responds as the card moves, which is why the check is done at a tilt rather than at a glance.

Should I get a doubtful card graded?

Grading is about condition rather than authentication, so raise the question with the company before you submit if authenticity is what you are unsure about. For a doubtful card, compare it against a known copy first.

Sources

Sources and further reading

1. Bandai — Digimon Card Game official product pages
2. Bandai — published set composition and card lists
3. Collector and authentication guides (published inspection methods)

Game rules, product contents and card counts are quoted from the publisher’s own materials at the date stated and can change without notice. Prices quoted anywhere on this site are secondary-market observations and move quickly; nothing here is a valuation or an investment recommendation. Our own asking prices for the cards we hold are on each product page.

The most common way to spend money badly in the Digimon Card Game is to open a booster box before learning the game. The product built to prevent that is the starter deck: a complete deck in a single box, ready to play the moment it is opened, and designed to be played against another one. This page covers what a starter deck contains, how it differs from the Advanced Deck line, and where it should sit in the sequence of what you buy.

Quick answer

A starter deck is a complete preconstructed deck — 54 playable cards — sold as a single product. Two starter decks can be played against each other straight away with no deckbuilding, which is what makes it the right first purchase rather than a booster box. The Advanced Deck line, such as ST-22 Amethyst Mandala, sits a step above it: still a preconstructed product, but built to be a little more demanding to pilot. The sequence that works is a starter deck first, then ten or so games, and only then a box.

What a starter deck contains

A starter deck is a fixed, complete deck in one box. It holds 54 playable cards, it is legal as it comes, and it needs nothing else to be played against another starter deck.

The fixed list is the point. There is no random element and no deckbuilding required, which means the first game you play is the actual game rather than a test of how well you assembled something. A starter deck also teaches by construction: it is built around one strategy, so a few games with it demonstrate what that strategy does and why the cards in the deck support each other.

Why it comes before a booster box

Boosters give you a pool, and a pool is only useful once you know what you want to build. Buying a box first inverts that order, and the usual result is a large number of cards and no deck.

There is also a cost argument that does not require any price to make. Ten games with a starter deck tells you whether the game is for you. If it is, you will get more out of the next purchase because you know which direction you want to take. If it is not, the amount spent is the smallest amount the game asks for. Either way, playing first is the sequence that makes the next decision informed. the card types covers the card types a starter deck is built from, which is what makes the strategy legible while you are learning it.

Starter deck against Advanced Deck

The Advanced Deck line is a sibling rather than a replacement, and the difference is worth knowing before you buy either.

Product	What it is
Starter Deck	A complete deck built for a first-time player, with a gentle learning curve.
Advanced Deck	Also preconstructed and complete, but built around faster, higher-risk lines that reward good sequencing.

An example of each makes the distinction concrete. The starter line includes decks built around control and recovery, which forgive early mistakes. The Advanced Deck line includes decks built around aggression and removal, which do not. Both are complete products; the difference is how much the deck asks of the person playing it.

What to do after the first games

Once you know the game, the purchase that follows is usually a booster box, and the choice of which one is easier than it looks.

If you already know which archetype you want to play, a reprint-focused product is the efficient route, because it restocks the cards a deck of that kind needs. the Advanced Booster page explains the Advanced Booster line and what a reprint share of a set actually means. If you want to see a set rather than build toward a deck, then pick the set and open it for its own sake, which is a different and perfectly reasonable reason to buy. what is in a booster box and pack sets out what a box and a pack contain so the expectation is set before you open anything.

Where the line sits in the product family

Three product shapes, three jobs, and they are worth keeping straight.

• Starter and Advanced Decks are for playing. They arrive complete, and playing one is the smallest purchase that answers whether the game is for you.
• Boosters and boxes are for building and for opening. They give you a pool rather than a deck.
• Advanced Boosters are for restocking. They are built around reprints, not new cards.

Once you have a deck you intend to keep, the cards need protecting, and the sleeves and holders page covers the sizes and holders that fit. If you later decide to have something graded, the grading page explains what the population data does and does not tell you. the Digimon card index gathers the rest of the structure.

For the rest of the game’s structure — the set list, the rarity codes and the other article lines — the Digimon card index is the place to start.

Frequently asked questions

What is a Digimon starter deck?

A complete preconstructed deck of 54 playable cards sold as a single product. It is legal as it comes and can be played against another starter deck without any deckbuilding.

Should I buy a starter deck or a booster box first?

A starter deck, because it gives you a working deck and a few games will tell you whether the game is for you. A booster box gives you a pool, which is only useful once you know what you want to build.

What is an Advanced Deck?

A preconstructed deck that sits above the starter line. It is still a complete product, but it is built around faster, higher-risk lines that reward good sequencing rather than forgiving mistakes.

Can two starter decks play against each other?

Yes. Starter decks are built to be played against each other out of the box, which is why two of them are a working game for a household rather than two collections.

What should I buy after a starter deck?

Play roughly ten games first, then decide. If you know your archetype, a reprint-focused product restocks what that deck needs. If you want to open a set, what is in a booster box and pack explains what a box contains.

Sources

Sources and further reading

1. Bandai — Digimon Card Game official product pages
2. Bandai — published set composition and card lists
3. Third-party sealed-product previews (published set sizes and structure)

Game rules, product contents and card counts are quoted from the publisher’s own materials at the date stated and can change without notice. Prices quoted anywhere on this site are secondary-market observations and move quickly; nothing here is a valuation or an investment recommendation. Our own asking prices for the cards we hold are on each product page.

The Digimon Card Game has a product line that exists to solve a problem rather than to add cards: the Advanced Booster. Where an ordinary booster introduces a set, an Advanced Booster restocks the cards a competitive deck needs and puts them back within reach. The first one, AD-01 Digimon Generation, is a clear illustration of the idea. This page covers what an Advanced Booster is for, what the published numbers in AD-01 actually add up to, and what the reprint share means for anyone deciding whether to open it.

Quick answer

An Advanced Booster is a reprint-focused product. AD-01 Digimon Generation carried 196 card types, of which 171 were reprints and 25 were new, with 92 alternative-art cards alongside them. The line’s defining feature is the finish: every card in it is foil. The consequence is that buying one is less like opening a set and more like buying a restock with a small amount of new material attached, which is exactly the job the line was created to do.

What the line is for

A card game reaches a point where the cards a competitive deck needs are out of print and hard to find. The usual answer is a reprint set, and the Digimon Card Game’s version of that is the Advanced Booster.

The purpose is stated in the product itself rather than inferred. AD-01 was built to support existing decks, and its published composition reflects that directly: most of what is in it already existed, and the small remainder was new support for archetypes that needed help. the most expensive cards page looks at how that pattern shows up at the top of the market, where a reprint and a first printing of the same card are different objects.

The numbers in AD-01

The published composition is worth reading line by line, because the ratios carry the argument.

Item	Published figure
Card types in the set	196
New cards	25
Reprints	171
Alternative-art cards	92
Special Rare	3
Secret Rare	14

Two things stand out. The reprint share is the large majority of the set by a wide margin, so nobody should open an Advanced Booster expecting a set of new cards. And the alternative-art count is close to half the set, which is a collecting layer sitting alongside the reprints rather than replacing any of them. the Secret Rare and Special page explains how the top tiers of a set are counted, which is how those three Special Rares and fourteen Secret Rares should be read.

Every card is foil

The feature that separates an Advanced Booster from a reprint set in another game is the finish. The published product description is unambiguous: the whole lineup is processed as foil or better, with no unfoiled cards in the set.

That changes two things. It changes what a copy is worth having for, because the reprint is not simply the old card made available again — it is the old card in a finish the original may not have had. And it changes handling, because a fully foiled card shows surface marks sooner than a matte printing does. the sleeves and holders page covers what that means for storage, and the grading page covers how a fully foiled card tends to grade.

Two families of alternative art

The alternative-art layer in AD-01 is not one treatment but two, and the distinction is published with the product. One family is rendered in a gold finish, which the set introduced for this line. The other reproduces scenes from the animation.

For a collector the practical effect is that a full alternative-art run means tracking two separate families rather than one list, and that a single card name can exist in a base printing, a gold alternative and a scene alternative at once. That is a structure worth understanding before you start a checklist, because it decides how many slots a single card name occupies.

What it changes when you decide to buy

The honest reading of an Advanced Booster is that it is a targeted purchase.

• If you need specific cards for a deck, it does the job the line was made for. That is what the 171 reprints are there to accomplish.
• If you want a set of new cards, it is the wrong product. Twenty-five new types out of 196 is the published number, and it is not a large share.
• If you are collecting the finish, the whole set is in the finish. That is the one sense in which an Advanced Booster behaves like a normal set, and it is a reason to treat the alternative-art families as the collecting layer.

how card numbers and rarity codes work explains how to tell which printing a card in your hand is, which is the first thing to establish before any of the above applies.

For the rest of the game’s structure — the set list, the rarity codes and the other article lines — the Digimon card index is the place to start.

Frequently asked questions

What is an Advanced Booster in the Digimon Card Game?

A reprint-focused product line. It restocks cards that competitive decks need, with a small share of new support cards, and the whole lineup is printed in a foil finish.

How many cards are in AD-01?

196 card types, of which 171 are reprints and 25 are new, with 92 alternative-art cards alongside the base list.

Are all cards in AD-01 foil?

Yes. The product description states that the entire lineup is processed as foil or better, which is the defining feature of the Advanced Booster line.

Is an Advanced Booster the same as a normal booster?

No. A normal booster introduces a new set, while an Advanced Booster is built around reprinting existing cards. If you want new cards, the published share of new material in AD-01 is 25 types out of 196.

What is the difference between the two alternative-art styles?

One family is rendered in a gold finish and the other reproduces scenes from the animation. They are separate layers, so a single card name can appear as a base card, a gold alternative and a scene alternative.

Sources

Sources and further reading

1. Bandai — Digimon Card Game official product pages
2. Bandai — published set composition and card lists
3. Third-party sealed-product previews (published set sizes and structure)

Game rules, product contents and card counts are quoted from the publisher’s own materials at the date stated and can change without notice. Prices quoted anywhere on this site are secondary-market observations and move quickly; nothing here is a valuation or an investment recommendation. Our own asking prices for the cards we hold are on each product page.

The Digimon Card Game is young enough that this question behaves differently than it does for an older game. There is no long print history to work through and no forty-year back catalogue to sort, which means the version of a card is decided by a smaller number of things, and three of the four can be read off the publisher’s own product page for the set the card came from.

What follows is a structure rather than a ranking. This site publishes no price for Digimon cards, so the useful thing to explain is not which card currently leads but what makes one printing of a card different from another — and which of those differences the publisher actually states.

Quick answer

Four things separate one version of a Digimon card from another: the rarity step it sits at in its set, the set itself and whether that set is still in print, whether the copy is an alternate art rather than the standard printing, and whether it has been graded. The first two are published by Bandai for every set, the third is visible on the card, and only the fourth happens after the card is made.

The four things that decide which version leads

Layer	What it is	Where it is settled
Set	Which booster the card came from, and whether that set is still being supplied	Published by the publisher, set by set
Rarity step	Where the card sits on the ladder, from Common up to Secret Rare and Special Card	Published by the publisher as a count for each set
Art version	Whether the copy is the standard printing or an alternate art, which keeps the same card number	Printed on the card
Grade	Whether the copy has been graded and sealed, and at what grade	Determined by a grading company, after the card is made

The order matters less here than in older games, because the game is new enough that no single layer has had time to dominate. What matters more is that the second layer is published as a count per set rather than as a per-card statement, which is unusual and worth understanding: the publisher tells you how many card types sit at each rarity, not how hard any one of them is to find.

Where the top of the ladder sits

The rarity ladder in this game is stated by the publisher for every set, which makes it possible to see the ceiling of a set before seeing its cards. Below are the published counts for two recent sets, one a main-line booster and one an Extra Booster.

Rarity	BT-26 Timeless Bonds	EX-13 Chivalrous XIII
Common	40	22
Uncommon	26	20
Rare	21	18
Super Rare	12	12
Ultimate Rare	3	3
Secret Rare	2	2
Special Card	4	4

Two things follow from reading that table. The first is that the top of a set is small and stable: both sets carry exactly three Ultimate Rare types, two Secret Rare types and four Special Card types, whether the set has 81 types or 108. The second is that a larger set is larger at the bottom, not at the top, which is why set size is a poor guide to what is at the top of it. The ladder itself is set out on card numbers and rarity codes.

Why the set matters as much as the rarity

The first layer is the one most often left out of the conversation and the one the publisher speaks about most clearly. A card game only prints a set once, and the difference between a card from a set that is still being supplied and a card from one that is not is a difference in supply rather than a difference in the card.

This game has an unusual feature here. Alongside the booster and Extra Booster lines the publisher runs an Advanced Booster line, whose stated purpose is to address this exact problem by returning particular cards to the market rather than reprinting a whole set. The first of those sets is largely made up of reprints, which makes the line the clearest place to see the publisher distinguishing between a card and a printing of it. Booster, extra booster and starter decks sets out which line is which.

The layer the publisher does not publish

The fourth layer is the only one this page can describe but not state, and being clear about why is the point of this section. Grading is done by companies outside the game, and the population of graded Digimon cards is still being built, in contrast with older games where decades of submissions have produced a settled picture.

What that means is modest and worth saying plainly rather than dressing up. A grade on a Digimon card records the condition of one copy; it does not indicate what that condition is worth, and it cannot be compared against a large body of similar copies that does not exist yet. That is a statement about the state of the market rather than a judgement about grading, and it is the reason this page stops where it does instead of ranking the cards in it.

What this page does not claim

No prices, and no ranking of cards by value. We have not yet run a checked pull of graded sales for the Digimon Card Game, and a number we cannot re-count is worse than no number, so this page publishes the structure that decides value and none of the value itself. It also does not state which printing of a card is hardest to find, because the publisher publishes rarity counts rather than per-card appearance rates. Every count above is quoted from the publisher’s product page for the set it belongs to.

Frequently asked questions

Why are two copies of the same Digimon card worth different amounts?

Because they are different versions of the same card number. An alternate art printing keeps the same card number as the standard printing, and the set the card came from and its rarity step belong to the individual printing rather than to the card name.

Does an alternate art change a card’s card number?

No. An alternate art keeps the same card number, which is why a restriction on a card applies to its alternate arts as well. A different illustration is not a different card in the rules.

Which rarity is the top of a Digimon set?

Secret Rare and Special Card sit at the top of the published ladder, with Ultimate Rare a step below them. Both recent sets carry two Secret Rare types, four Special Card types and three Ultimate Rare types, regardless of how large the set is overall.

Are older Digimon sets reprinted?

Not as whole sets, but the publisher runs an Advanced Booster line whose stated purpose is to return particular cards to the market. The first of those sets is largely made up of reprints of cards that were hard to obtain, which is the publisher addressing supply rather than reissuing a set.

Is there a graded market for Digimon cards?

It exists but is still being built. Grading is carried out by companies outside the game, and the population of graded Digimon cards is thin compared with older games, so a grade records the condition of one copy rather than placing it against a large settled population.

Sources

Sources and further reading

1. Bandai — the official Digimon Card Game product pages for BT-26 Timeless Bonds and EX-13 Chivalrous XIII, which state the rarity breakdowns and the pack and box contents reproduced on this page. Accessed 6 October 2026.
2. Bandai — the official product listing that names the lines of the game, including the Advanced Booster line and the Starter Decks, referred to above.
3. Bandai — the Digimon Card Game official rules and glossary, which establishes that a card is identified by the card number printed on it and that an alternate art keeps that number.
4. This page was compiled 2026-10-06. We publish no price for Digimon cards and no ranking of them by value, because we have not yet run a checked pull of graded sales for the game.

Related reading

• The Digimon Card Game index on this site
• Reading a Digimon card: codes, numbers and rarity marks
• Digimon Card Game sets: booster, extra booster and starter decks

Chivalrous XIII is an Extra Booster, which in the Digimon Card Game means a set that stands outside the main numbered line and is built around a single theme rather than around a story arc. The theme here is the Royal Knights, and the publisher says so plainly: the set is built so that decks for the thirteen Royal Knights get strengthened at once.

What makes this set unusually easy to write about honestly is that Bandai publishes the whole of its structure on the product page. The number of card types, how they split across the rarity ladder, which two cards are the Secret Rares and the names of all thirteen Royal Knights are all stated by the publisher, which means this page can be complete rather than representative.

Quick answer

Chivalrous XIII holds 81 card types, and its Secret Rares are Imperialdramon: Paladin Mode and Omnimon: Merciful Mode. The set’s signature feature is not a card type but a finish: every one of the thirteen Royal Knights has an alternate art with a gold treatment. The Digimon Card Game index covers the game at the level of colour and card type; this page goes a level finer, down to the individual names.

The set, as the publisher states it

These are the publisher’s own figures for the set. They are quoted rather than measured, which matters, because a card count is the kind of number that is easy to estimate wrongly from a card list.

Field	As published by Bandai
Product name	Chivalrous XIII
Product code	EX-13
Set type	Extra Booster
Release date	2 October 2026
Card types in the set	81
Cards in a pack	12
Packs in a box	24

The rarity split, as published

The rarity ladder in this game runs from Common to Special Card, and the publisher states how many card types sit at each step. Two things follow from reading it as a distribution rather than as a list of names: the set is bottom-heavy by design, and the top of the ladder is deliberately small.

Rarity	Card types
Common	22
Uncommon	20
Rare	18
Super Rare	12
Ultimate Rare	3
Secret Rare	2
Special Card	4

Four card types at the top two steps together is a small ceiling, and it is worth noticing that this is normal rather than stingy: the count describes how many different cards exist at that rarity, not how often one appears. The relationship between a card’s number and its rarity is a separate subject, and card numbers and rarity codes covers it. The publisher notes alongside this table that alternate art and alternate design versions of the listed types exist on top of the counts above.

The thirteen Royal Knights

The thirteen are named by the publisher in the same breath as the announcement that each of them has a gold alternate art. They are listed below in the order the publisher lists them, which is the order of the announcement rather than a ranking of any kind.

#	Royal Knight
1	Omnimon
2	Alphamon
3	UlforceVeedramon
4	Magnamon
5	LordKnightmon
6	Gallantmon
7	Dynasmon
8	Craniamon
9	Kentaurosmon
10	Leopardmon
11	Examon
12	Gankoomon
13	Jesmon

The list is a closed set, and that is the design of the set as much as the design of the group: an Extra Booster built around thirteen named Digimon can buff all thirteen at once, which a normal booster spread across a story arc cannot. The distinction between a Royal Knight and any other Digimon is a matter of the publisher’s reference material rather than of the card game, and the game itself treats them as ordinary cards with ordinary numbers.

The two Secret Rares

The publisher names both cards at the top of the ladder rather than leaving them to be discovered, which is a habit worth knowing about: in this game the identity of a set’s Secret Rares is product information rather than a spoiler.

Card	What it is
Imperialdramon: Paladin Mode	One of the two Secret Rares of Chivalrous XIII
Omnimon: Merciful Mode	The other Secret Rare of the set

What a box adds

Two of the publisher’s stated points are about the box rather than about the set, and they are the part most often missed by people reading a card list instead of a product page.

• An alternate art with every box. The publisher states that each box carries an alternate art card, which is a floor rather than a hope: it is a stated part of the box, not a pull.
• The gold treatment is the set’s feature. The alternate arts for the thirteen Royal Knights are described as carrying a special finish that glows gold, which makes the finish the thing to look for rather than the rarity step.
• The pack and box sizes are unchanged. Twelve cards in a pack, twenty-four packs in a box, as with the rest of the line, so nothing about opening this set differs from opening any other.

What this page does not claim

No prices, and no pull rates. The publisher states how many card types sit at each rarity and gives the pack and box contents, and this page reproduces those statements and stops. It does not estimate how often a given card appears, because the publisher does not publish that, and it does not rank the thirteen Royal Knights by anything, because the publisher has ranked them by nothing. Where the publisher’s product page does not define something, this page says nothing about it rather than filling the gap.

Frequently asked questions

How many cards are in the EX-13 set?

Eighty-one card types, as published by Bandai on the product page. The split runs from 22 Common types up to 2 Secret Rare types and 4 Special Card types, and alternate art versions of the listed types exist on top of those counts.

What are the Secret Rares in Chivalrous XIII?

Imperialdramon: Paladin Mode and Omnimon: Merciful Mode. Bandai names both on the product page rather than leaving them to be found, which is normal for this game.

Which Royal Knights are in the set?

All thirteen are named: Omnimon, Alphamon, UlforceVeedramon, Magnamon, LordKnightmon, Gallantmon, Dynasmon, Craniamon, Kentaurosmon, Leopardmon, Examon, Gankoomon and Jesmon. The publisher lists them in that order, which is the order of its announcement and not a ranking.

What is special about the alternate arts in this set?

The alternate arts for the thirteen Royal Knights are described by the publisher as carrying a special finish that glows gold. That finish is the set’s signature feature, and it applies across all thirteen rather than to one chase card.

Does every box contain an alternate art card?

Yes. The publisher states that each box comes with an alternate art card, which makes it a stated part of the box rather than something that depends on the packs inside it.

Sources

Sources and further reading

1. Bandai — the official Digimon Card Game product page for Extra Booster Chivalrous XIII (EX-13): the release date, the number of card types, the pack and box contents, the rarity breakdown, the thirteen Royal Knights and the two Secret Rares listed on this page. Accessed 6 October 2026.
2. Bandai — the same page’s standing notes that product specifications are subject to change and that the images and contents shown during development may differ from the finished product.
3. Bandai — the Digimon Card Game official rules and glossary, which establishes the card types and the rarity steps used as column headings above.
4. This page was compiled 2026-10-06. We publish no price for Digimon cards, and no appearance rate the publisher has not published.

Related reading

• The Digimon Card Game index on this site
• Digimon Card Game sets: booster, extra booster and starter decks
• Reading a Digimon card: codes, numbers and rarity marks

The good news about protecting Digimon cards is that they are the standard size: 63 by 88 millimetres, the same measurement used by Pokémon and Magic. Sleeves cut to that size fit properly, which is not something every game can say. The less obvious part is that two features of this game change which sleeves you want anyway. The foiling on the top tiers is sensitive to handling, and the dual-card mechanic means some cards get turned over routinely in play. This page covers the fit, the layers, and the holders worth keeping.

Quick answer

Digimon cards measure 63 by 88 millimetres, so standard-size sleeves fit and a card should not move once it is in one. That is the same cut used by Pokémon and Magic, and different from Yu-Gi-Oh!, which uses 59 by 86. Two game-specific points follow. First, the top-tier foils — Ultimate Rare, Secret Rare and Special — show handling marks sooner than flat printings, so sleeve before you compare copies. Second, dual cards are turned over during play, so both faces need protection and the outer sleeve takes wear on both sides.

The size, and why it is good news

At 63 by 88 millimetres a Digimon card is exactly the size the sleeve market refers to as standard. That means the largest selection of sleeves fits, prices are competitive because production volumes are high, and a card in the right sleeve does not move.

Test the fit the same way every time: slide the card in, turn it over, and see whether it shifts. A card that stays put is correctly sleeved. A card that slides means the sleeve is cut for a smaller card — which in practice means it is a sleeve intended for Yu-Gi-Oh! at 59 by 86 millimetres, and a Digimon card will not fit in one at all.

Why this game needs more care than the size suggests

Two features of the Digimon Card Game add wear that a game with plain cards would not have.

The foils. Ultimate Rare, Secret Rare and Special card types carry treatments that cover more of the surface with a reflective layer than an ordinary card. A reflective layer shows every handling mark, because there is no flat area for a scratch to disappear into. Two identical scuffs that would be invisible on a Common are obvious on one of these.

The dual faces. A dual card is turned over during play because both faces matter, and turning a card over is the most damaging thing you do to it routinely. Lifting, rotating and setting down a card puts pressure on its corners and drags its surface across whatever it is being set on.

The three layers

Same three jobs as any other card game, with the middle one doing more work here.

• Inner sleeve. Thin, tight, and in the correct size. This is the layer that touches the card, and it is the one that matters most for a foil. It should stay on.
• Outer sleeve. The sleeve the deck is shuffled and turned in. On a deck containing dual cards, this layer is taking wear from both faces, so replace it sooner than you would in a game where cards never get flipped.
• Rigid holder. For storage, postage and grading submissions rather than for play. A rigid holder stops the card flexing.

Holders, and when each is right

Holder	Use it for	Watch out for
Clear rigid sleeve	Storage and display; a card you want to look at.	The open edge — a card can slide out if a box is tipped.
Semi-rigid holder	Posting a card, and grading submissions.	It is sealed, so it is not reusable.
Graded slab	A documented card you do not intend to play.	It is no longer a playable card.

Because Digimon cards are the standard size, holders cut for standard cards fit without an adaptor, which removes the commonest cause of a card rattling inside a rigid holder.

What damages these cards specifically

Beyond the general advice, three things come up often with Digimon cards.

• Two dual cards in one pocket. They are turned and re-sleeved more often, so more chances to end up back to back rubbing against each other.
• Shuffling a deck of high foils. A deck built around top-tier cards wears faster than a deck of Commons; use outer sleeves and expect to replace them.
• Humidity and heat. Foil layers react to both over time, and a card that was flat can take on a curve if it is stored badly.

For the fit and the layers, the card protection range lists what we keep. For whether a card is worth the rigid holder in the first place, the grading page sets out what the population data can and cannot support. And if a card has come from a set you are not sure about, the Digimon Card Game index has a set-by-set walkthrough.

Frequently asked questions

What size sleeves fit Digimon cards?

Standard-size sleeves, cut for 63 by 88 millimetres. It is the same cut as Pokémon and Magic, so the widest selection available fits properly and a correctly sleeved card should not move at all.

Do Yu-Gi-Oh! sleeves fit Digimon cards?

No. Yu-Gi-Oh! cards are 59 by 86 millimetres and the sleeves made for them are cut smaller, so a Digimon card will not fit. Buy standard size.

Do I need different sleeves for dual cards?

No, the card is the same size. What changes is how often it gets turned over during play, so the outer sleeve takes wear on both sides and should be replaced sooner.

Do the top-tier foils need special protection?

The method is the same as for any other card, but the tolerance is lower. Foil treatments show handling marks that a flat printing hides, so sleeve before comparing copies and avoid handling them repeatedly out of a sleeve.

Can I put a Digimon card in a rigid holder meant for standard cards?

Yes, and that is the advantage of the standard size. Check the holder’s stated dimensions anyway, because a card that rattles inside a holder can pick up edge wear on the way in and out.

Sources

Sources and further reading

1. Bandai — Digimon Card Game official product pages
2. Bandai — Digimon Card Game official card list
3. Manufacturer-published sleeve and holder dimensions
4. Third-party collector references on foil handling and storage

Game rules, product contents and card counts are quoted from the publisher’s own materials at the date stated and can change without notice. Prices quoted anywhere on this site are secondary-market observations and move quickly; nothing here is a valuation or an investment recommendation. Our own asking prices for the cards we hold are on each product page.

Grading gets discussed as if it were one thing, but the value of a grade depends on how many other copies have been graded. For Pokémon and Yu-Gi-Oh! there are decades of submissions to compare against. For the Digimon Card Game there are not, and that changes what a grade can tell you. This page is about that gap: what grading measures, what a young population can and cannot support, and the honest cases where the right answer is to leave a card in its sleeve.

Quick answer

A grade documents four things: centring, corners, edges and surface, on the individual copy in front of the grader. What it does not do is tell you how that copy compares to the rest of the surviving print run, and that comparison is what a deep population supports. Digimon is a younger game with a thinner population than Pokémon or Yu-Gi-Oh!, so population-based statements about Digimon cards carry less weight. Grading a Digimon card is still a reasonable way to document a good copy and put it in a rigid holder. Treating a young population as if it were a mature one is where people go wrong.

What a grade actually is

A grade is an opinion about one card, recorded by a company, and attached to that card in a sealed holder. It is produced by inspecting the card on four fronts. On the Digimon Card Game specifically, the physical properties work in the collector’s favour: cards are the standard 63 by 88 millimetres, printed on stock that behaves like other modern trading card games, and cut with rounded corners.

Rounded corners are worth naming, because they matter. A rounded corner spreads an impact around a curve rather than concentrating it at a point, so the same knock produces less visible damage than it would on a square-cornered card. That makes Digimon cards a little more forgiving than the game most often compared to them.

What a young population cannot tell you

Population data answers a question of the form “of the copies graded so far, how many reached this grade?” For that answer to mean anything, the graded copies have to be a fair sample of the surviving cards. In a young game with a thin population, they usually are not, for three reasons.

• Who submits. Early submissions skew towards cards people already believe are worth submitting, which is not the same as a random sample.
• What survives. Cards from a recent set have spent little time in circulation, so the population reflects recent handling rather than the card’s full life.
• How it is read. A low count of high grades is regularly read as scarcity when it may only mean few people have submitted yet.

The honest summary is that population is a live number, and a live number from a young population is a weak basis for a strong claim.

Which Digimon cards people actually submit

Three groups come up again and again.

Group	Why it gets submitted
Top-tier treatments	Ultimate Rare, Secret Rare and Special cards carry the finishes where surface condition matters most, so a clean copy is worth documenting.
Character cards	The Digimon people collect — the Agumon and Greymon lines, the Royal Knights, the protagonists’ partners — attract submissions regardless of tier.
Alternate art	A different artwork of a known card is a distinct collectable, and collectors treat it as its own card rather than as a variant.

Notice what is not on that list: the rarity tier alone. A top-tier printing of a card nobody collects is still a card nobody collects.

When leaving a card raw is right

Three cases, and they are common.

• The card is going into a deck. A graded card is sealed in a rigid holder and cannot be shuffled. Grade a duplicate if you want both.
• The card has visible wear. Grading documents condition rather than improving it, and edge and corner wear from play is permanent.
• The card is a favourite. A holder protects a card and also freezes it. If the point of owning it is to look at it properly, a rigid holder you can open does the same job without the seal.

We do not quote prices or predict what a grade is worth, because with a thin population the market for any individual card is itself thin and changes quickly. What is structural is this: grading documents a card, and the usefulness of that document depends on how much else has been documented around it.

A working checklist

Before submitting anything, run through five questions.

• Have I inspected the card out of its sleeve, under a light, at an angle?
• Is the card clean on all four fronts, not just the one facing me?
• Am I grading for the card or for a number?
• Do I need this card to stay playable?
• Do I understand that a low count of high grades in a young population is not the same as scarcity?

If the answers are satisfactory, a submission is a reasonable way to protect and document a card. If the fourth question is the sticking point, the answer is a rigid holder and the card protection range has those, and the protection page covers which fit.

For the rest of the game’s structure — the set list, the rules and the other article lines — the Digimon Card Game index is the place to start.

Frequently asked questions

Is it worth grading Digimon cards?

It can be, for a clean copy of a card you intend to keep rather than play. What is worth being careful about is treating a young population as if it were a mature one: a thin population supports weaker conclusions than the equivalent numbers do in older games.

Are Digimon cards easier to grade than Yu-Gi-Oh! cards?

The physical properties are more forgiving. Digimon cards are the standard 63 by 88 millimetres with rounded corners, while Yu-Gi-Oh! cards are smaller at 59 by 86 and cut with square corners, which concentrate handling damage at a point.

Which Digimon cards get submitted most?

Top-tier treatments such as Ultimate Rare and Secret Rare, cards of characters people collect, and alternate artworks. Rarity on its own is a weak predictor.

Can I still play a graded card?

No. A graded card is sealed in a rigid holder and is not a legal card to shuffle. If the card is part of a deck, grade a duplicate.

Does a low population of high grades mean a card is rare?

Not by itself. In a young game it may only mean few copies have been submitted so far. Population is a live number and it moves as more cards are sent in.

Sources

Sources and further reading

1. Bandai — Digimon Card Game official card list
2. Bandai — Digimon Card Game official product pages
3. Third-party grading companies’ published submission standards
4. Third-party collector references on card stock and cut

Game rules, product contents and card counts are quoted from the publisher’s own materials at the date stated and can change without notice. Prices quoted anywhere on this site are secondary-market observations and move quickly; nothing here is a valuation or an investment recommendation. Our own asking prices for the cards we hold are on each product page.

A Digimon set’s breakdown reads like a manifest, and at the top of that manifest sit two tiers that collectors pay attention to: Secret Rare and Special. They are not the same thing, they are not interchangeable, and confusing them is one of the most common mistakes made when reading a set list. This page sets out how the two are labelled, how each sits relative to Ultimate Rare, and how to get useful answers out of the published breakdown rather than guessing at things the publisher never stated.

Quick answer

Secret Rare and Special are separate printed tiers, both at the top of a Digimon set, and the publisher publishes a count for each. In BT-26 Timeless Bonds that is 2 Secret Rares and 4 Specials out of 108 card types; in EX-13 Chivalrous XIII it is 2 Secret Rares and 4 Specials out of 81. Ultimate Rare sits alongside them as a third top tier. One useful consequence: because the counts are published, you can tell how large each tier is in a set without relying on any estimate of how often a card appears in a box.

Two tiers, not one

The breakdown published for a set separates the top of the list into distinct lines. Using BT-26 Timeless Bonds as the example, the 108 card types divide as 40 Common, 26 Uncommon, 21 Rare, 12 Super Rare, 3 Ultimate Rare, 2 Secret Rare and 4 Special. EX-13 Chivalrous XIII divides its 81 as 22 Common, 20 Uncommon, 18 Rare, 12 Super Rare, 3 Ultimate Rare, 2 Secret Rare and 4 Special.

The two sets agree on the top of the structure even though their total sizes differ by 27 cards. That is the first useful thing the breakdown tells you: the shape of the top end is a constant, and it is the bottom end that scales with set size.

How Special differs from Secret Rare

Both are top-tier printings, and both are applied to a small, fixed number of cards in a set. Where they differ is what they are for. A Secret Rare is the continuation of the ordinary rarity ladder — the same kind of card, printed at the top of it. A Special is a designation used for cards that sit outside the ordinary ladder, which is why the count is larger than the Secret Rare count and why the cards carrying it tend to be ones the set is built around.

For a collector the practical difference is that the two are counted and listed separately, so a set with 2 Secret Rares and 4 Specials does not have six cards at one tier. It has two at one tier and four at another.

Where Ultimate Rare fits

Ultimate Rare is the third tier at the top, and it sits above Secret Rare in the listing order. It is a treatment rather than a category, which is the key distinction: Secret Rare and Special describe which cards the set has singled out, while Ultimate Rare describes how a card has been finished.

That is why a set can list three Ultimate Rares and two Secret Rares without any overlap problem. They are counted on different axes, and the Ultimate Rare page covers that tier in full.

Getting useful answers out of a breakdown

A published breakdown answers three questions well.

• How large is a tier? Directly, because the count is published.
• How does this set compare to the last one? Directly, by putting the two breakdowns side by side.
• Is a card I have seen from this set top-tier? By checking the printed rarity mark, which the guide to codes and rarity marks explains.

It does not answer one question, and no published breakdown does: how often a given card appears in a box. The publisher does not state that, and this page does not estimate it.

Reading a card you are holding

Start with the set code, then the rarity mark, then check the card against the published breakdown for that set. That order matters, because a card can share a colour, a level and even an artwork treatment with a card from a different set and still be a different rarity.

The other thing worth knowing is that the top tiers are surfaces as much as rarities. They show handling marks sooner than a flat printing, so inspect them out of the sleeve at a tilt, and sleeve them before comparing two copies. the card protection range covers the holders, and the protection page covers the fit.

For the rest of the game’s structure — the set list, the rules and the other article lines — the Digimon Card Game index is the place to start.

Frequently asked questions

What is the difference between Secret Rare and Special?

They are separate printed tiers at the top of a set, counted separately in the publisher’s breakdown. Secret Rare extends the ordinary ladder; Special is used for cards the set singles out. BT-26 and EX-13 both list 2 Secret Rares and 4 Specials.

Which is rarer, Secret Rare or Special?

The published counts are the reliable guide, and in the recent sets the Secret Rare count is the smaller of the two. That describes how many cards carry the tier, not how often each appears in a box, which the publisher does not state.

How does Ultimate Rare relate to them?

It is a third tier at the same end of the set, counted on a different basis: Secret Rare and Special describe which cards the set has singled out, and Ultimate Rare describes the finish applied to a card. The sets list 3 Ultimate Rares.

How can I tell which tier a card is?

Read the printed rarity mark, and check the set code against the published breakdown for that set. the guide to codes and rarity marks covers the encoding in detail; going by the way a card catches the light is a less reliable habit.

Do these tiers change the card in play?

No. Rarity is a printing decision. A Secret Rare and a Common of the same card have identical text, colour, level and effects, and both are legal in the same decks.

Sources

Sources and further reading

1. Bandai — Digimon Card Game official product pages
2. Bandai — Digimon Card Game official card list
3. Third-party retailer set breakdowns (published card counts and rarity structure)
4. Bandai — Digimon Card Game official rule manual

Game rules, product contents and card counts are quoted from the publisher’s own materials at the date stated and can change without notice. Prices quoted anywhere on this site are secondary-market observations and move quickly; nothing here is a valuation or an investment recommendation. Our own asking prices for the cards we hold are on each product page.