Unlike most popular card games, Digimon Card Game tends to lean on the budget side of things when it comes to the cost of cards, but that doesn't mean that pulling a beautiful card won't net you a nice profit.
In BT-10 Xros Encounter, most of the high-value cards are the highly sought-after alternate art cards. Most of the time, these cards are considered the max rarity version of the card. Therefore, players are constantly on a hunt for these pieces of shiny, textured cardboard. A single one of these cards is a reasonable price for collecting purposes, but be prepared to pay an arm and a leg if you want a playset of max rarity cards.
Updated April 4, 2023 by Jesus Morales: Digimon Card Game has an ever-changing and evolving meta. Since Japan is ahead of the English release about two sets, you can see which cards to expect and which archetypes will get support. For that reason, market prices fluctuated quite a bit, warranting an update to this list. We've also a couple of more entries. These cards have either exploded in price, thus earning themselves a spot in the higher echelons of our list, or are simply meta-relevant cards that are worth mentioning and that players are constantly purchasing.
This list uses the market price as listed on TCGPlayer; however, numbers may fluctuate over time as supply and demand change.
12 Canoweissmon (Alternate Art) - $22.17
After Japanese Digimon players recieved the first reprint booster in RB-01 Rising Wind, prices of Canoweissmon skyrocketed. Gammamon has always been a competent yet incomplete deck. A promo card here, a small bit of Digivolutions in this set there, but never enough to make the deck self-sufficient.
With Rising Wind, the Gammamon deck not only becomes playable, but incredibly strong in fact. Every fan of Ghost Game quickly jumped on the opportunity to buy this card while it was cheap.
11 Omnimon (X Antibody) (Alternate Art) - $23.27
Omnimon is a card that was heavily slept on during BT-10's release cycle. Most players pushed it aside, as the older Omnimon (X Antibody) was still widely used in decks, and knocked it as an extremely situational and a "win more" card. Meaning, it was only effective if you were already ahead in the game, rather than being able to use it to counter one of your opponent's strategies.
It started seeing heavy play in the popular MetalGarurumon (X Antibody) deck, since it gave the deck a much-needed shield to its already mighty sword. After decks like MetalGarurumon X began its use, and BlackWarGreymon X made it a tech option to include, the price on the beautiful sky blue-coated card soared.
10 Jesmon GX - $24.88
.jpg?q=50&fit=crop&w=740&dpr=1.5)
One of the biggest meta contenders and one out of two Secret Rare cards in Xros Encounter is Jesmon GX. Although not many of the Jesmon decks opt to add this card to their arsenal, Jesmon GX can be a great way to close out a game, and can even be splashed into other decks that run Royal Knights trait cards, so it adds a bit of spicy fun.
Being a Secret Rare and a dual-colored black and red card, this card is bound to stick around for a minute.
9 MetalGreymon (Alternate Art) - $24.98
MetalGreymon and its many versions will forever be a fan favorite, so it is always bound to get the Alternative Art treatment from Bandai. The Blue Flare MetalGreymon is no exception.
Showcasing beautiful art by the talented Naochika Morishita, who is known for creating tons of artwork pieces for Gundam model kit box art, this card truly shows that the Blue Flare deck is not to be messed with. This beast of a card is ready to stun everything in its path.
8 Sistermon Ciel (Alternate Art) - $25.10
Following this set, Jesmon is looking to become an extremely expensive deck to play at a max rarity. The new Sistermon Ciel card introduced in BT-10 was given an Alternate Art just like her BT-06 counterparts in Sistermon Blanc and BT-06 Sistermon Ciel.
Although some might think that the regular art is much cuter with Ciel hanging out with Lillymon, you can argue that the Alternative Art falls in theme closer to the BT-06 cards. If you want a max rarity deck, you have to stay in theme.
7 Sparrowmon (Alternate Art) - $28.38
Even though the Shoutmon X4 restriction hurt the Xros Heart deck by quite a bit, it did not slow down the raw draw power that it contains. Believers of the deck kept pushing its boundaries, especially knowing that BT11 Dimensional Phase will give them plenty of new toys to play with.
With new Shoutmon X forms and even a win at the World Championship, the Sparrowmon Alternate Art was bound to rise in price. And to think that this card was worth as much as a cup of coffee on release...
6 Bloomlordmon (Alternate Art) - $29.71
Another masterpiece by Naochika Morishita, Bloomlordmon looks regal and ready to spam the battle area with many powerful plants and wipe its opponent in one attack. The Alternate Art of this card is downright gorgeous, especially when you notice the plethora of flower petals floating about in the background.
This card is a definitive must-have for any green archetype fan, especially when EX-03 Draconic Roar comes out, introducing new cards, like a new Pomumon and Hydramon, that will make the Bloomlordmon deck even better than it currently is.
5 Minervamon (Alternate Art) - $33.94
By far the most fun art in the BT-10 set. Minervamon is a card that will see plenty of play in the top-tier meta in the form of a loop deck, so it only makes sense to give the boss Digimon herself a fun Alternate Art card design for, arguably, the most interesting deck in the format.
The regular art is still fantastic, and they are both drawn in a very similar style, but seeing a member of the Olympos XII jumping around in a child-like manner and giving the character a bit more personality is what the Alternate Art cards should always be doing.
4 Venusmon (Alternate Art) - $38.66
.jpg?q=50&fit=crop&w=740&dpr=1.5)
At the beginning of the format, players weren't too sure how to build a Venusmon deck, or even how good the floodgate-heavy archetype would be, but one thing was for sure: people wanted this card. Once this card was announced, players were quick to point out that this was going to be one of the most sought-after cards, and with good reason.
The art in the Venusmon (Alternate Art) card is gorgeous. Something about full art cards where they don't look too busy and are still legible is very much peak card design. Plus, you get an extremely adorable Puttimon floating about.
3 Sakuyamon: Maid Mode (Alternate Art) - $42.76
Suffering from the same success that Venusmon has is Sakuyamon: Maid Mode. The only difference is that Sakuyamon is slightly more playable than Venusmon.
With a deck that has already been established since EX-02, Sakuyamon: Maid Mode can compete with some of the top-tier meta decks running amok in the format at the moment, and with the introduction of the Four Great Dragons archetype in EX-03, its effect of recycling options will become even more powerful. Plus, its popularity from being one of the three protagonists from the fan-favorite Digimon Tamers series helps its value climb up.
2 Jesmon GX (Alternate Art) - $50.61
Unlike Jesmon (X Antibody) (Alternate Art), Jesmon GX (Alternate Art) has a fairly simple style, but that is not to discredit the art. It is a fantastic-looking card following the yellow and pink tones that the different Jesmon versions usually have without overcrowding the card itself.
This card shows Jesmon GX majestically ascending from the digital plane, ready to channel the power of the Royal Knights including his master Gankoomon and burn through your opponent's security cards.
1 Alphamon (Alternate Art) (Gold) - $859.85
Although technically a BT-06 card, Alphamon gets a special gold rare printing in BT-10, and it is the chase card in the set. This card will be hands down the most sought-after card in this set. Bandai has previously done this for BT-06 Double Diamond where they included a Ghost Rare printing of BT-01 Omnimon. The pull rate for that card was allegedly about one in every three cases.
With slightly better rates at maybe one in every two cases, it should be a bit easier to pull this incredible card this time around, but it will still burn a massive hole in your wallet.