Lswarm

"Verz" (ヴェルズ Verzu) is a Duel Terminal archetype of DARK-Attribute monsters which was introduced in Duel Terminal - Sacred Star Knights!!. Despite being released prior to "Verz", the "Steelswarm" archetype (which is known as "Inverz" in the OCG) is a "Verz" sub-archetype. Thus, all "Steelswarm" monsters are supported by "Verz" support cards. The most significant feature of the non-"Steelswarm" "Verz" is that their ATK/DEF end with 50, and all known "Verz", except "Verz Golem", are Level or Rank 4.

All of the monsters in this archetype are DARK counterparts of other Duel Terminal monsters, corrupted by the virus of the "Steelswarm", which was released from "Steelswarm Cell" as shown in the artwork of "Corrosive Contagion Infestation".

Story
A crisis has struck the Duel Terminal world. Life across the planet had their bodies warped and their minds slowly seized by desires to only destroy to the point it became impossible to even convey their intentions to others. The elders of the planet linked it to the ancient lore, and thus dubbed them the "Verz".

Relationship
This archetype shares a close name with "Steelswarm" (Inverz, インヴェルズ), an archetype from the previous Duel Terminal story arc. They both consist of DARK monsters. Furthermore, the "Inverz" could be seen as a shortened version of "Insect Verz" or "Insectoid Verz", meaning the "Verz" virus might have come long before the "Steelswarm" did, and the "Steelswarms" are a heavily-infected species of creature. Even the "Verz" symbol can be seen as an outline of "Steelswarm" symbol (best seen under the chest of "Verz Bahamut").

It is also possible that with the destruction of the "Steelswarm" at the hands of the "Vylon", the virus then could have corrupted or even copied the other Duel Terminal archetypes.

In addition, "Vers" is French for "Worms". This may signify that their role is similar to the "Worms" in the previous Duel Terminal story as the first, horror movie-like antagonist ("Worms" being aliens, "Verz" being the zombie virus), followed by a holy/unholy antagonist that at first appeared to be an ally ("Fabled" and "Vylon"). This archetype could also be a reference to the Resident Evil series. This conclusion is supported by the fact that "Verz Ouroboros" and "Verz Thanatos" have similar names to bosses in Resident Evil. Also, "Verz Thunderbird" appears to be a "Mist Valley Thunderbird" infected with Las Plagas (if this archetype is a Resident Evil reference).