Decode turns removal into tempo for you: when the Digimon would leave the battle area by anything other than a battle, you play the specified card from its digivolution stack for free. Bounce, deletion effects, even your own tricks all leave a body behind. The setup cost is real though, since the right card has to already be sitting in the sources when the trigger hits.
16-36-1. <Decode> is a keyword effect. When the Digimon with this effect would leave the battle area other than by a battle, you may play 1 specified Digimon card from that Digimon's digivolution cards without paying the cost. This is shown on cards using text such as "<Decode (blue Lv.4)>." 16-36-2. <Decode> is an immediate-type effect that triggers when the Digimon with this effect would leave the battle area other than by a battle. (For details, refer to 15-8-5 "Immediate-Type Effects") 16-36-3. The processing from <Decode> is optional.
Comprehensive Rules §16-36 — official rules page
Public lines whose key cards carry this keyword, step by step.
27 cards carry this keyword:
Rule text © Bandai, quoted from the official Comprehensive Rules for reference. Combalo is not affiliated with Bandai.
