Scapegoat lets you delete one of your other Digimon to keep this one alive when your opponent tries to remove it. That makes cheap bodies and tokens real currency: every spare Rookie on your board is another removal spell your opponent has to waste. It doesn't trigger off your own effects, so you can still sacrifice the Scapegoat Digimon yourself when a combo asks for it.
16-32-1. <Scapegoat> is a keyword effect. By deleting 1 of your other Digimon when a Digimon with this effect would be deleted other than by one of your effects, this effect prevents the deletion. 16-32-2. <Scapegoat> is an immediate-type effect that triggers when the Digimon with this effect would be deleted other than by one of your effects. (For details, refer to 15-8-5 "Immediate-Type Effects") 16-32-3. "By deleting 1 of your other Digimon" in <Scapegoat> is an optional processing condition. If the content of that condition is executed, the processing for "prevents the deletion" will be mandatory.
Comprehensive Rules §16-32 — official rules page
From Bandai's card rulings. Each links to the card it was asked about.
I tried to delete my opponent's EX6-059 [Barbamon] using this card's ＜Main Timing＞ effect. In response, my opponent uses ＜Scapegoat＞ on EX6-059 [Barbamon] to delete their other Digimon and prevent EX6-059 [Barbamon] from being deleted. At such times, is this card's "if this effect deleted" condition met?
No, it isn't met. The "if this effect deleted" condition is only met when a Digimon is deleted by this card's effect. In this case, EX6-059 [Barbamon] wasn't deleted by this card's effect, therefore the "if this effect deleted" condition isn't met.
Ruled Nov 1, 2024 · asked about Seventh Divine Cruz (BT19-094)
16 cards carry this keyword:
Rule text © Bandai, quoted from the official Comprehensive Rules for reference. Combalo is not affiliated with Bandai.
