RedLegendary Creature — Mutant Ninja TurtleRaphael, Most Attitude
Mana value4Rank#18,945
The Commander
Guide
Gameplan
Raphael is a mono-red aggro engine: flood the board with creatures to trigger Alliance, exiling cards off the top to build a stockpile, then swing with menace to unlock and play those exiled cards for free that turn. You curve out creatures and token makers, attack relentlessly, and convert the impulse-exiled pile into extra resources to keep the gas flowing.
Strengths
- Built-in card advantage in mono-red, a color that historically struggles to draw
- Cheap 4-mana body with evasive menace that pressures life totals immediately
- Token strategies double-trigger Alliance, exiling huge piles of cards
- Rewards going wide, synergizing naturally with go-aggro and sacrifice shells
Weaknesses
- Mono-red lacks interaction and ramp, leaving you behind against combo and control
- Alliance only digs—you can't keep cards if Raphael isn't attacking to unlock them
- Heavily commander-dependent; repeated removal shuts off your advantage engine
- Exiled cards are still 'use it or lose it' each turn, leading to lost resources
- No protection on the body—dies to nearly anything
Key Cards
- Purphoros, God of the Forge — Punishes the wide creature dumps that fuel Alliance, providing a damage-based win independent of combat.
- Krenko, Mob Boss — Floods the board with Goblins, generating massive Alliance triggers and an immediate token army.
- Birgi, God of Storytelling — Refunds mana as you chain the exiled cards Raphael lets you play, enabling explosive turns.
- Goblin Bombardment — Free sacrifice outlet that turns excess tokens into reach and lets you close from a wide board.
- Reckless Fireweaver — Converts artifact and creature ETBs into incremental damage that adds up across token swarms.
- Skullclamp — Turns the small tokens you make into a relentless card-draw engine alongside Alliance.
Upgrade Path
Add fast mana (Sol Ring, Jeska's Will, Treasure makers) so you can dump exiled cards before they're lost, and prioritize token-doublers like Anointed Procession-style red effects plus Impact Tremors and Purphoros for board-wide reach. Tighten the curve toward cheap creatures that trigger Alliance and add red interaction such as Chaos Warp and Vandalblast to cover the color's gaps.
Core Cards
The most-played cards for this commander, built from aggregated deck data (the Mythic Graph). Build public decks to seed it.
Win Conditions
- ▸Beating down with menace creatures and a wide, evasive board
- ▸Damage triggers from Purphoros or Reckless Fireweaver as tokens flood in
- ▸Goblin Bombardment or similar outlets converting a wide board into lethal reach
Archetypes
- Tokens / Go-Wide Aggro — Every creature and token entering triggers Alliance, so flooding the board maximizes card advantage and attacks.
- Aristocrats — Sacrifice outlets and token makers loop creatures, draining opponents while feeding Alliance triggers.
- Impulse-Draw Spellslinger — Raphael's exile mechanic rewards a velocity-focused build that chains burn and cheap spells off the top.
Combos
No combos found for this commander on Commander Spellbook.
Related Commanders
Same color identity (R), by popularity.
