Digimon: color requirements for using Option cards
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To use a Digimon Card Game Option, you need a Digimon or Tamer of its colour on your field. A multicolour Option requires all of its colours, supplied by one multicolour card or several eligible cards together. A Digimon in the breeding area can satisfy this general colour requirement.
Digivolution cards do not automatically supply their colours, and an Option placed in the battle area does not become a colour provider. White is not a wildcard. Specific cards can provide exceptions, but their actual scope must be read rather than extended to every Option.
Colour permission and payment are separate
Colour eligibility lets you use the card; its use cost establishes what you pay. Having a suitable Tamer does not automatically reduce memory cost. Conversely, enough available memory does not remove the need for matching colour or a valid exception.
Section 4-22 of the current comprehensive rules defines colour requirements through a Digimon or Tamer on your field matching the Option. Cards elsewhere in your deck or hand do not establish that field condition.
For example, putting ten red Digimon in the deck list does not independently authorise a red Option. An eligible support must exist on the field at the appropriate point. An Option compatible with your deck's overall plan can therefore be temporarily unusable in an opening hand.
If an effect allows an Option to be used without paying its cost, still check colour. “Without paying” and “ignoring colour requirements” are different permissions. Do not turn an economic exception into an eligibility exception that the text never grants.
Eligible colour providers
Review the current colours of your relevant Digimon and Tamers. One multicolour card can supply more than one required colour. You do not pay with it or suspend it merely because its colour enables an Option; that is not an added cost of the general requirement.
The breeding area belongs to the field, and its Digimon can meet the general colour condition. You do not have to move it into battle solely to enable an Option of that colour. This does not activate its abilities there: supplying colour and triggering an effect are separate questions.
The top card of a stack represents the Digimon. Cards underneath do not automatically append their colours to the current Digimon. If a solely blue Digimon evolved over a red card, do not assume it is now red and blue simply because the red source remains underneath.
An Option remaining in the battle area is also not a Digimon or Tamer provider. A green frame on that Option does not meet another green Option's requirement. Check category as well as visible colour instead of treating every coloured card as eligible support.
Options with two colours
A red-blue Option requires red and blue. It is not a choice of one colour or the other, nor an alternative payment. With only a red Digimon and no eligible blue support, the ordinary requirement remains incomplete.
A red-blue Digimon can satisfy both. So can a red Digimon together with a blue Tamer, or other eligible pieces covering the two colours. One multicolour card can satisfy multiple parts of the condition; two separate bodies are not mandatory.
| Position for a red-blue Option | Ordinary requirement met? | Explanation |
|---|---|---|
| Red-blue Digimon in battle | Yes | Supplies both colours |
| Red Digimon plus blue Tamer | Yes | Together cover the requirement |
| Red Digimon in breeding plus blue Tamer in battle | Yes | Breeding can supply the general colour condition |
| Only a red Digimon | No | Blue is missing |
| Blue Digimon above a red source | Not through that source | The source does not automatically append red |
| Red Option in battle plus blue Digimon | Not through that Option | An Option is not a Digimon or Tamer |
These are hypothetical field configurations, not names of specific cards. If an effect changes colours or authorises a different way to qualify, apply that state and text. The table describes the ordinary requirement without such modifications.
White is not every colour
White is a game colour, not a wildcard enabling all Options. A white Option must satisfy its own requirement unless its text or another applicable effect provides an exception. A card's unusual role does not independently remove its colour condition.
Likewise, a white Digimon does not provide red, blue or green simply by being white. If a multicolour Option includes white, check every listed colour. A thematic description such as special or neutral cannot replace the actual rule.
When buying for a multicolour deck, identify which supports can realistically exist when needed. An impressive Option does not repair a list lacking eligible providers. Deck selection should consider the field sequence rather than only the colours appearing throughout the complete list.
Written exceptions and Amber Memory Boost!
Some Options provide an explicit alternative way to meet their colour requirements. The official Amber Memory Boost! LM-035 FAQ explains that a purple Digimon or Tamer can satisfy its stated condition. It also confirms the purple-Digimon-in-breeding case.
That permission belongs to that card. It does not make every Memory Boost usable through purple or create a universal exception for other yellow Options. Check the exact number and exception text before applying the answer to another card.
Also examine whether an exception depends on an effect or a specifically referenced characteristic. Breeding does not automatically participate in every effect condition. A card asking for a particular trait can have a different scope from the ordinary colour check.
The useful question is whether this card in this state satisfies this particular exception. “Does breeding count?” is too broad: it can count for general colour while not satisfying another condition an effect observes. Consult the FAQ when text adds a specific requirement.
An exception can also depend on a condition that later stops being true. Do not treat the permission as permanently attached to your deck because you satisfied it during a previous turn. Evaluate the actual state when the Option is being used.
Security and Delay do not always repeat the check
Colour requirements concern using an Option. Activating its effects without using it through that procedure is a different situation. Resolving its Security effect does not require a matching Digimon or Tamer merely because the card is an Option.
That does not turn every Security effect into permission to use another Option without colour requirements. If the instruction authorises using another card, check which exceptions it supplies. Resolving this card's Security and using a different Option through an effect are not equivalent actions.
The Green Memory Boost! P-038 FAQ separates two cases. Once placed in battle, it does not provide green for another Option. It can nevertheless activate its own Delay even if no other green Digimon or Tamers remain.
Activating that Delay is not using the Option from hand again. Apply the effect's own conditions, including permitted timing. Do not demand an unnecessary new colour check, and do not ignore a Delay restriction merely because the original use met its colour condition.
Checking the field at the right point
Before declaring use, identify every Option colour and the available supports. If a preceding action removed your only provider, do not continue with the old state. Available colour can change through digivolution or the departure of a Digimon or Tamer.
Keep the colour check separate from effect resolution. Eligibility does not guarantee the effect will accomplish everything intended; it can have its own conditions or recipients. Read those details without confusing them with permission to use the card.
For a deck with few providers of one colour, practise what happens when that support disappears. Another Tamer or alternative play may be necessary. No invented consistency percentage is needed to recognise which hand cards depend on a single field piece.
If an incorrect declaration is discovered at a tournament, call a judge. Rules provide procedures for revealed cards that cannot be used, but do not improvise penalties or a complete rewind yourselves. Explain the state, card and point at which the issue was noticed.
For a shopping list, mark unusual Options alongside their intended provider or written exception. This gives each inclusion a practical plan. A list that looks colour-compatible on paper may still have difficult opening sequences, which becomes easier to spot when dependencies are explicit.
Frequently asked questions
Does a red source beneath a blue Digimon enable a red Option?
Not merely by being underneath. Sources do not automatically contribute their colour to the top Digimon. You need an eligible red Digimon or Tamer, or a specific exception allowing another relevant check.
Does an Option placed in battle provide its colour for other Options?
Not under the general rule. The requirement asks for a Digimon or Tamer, and Green Memory Boost!'s FAQ confirms that the Option does not itself provide green. Activating its own Delay is a different question.
Can I use a free Option without matching colours?
Do not infer that permission from the waived cost. Using without paying and ignoring colour requirements are different exceptions. Check whether the text explicitly grants the latter or whether you satisfy the colours normally.