Arkana Arkana , known as Pandora in the manga and Japanese version , is a member of the Rare Hunters organization in the " Yu - Gi - Oh ! " anime . He uses " Dark Magician " similar to Yugi , but his magician wears red and gold robes instead of purple , has slightly darker skin , silvery hair , black markings under the eyes and on the chin , and a more sinister expression . Prior to becoming a Rare Hunter , Arkana was a professional stage magician . Biography . History . The anime omits Arkana ' s mother ' s death , but elaborates on his lost love . He was once a world - famous professional stage magician and illusionist , in the English dub the self - acclaimed " the greatest illusionist and magician since Harry Houdini himself " . He originated from France , and had everything : money , fame , and was in love with his lovely assistant , Catherine ; in the English dub , Catherine was also his fiancée . His life went downhill after an escape trick failed , being caught in a locked box ' s explosion and scarring his once - handsome visage , which led him to wear the mask that he is seen wearing during the Battle City tournament . With his reputation and face ruined , Arkana fell into despair and selfishly focused on his own dilemma while rejecting Catherine ' s love , which caused her to leave him . Eventually , Arkana came to realize that Catherine ' s love was too important to him to lose , but that it was already too late , as she was gone . Losing both his love and career , a ruined and depressed Arkana stumbled from day to day on the verge of giving up hope when he met Marik Ishtar , who promised to help him regain the love of his fiancée if he became a Rare Hunter and killed Yugi Muto . Arkana ' s losses seemed to have a negative impact on his psyche , as he became sadistic and insane during his Duel with Yugi , laughing at the prospect of a fatal consequence of the duel , and believing that , as the master of the Dark Magician , he has the right to sacrifice his monsters ' souls to win , doing so in such a gleeful and remorseless manner . Battle City . Assigned in the Battle City tournament to Duel Yugi Muto , Arkana took inspiration from his background as an escape artist , and trapped Yugi in a Duel arena where the loser would get his legs cut off by a buzzsaw ( in the English dub of the anime , the buzzsaws were changed to Dark Energy Disc s that sent the loser ' s mind to the Shadow Realm upon contact ) . Arkana acted insanely sadistic throughout the entire Duel , while rejecting all offers to end the unnecessary gruesomeness by claiming that this was his great show of escaping from the jaws of death , much to Yugi ' s disgust . In the Japanese anime , Arkana also made a reference to Pandora ' s Box , a nod to his own name , and that the box containing the key to their shackles was the one hope of their escape . Furthermore , Arkana used the stripper technique , one of the many card - cheating techniques he learned from his previous profession , and cruelly sacrificed his monsters to win , all the while treating his monsters as dispensable slaves and claiming that ruthlessness to even one ' s own " slaves " is necessary to victory ; in the dub when Yugi tells him that he must believe in the Heart of the Cards instead of Marik if he is Dueling for his lost love , Arkana claims his Deck was made for the sole purpose of defeating Yugi , and after that , he will have no more use for it . He made claims that he was the ultimate Dark Magician user based what he considered to be his Deck ' s superiority in terms of summoning speed and spell card powers and having three Dark Magicians , which led him arrogantly believe he is the the ultimate archmage ; ironically , he had no knowledge of the existence of " Dark Magician Girl " until Yugi played it against him . Eventually , because Arkana betrayed his cards , Yugi managed to defeat him ( due to the fact that Dark Magician Girl ' s strength increased for each Dark Magician in the Graveyard , and since Arkana sacrificed his own , it gave her a necessary power - up to defeat him ) . As the buzzsaw approached Arkana , he , at first , put up dramatics by screaming in feigned horror , then planned to use a spare key he hid in his sleeve , but Marik used his Millennium Rod to erase the key from his mind as penalty for his failure , ignoring Arkana ' s pleas for mercy . After Yugi saved him , Arkana rushed towards the curtains where Catherine was supposedly waiting for him ; she turns out to be a mere dummy , but Arkana apparently lost his sanity , caressing and apologizing to the doll as though it was his true love ( in the English dub , he lamented how he was deceived by Marik , and then deluded himself by saying that perhaps Marik was hiding the real Catherine elsewhere ) . Marik then spoke to Yugi through Arkana about the Tomb Keeper s and his ultimate goal is to free himself of the duty that he never wanted . Marik then left , leaving Arkana unconscious . Arkana made an additional appearance during Yami Marik ' s Duel with Mai Valentine at the Battle City Finals . After Marik ' s " Makyura the Destructor " was destroyed during their Shadow Game , Marik ' s memory of Arkana was erased , to which Marik showed sick satisfaction . Waking the Dragons . In the Waking the Dragons arc , Arkana makes a cameo as one of the " lost souls " seen alongside Yami Marik wandering about the sacred circle as Yami Yugi ventures to find his other half . Non - canon appearances . Dark Duel Stories . Arkana has also appeared in the " Yu - Gi - Oh ! " video game , " Yu - Gi - Oh ! Dark Duel Stories " for the Game Boy Color . He is the fifth Duelist available after beating the first wave of Duelists five times . His Deck contains most of his key cards from the anime and manga , although some of his more powerful cards have been taken out to make him an easier Duelist . Another thing worth noting in this Deck is that he has multiple copies of all cards he uses , with the exception of " Dark Hole " , which is Limited in this game . Deck . Arkana uses a " Dark Magician " Deck centered around his " Dark Magicians " by supporting them through an array of cards such as " Thousand Knives " and " Dark Renewal " . Arkana ' s " Dark Magician " cards are all illegally trimmed so that he can manipulate what he is about to draw . This fact is reiterated in episode 62 after he draws " Dark Magic Curtain " when he says " . . . and what kind of master would have only one Dark Magician in his Deck uhmm ? My first one might be gone , but I have another Dark Magician and he ' s waiting to destroy you , Yugi ! "