Was Rafael About To Defeat Yugi? [Grappling with a Guardian]

[@TGSAnime]

20:43 - People have pointed out, Yugi only had 300lp left not 500 here. So it turns out that Yes! if Rafael attacked queens knight…Rafael would have won!

[@VillainBoss24]

People really need to start thinking through their attacks in the anime

[@nivgaming1255]

@@VillainBoss24 it's the anime. People there never think. It'd be a crime

[@AsuraKish8n665]

For the Next video can you make: Was Makoto about to defeat Zane and Syrius?

[@austingomez9630]

Can you please do Syrus VS Makoto Duel breakdown next super polymerization please 😁🃏

[@joshfarmer8408]

You got to love plot forced missplays

[@osblarg]

One of my favorite and funniest pieces of trivia about this duel is how the result returned the title of King of Duels to Yugi in a more roundabout way than what it seems. You see, way earlier when Rebecca was introduced, she and Yugi had a duel which he threw, so you could say Rebecca was unofficially the King of Duels from that point on, however she lost a duel against Valon, then Valon lost to Joey, then Joey lost to Mai, then Mai lost to Rafael, and finally, Rafael loses to Yugi, thus returning the title to him. Of course this is not to be taken too seriously, it's just a very funny idea.

[@bluelanternguardianangel8038]

Oh no I've gone cross eyed reading that lmao that's so weird to think though. I'm amazed you kept track of that so good job

[@wbrodie55]

@@bluelanternguardianangel8038 he got It from another yugituber. Still funny to think about though

[@professional.commentator]

To be fair the duel between Rebecca and Yugi didn't involve Atem so technically Atem was the King of Games until Raphael gets that title for a brief moment.

[@MrPerfect2000Z]

@@professional.commentator We can go into some real questions here because Yugi and Atem were switching back and forth in their duel with Pegasus AND Croquet (Pegasus's henchmen) declared Yugi King of Games and not Atem

[@arrownoir]

He didn’t throw the game, she was just the better Duelist.

[@filipvadas7602]

To be fair, Rafael was constantly drawing perfect combos cause of *plot* ,so him making fatal mistakes cause of it evened things out a bit

[@joshfarmer8408]

Imagine if yugi used mst on guardian treasure instead of gravity axe, Raphael would not draw guardian formation and Elma would be destroyed before he draws into eatos. Imagine what would happen

[@raze2012_]

Tbh Yami shoulda mst'd that freaking Guardian soul ages ago. Yugi int'd pretty hard just letting him have that on the field for 8 turns (in a time where duels lasted more than 4 turns.).

[@saphironkindris]

yeah, realistically speaking, Rafael would have lost 99/100 duels just because of bad draws, since so many of his cards require very specific other cards and he only has one of each. I think plot was helping him a lot more than hurting him tbh.

[@filipvadas7602]

@@bubbamaster3116 yeah, but nowhere near Raphael's level. Most of his main monsters literally can't be summoned unless he also has their specific equip spell alredy on the field Combine that with the fact that he only has one copy of each and you have a fustercluck of a deck that can only work in the anime where the plot gives people infinite consistency

[@jj209th6]

He also in 2 consecutive duels had his opening hand consist entirely of backrow so he could use guarded treasure without having to put a monster in the grave

[@hiros5386]

6:35 - Dude, my heart blossomed when you said. "And Yugi draws MST". I was like: "That is an amazing topdeck. Now you can finally get rid of guardian treasure and cause Mr.'My cards don't work if I dont draw them in pairs' to loose his huge advantage maschine." Then he targeted the worthless +500 Atk equip spell. Crys in missed value...

[@joshfarmer8408]

Speaking of missed opportunity, when yugi summoned big shield gardna, instead of switching dark magican to defense, why didn't he use him to get rid of back up gardna,

[@roninwarriorsfan]

@@joshfarmer8408 backup gardna has a battle protection effect

[@Myhaay]

@otakulord4872 so basically your first sentence is a complete lie, and the rest of the comment is pointless? nice one

[@AzureRoxe]

I always love when cards used represent the characters. Rafael is obviously represented by the Guardian cards and his refusal to let them die, even if it means taking damage himself, but when he snaps, the cards used and discarded also reflect his dark side. The first card he plays post-Reaper is Obedience, no longer does he care about monsters to the point he uses a card that FORCES them into changing their modes. Dreadscythe's first maintenance cost is "My Body As A Shield", aka Rafael refusing to use his own self to defend his monsters. When Yugi attacks with Dark Magician Girl, The Dragon Knight, the card discarded is "Purity of the Cementary", aka Rafael no longer respecting his fallen monsters nor the purity of their sacrifice. He uses "Spirit Hunting" to force Dreadscythe into Attack Mode and destroy any Defense Mode monsters. And of course, once Dreadscythe is destroyed and Rafael overcomes his darkness, he uses Soul Charge to revive all his monsters at the cost of lifepoints, using them all in order to bring back his monsters, effectively sacrificing his soul to save his monsters.

[@imanalligator9694]

The detail and symbolism is insane

[@Sanguivore]

Great rundown. I absolutely adore the symbolism. :D

[@roninwarriorsfan]

Sam...i hate to do this, but after Amulet Dragon was destroyed by Guardian Dreadscythe, Yugi had 300 life left. If Raphael attacked Queen's Knight with Guardian Dreadscythe, Yugi would have lost even with Reduction Barrier's effect

[@DusknoirOscuro]

Yugi could also have summoned Big Shield Gardna that turn (in defense), or summoned Queen's Knight in defense. Also, I don't understand why Yami wasted a card from his hand the previous turn to try to destroy Dreadscythe, only to take a card from Rafael's (more numerous) hand...

[@kyuubinaruto17]

Yugi had a facedown card still. If Raphael was going to attack any monster his best bet was going after the Legendary Dragon card since it had the kind of mythic power like the God cards that could be troublesome compared to an ordinary trading card. That's my take on it.

[@kyuubinaruto17]

@@DusknoirOscuro Maybe Yugi felt it had to be done anyway. If Dreadscythe was effectively invincible until he got rid of Raphael's hand he might as well chip away at it.

[@DusknoirOscuro]

​@@kyuubinaruto17Rafael had more cards in his hand and drew them faster due to Guardian Treasure, Yugi should just have kept a card in his hand to discard during each of Rafael's turns. The Orichalcos Sword wasn't even necessary, for Yugi's hand was empty. I guess they just wanted DMG the Dragon Knight to show her special ability again.

[@DusknoirOscuro]

This is how it should have been, assuming that Yugi knew about Queen's Knight Fusion with Hermos: Yugi keeps a card in his hand to protect DMG the Dragon Knight from an attack, sets Reduction Barrier for extra protection, then he plays King's Knight in Defense during Rafael's turn, as he shouldn't have risked losing Queen's Knight or allowing a monster with less that 2500 ATK to be attacked by Dreadscythe. Basically, stalling while waiting for Hermos. Then, the turn he drew Hermos, he revives Queen's Knight with Underworld Circle to fuse her with that dragon, then he switches King's Knight to Attack, and uses it to attack for game right after Guardian Eatos and Guardian Dreadscythe destroy each other with the Goddess Bow strategy.

[@TheKpa11]

There’s a cool detail that the dub cuts out, it’s when Atem is riding the elevator, he’s actually shown essentially modifying and checking his cards as he’s riding it, which I thought was a nice change of pace quite frankly, showing some card changes (Even though they don’t show any side deck on Atem as he’s seemingly doing this) And before they duel, Rafael and Atem shuffle each other’s cards, something that has only really happens in tournaments (The dub did show this part)

[@dwainsimmons3447]

So 4kids wanted to make sure that everyone thought that Atem chose his cards at random.

[@DarkSaber22]

Good eye. The dub also showed Atem and Marik shuffling at the Battle City Finals

[@EuroMIX2]

"Shuffle well Pharaoh, and pray with all your soul that Ra ends up on the bottom!"

[@Shantae1188]

@@EuroMIX2 Hahaha. I love how Yami Marik says that.

[@cameraredeye3115]

@@EuroMIX2 Yami Marik was an absolute troll in Battle City. Even Atem was pissed 🤣

[@markmorales7958]

16:21 AHH! MAGICAL PIGEONS?!?! THATS IMPOSSIBLE!!! NO ONE HAS EVER BEEN ABLE TO ACTIVATE THAT!!!

[@michaeledmunds7056]

"My deck has no pathetic cards, Raphael, especially not... Magical Pigeons!"

[@christopherb501]

"I mean, Exodia is one thing, but _Magical Pigeons?!_ Is he in-SAAAAANE?!"

[@rjbourgeois5490]

Yes, but does it have a variety of dragon themed strategiems?

[@chdest4550]

Raphael: "You are evil and have proved it by activating the Seal of Orichalcos" Yugi: "No, he's right, using that card is an evil thing" Raphael: "And now I activate the Seal of Orichalcos" Yugi: "What?" Raphael: "It's okay because I don't sacrifice my monsters" Yugi: "Still feels like bullshit but okay" Raphael: "And now I sacrifice all my monsters to power up my Dreadscythe with the Seal of Orichalcos on the field to help my good guy quest" So apparently Littlekuriboh was right, Orichalcos is Latin for "Giant f*cking hypocrite"

[@efrainlagunas]

lol what episode was this again? I have to rewatch littlekuriboh now

[@tigerdactyl6958]

@@efrainlagunas Yugioh Abridged ep 80

[@DusknoirOscuro]

He justified destroying his mosters saying that he despised Yami even more having monsters in his GY, for having sent Eatos there. Still, he played Orichalcos long before that.

[@chdest4550]

@@DusknoirOscuro I see, thank you for clarifying it's been a while since I've seen yugioh season 4 I forgot about that. I still think he's a massive hypocrite, but again, thanks for informing me of that.

[@DusknoirOscuro]

@@chdest4550 You're welcome. I guess the moment he played the Seal, the darkness inside him was dragged out, he wanted revenge at all costs when he saw Eatos fall. Pretty much what Yami did last time to try and defeat Rafael carelessly with Catapult Turtle.

[@bob4960]

If you freezeframe at 20:37, you can see Yugi only had 300 LP remaining, so in fact, Rafael attacking Queen's Knight instead would have won him the duel (4000 battle dmg reduced to 400). Yugi's LP had fallen to 300 at around 15:00.

[@markstone918]

Sam, the 'early' Yugioh duels had certain criteria and such by the writers and animators with also plot driven ways for the anime to develop characters and evolve. You really break these duels down GREAT!!!!

[@Josebalbe]

Jesus Christ, Rafael's draw luck is even better than Jaden's. Btw could you do a "was Kagemaru about to defeat Jaden?"

[@joshfarmer8408]

If he had other monsters other than just the demons, he could of won

[@Zetact_]

Well GX does establish that in the DM universe you can train topdecking like a skill. Also due to the water damage his cards are technically marked.

[@KaoruMzk]

Raphael: "my secret is that I never shuffle my deck"

[@naijal2761]

Yeah, if Kagemaru did not forget about Uria's effect.

[@Joeggurnaut546]

Jaden also has the benefit of playing pot of greed and his own in archetype pot of greed in the form of bubbleman, and E - emergency call to search him.

[@elmet03]

Every time I see a new "Was about to defeat" video I am so excited, best series ever!

[@warnerbroken8973]

Me too

[@djampoucheukap1742]

Me too ,seriously, He really knows how to explain duels... (And I know what I say, I also follow Yu-Gi-Oh everything channel). Good job bro 👍👍

[@haller1580]

Same

[@elvenatheart982]

Yip

[@ChozoEnPrime]

Man, same here! Love these videos!

[@TheChipmania]

If Raphael summoned Kay’Est to attack one of the hats, he would’ve run the risk into crashing into Dark Magician, and either lose life in defense, or if it was in attack, would’ve destroyed it and his plays would’ve been ruined since a monster was in his graveyard

[@megame5573]

This was my thought too. Raphael is playing cautious there.

[@Amitlu]

@@megame5573 He also didnt know he would find Big Shield Gardna right away.

[@DusknoirOscuro]

Eatos had already been summoned, strategy-wise, having a monster in the GY wasn't a big deal; morally-wise, it still wasn't a risk because Dark Magician was in defense, Yugi changed its battle position just in case and to make his plan less obvious. Besides, Rafael had plenty of LP, -600 wouldn't have made a difference.

[@adamtouraity3496]

It's strange how yugi never draws mirror force in either duel, despite that probably being the most effective card against Rafael

[@windrider2190]

Right? No effect protection on anyone of the guardian cards. It’d definitely get Dreadscythe out quicker and be stronger without the use of its effect if Eatos is caught in the trap, but that’s besides the point. Rafael is screwed if he gets hit by a destruction effect, or any removal effect lol.

[@rynobehnke8289]

True. Than again doing back to the first Yugi vs Kaiba match is even more hilarious ones you realize that Yugi had like 5 or so different ways to beat the white dragons be it with equip spills on already strong monsters, Mirror force or Summon Skull after making the dragons wet with some mist.

[@windrider2190]

@@rynobehnke8289 could’ve done a lot of crap back in S1 given the “if it makes sense, it works” rule they went with lol. Fire kills zombies, so fire monsters gain an ATK advantage. The moon controls the waves, so I’ll destroy my own moon card to wash up your water monsters. And as you put it, your monster is wet now, so electric attacks give my monster an ATK boost, etc.

[@koalafromtomorrow5656]

What about magical cylinder

[@Ramona122003]

@@rynobehnke8289 Most of the cards you mentioned didn't exist before Duelist Kingdom. In neither duel with Kaiba in the manga was there a card that could destroy a monster via a spell.

[@ryanbelmont2676]

How about this for a duel analysis: was Aster about to defeat Adrian? The duel where Adrian gets the power of Exodia at the end of the duel at the cost of Gecko.

[@reideley4398]

I've always wondered if Exodius had the special ability that he has in real life and if Aster destroyed him and had used MST to destroy dimensional prison would Aster have won?

[@ryanbelmont2676]

@@reideley4398 no, Exodius doesn't have an MST ability. also it is used mostly outside of Exodia decks because its a level 10 monster that can special summon itself by sending all of the monsters in your grave back to your deck and can be used to either help get back monsters in the grave back to the deck or go for a rank 10 XYZ play.

[@reideley4398]

@@ryanbelmont2676 no I mean if Aster had used MST to destroy dimensional prison

[@ryanbelmont2676]

@@reideley4398 oh ok

[@varisrevolver4061]

@@reideley4398 Problem is, that requires hindsight, it's easy to say "If X did this instead of X, it could've changed", but when you're there, you're not worrying about if a card bypasses non destruction effects

[@GrokeytheHunter]

I actually don’t think Raphael not playing his mermaid guardian was a mistake. Keep in mind yugi does have traps like mirror force, and if he used it then Raphael would have lost all his monsters, and possibly allowed Yugi to kill him. And seeing as before Iatos died he wanted to save all his monsters it’s possible he did it to keep the card safe until he was certain it would live. A misplay for sure, but one that plays off his flaw

[@Eric6761]

You can also argue that Raphael had a chance of attacking Big Shield Gardna or Dark Magician with Kay'est which would be kinda a good amount of damage, soo he decided not enter the risk

[@co8wei]

It's not a misplay. What you described is valid.

[@orangemoon286]

Love how you specifically said kill him

[@christopherb501]

Not Backup Gardna

[@DarkSpirit4444]

13:27 always loved the way they singled out a card with only one hand

[@VinWeiLee27171]

Not destroying jacks knight was a huge misplay, but feel kinda suited Raphael’s character, not just for the plot (kinda). Cuz he’s sacrificed his lp to protect his monsters in the last duel, so leaving which one on the field didn’t really matter to Rachael all that much, plus giving a five stars monster also taunted Yugi to attack recklessly. But huge misplay for sure.

[@dreadlord8628]

He's all about the mind games

[@fabiocarvalhodossantos857]

exactly, also yugi literally played five star twilight in their previous duel, so it was stupid from raphael to not except the same move. this was simply a huge misplay

[@RenaldyCalixte]

​@@fabiocarvalhodossantos857maybe Rafael was overconfident.

[@TheLetterJ0]

Small note that I don't see anyone else mentioning: Soul Charge prevents you from attacking the turn it is activated, so Rafael couldn't have won on his last turn.

[@eliascsjunior]

The anime card only prevents the summoned monsters so the first one could have attacked

[@markmorales7958]

Atem Vs. Rafael Round 2… Aka, “Who’s the bigger hypocrite?” Don’t believe me? Then take a look at this part of the duel (14:03)

[@windrider2190]

I think that’s the point. The whole point of the seal in Rafael’s eyes is that it brings out the darkness in somebody, a darkness that even the most pure hearted people have locked within them. It’s just that this time around, Atem helped Rafael to conquer this darkness.

[@GamingTopTen]

I'm not sure I'd call it hypocrisy as much as Rafael taking priorities. He loves his monsters, but he hates humanity, and in having to choose between the two outlooks, he chose the latter.

[@dancostello4872]

Regarding the Queen's Knight situation, others have already pointed out that Rafael would have won had he attacked it instead of DMGtDK. There isn't anything remotely resembling a logical explanation for the misplay, but the closest thing I can think of is that maybe it inspired one of the added effects when The Seal of Orichalcos was printed, specifically the 'cannot attack the weakest monster' clause for its controller. In theory there was nothing stopping the writers from, while they were at it, retroactively extrapolating that effect, so the anime version would have been applying this but for monsters on both fields, since we know the anime doesn't specify every listed effect of the Seal (it's apparently got that discard omni-negate in the anime which literally _never_ gets used because the point of it was soul-stealing), so who's to say this was just one of those hidden things that never came up and as such was never added to the 'official' listed anime effect? It also loosely (operative word here) makes sense, in that neither Rafael nor Yami Yugi attacked the weakest monster when the other controlled at least 2, so maybe that line on the IRL Seal was added to cover what would otherwise be a tremendously bad misplay. Yes I know this is beyond tenuous but it's fun to speculate and a modicum of the idea makes sense.

[@kyuubinaruto17]

Someone else pointed out that he probably wanted to take out the legendary dragon. Just like the God Cards they're a rogue element where their power is real. He already failed at getting Atem's soul once. Better to not take chances.

[@dancostello4872]

@@kyuubinaruto17 Makes sense; he didn't know about Reduction Barrier and Timaeus was a threat. I guess the main issue was the writers' decision to give Yugi a trap card that saves him in one scenario but wouldn't in the other because then it just looks like a massive oversight.

[@kintsuki99]

"If you lose the duel you lose your SOUL!" - Tristan.

[@christopherb501]

"Let's hope this duel is over quick! I have to get to DorkFest opening ceremonies."

[@SpecsTube]

If GX is next, I’d like to see Syrus vs Zane. Zane is Sam’s favourite character and I’ve wondered if Syrus could’ve beaten Zane at all. Also continued theme of Atem, in duels against Rafael, of not using all possible cards before playing Card of Sanctity.

[@mirandaulrich5874]

"Magical pigeons? What is he insaaaane?" To quote littlekuriboh.

[@vanguardplays3418]

I think the reason Rafael attacked dark magican girl the dragon knight over queens knight while it was because of the plot I think it was also supposed to be him wanting to destroy Temius

[@firepuppies4086]

"You destroyed my -mom- monster.. how about I destroy your precious Timeaus!"

[@TheKpa11]

In the Japanese version it makes even less sense for Raphael to give Atem Hermos. He’s afraid of the three dragons, he says this in their first duel so really had the writers just left hermos with Joey instead of Mai taking it, Atem could have simply taken it instead for this duel

[@RenaldyCalixte]

I assumed this gesture convinced Atem that Raphael had goodness inside him and was a victim of Dartz more so than a fanatical servant of Dartz. Cause Dartz wouldn't have wanted Raphael to give Atem Hermos.

[@GaussianEntity]

If he's afraid of them, wouldn't it make sense to give it back so that to avoid any weirdness? It's not like it wouldn't appear at the top of the deck anyway when Atem most needed it since that's kinda what they did during the season.

[@giovanniorellana2200]

I hope you do a Duel Analysis on whether or not Chazz was going to beat Adrian Gecko. That was a good duel.

[@patrickzantomaster]

Always love your content, there are almost no youtubers that dissect yugioh duels, but are so precise in your analysis. It’s always fun to see you analyse over these ridiculous card game shenanigans if you actually looked at the deck in its entirety

[@JaimeD.]

After 10 months since the first duel between Yami Yugi and Rafael we finally got their 2nd duel, which I'm thankful. Later, I would love to see a Duel Analysis of Aster Phoenix vs Sartorius to see IF Aster would have won.

[@samurexatlas7373]

Something neat I recently noticed, each equip spell for a Guardian is up on a unique stone pedestal, but they do appear similar enough. The only two to not appear upon a pedestal are Eatos and Dreadscythe, implying that instead of being on display they're being utilized by their Guardians.

[@krfan5459]

1:42 This isn't the only time the dub has fixed an error the original made. When Jim Cook faced off against the Supreme King in Yugioh GX, After Jim attacked with skull knight a second time, it showed The Supreme Kings life points as 1950, rather than 1850, which the dub fixed.

[@onurvatansever218]

Rafael didn't need to use Orichalcos Sword of Sealing. Yugi wouldn't be able to use Dark Magician Girl the Dragon Knight's effect because his hand was empty.

[@TheManiacc45]

Raphael literally had Yugi on the ropes the entire duel.

[@accuratememin]

Something I'd like to see is Kaiba vs Zigfried, and yes, this is just an excuse to see Kaiba's 4 card combo again.

[@gudakoalter]

*Yugi summons Guardian Eatos Rafael: Mommy No!! I taught I was yor favorite!

[@NexeL_NKC]

I can't get enough of these duel analyses. They're so well put together and kept track of super well too. Gives me a whole new appreciation for how the game is played in both the anime and real life.

[@zacharymccutcheon8607]

"Yugi learned from the first duel" Did he though, the man is still not setting his cards before playing Card of Sanctity.

[@sniippiggydigg]

My favourite thing about this duel is that Tristan is such an NPC by this point he carries Joey on his back the entire time instead of putting him down

[@jacobwilliams1223]

Rafael not destroying Jack's Knight is one of the most blatant "because plot" misplays ever seen. There is ZERO reason he doesn't take out the strongest card and threat to Elma then and there, but if he does that Yugi's following moves are fucked so Rafael had to be written as dumb for it to work/

[@kevsteiner3305]

The only reason that comes to my mind is that rafael wanted to deal the most damage since yugi can't change his monsters position.

[@joshfarmer8408]

@@kevsteiner3305 yugi also missplayed a little, why didn't he use mst to destroy guardian treasure?

[@areacua95]

You could interpret Raphael wanting to deal more damage as a sign of he slighly failling to darkness. Also, he had the defense of the shield, so if jack's could attack, it wouldn't do anything and be destroyed next turn

[@ertawanderer1062]

I mean if we want to argue plot you could just have five stars be anything else like a rigeki or a royal straight. Yes he should have Target Jack's knight but also he probably shouldn't have drawn perfect luck the whole game also he shouldn't have completely thrown his morals under the bus the minute one of his monsters dies.

[@j.a.george9229]

Rafael was trying to deal more damage, and he wasn't worried about Jack's Knight (or whatever he was going to summon with it) because he had Guardian Shield. Elma was not under any threat at all, and Rafael did summon a 10,000 ATK monster in their last duel. I disagree when he says it's out of character for him.

[@xandergilbert3697]

Very underrated duel, I still remember how I felt when Yugi reduced his LP to like 10 or something. I think that's the closest I've seen to 0 in the original anime.

[@HalfDemonInuyasha]

The closest we get to 0 in Duel Monsters is 1 because of Ra several times, lol. Heck, in Yugi/Atem vs. Dartz, they both actually go to 0 and only through convenient effects (God of Serpent - Geh and Soul Relay) do they not lose.

[@kageseiryuu8675]

there was that weird moment in battle city when yugi was fighting a mind controlled joey at the harbor yugi threw the game and had 0lp loosing the game but cuz plot duel didnt end just yet and joey somehow made yugis monsters attack him or sth to drop to 0hp as well and open the lockbox with the key to their leg cuffs

[@xandergilbert3697]

@Jake Folk yeah I was mistaken. But at least I know how to spell marik

[@shadic4566]

In the English Dub, Raphael digs up his own Orichalcos Duel Disk instead of digging up his parents' skulls. Pretty much making the scene more child friendly but ignored the fact that Kaiba made the Duel Disk in Season 2.

[@solidzack]

This is the series I'm always excited to watch even if I lost interest in modern Yugioh long time ago. One suggestion: If one character did a major misplay, it would be really interesting to see a simulation from there on in YGOPRO or something to see how the duel would have looked if both played perfectly from that point on until the duel ended or a point is reached where you couldn't predict the progress of the duel (for example because the deck was shuffled).

[@dervakommtvonhinten517]

17:43 HAHAHAHA sounded like you were saying "my buddy as a shield" xD

[@Zetact_]

Rafael consistently getting the perfect Guardian + Equip combo either is because topdecking is a skill you can train or because his deck is effectively full of marked cards. MST on Gravity Axe instead of Guarded Treasure is a weird move but, eh, he had a play in mind and he made it.

[@vanguardRailgun924]

All his guardian cards are water damaged so they are technically marked.

[@mainstreamvoltage]

@@vanguardRailgun924 Rafael does say he replaced the backs of the cards

[@Shantae1188]

@@mainstreamvoltage Is that only in Sub?

[@petarpetrovic5281]

Some ideas: 1.Was Pegasus about to beat Yugi 2.Was Marik about to beat Yugi 3.Was Valon about to beat Joey 4.Were Paradox brothers about to beat Yugi and Joey

[@loquen3497]

who would win in a hypothetical duel between atem and rafael, one without the legendary dragons and the other one without the seal and guardian deathscythe, because rafael had absolute control in both duels and was always cornering yugi during the majority of the time

[@TheSupremeKing27]

That I would love to see happen

[@akaneriyun4774]

Honestly, Atem would win. Rafael was so goddamn inexplicably lucky every turn lol

[@Ramona122003]

@@akaneriyun4774 That and Atem's Doma's deck is honestly awful. It's a massive downgrade compared to his Battle City deck even without the gods.

[@arrownoir]

Dreadscythe has a pretty rad design. I especially love that laugh…especially when her attack was negated by being switched to defense.

[@emreekinci4258]

No wonder Rafael is so buff. His whole deck is a huge brick.

[@roninwarriorsfan]

Back-up guardna makes his deck consistant

[@spiceseller9928]

The wattapon dark magician girl combo happens so much lol. It’s like her pet.

[@alonsoarana5307]

I just have to mention the animation in these three episodes was immaculate, it's definitely some of the strongest the show had

[@justsomeguy2825]

I always liked to believe that in the Yu GI oh universe, any duelist who believed in their cards would be granted fortune in their draws. It would explain why Raphael has such great drawing luck, because he believes in his deck more than any Antagonist in the series. Would also explain why that luck seems to abandon him when he betrays his cards summoning Dreadsythe.

[@sasir2013]

wouldn't putting dreadsythe in the deck automatically mean that he doesn't fully trust his monsters?

[@TheKpa11]

Zexal spouts this logic too with shining draws in the chant

[@Sigismund697]

@@TheKpa11 I mean Yuma straight up creates cards out of thin air to win

[@TheKpa11]

@@Sigismund697 Yeah, to symbolize that chant of choosing the cards he draws

[@RandoGrunt]

Raphael was reminiscent of the Yugioh Protagonist Archtype before it even became the thing for having Heart of the Cards and his Ace Monster having 2500 attack points.

[@TheKpa11]

Im surprised “ORICALCHOS sword of sealing” wasn’t given a double take by any of the characters. It’s a card with “ORICALCHOS” in its name yet they don’t seem to care, its effect isn’t even explained properly in the anime

[@cameraredeye3115]

Its effect is basically this: "If you control "The Seal of Orichalcos": Discard 1 card, then target 1 face-up monster your opponent controls; while it is face-up on the field, it cannot activate its effects, attack, or change its battle position. Your opponent cannot activate cards or effects in response to this card's activation."

[@TheKpa11]

@@cameraredeye3115 thank you

[@grizzly2029]

I love how they drew yugi's face on those episodes feels the less lp the sharper his face gets

[@toast1boy]

I can't believe he played magical pigeon.

[@leociresi4292]

Dark Magician + Magical Hat Dark Magician Girl+ Magical Pigeon

[@RyuujinV]

2:05 Shout out to @kiratwig2 for both providing the background for this shot and also making janky but fun themed decks for the community to this day. My offline master duel collection would not exist without them.

[@williamfalls]

13:16 I would say that this isn't too much of a misplay, as for all he knew Yugi had Mirror Force face down and that'd disrupt his board.

[@tonystone10K]

That's exactly what I was thinking. Although, Yugi didn't play mirror force in their first duel. Did he play it at all during this season?

[@sandeepmahal4202]

@@tonystone10K Only when he put face down against Dartz and Kaiba made Mirror force Dragon.

[@tonystone10K]

@@sandeepmahal4202 oh yeahhh, that's right.

[@GaussianEntity]

@@tonystone10K Even though they didn't see it, they would have known with all the data they had on Yugi.

[@dragonyyy]

lets go im excited to watch that video love those "Was Duelist about to defeat Duelist" series

[@stephen4006]

17:24 those aren’t actually his parents skulls. They drowned at sea. This was Dartz being manipulative

[@roninwarriorsfan]

18:04 if we had to decide on what cards Raphael drew, I'm going to say they're Guardian Tryce & Twin Swords of Flashing Light - Tryce 19:27 again if we had to guess the mysterious card, i want to say Guardian of the Throne Room (because why not?)

[@TGSAnime]

I approve of these choices!

[@roninwarriorsfan]

@@TGSAnime thanks. Also i was wondering if you could add Yuma vs Kite & Astral vs Kite to the list of duels to analyze...if that's alright

[@skailerderkonigderdiebe5499]

Because underworld circle would banish the monsters in his deck plus we don't know if he had them for sure

[@roninwarriorsfan]

@@skailerderkonigderdiebe5499 only if they were summoned from the grave by the effect of underworld circle

[@skailerderkonigderdiebe5499]

@@roninwarriorsfan Suppose it is another Guardian monster why wouldn't Rafael discard it to increase the ATK of Dreadscythe. I'm sorry but the card choices don't make sense.

[@Odd_Eyes]

12:51 I think not summoning Kay'est and attacking with it fits with Rafael's philosophy of him protecting his monsters at all cost. If he summoned and attacked with Kay'est after Elma and found the Dark Magician, Kay'est would've been destroyed. Yes, Rafael could've attacked with Grarl before Kay'est, but let's be real. The plot wouldn't have allowed him to hit the Dark Magician.

[@MrDarksol]

This was a pretty good video and nice to see how the rematch between Atem and Raphael was. There were a good amount of misplays but at the end of the day it was still a pretty interesting entertaining and solid duel. Again great job!

[@rwg6357]

Yeah the Jack's knight misplay sticks out cause in EVERY DUEL The characters ALWAYS go for the strongest monster to deprive their opponent of a comeback if they can manage it EVERY duel runs on this logic. so when Raph who has the advantage doesn't follow this logic its like What?

[@emppu8or411]

At 20:52 Yami wouldn’t have survived it if Rafael would have attacked the queens knight because he only had 300 LP and with the damage reduction to 400 Yami would’ve lost

[@mr.e7806]

Damm beat me to it for pointing that out.

[@TGSAnime]

My goodness you are right!

[@DTran-je1sn]

@@TGSAnime Sam, can you analyse Kaiba vs Bakura?

[@theentity5201]

@@TGSAnime guess kaiba will have to save the day along with Joeys/the pharaohs/yugis souls Ohhh the humiliation that rich boy saved them lol

[@theentity5201]

That moment when Rafael says "what do you say we finish this duel and see how goes" that was the moment when yugi was shitting himself, he was utterly at Rafaels mercy, if Rafael had ONE more monster other than graul that would be the end of yugi, (10 LP left) Yugi screaming as the seal encircles him, his friends helpless to save him. His puzzle still failing to save him, he tries to hide in the puzzle but the seal humilates yugi by exorciseing him from his own puzzle room, yugi is done

[@warnerbroken8973]

The absolute master finding his match on the legendary Raphael. Takahashi was a true artist who gave us an epic protagonist; a beautiful dichotomy of kindness and modesty with boldness and courage. I think it was a very smart decision for Yuugi and Atem's perception as adept duelists, to be harshly tested through this formidable opponent. Duel Monsters was a masterpiece

[@heavydonkeykong5190]

Underrated rematch, imo. People understandably talk a lot about the first duel, but I liked this one even more.

[@rightinthedome9973]

Rafael straight up stacked his deck and didn't shuffle

[@Sanguivore]

Rafael is one of my favorite duelists in the entire series for some reason.

[@Akechi_The_Phantom_Detective]

Understandable he's got an awesome design, a cool deck and an interesting back story. Yeah his logic is fucking twisted but that doesn't mean he's not a good antagonist.

[@bladersmosh]

Next duel analysis I think should be an Arc V or Vrains duel. Arc V Sora vs Shun Yuya vs Jack R1,2 and 3 Yugo vs Yuri and Aster and Kite (what would’ve happened had they not interfered) Yuya vs Yuri (best Arc V duel IMO) Everyone vs Zarc Vrains Playmaker vs Revolver R4 Aoi vs Spectre Soulburner vs Revolver (best Vrains duel) Playmaker vs Ai Playmaker vs Akira

[@giovanniorellana2200]

A little surprised we haven't gotten any Arc V Duel Analysis. Even Zexal has one.

[@dancostello4872]

Nice suggestions, I assume the Soulburner vs Revolver match you're referring to is their R2 rematch, unless you're sarcastically saying their R1 was your favourite lmao. As for some of the other ones, I suggested Yugo vs Yuri had the legacy characters not interfered a long time ago so it's always great to see other people start asking for it too since there's a good chance he'll do it; in a similar vein Sora vs Shun has a very high chance of being done since it's widely considered to be the best duel in Arc-V (Yuya vs Yuri makes most people's Top 3s though). Personally I'd love to see Yugo vs Serena had it been square, because I think it's a really underrated duel and it would be interesting to see how long she'd have survived on her own or how things may have swung in her favour had she picked up the Action Card she deliberately passed up before Yugo snapped it up.

[@bladersmosh]

@@dancostello4872 I’m obviously referring to the second duel though the first one can be mentioned briefly as both start with the same opening play by Soulburner. Lots say had Revolver summoned Bomber Dragon instead of Zeroborus, he would’ve won. Call this blasphemy but Sora vs Shun to me is overrated. It’s still a fantastic duel but it’s a predictable no.1 position on best Arc V duels. It’s sometimes best by find at least one that I personally think is better or worse than what the fans predict. So know, show some variety and don’t be so obvious? No offence to anyone of course. Yuya vs Yuri has a lot of merits going for it; the stunning animation, back to back plays, the final turn and Kensho Ono’s brilliant performance as both Yuya and Yuri, in particular, Yuya’s breakdown after he discards Smile World.

[@kat-lego]

Bro I love these videos I get so hype when you post them so please keep making more plus these videos literally got me into Yu-Gi-Oh so thanks

[@salebadalo1957]

I have some suggestions on duels that you could do a breakdown video on from each show. DM: Was Odion about to defeat Joey and Was Joey about to defeat Mai (second duel). GX: Was Zane about to defeat Camula, Was Bastion about to defeat Tania, Was Axel about to defeat Jaden and Was Zane about to defeat Jaden (third duel). 5DS: Was Misty about to defeat Akiza (first duel), Was Carly about to defeat Jack, Was Sherry about to defeat Yusei and Was Antinomy about to defeat Yusei (first duel). Zexal: Was Shark about to defeat Yuma (4th duel) and Was Yuma about to defeat Kaito (third duel). Arc V: Was Declan about to defeat Yuya (first duel), Was Barrett about to defeat Yuya, Was Yuya about to defeat Sergey, and Was Sergey about to defeat Jack. Vrains: Was Revolver about to defeat Yusaku (1st duel), Was Aoi about to defeat Bohman, Was Roboppi about to defeat Soulburner and Was Ai about to defeat Yusaku.

[@devindeford4386]

Love these duel analysis vids!

[@toastywozzy]

6:20 this! This is the reason for every misplay

[@Ch1l1C0nCarnag3]

Had Yugi used Mystical Space Typhoon on Guardian Treasure, then that would have ruined Rafael's entire strategy and caused a cascading effect which could have ended the duel much soon.

[@Professor_Kovu]

This one series has made this the best yugioh channel on KZbin

[@felipeparente3053]

The 4Kids correcting the original??? Call me a ambulance

[@rerickf]

Requests: Ishzui vs Kaiba Battle City Quarterfinals Mai vs Joey - 1st duel in Waking the Dragons Jack vs Yusei - 1st duel in 5d's

[@jamesevans1897]

Ishzui and Kaiba was pretty generic, the moment Ishzui pulled the "no u" is when that match got solid so I'd like too see that since it was 1 attack away from changing history

[@rerickf]

@@jamesevans1897 I agree with you on that. I felt there where some shenanigans going on, especially at the end. Kaiba enters his Battle Phase as he about to declare a direct attack on Ishizu, then goes to Main Phase 2 to summon Blue Eyes, then back to Battle Phase to attack with said Blue Eyes

[@jacobwilliams1223]

Ishizu vs. Kaiba...or where to even begin. Kaiba could've used Soul Exchange much earlier to tribute her field for Blue-Eyes if he wasn't stupidly stubborn about winning with Obelisk. So he deliberately kneecaps himself even after she essentially nukes his deck. Ishizu has lethal on board if she just attacks with her 3 monsters on Kaiba's empty field at one point, but because of her "vision" she decides to wait to let Kaiba summon Obelisk so she can win by her trap card which fails anyway.

[@MrBoo703]

4:03 But if the requirement to actvate this card is not having any Guardian monster in the gy, that means literally any deck can use this card. It's even more difficult to use in a Guardian deck

[@tonystone10K]

ikr lol

[@RenaldyCalixte]

Is this some dub error? Wouldn't it make sense for a Guardian monster to be face up on the field in order to activate this card?

[@MrBoo703]

@@RenaldyCalixte I checked the effect on google to confirm, and it's exactly what is on the video

[@RenaldyCalixte]

@@MrBoo703 That's a horrible way to make a card effect for Guardian Force. Pegasus should fire whoever made thar card.

[@nexus6538]

1:35 That would make an awesome video, pointing out sub errors and seeing whether or not the dub corrects them

[@flochforster88]

11:59 This is the only (?) time Yugi switches a card to defence before activating Magical Hats

[@zexalbrony4799]

Definitely one of the best Duels from the OG series and my personal favorite from the OG series. And speaking of the Oricalcos arc, maybe you could do Joey vs Mai or Joey vs Valon next, or maybe finally do an Arc V Duel like Yuya vs Declan(Reiji) the 2nd match in Episodes 50 and 51? Also, 15:15-15:22: Since Yugi only drew 5 cards he only had one mysterious that didn't play not two, he would have drawn 6 and gotten Underworld Circle a turn earlier if he set Magical Pigeons face down. Also, also, what Yugi did with Rope of Life and Kuribabalon was technically an illegal move, as I tried this move in YGOPRO before when Ii did my Yugi vs Jaden Duel, while anime Rope of Life doesn't require you to have a hand to discard to activate, because Kuribabalon was summoned without banishing the Kuriboh Brothers that means its attack would be 0 so it would only become 800 due to Rope of Life affect not 2300, so it is in fact, an illegal move Yugi made here.

[@joshberry2991]

That was an awesome video man. Very well done.

[@disturbedcanon4765]

13:18 He could have been playing around Torrential Tribute and/or Mirror Force

[@firewolf950tfwgaming7]

13:30 Here’s another moment you can argue as a misplay from Yugi. Here he sends 2 unknown cards to the graveyard while getting the eye of Timaeus which he fused with dark magician for amulet dragon whose effect is banish all spells in your grave on summon to gain 300 ATK permanently. Here, Yugi banishes 8, 7 of which are named in order of usage(unless I’m counting wrong or missed the 8th spell he used) 1. Monster Reborn 2. Brave Attack 3. 5 Star Twilight 4. Mystical Space typhoon 5. Dark Magic Curtain 6. Magical Hats(spell in anime) 7. Graceful Charity The 8th one mentioned was likely discarded through graceful charity so I don’t see anything wrong with the counting and final tally. What I do want to mention is that if Yugi discarded magical pigeons in addition to the random spell card we never see, he would have banished 9 spell cards thus making Amulet Dragon’s attack gain be 5600 ATK. This matters as while it’s more damage, it also makes it more powerful than dreadscythe which when summoned will have an ATK of 5500, 500 from the seal and 2500 from the 5 guardians in his graveyard. So until Rafael draws into the sword of sealing, which is 2 turns for him, Yugi would be able to hold back and overpower dreadscythe for 2 additional turns and ultimately not needing to be in the defensive. I really see no reason for him to do this, unlike his knights and 5 start twilight, nothing in Yugi’s hand would have brought out DMG to warrant keeping magical pigeons so it would have helped him to toss in it.

[@ironcross3449]

The 8th spell is the eye of timaeus itself, you might have missed it because it's never been called a spell card, not even in the Japanese dub, but nonetheless it is indeed a spell and therefore Yugi banished it to maximize amulet dragon's attack

[@firewolf950tfwgaming7]

@@ironcross3449 Yeah no, Eye of Timaeus being a spell card is only a thing when it was brought over in the card game. In the anime it was simply just a “legendary dragon” with no indicators for a card type. Even if we do assume it is a spell card, it couldn’t have been the 8th spell card banished because 1. Despite being a “fusion” of Timaeus and the selected monster, neither monster is sent to the graveyard as fusion materials. Instead what happens is that Timaeus becomes more of an equip card that attaches onto the targeted monster it “fuses” with. Source: Yugi vs Rafael round 1, we see Dark Magician Girl the Dragon Knight is still just Dark Magician Girl on Yugi’s duel disk with a card in the backrow, clearly Eye of Timaeus as Yugi had no other cards. So at this moment, Timaeus is not in the graveyard, it’s equipped to dark magician. And 2. Later on in the duel Yugi plays Altar of Restoration which allows him to banish to cards from the top of his deck at add a card back from THE GRAVEYARD. If Timaeus was one of the 8 banished cards, how did it get back in the graveyard? Yugi didn’t play any cards that would have returned cards to the graveyard. So no, eye of Timaeus isn’t the 8th spell card.

[@ironcross3449]

Oh you're right, I didn't think this through I just assumed it was the case because of the card games, but your whole point is valid plus while writing this I completely forgot about dark magician girl the dragon knight. Go me

[@eldartaghiyev8422]

13:24 let gusse the 2 cards was berfomet and polymerization. 15:22 Let gusse the 2 cards was curse of dragon and gaia the fierce knight.

[@playmakeraigami]

Like how you had kiratwig's Keribo deck profile thumbnail in the video.

[@jacksoncorvus]

"The plot made me do it" Is now my favorite excuse for any stupid situation that I happen to find myself in.

[@AndyBrixton999]

I watch a lot of YuGiOh content but this series is my favorite

[@chaoscontroller316]

Fun fact: Dark Magic Curtain would not have worked in today's world, for its modern text prevents the player from performing ANY kind of summon before or after its activation for the rest of the turn.

[@CThom18]

I absolutely loved this arc when I was younger even if it was filler… but damn holy plot! Lmao

[@KingRoni1222]

Rafael probably didn't want to risk eating a ton of damage for attacking a hat with either a 2600 DEF Big Shield Gardna or a 2100 DEF Dark Magician, which would explain why he didn't play Kay'Est until MP2.

[@Professor_Kovu]

Really bothers me that Yugi seems definitively not the best duelist of the series because of this arc.

[@jj209th6]

22:40 They'd both be banished by underworld circle so dreadscythe couldn't come back

[@zefer8831]

To be fair to Yugi in this duel, Rafael was literally drawing pairs of everything he needed for the first half of the duel

[@anthonythomas305]

Yes! Thank you for doing this, buddy This rematch duel was really enjoyable and brings me into tears at the end when Rafael saw his family again, only in a illusion

[@dragonstormx]

"It was very lucky to Yugi that he happened to discard it." Yeah but even putting aside Yugi's luck, as you pointed out, Rafael has to get the perfect draw every turn or he can't play any monsters besides Backup Gardna.

[@nimzi4479]

That Jack's Knight was wearing plot armor.

[@jcplays5831]

Can we just get backup gardna in the real world. Just make sure the equip spell moving is limited to only guardian monsters because no way in hell I’m dealing with that on Mikanko.

[@jamesshields9832]

Oh yes! I’m so excited, I’ve been waiting for this!