The Battle City arc of the original Yu-Gi-Oh! series is considered by most fans to be the greatest one right alongside Duelist Kingdom. Not only is this because the rules of the card game began to form into something resembling logic around this time, but also because the Rare Hunters took the stage as the villains of this arc.
This group had a little bit of everything from stage magicians, street mimes and brainwashed villains from previous arcs. But which of these henchmen were the best in the organization? Judging from various criteria like aesthetic design, duelist skill and personality, let's dig rank every single Rare Hunter in Yu-Gi-Oh!
8 Strings
What can you say about Strings? Not much. What can Strings say about Strings? Even less. That's because as a mime, Strings never speaks a word during his brief stint as a Yu-Gi-Oh villain while under his own power as during his duel versus Yugi he was being mind-controlled by Marik Ishtar.
For what it's worth, Strings certainly has one of the more unique aesthetic designs in the series. A creepy looking mime with big black circles around his eyes, piercings all over his face and huge unblinking eyes, this villain certainly gives us the heebie-jeebies. However, we can't really place him anywhere but the bottom spot on this list as he is merely a shell for another villain to control.
7 Bandit Keith
Under his own free will, Bandit Keith is one of the more interesting villains in the original Yu-Gi-Oh! series. Despite not having any magical powers or connection to Ancient Egypt, this brash American duelist nonetheless committed some very evil deeds such as trying to trap Yugi's gang in a cave, stole Joey's Duelist Kingdom entry card in an attempt to get him disqualified and even the greatest of sins, cheating in a children's card game!
Unfortunately, all of his cocky nature was drained when placed under the mind control of Marik at the start of season 2. This was an odd choice as in the manga, Keith had been killed by Pegasus. However, the anime brought Keith back as a somewhat useless surprise as once he snaps out of the mind control, he goes nuts and destroys the Millenium Puzzle never to be seen again. Guess it was nice to see him?
6 Umbra
The bigger of the Light and Darkness tag team, Umbra was one half of the team that almost defeated Seto Kaiba and Yugi Muto. While his partner Lumis had the majority of their spell and trap cards in his deck, Umbra carried with him powerful monsters like The Masked Beast and the Masked Beast Des Gardius.
Unfortunately for Umbra, their deck styles matched the card owners as well. While Lumis was obviously the brains of this operation, Umbra instead was the brawn who would usually follow the orders of whatever his partner told him. His lack of independence puts him below his vertically-challenged friend.
5 Lumis
The "light" half of this Rare Hunter tag team, Lumis may not appear to be the most intimidating force on the Rare Hunters' side, but he was one of the most intelligent ones. Equipped with a deck full of spell and trap cards that lock out his opponents from doing much of anything and dealing effect damage, Lumis almost had a strategy to neutralize both Kaiba and Yugi's decks.
However as smart as he is, he was no match for the mental warfare of Seto Kaiba. Able to put a wedge into the normally rock-solid partnership of Lumis and Umbra, Kaiba caused Lumis to become selfish and screw over his partner by taking all of the cards in his hand during the duel and leaving Umbra with nothing. Granted, he did seem to be one with the better strategies and intelligence, but nevertheless, he would ultimately forfeit the duel after Umbra's life points hit 0.
4 Seeker (Rare Hunter)
In terms of character and personality, the man known to fans as Seeker or simply Rare Hunter (he was never given a true name in the anime) is a deceitful, evil man whose only goal on the show was to rob players of their rarest cards to bolster the ranks of the Rare Hunters' card collection. However, the strength of his deck proved that he was very good at this.
Running an Exodia deck, Seeker can count himself among the few people who have defeated Joey Wheeler in the franchise. Even when he faced Yugi, he was one draw away from winning the entire match with his instant win condition. Unfortunately for him, his lack of backstory and personality keep him out from the higher spots on the list despite potentially having the best deck of the lot.
3 Arkana
Dressed as a classical circus magician, Arkana was tasked by Marik Ishtar to take out Yugi Muto with a Dark Magician deck of his own (complete with new artwork!). While he was unsuccessful in his endeavor, the showmanship of Arkana makes his duel with Yugi one of the more underrated ones in the Battle City arc.
Unlike many of the other Rare Hunters on this list, Arkana actually has somewhat of a character underneath all that showmanship. After having his face disfigured in a magic trick gone wrong, he joined the Rare Hunters out of his own free will. This was because Marik manipulated him into believing that he would bring his lover Catherine back to him if he defeated Yugi. Of course that was a charade proving that magicians can fall victim to schemes like the rest of us normies.
For being one of the more fleshed out Rare Hunters out there, we have to put Arkana near the top of the list.
2 Odion
Marik's adopted brother and loyal second in command, Odion carried out any task given to him by Marik to the best of his ability as any good soldier would do. If you're wondering why he would do this, that's because Odion made a promise.
Taken into the Ishtar home as a young child, Odion was tasked by his adoptive mother (the parent who actually cared for him) to watch over Marik. Knowing the dark personality that lurked beneath the surface, Odion joined the Rare Hunters to keep Marik in line. A quiet and patient duelist, Odion used an almost exclusive trap based deck which could burn through an opponent's life points and crush their monsters. A strong duelist and helpful hand, but could number one be anyone else but...
1 Marik
Who else but the leader of this gang? Marik Ishtar was a horribly mistreated child who was forced into servitude and tortured by his father to protect the ancient carving of the Pharoah's secret. This caused Marik to lash out at the world and develop another darker personality which threatened to plunge the world into darkness.
Not only was Marik a great duelist capable of devising several unique strategies for his Rare Hunters, but he also posed as a friend to Yugi's group which given how welcoming and gullible they are, is the smartest thing one can do. Despite all the evil he did, he redeemed himself at the end of Battle City by rejecting his dark side and sealing it away for good. Well done Marik, well done.