Rare Hunters

The Ghouls (Rare Hunters in the English Dub, Jackals in some Video Games, and صــائـدوا النـوادر in the Arabic Dub) are a group of card thieves and duelists in the Yu-Gi-Oh! manga and second series anime.

=History= The Ghouls were formed by Marik Ishtar to collect the Egyptian God Cards and other cards of value, becoming a group with money and power to grant Marik power. It is not specified exactly when they are formed, but they are known to be Marik's henchmen and assist him in his goals. Odion Ishtar is the second in command of the Ghouls.

The first Ghoul to appear (although not addressed as one) is Bandit Keith, who steals the Millennium Puzzle from Yugi Moto. Yugi wins the Puzzle back, but not before meeting Marik through his mind control of Keith, who warns Yugi he will return. In this duel the methods of the Ghouls is also set: nearly all of the Ghouls cheat in their duels.

When Seto Kaiba organizes the Battle City Tournament (which he did to lure out the Rare Hunters who had the other two Egyptian God Cards), Marik orders 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. However, upon discovering his sister Ishizu Ishtar has given the final God card Marik needs to Kaiba, Marik travels to Battle City himself to take the card. As it were, Yugi Muto is also in the tournament, giving Marik the perfect opportunity to take both the Millennium Puzzle and the final God card.

As he travels to Domino, Marik has several other Ghouls attempt to defeat Yugi, but they fail. Marik is desperate enough to duel Yugi himself by controlling Strings using his God card, "Slifer the Sky Dragon". When Yugi prevails again and takes Slifer, Marik attempts to have two Ghouls named Lumis and Umbra defeat him and Kaiba in a tag-team duel. This too fails, and as Kaiba and Yugi now have enough locator cards to enter the finals, Marik decides there is nothing else to do but face the two himself, and so he and Rishid enter the finals.

After this, the fate of the Ghouls is 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.

=Membership= Here are the known memberships in Ghouls outside of an unspecified number of grunts:
 * Marik Ishtar (leader): As Dark Marik, plays an Immortality-theme deck along with torture and weakening the enemy, with The Winged Dragon of Ra as his main card.
 * Rishid Ishtar (second in command): Plays a Trap Cards-themed deck, with a touch of Egyptian to it.
 * Keith Howard (anime only, brainwashed): Plays a Machine-themed deck, with several other rare card upgrades since Duelist Kingdom from Marik.
 * Seeker: Plays an Exodia-themed deck, relying on defense and extra drawing to declare an automatic victory.
 * Pandora (deceived by Marik): Plays a Dark Magician-themed deck, with many magic and occult based cards to assist his main card.
 * Strings (brainwashed): Plays a Slime-themed deck, with Slifer the Sky Dragon as his main card.
 * Lumis and Umbra: Plays Mask-themed Lockdown decks, as well as relying on teamwork to support each other in a Tag-Team Duel.