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Keith Steve Howard, also called "Bandit" Keith, is a fictional character in the anime and manga series Yu-Gi-Oh!. He is the Duel Monsters champion in the United States. In the French manga he is known as "Bandit Kierce" .

Duelist Kingdom

Keith first appears as one of many entries in Duelist Kingdom arc in the anime. In flashbacks, it is revealed that he was once the American Champion of Duel Monsters, until he dueled Maximillion Pegasus (Pegasus J. Crawford in the Japanese anime and manga) at the Intercontinental Championship tournament. Pegasus used his Millennium Eye item to read Keith's mind and predict his moves. He then called a young boy from the audience, and told him exactly what card to play to defeat Keith, claiming that even a child could defeat him. Keith, shocked and humiliated at being defeated by a child, became depressed over the defeat. He seeks to defeat Pegasus and reclaim his lost glory.

Along with two duelists (in the manga, they are unnamed; in the Japanese second series anime, they are named "Takaido" and "Satake"; in the English anime, they are named "Zygor" and "Sid"), he trains a Ghost and Zombie Duelist named "Ghost" Kozuka (Bones in the English anime, Kotsuzuka in the Japanese versions). He has Kozuka duel Joey Wheeler. Although Keith directs nearly all of Kozuka's moves, Kozuka still loses. Afterward, Keith calls Kozuka a loser, and ignores Joey's challenge for a duel face-to-face. After leaving the arena, Keith traps the heroes in the cave. He then turns on his minions and attacks them, steals their star chips (star chips are earned by winning battles, and ten of them are required to enter the finals), which gives him enough to enter the castle as a finalist.

Howard later duels Joey in the semi-finals of Duelist Kingdom. To ensure that he wins, he sneaks into Joey's room the night before and steals his entry card. Joey is nearly disqualified, but Mai Kujaku (Mai Valentine in the English anime) lends him her entry card. Although caught off guard by Joey's entrance, Howard unveils a rather devastating deck of Machine cards in his duel. His Machine cards not only have superior firepower over Joey, but also are immune to any sort of magical attacks (note that this is not a real rule). Howard also cheats, pulling 7 Completed cards from his wristband to power up his Slot Machine. However, Joey still wins when using Graverobber to steal Howard's Time Machine, bringing back his Red-Eyes Black Metal Dragon and defeating Howard's Slot Machine.

Afterwards, Howard claims that Joey should be disqualified since the card he used to enter the semi-finals wasn't his. However, this backfires on Howard, as Joey questions how he knew that Joey used someone else's card to enter. Pegasus steps in, explains how Howard stole the card, and also calls Howard out for cheating during play (pulling the cards out of his wristbrand). He then orders his security guards to escort Howard out of the building. In the manga, Howard responds by threatening Pegasus with a knife. Pegasus uses his Millennium Item to "turn" Howard's hand into a gun. The hand "shoots" Keith. In the anime, Howard breaks away and confronts Pegasus. He demands that Pegasus hand over the 3 million dollars prize money for the tournament. Pegasus calmly moves his foot to hit a hidden button. The floor around him falls away, and Howard plummets down a tunnel into the ocean.

Second season anime

Note: This only happens in the 2nd series anime.

Although not seen (except in flashbacks), Keith is found by Marik Ishtar and the Rare Hunters. Marik brainwashes Keith using the Millennium Rod, and through him, learns the location of Yugi Muto (Yugi Mutou in the manga and Japanese anime) and the Millennium Puzzle. Marik sends Keith to Domino to claim the Puzzle. Disguised as a fortune teller, Keith steals the Puzzle and flees to a hidden arena. Chaining the Puzzle to the arena, Keith says the only way for Yugi to reclaim the Puzzle is to duel for it. (In the English anime, Marik has Keith duel Yugi to win the Puzzle for him. In the Japanese anime, Marik has Keith duel Yugi in the hopes Dark Yugi will appear.)

Although Keith is hooded, Yugi quickly deduces his identity from his Machine deck. Keith's deck, augmented with powerful rare cards courtesy of the Rare Hunters, surprisingly begins to defeat Yugi. However, the duel is watched by Bakura, under the control of Yami Bakura. Yami Bakura senses the dark energies from Keith, and realizes he has been hypnotized. Yami Bakura refuses to let Yugi lose and forfeit the Puzzle (since Yami Bakura wants it for himself), and uses the Millennium Ring to break Marik's control of Keith. While Marik and Keith struggle for control, Keith shatters the Puzzle against the console (In the English anime, he does this because Marik commands him to. In the Japanese anime Keith does it himself because he thinks the voice trying to control him is the spirit of the Puzzle). Yami Bakura then swings down, knocking Keith off the arena.

While Yami Bakura leaves Yugi to put the Puzzle back together, Keith hallucinates Marik nearby, giving him orders. Grabbing a length of pipe and attacking the images, Keith shatters the arena power unit, causing a fire. While the building burns, Katsuya Jonouchi (known as Joey Wheeler in the English anime) and Hiroto Honda (Tristan Taylor in the English anime) break down the door. A terrified Keith runs past them, claiming the arena is haunted. He is not seen again, though his "lost soul" is seen when the Pharaoh goes to see Yugi in the realm of lost souls during the Waking the Dragons arc. As well, the minions are seen later in Battle City, and duel (and lose to) Yami Bakura for the right to enter the Battle City finals.

Deck

Keith uses a Machine Deck. He uses a large assortment of powerful monsters in a beatdown strategy, and uses Spells and Traps that either enhance them or destroy his opponent's cards. Keith also cheats by hiding cards in his wristband to gain an edge on his opponent. Similarly, when he wears the Rare Hunter robes, a claw mechanism feeds cards directly to his hand. Because the duelists are so far from each other when dueling at an arena, Keith's opponents rarely realize he is cheating.

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