Knights of Hanoi The Knights of Hanoi ( ハノイの " Hanoi no Kishi " ) are a mysterious hacker group that hacks via Dueling inside LINK VRAINS . They appear as the main antagonists in the " Yu - Gi - Oh ! VRAINS " anime . Their goal is to destroy the " AI World " known as " Cyberse " that exists somewhere in the depths of the Network . Profile . The Knights of Hanoi are an organization of hackers founded by Kiyoshi Kogami and led by Varis , with the top - ranking Knights consisting of researchers who played a part in the Hanoi Project . The Knights all use a mostly white uniform with lines of differing colors in some parts of the uniform . On top of it , they wear a hooded white coat that covers their body and reaches the back of their knees , with the rank - and - file members of the organization also wearing masks . This is probably just their preferred Avatar on LINK VRAINS , used to hide their true appearances . The organization ' s higher ranking members do not wear hoods , revealing their faces , but wear clothing similar in style to the rank - and - file . Additionally , the Duel Disk s used by the members are differentiated between the ranks , with the grunts using Duel Disks that are silver - bordered and green , the lieutenants using those that are silver - bordered and yellow , while Varis uses one that is gold - bordered and red . The Knights of Hanoi utilize " Cracking Dragon " to assault the digital world with its power . Individuals who fall victim to this mechanical dragon while in LINK VRAINS have their accounts deleted from the system . Biography . History . Five years before the start of the series , Varis assaulted " Cyberse " with " Cracking Dragon " with the intention to destroy it . The different Artificial Intelligences that protected it were restrained by Varis and thus unable to stop the destruction of their world . However the Ignis Ai appeared and forced a disconnection of the Cyberse World from the rest of the network , thus forcing Varis out of Cyberse while keeping its location known only to him . However , Varis , furious by Ai ' s interference , ordered his " Cracking Dragon " to capture Ai , which led to the AI to be dismembered by the monster ' s jaws . This made Varis and the Knights of Hanoi spend the following years searching for Ai ' s parts in order to find the location of Cyberse . At some point , the Knights of Hanoi hunted down the Cyberse monsters and destroyed a significant amount of them to the point Varis was confident they were extinct . Hanoi . Five years later , the Knights of Hanoi continued their search of Ai ; but had many of their operations interrupted by the mysterious Duelist Playmaker , who defeated their agents , earning a name for himself . Specter , the Knights ' second - in - command , informed Varis that a trace of Ai was detected and that SOL Technologies was in pursuit . Knowing that if SOL retrieved Ai , they would be able to restore Cyberse and ruin the Knights ' efforts , forcing the Knights to act . Specter informed Varis about Playmaker , who had interfered with them before . Varis wondered if Playmaker was a member of SOL , but dismissed the possibility as they would act more publicly . Specter added that Playmaker erased every trace of his activity and eluded the Knights ' searches , concluding that whoever he is he must be a skilled hacker . Varis became interested in Playmaker , but decided to leave him for now as Ai was their priority . While SOL Technologies performed a city scan in order to search for Ai , the Knights of Hanoi decided to attack as the defenses of VRAINS would be left vulnerable at that point . Varis ordered his men to search for Ai , assaulting the digital world with their " Cracking Dragons " and ravaging the users in their way , deleting their accounts in the process . Ai ' s remnants in the form of an eye was swiftly cornered by the Knights until Yusaku Fujiki and Shoichi Kusanagi used the lowered defenses to create an alternative path for Ai , who used the newly made escape route , but ended up in Yusaku ' s Duel Disk as a result . Yusaku entered VRAINS using his persona Playmaker , saving the Charisma Duelist Blue Angel at the nick of time before she was deleted . Yusaku then confronted a Knight of Hanoi who told him that the AI they were looking for was on his Duel Disk and threatened to delete it if they did not cease their attack . Since Ai was bonded to Yusaku ' s Duel Disk , the Knights must defeat Playmaker in a Duel in order to obtain it . Varis , watching from afar , was amused at Playmaker while the Knights ' agent accepted the challenge . Ai estimated that Yusaku ' s current Deck was not enough to defeat the Knight ' s " Cracking Dragon " . He caused a Data Storm and instructed Yusaku to ride the wind and enter a Speed Duel . Ai taught Yusaku the rules of Speed Duels . The Knight of Hanoi quickly Summoned his " Cracking Dragon " , which he used for the remainder of the Duel , exploiting its abilities to avoid destruction and inflict effect damage , and further exacerbating his advantage through the Skill " Double Draw " which let him draw two cards during his Draw Phase . Ai realized they must have hacked the system as the Skill was not known to him . Although Yusaku fared decently against the Knight of Hanoi , his LP was on critical state so Ai instructed him to take a path where he was engulfed in a massive storm . Inside the tempest , Ai told Yusaku that his LP was low enough to use the Skill " Storm Access " to gain a powerful monster . Yusaku did so and was able to acquire " Decode Talker " and Link Summon it . Through a combination of " Cyberse Wizard " and " Decode Talker " , he was able to exploit the low DEF of " Cracking Dragon " and inflict piercing damage as a result of " Decode Talker " gaining ATK through its own effect , and due to being unable to be in Defense Position , it bypassed the Knight ' s " Pulse Mines " , defeating the Knight . Playmaker subsequently attempted to interrogate the Knight , who started a self - destruction mechanism in response before Ai suddenly deleted him from the system to protect himself and Playmaker . Specter and Varis discussed the events of the Duel with Playmaker . Varis preferred Playmaker having his hands on Ai for a while over SOL Technologies having him , but added they should not leave him with Playmaker for too long . He them summed up a list of characteristics of Playmaker ' s that might help discover his true identity , one of these being that Playmaker would eventually want to Duel him . Varis briefly logged off VRAINS to visit his father , Kiyoshi Kogami . The Knights of Hanoi eventually turned their attention to the popular Charisma Duelist , Blue Angel as she openly challenged Playmaker to a Duel in public . Specter , confident they could use her , approached her claiming to be a fan . He gave her " Dark Angel " and disappeared , with Blue Angel having a vague recollection of what happened . Ai lured Playmaker into facing Blue Angel after sensing Hanoi ' s presence on her . Playmaker accepted her challenge intending to investigate her . The Duel began and Blue Angel punished Playmaker repeatedly with the effect damage combo from her " Trickstar " cards forcing Playmaker to the defensive , although she later discovered it was his plan all along in order to use his Storm Access Skill . Varis watched from afar , confident that once Blue Angel used " Dark Angel " she would be unable to disobey them . Blue Angel attempted to defeat Playmaker using her Skill " Trickstar Fraud " in order to force Playmaker to draw cards and inflict game - ending damage , but he prevented this by using " Defect Compiler " to nullify the damage . With little resources left , Blue Angel resorted to using " Dark Angel " , which had a severe effect on her . Playmaker rapidly used a combination of " Encode Talker " , " Defect Compiler " , and " Frontline Disturbance " to increase the ATK of " Encode Talker " and weaken that of " Trickstar Holly Angel " in order to defeat Blue Angel with a single attack . Playmaker Dueled Varis for the cure to Blue Angel ' s Virus and had a DRAW in their first encounter . However , a rematch occurred afterwards which Playmaker won . He obtained the cure and freed Blue Angel . At a later point , Kogami dropped a " seed " into a well - like environment somewhere within LINK VRAINS to begin their next plan . Another . Hanoi then started a phenomenon known as Another to find Playmaker . A virus which takes people inside of LINK VRAINS unwillingly and makes them unable to log out . They use the same parameters as Playmaker to hunt him down . Each one uses an old - style Duel Disk , they are all talented Duelists and they are all hackers . Once taken into LINK VRAINS , Dr . Genome puts them in a coma . Varis later appeared in the Knights base and showed annoyance that the data on the Hanoi Project data would be erased and Varis would never know Playmaker ' s identity . Kogami appeared on a holoscreen and said that the plan was coming together and questioned Varis " long face " . Varis said he could not move on until he beat Playmaker . Kogami seemed to understand his desire but said his plan couldn ' t wait long . Hanoi later attacked LINK VRAINS and some duelists who refused to Duel them . However the Knights used a program to force them to duel . Each of the Duelists were defeated by Hanoi . Varis , who watched the action nearby , stated that over a thousand joined the Knights but they were mostly " hoodlums " and that they only joined Hanoi for self - promotion and their opposition to LINK VRAINS . Faust and Baira then appeared and stated that the " hoodlums " were tarnishing their reputation and said that it was time to carry out Kogami ' s wishes . After the Knights had attacked the Duelists , Go appeared , disguised as Playmaker , and easily defeated them without needing to Duel . Dr . Genome later appeared and knew that Go was in disguise , the two then commenced a Speed Duel with Genome using another program , the Data Gale . Members . A group consisting of over one thousand members , the most notable members of the Knights are as listed : Decks . Unlike henchman Duelists of past series , such as Diablo or the Obelisk Force , the regular Knights of Hanoi members do not appear to all use identical Decks . While their Decks differ between members , their strategies appear similar ; to quickly Summon DARK - Attribute monsters with high ATK to overwhelm their opponents .