One of the most iconic villains in the Yu-Gi-Oh! anime's history is Marik Ishtar. Introduced in season two and the villain of the beloved Battle City arc, Marik was around for some of the most explosive duels in the series. Marik obviously also participated in many of said explosive duels.
As the holder of The Winged Dragon of Ra, Marik obviously has quite a few cool cards in his deck that always make for an interesting time when he springs into action with them. While these cards are in no particular order, there's no better one to start with than the aforementioned Winged Dragon of Ra.
The Winged Dragon Of Ra
While it might be a bad card in the real-life card game, it's one of Marik's best cards from the Battle City arc. The user can power up the card in a variety of ways, and it basically needs a separate rulebook for all of the effects that this card has, as there are so many hidden ones that it is basically impossible to keep track of them all.
Nightmare Wheel
Nightmare Wheel is a card that immobilizes one of the opponent's monsters and starts draining the owner's life points while it is on the field, which can be pretty tough to deal with in certain situations.
Marik used this card against Mai, though she was able to use Dramatic Rescue—one of her best Battle City cards—in order to return the afflicted Amazoness to her hand and bring out a powerful Cyber Harpie Lady in its place to destroy the card.
Lava Golem
Lava Golem is a card that Marik used in his duel against Joey in the Battle City Finals, and it can be very powerful when it comes to the anime's 4000 starting life points. Lava Golem is summoned by sacrificing two of the opponent's own monsters and bringing it out on their side of the field.
While Lava Golem has a solid 3000 attack points, it also inflicts 1000 points of damage to its owner with each passing turn, making it both a blessing and a curse for whoever's side of the field that it is on. This is a pretty cool concept for a card, especially for so early on in the Yu-Gi-Oh! days.
Surprise Attack From Beyond
Surprise Attack from Beyond is an anime-exclusive spell card that is pretty interesting. During the player's end phase, they get the chance to launch a second battle phase. This is a very powerful effect, which might be why it is still an anime-exclusive Yu-Gi-Oh! card. This could help the player win in a single turn under certain conditions, and Marik uses this for The Winged Dragon of Ra in his duel with Yugi.
Revival Jam
Revival Jam is a bit of an interesting card for Marik because it is part of a combo that he uses throughout his time on the series. Revival Jam has the power to continuously revive over and over when it is destroyed.
This can be used in a few different ways to great effect, but this isn't where the card's usefulness ends. Marik has more than just Revival Jam in his deck; he's essentially built a system that ensures that he can never be counted out of a match.
Jam Breeding Machine
Jam Breeding Machine allows Marik to continually summon new tokens over and over in order to defend his other monsters, something that he uses pretty consistently.
However, this card is also used in conjunction with another card that makes sure that his opponent is not able to attack any monsters other than his Jam monsters. It's an effective tactic that ensures Marik's ability to survive for quite some time in even the most intense of battles.
Jam Defender
Jam Defender allows Marik to redirect all attacks to Revival Jam when it is on the field, keeping his other monsters completely out of harm's way as long as he can keep the card on the field.
This three-card combo is a huge stalling technique for Marik, and it's a pretty cool strategy. Surprisingly, Marik still does have one more Jam-related card, and it's easily the coolest of them in his deck.
Egyptian God Slime
Egyptian God Slime is a fusion monster between Metal Reflect Slime and Revival Jam, and its attack and defense are based on the Metal Reflect Slime that was used to summon it. In addition, anytime that this card is destroyed, it can be resummoned back onto the field, which is what it takes from the Revival Jam side of the fusion. Arguably one of the most powerful monsters seen in the Yu-Gi-Oh! anime, it's easily one of Marik's coolest.
Sacred Stone of Ojhat
Sacred Stone of Ojhat is an interesting card that Marik used against Mai in order to basically pin her down and stop her from dueling. This card is odd, to say the least, and what it actually does is sort of up in the air, but Sacred Stone of Ojhat did quite a number on Mai, and is a pretty iconic card for that reason.
Zombie's Jewel
Zombie's Jewel is a card that allows the user to add a spell card from their opponent's graveyard to their hand, giving them the chance to use it. This card can be pretty powerful when used in the right situation, but it can also be a bit of a gamble. Players never know if this card is going to be important or a dead card in the hand, but, no matter the situation, it's a pretty cool card.