Rare Hunters

The Rare Hunters (also called Ghouls in the Japanese version, Jackals in some Video Games, and  صــائـدوا النـوادر in the Arabic dub) is a criminal organization of card thieves, bootleggers, cheaters, liars, and duelists in the Yu-Gi-Oh! manga, anime, and Yu-Gi-Oh! GX anime series.

Origins
The Rare Hunters were formed by Marik Ishtar to collect the Egyptian God Cards and other cards of value. It is not specified exactly when they are formed, but it was some time after Marik murdered his father and left with Odion the following day. The Rare Hunters are known to be Marik's underlings and assist him in his goals with Odion Ishtar being the second in command.

They are known to have stolen two of the three Egyptian Gods, but failed to steal Obelisk the Tormentor thanks to the intervention of Ishizu Ishtar. Also, they designed counterfeit copies of rare cards, including The Winged Dragon of Ra and the five pieces of Exodia.

Battle City
The first Rare Hunter to appear (although not addressed as one) was Bandit Keith, who stole the Millennium Puzzle from Yugi Muto. Yugi won the Puzzle back, but not before meeting Marik through his mind control of Keith, who warned Yugi he will return. In this Duel the methods of the Rare Hunters was also set: nearly all of the Rare Hunters cheat in their duels.

When Seto Kaiba organized the Battle City Tournament (which he did to lure out the Rare Hunters who had the other two Egyptian God Cards), Marik ordered his minions to go to the tournament and defeat the Duelists there, hoping to seize many rare cards that the world's best duelists would surely have. The Rare Hunters hacked into Battle City's computer system and registered themselves in the tournament. However, upon discovering his sister Ishizu Ishtar gave the final God card to Kaiba, Marik traveled to Battle City himself to take the card back. Yugi was also in the tournament, giving Marik the perfect opportunity to take both the Millennium Puzzle and the final God card.

As he traveled to Domino, Marik had several other Rare Hunters attempt to defeat Yugi, but they failed and ended up having their minds banished to the Shadow Realm as punishment for their failure to defeat Yugi. Marik was desperate enough to duel Yugi himself by controlling Strings using his God card, "Slifer the Sky Dragon". When Yugi prevailed again and acquired "Slifer", Marik attempted to have two Rare Hunters named Lumis and Umbra defeat him and Kaiba in a Tag-Team Duel. This failed as well. As Kaiba and Yugi had enough Locator Cards to enter the finals, Marik decided there was nothing else to do but face the two himself, and he and Odion entered the finals.

Aftermath
After this, the fate of the Rare Hunters was not known, although the video game Yu-Gi-Oh! Reshef of Destruction, which is an alternate-universe game set in the aftermath of Battle City, portrays them as still seeking the God cards with Bandit Keith as their new leader.

GX
While Pegasus is explaining to Jaden how God cards can be dangerous during episode 85, a flashback features some Rare Hunters who have been punished by The Winged Dragon of Ra from episode 88 of the original series.

The Rare Hunters are shown as a part of Chazz's darkness in his heart, after he lost to Trueman and being sent to the World of Darkness. During his illusions of failing in his career as a pro and quitting it, Chazz suddenly finds himself on the street, and is challenged to an Ante Duel by a gang of Rare Hunters.

Non-canon appearances
Ghouls appear as opponents in Yu-Gi-Oh! BAM.