Rafael Rafael is the strongest of Doma ' s Swordsmen and the most mysterious in his strategy . He is the only swordsman to have defeated his target once . He is also the only swordsman to not lose his soul after being defeated by his target , and was one of the first characters shown to be able to see Duel Spirits . He and Alister were responsible for bringing Rex Raptor and Weevil Underwood to Dartz . He is one of the few characters to have defeated Yami Yugi in a Duel , the others being Seto Kaiba and Yugi Muto . 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 . During his birthday when he received his gift of " Guardian Eatos " , Rafael was separated from his family , 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 dub the story was changed to say that the family survived and had forgotten about him ) . In the Japanese version , Rebecca stated that when she became the American champion , there were rumors that it was actually Rafael instead , even though he never participated in public Duels . 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 the three years 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 . Upon building a raft , Rafael 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 where his rescue was on the front page of the magazine . In the original , Rafael ' s parents were presumed dead as he visited their graves . His surviving relatives took his dad ' s inheritance and wanted nothing to do with Rafael . Meanwhile , strangers simply wanted his fame . As a result he had no real friends . Rafael made his living by becoming a Duelist , eventually becoming the first Duelist to become the first national champion in the United States , a feat that was believed to be accomplished by Rebecca . However , he never appeared in public outside of Duels since people simply wanted to take advantage of him . In the dub , his family survived but forgotten about him . He traveled more and eventually went with Dartz to a graveyard 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 , and became one of the many minions of Dartz . Rafael did not know that Dartz drove the ship that his family drowned on into the tidal wave . At some point after joining Dartz , Rafael met Alister and Valon . Like Rafael , Alister and Valon had their childhoods tragically manipulated and destroyed by Dartz . Rafael obviously cared a great deal about his partners as he showed concern for Valon after he fell in love with Mai and was visibly upset when Alister lost his soul . Rafael believed that he was following his set destiny , and proceeded to capture many souls . He believes the Pharaoh , Yami Yugi , was evil and thus desires his soul above all others . During his Duel against Yami Yugi , Rafael gave his " The Seal of Orichalcos " to Yami , using " Exchange " . Yami Yugi activated " 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 . Rafael didn ' t know about this until he returned to Dartz ' s base and Dartz and Valon revealed this to him . To make up for this , he goes after Yami Yugi after the latter and Téa Gardner fell into the Stone Wastelands . By Dartz ' s instructions , he throws his Orichalcos necklace where Yami Yugi and Yugi dueled in order for Dartz to summon an Orichalcos Soldier . Yami Yugi only barely manages to win after he uses " The Eye of Timaeus " ( something that surprised Rafael since in their last Duel Timaeus abandoned Yami Yugi for playing " The Seal of Orichalcos " ) . Later in Florida , Rafael confronts Mai Valentine after she was freed from the Orichalcos ' s influence and arrived to defeat Dartz and free Joey ' s soul . Despite Mai ' s efforts , Rafael beats her and captures her soul . Rafael then Duels Yami Yugi again in order to take his soul , 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 control of " The Seal of Orichalcos " . After " Dreadscythe " was destroyed , 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 . Afterwards the Seal attempts to take his soul , but his stone shatters and he is freed . It is revealed that because he had no negative emotions within him upon his defeat , the Seal could not take his soul . When the building starts collapsing , Rafael hangs from an edge and gives Yami Yugi a computer chip with a map to Dartz ' s lair before he seemingly falls down . He rescues Mai 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 the suffering he and his friends had experienced all along . After this revelation , Rafael finally saw that Yami was right and that Dartz was the true evil , and as a result , Rafael was shocked , distraught , and angered . He used his remaining strength to materialize Guardian Eatos to attack Dartz , but Dartz ended up taking his soul . At the end of the arc he is set free along with all of Dartz ' s prisoners . He is last seen standing before the . Deck . Rafael uses a " Guardian " Deck . The majority of his cards are very old and worn , and can be seen with wrinkled edges and discolorations . However , the backs of the cards strangely remain undamaged . Rafael ' s most common tactic is using " Guardian Treasure " to more quickly access his cards . His " Guardian " monsters rely on him first having the appropriate Equip Spell Card to be on the field before they can be Summon ed , and he equip s them to " Backup Gardna " for the purpose of the Summoning before using the ability of " Backup Gardna " to transfer that Equip Card to its corresponding " Guardian " . Rafael is very close to his cards and cannot tolerate their destruction , thus using a variety of Spell and Trap Cards to protect them , such as " Rescuer from the Grave " and " Self Tribute " . As seen with " Self Tribute " , as well as " Aid to the Doomed " and the unplayed but seen " My Body as a Shield " , Rafael will even give up his hand and Life Points to protect his monsters . Rafael ' s dedication to protect his monsters is important due to his signature card " Guardian Eatos " , which can be Special Summoned without any sacrifice if Rafael has no monsters in his Graveyard . When " Eatos " is destroy ed in his Duel with Yami Yugi , Rafael Summons " Guardian Dreadscythe " , a twisted evil incarnation of " Eatos " that represents the darkness in his heart . At this point , Rafael destroys his other Guardians to empower " Dreadscythe " , his hatred and determination to defeat Yami Yugi overriding his bond with them . Furthermore , while Rafael would willingly sacrifice himself to protect his Guardians , " Dreadscythe " forces him to do so by making him discard a card to negate its destruction if it would ever be destroyed .