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Tempo Rising: Using Raphael, Tag Team Tough to Punch Above Your Weight

Red, famously the daredevil of Magic’s color pie, often trades long-term inevitability for short, brutal tempo swings. But in the hands of a legendary-mutant duo, tempo isn’t about simply pushing faster—it’s about dictating the pace of the whole game. Raphael, Tag Team Tough arrives with a roar: a 5/6 menace creature for {4}{R}{R}, a formidable frontline in any red-tempo shell. The real magic happens when he starts landing damage. For the first time each turn he deals combat damage to a player, you untap all attacking creatures, and after this combat, you get an extra combat phase. That’s a two-for-one with a pay-off that keep pressure on your opponent until they break. 🧙‍♂️🔥

“How about a five-minute game misconduct for roughing, pal?”

On the surface, Raphael is a big red beater, but his true command over tempo comes from two layered abilities. First, Menace makes blockers sweat—your plan often requires multiple attacks to shut down a single draw or removal spell, and enemies must overcommit to stop you. Second, the damage-triggered untap grabs you a surprising second wind: you don’t just attack once and pass; you chain attacks, forcing opponents to weather multiple waves of aggression. The result is a deck that can snowball from a single successful swing, leveraging momentum in a way that feels almost arcade-precision. ⚔️

Card Snapshot: Why Raphael Fits a Tempo Framework

• Name: Raphael, Tag Team Tough
• Mana Cost: {4}{R}{R}
• Color: Red
• Type: Legendary Creature — Mutant Ninja Turtle
• Power/Toughness: 5/6
• Rarity: Mythic
• Abilities: Menace; Whenever Raphael deals combat damage to a player for the first time each turn, untap all attacking creatures. After this combat, there is an additional combat phase.
• Set: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Eternal (TMCE), a crossover-style release that wears its universes-beyond badge with pride

Flavor text aside, the mechanical core is engineered for aggressive tempo without neglecting the late game. Raphael’s extra combat phase is a built-in way to apply multiple threats in a single turn, especially when your board remains sticky with menace. The set’s wild crossover energy—Randy Vargas’s art and the TMNT lore—gives the card a memorable identity that translates into a high-floor, high-ceiling commander or standard-conforming tempo plan. The card’s accessibility is also notable: it’s a single card that can swing the balance of a turn in both immediate and longer-range ways. 💎

Strategic Angles: Building Tempo Control Around Raphael

Tempo control is a dance: you strip away your opponent’s options while painting a sequence of plays that pressure their life total and your own plan. Raphael fits neatly into red decks that prize fast disruption, strong early-game pressure, and the ability to punish overextension. Think along these lines:

• Attack with purpose: With Menace as a gatekeeper, Raphael often forces defenders to chump or block multi-forces. Your goal is to hit once, untap your attackers, and unleash another strike. Each swing stretches your opponent thinner and nudges you toward the next action—whether it’s a pump spell, a removal spell, or simply another assault. 🧙‍♂️
• Remove threats and protect your board: Tempo is as much about keeping your threats alive as it is about pressuring ties with extra combats. Efficient removal—burn spells, auras, or artifact/enchantment hate—lets Raphael stay on the battlefield long enough to trigger multiple times per game. The more you untap and attack, the more your opponent is forced to decide between stalling and taking inevitable damage.
• Stoke the secondary engine: Look for ways to maximize your extra combat phase. Cards or effects that enable additional combat or untap the board in a controlled way can turn Raphael into a recurring hammer, grinding out wins before opponents can stabilize. The flavor of chaos and momentum is very red, and Raphael embodies that energy with flair. 🔥
• Mana efficiency and curve discipline: Raphael’s costs push toward a midrange tempo curve. You’ll want early disruption (removal or bounce), followed by a mid-game sweep of pressure, and then a late-game edge from Raphael and friends pushing through multiple attacks.

The real elegance here is how Raphael rewards careful sequencing. You don’t want to overcommit into a wrath effect. Instead, you set up a scenario where your first swing taxes your opponent’s disruption, then you chain in favorable untap effects to extend your threat window. It’s the red version of “play it and hope they don’t answer”—only you’re faster, harsher, and arguably more stylish. 🎲

Flavor, Lore, and Artwork: Thematic Cohesion

Beyond the math, Raphael’s character—bloody barbs, loud humor, and an unapologetic sense of sportsmanship—anchors the deck’s personality. The flavor text, “How about a five-minute game misconduct for roughing, pal?”, is a wink to the enduring comic-book bravado that fans adore. The artwork by Randy Vargas captures the energy of a red-hot offense and the gritty camaraderie of a Tag Team Tough dynamic. The set, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Eternal, leans into playful nostalgia while embracing modern Magic design, making the card feel both collectible and practical on the battlefield. 🎨

For collectors and rivals alike, Raphael’s mythic status in a crossover set adds a layer of excitement. The dual-ability design—unblockable pressure via Menace and a built-in second attack phase—also makes it a standout in EDH-style play, where the card’s burst potential can redefine a combat state across turns. If you’re chasing a moment of elegant tempo, this is a card that invites you to craft a plan and execute with flair. ⚔️

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