Rafael

Rafael, sometimes spelled Raphael among fans, is the strongest of Doma's Swordsmen and the most mysterious in his strategy. He is the only swordsman that defeated his target once. He is also the only swordsman not to lose his soul after he was defeated by his target. He and Alister were responsible for bringing Rex Raptor and Weevil Underwood to Dartz. He is also one of the few characters to ever defeat Yami Yugi in a Duel.

Design


Rafael's usual outfit consists of a large open full-body coat with padded shoulders and belted sleeves and fingerless gloves with studded knuckles. His blonde hair is raised and points upwards behind his head it also features two locks in front of his ears turning through ninety degrees and pointing forward. His Orichalcos Stone is worn around his neck. He carries a Chaos Duel Disk on his left hand.

Biography
Rafael came from a very wealthy family, and led a perfect life. He had a little sister and brother, and two parents. Rafael was separated from them when, on a luxury cruise, the boat went off course and directly into a tidal wave. As a result the family was killed and he was the only survivor (In the English version the story was changed to say that the family survived).

Rafael was stranded on a deserted island with only his Duel Monsters, which included "Guardian Eatos", "Guardian Grarl", and "Guardian Kay'est", which he treasured. As time passed, he ended up gaining longer hair with his only clothing being a tank top and what's left of his pants. During this time, his cards blew into the ocean and Rafael dove in and retrieved them. It appears at this time he began to see his cards duel monster spirits, but it was never shown if they talked back to him.

One day, Rafael saw a city right off the island. He quickly sailed towards it, but as he got near, it disappeared, and he was pulled down underneath the sea by a tidal wave. There, Dartz's voice told him to remember his voice, for they would meet again. Rafael became conscious aboard his raft, and was then rescued by a fishing boat.

He traveled and eventually went with Dartz to a Graveyard, where he was convinced that his family had forgotten him and tortured by digging where he finds the skulls from his siblings corpses', confirming that his family had died in the shipwreck (The skulls were removed from the dub version). He was then seduced by a Dark Guardian, and given "The Seal of Orichalcos" card and a Chaos Duel Disk. Rafael became one of Dartz's many minions. Until Yami Yugi and Seto Kaiba dueled Dartz, Rafael did not know that Dartz drove the ship that his family drowned on into the tidal wave.

Rafael believed that he was following his set destiny, and proceeded to capture many souls, including Yugi and Mai's. He believes the pharaoh, Yami Yugi was evil and thus desires his soul above all others. To this end Rafael gave his "The Seal of Orichalcos" to Yami, using "Exchange". Yami Yugi played "The Seal of Orichalcos" out of desperation, but proceeded to lose the Duel. Yugi pushed Yami out of "The Seal of Orichalcos" and let the Seal take his soul instead.

After discovering that he had taken the wrong soul, Rafael duels Yami Yugi again, this time playing the Seal himself. After Yami Yugi defeats "Guardian Eatos", Rafael calls forth "Guardian Dreadscythe". Rafael proceeds to sacrifice his monsters, like Yami Yugi did in their previous Duel. Yami plays "Underworld Circle", sparking a vision of Rafael's past that snaps him out of the "Orichalcos'" control. Rafael then concedes defeat by using "Soul Charge" to revive all his monsters and deplete his own Life Points as a symbolic apology to them. Had he not done so, however, he would have won. Afterwards the Orichalcos attempts to take his soul, but his stone shatters, and he is freed, it being revealed that because he had no negative emotions within him upon his defeat, the seal could not take his soul. He rescues Mai Valentine and Valon from the collapsing building and confronts Dartz, who confessed that he was the one responsible for sinking the luxury cruise that he and his family were on, and for all of his and his friend's suffering. After this revelation, Rafael finally saw that Yami was right and that Dartz was the true evil. As a result, Rafael was shocked, distraught and angered. He used his remaining strength to use the "Seal of Orichalchos" against Dartz, but it backfired on him and ended up having his soul taken by it.

At the end of the arc, he is set free, along with all of Dartz's prisoners. He is last seen standing before the Arc de Triomphe.

Deck
Rafael uses a Guardian Deck, where many of the monsters require a specific Equip Magic Card to be on the field before they can be Summoned.

His particular attachment to his cards means that he will use any means necessary to protect them, which is seen with cards such as "Rescuer from the Grave" and "Self Tribute". This is because Rafael's family died, and he doesn't want the monsters he has spent his life with to suffer the same fate. The majority of his cards are also very old and worn, and can be seen with wrinkled edges and numerous discolored spots on their faces.

Rafael has two monsters who represent his character; "Guardian Dreadscythe" represents his dark mind and "Guardian Eatos" his light mind. Following his "rebirth" by Dartz, "Eatos" was also "reborn", in a wicked, twisted sense, creating the separate "Guardian Dreadscythe".

He equips his "Backup Gardna" with the Guardian Equip Magic Cards, allowing him to Summon the "Guardian". He then uses "Gardna's" effect to transfer the Equip Magic to its respective "Guardian", though he is never shown to do with "Rod of Silence - Kay'est".

The majority of his early offensive strategy relies on "Guardian Grarl". His utmost protection of his monsters also serves another purpose, as his most powerful monster, "Guardian Eatos", can be Summoned with no Tributes as long as his Graveyard is free of any Monster Cards. Eatos has the potential to gain immense strength through its effect, which absorbs the Attack Points of every monster in the opponents' Graveyard, starting at the top and going down until it reaches a Magic or Trap Card.

In his second Duel, he reveals his "Guardian Dreadscythe", which can only be Summoned when "Eatos" is destroyed. This monster has impressive regenerative abilities, being able to return to the field as long as the controller discards a card from their hand in the process except that the controller has no choice, if they can, they MUST discard a card to revive "Dreadscythe". Furthermore, for the sacrifice of other Guardian Monsters, "Dreadscythe" can increase its own attack strength. Rafael's willingness to sacrifice his own monsters at this point is due to the fact that "Dreadscythe" is the representation of Rafael's darker side and as such, is a completely different persona. He abandons his usual personal rule of always keeping his beloved monsters removed from play as opposed to in the Graveyard, similar to Yugi's reaction to Orichalcos in their first Duel, which eventually leads to his surrender, after being snapped back to his usual personality via the vision shown in Yami's "Underworld Circle".