Introduction to Virtual World
Introduction
Virtual World is an archetype that is found in Cyber-City Guardians that is focused around Synchro and XYZ summoning and the focus is to set up the graveyard for its many possible plays. All of the main Virtual World monsters require another face-up Virtual World card to activate and resolve so play sequencing is essential as this deck is very unforgiving if you make poor mistakes. As of writing currently the reason why people gravitate towards this deck is that it can easily make True King of all Calamities and has a strong yet recursive boss monster in Virtual World Kyubi - Shenshen. Another reason why this deck is really well liked is that Virtual World's biggest strength is the strong toolbox of XYZ and Synchro monsters this deck can access. Lastly, Virtual World is one of the best Decks at managing their resources, as they have the tools to easily recycle their cards back with their powerful effects.
As of now, we have two main variations of Virtual World, Pure and P.U.N.K..
For those looking for the new, updated P.U.N.K. Variation, please scroll down past the "Techs" section to find the P.U.N.K. Breakdown.
Core Cards
Main Deck
These 4 monsters must be played at 3 copies each - with the exception of Loading... which is semi-limited - as it gets your deck started. These monsters all have the effect to target another face-up Virtual World card you control and send a Virtual World card of a different type (Monster/Spell/Trap) from your deck to the graveyard then summon the monster and then lastly each of these monsters has their own unique effect.
Virtual World Mai-Hime - Lulu
For Virtual World Mai-Hime - Lulu, you can add a Virtual World card from deck to hand of a type that was not chosen to activate Lulu nor of a type sent to the graveyard. I’ll list some examples of what I mean. If you target a monster for Lulu’s effect and send a trap to summon Lulu, you can search for a Spell. Similarly, Lulu target’s a trap, sends a spell, and you can search for a monster. Another case would be Lulu target’s a spell, sends a monster, and searches for a trap.
Virtual World Kirin - Lili
For Loading..., you can send a Virtual World card from the deck to the graveyard of a type that was not chosen to activate Lili nor of a type sent to the graveyard. Examples will be shown again. If you target a monster for Lili’s effect and send a trap to summon Lili, you can send a Spell. Similarly, Lili target’s a trap, sends a spell, and then you can send a monster to the graveyard. Lili is essentially a double Foolish Burial.
Virtual World Roshi - Laolao
For Loading..., you can special summon another Virtual World monster from your graveyard. This helps you with extension or coming back from behind in further turns. A common use for Laolao’s effect is to send Loading... from the deck to the graveyard, then reviving a level 3 monster, which immediately triggers Nyannyan’s effect to revive itself as a Tuner, essentially special summoning it from the deck.
Virtual World Xiezhi - Jiji
For Virtual World Xiezhi - Jiji, this card allows you during the End Phase to add any Virtual World monster from the graveyard to your hand except itself. Most of the time, this will be Lulu or Laolao. This card is important for maintaining your card advantage from your first turn onwards.
Virtual World Hime - Nyannyan
This card doesn’t help you start your plays but it helps you further extend your plays. This card can recur itself from the graveyard when another Level 3 monster is summoned to your field but it gets banished when it leaves the field. However, if Nyannyan gets banished, you can return another banished card back into your deck. This works for facedown banished cards as well. Common targets for Nyannyan are usually cards banished by Loading... or Extra deck monsters that are not Virtual World cards, including True King of All Calamities.
Virtual World Oto-Hime - Toutou
Toutou is a niche pick for Virtual World strategies, however, it can somewhat help with extending your plays. Usually not needed. It being a Wyrm EARTH monster can potentially help playing around floodgates such as There Can Be Only One or Rivalry of Warlords, since it can be a Tuner.
Spells
Virtual World City - Kauwloon
This spell card really helps get the deck started as on activation it gets you a Virtual World Gate from your deck directly onto the field faceup. Having this card resolve could be the difference between having a good or a poor turn in Virtual World. The other effects in Kauwloon rarely come up but could be nice in niche situations. Almost always you'll be placing Loading... with the effect of Kauwloon, but there can be specific situations where you would place a Virtual World Gate - Qinglong instead. For example, if your opponent ends on Loading..., you can negate it completely by placing Qinglong and using Qinglong to banish your Kauwloon from the graveyard to negate the Apollousa.
Virtual World Gate - Qinglong
The other main spell card of Virtual World that helps your deck be more consistent. This card has 2 very good effects. While face-up on the field during your turn, you can banish another Virtual World card to target a face-up monster on the field to negate its effects. This is useful to stop pesky monster effects from affecting what you want to do. It also has a graveyard effect where Qinglong can banish itself for cost, then add any Virtual World monster from your deck to your hand but you must send a card from your hand to the graveyard afterwards. You can use the effect of Qinglong even if you have an empty hand but you just end up discarding the monster that you search so you need to have another card in your hand to get the most use out of Qinglong’s graveyard effect. If you have a Qinglong that is stuck on the field, you have multiple tools to send it to the graveyard in order to benefit from its searching effect, for example, with Vermillion Dragon Mech or Loading....
Emergency Teleport
This card is indirect Virtual World support as Lulu and Nyannyan are level 3 monsters that are Psychic type. Even better is that Emergency Teleport summons from the deck so it can help potentially jump start your plays depending on what you have in your hand. It can also act as a follow-up play depending on how you use it.
Traps
Virtual World Gate - Chuche
By returning two different face-up banished Virtual World cards to the deck, Chuche can target and destroy any face up card on the field. This helps with recycling your main deck and extra deck resources. It also has a very good graveyard effect where you banish it from the graveyard to change the level or the rank of the Virtual World monster you target. Typically you will change the level in order to further your Synchro summons. You can also change the level of one of your level 6 Virtual World monsters to enable a rank 9 play, typically True King of All Calamities.
Virtual World Gate - Xuanwu
This card is mainly used for its graveyard effect where it can be banished to special summon a Virtual World monster from the graveyard. Take note that you must have a card in hand to send to the graveyard to use this effect. The on field effect is rarely used but can come up if the game goes long in order to stop a monster from attacking you. It is possible to bypass the effect of discarding a card if the only card in your hand is a quick-play spell that can be activated in response to its graveyard effect. The most common example is Loading....
