Raphael, the Nightwatcher
Legendary Creature — Mutant Ninja Turtle
Sneak 
(You may cast this spell for if you also return an unblocked attacker you control to hand during the declare blockers step. He enters tapped and attacking.)
Attacking creatures you control have double strike.
- CMC
- 4
- Mana cost
- Color identity
- R
- Rarity
- rare
- Set
- Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
- Price
- $2.87
- EDHREC rank
- #9548
Raphael, the Nightwatcher lands as a vigilance-granting, combat-rewarding threat that taxes opponents every time your creatures connect — the impact is immediate and cumulative. The cost is real: Leonardo, the Balance // Michelangelo, the Heart shells aside, he's a narrow fit outside dedicated TMNT builds, and five mana for a creature with no ETB protection asks a lot in faster pods.
Best Commanders
Commanders with the highest synergy
Leonardo, the Balance // Michelangelo, the Heart
Leonardo, the Balance // Michelangelo, the Heart is the natural home — the deck is already built around the Ninja Turtles IP, so Raphael, the Nightwatcher slots in as a core piece that turns each attack step into an incremental advantage engine alongside the commander's own combat payoffs.
Goro-Goro and Satoru
Goro-Goro and Satoru wants as many creatures connecting as possible to generate tokens and triggers, and Raphael, the Nightwatcher's combat rewards stack cleanly on top of that plan, turning every successful attack wave into bonus value.
Raph & Mikey, Troublemakers
Raph & Mikey, Troublemakers leans directly into the Ninja Turtle synergy package, and Raphael, the Nightwatcher is an on-theme role-player that reinforces the aggressive, combat-centric game plan the deck is already executing.
Format Analysis
Where it lives, where it can’t
| Format | Verdict |
|---|---|
| commander | legal |
| legacy | legal |
| modern | legal |
| pioneer | legal |
| standard | legal |
| vintage | legal |
| pauper | not legal |
| oathbreaker | legal |
Raphael, the Nightwatcher is legal across Commander, Legacy, Modern, Pioneer, Standard, Vintage, and Oathbreaker, but the honest read is that Commander is the only format where he's doing real work. In 60-card formats, five mana for a creature with no immediate board impact is a non-starter — Legacy and Vintage are hostile environments, and Modern and Pioneer have long outgrown this kind of midrange threat. Commander is where his triggered-ability model shines: slower games, repeated combat steps, and tribal synergy matter far more in a multiplayer context, especially inside the TMNT-adjacent builds where Raphael, the Nightwatcher was clearly designed to live.
Key Combos
Combo lines featuring this card
Price Context
Current price
$2.87 cheap tier
At $2.87, Raphael, the Nightwatcher sits in the cheap tier — low enough that picking up a copy for any Ninja Turtle build is a no-brainer. Niche IP-driven cards at this price tend to hold steady as long as the Commander product stays in circulation, but this one's a buy for its playability, not its shelf value.
Explore
Sources
Mentioned
- Leonardo, the Balance // Michelangelo, the Heart
- Goro-Goro and Satoru
- Raph & Mikey, Troublemakers
Updated . Data from Scryfall, EDHREC, and Commander Spellbook.