Doll ( manga ) The Doll ( " Ningyō " ) is a character in the " Yu - Gi - Oh ! " manga . This is the original incarnation of the Doll , known as Strings in the English anime . The Doll was one of the Rare Hunters . He was possessed by Marik Ishtar , who used him as a proxy to Duel Dark Yugi . Biography . The Doll was a mime that went mad after killing his parents , and sealed his own conscience away out of guilt . Eventually , he came into Marik ' s mind control , and due to his crushed mind , became very easy for Marik to bend to his will . Marik programmed Doll to kill the Pharaoh at all cost should he win the duel against him . At first , he appears to be a stationary mime in the park and is a curiosity for many of the people there , but when Marik takes control of him , he goes to confront Yugi and duel him . Doll has a huge advantage up his sleeve , the Egyptian God Card " Slifer the Sky Dragon " . Using a five card combo involving " Slifer " , " Revival Jam " , " Infinite Cards " , " Jam Defender " , and " Card of Safe Return " , Doll puts the Pharaoh in a tight situation . Every time he attacks , Strings can redirect the attack to " Revival Jam " , which regenerates itself after being destroyed and thanks to " Card of Safe Return " , he draws three cards from his Deck whenever this happens and because of " Infinite Cards " , he can hold as many cards as he wants . With Slifer ' s attack and defense proportional to the number of cards its controller holds , and with " Revival Jam " able to absorb and reform from any attack Dark Yugi is able to make with the aid of " Jam Defender " , Marik boasts the strategy is unbeatable . Dark Yugi is just about to give up until Kaiba arrives and encourages him to fight on . The two manage to figure out the weakness of this combo and turn it against Marik . Yugi attacks " Revival Jam " with " Buster Blader " , and then uses " Brain Control " to take control of " Revival Jam " as it regenerates so it regenerates under his control , forcing " Slifer " to attack it with its second mouth ( which is actually " Slifer ' s " effect of depleting 2000 points from a monster that ' s been summoned ) . Then " Revival Jam " is destroyed and regenerates , forcing Doll to draw three more cards due to " Card of Safe Return " . Then " Slifer " must attack " Revival Jam " again , since it reformed under the Pharaoh ' s control , destroying it and allowing it to regenerate again , and forcing Doll to continue drawing due to " Card of Safe Return " . This continues in an infinite loop until Strings ' Deck is empty , and thus he loses the Duel through a Deck Out . Yugi gets " Slifer the Sky Dragon " for his victory . Doll himself is entirely devoid of personality , and is merely a shell for Marik ' s will . This worked to Marik ' s advantage : since the Egyptian Gods normally do not obey one without a Millennium Item , Doll ' s empty mind allowed Marik to bypass this restriction : " Slifer " obeyed Marik ' s will , though Marik didn ' t have to be there in person . However , Doll ' s lack of mental awareness also served another end : he had no conscience and could feel no pain , so would hold nothing back . After Strings ' loss to Yugi , Marik decided to talk through Strings one last time then released control of him and he collapsed . Deck . The Doll was not shown Dueling through his own will . When Marik Ishtar possessed him , he used a " Slime " Deck , which included " Slifer the Sky Dragon " .