Combat Research
Enchantment — Aura
Enchant creature
Enchanted creature has "Whenever this creature deals combat damage to a player, draw a card."
As long as enchanted creature is legendary, it gets +1/+1 and has ward 
. (Whenever enchanted creature becomes the target of a spell or ability an opponent controls, counter it unless that player pays .)
- CMC
- 1
- Mana cost
- Color identity
- U
- Rarity
- uncommon
- Set
- Dominaria United
- Price
- $0.48
- EDHREC rank
- #2141
Combat Research turns any legendary creature into a one-mana cantrip that keeps drawing cards every time it swings — the payoff is enormous for the price of a single blue mana. In Ivy, Gleeful Spellthief builds it's essentially two copies of that engine for one casting, which makes it one of the most efficient cards the archetype can run.
Best Commanders
Commanders with the highest synergy
Ivy, Gleeful Spellthief
Ivy, Gleeful Spellthief copies Combat Research onto herself the moment you cast it targeting another creature, so a single spell becomes two legendary auras drawing two cards per combat — the engine the deck is built around.
Francisco, Fowl Marauder // Malcolm, Keen-Eyed Navigator
Francisco, Fowl Marauder // Malcolm, Keen-Eyed Navigator wants its birds and pirates swinging every turn, and Combat Research rewards exactly that by turning each attack step with the enchanted creature into a free card; the legendaries on both halves mean the draw trigger is almost always live.
Bruna, Light of Alabaster
Bruna, Light of Alabaster pulls Combat Research directly from the graveyard or hand onto herself when she attacks, making it a free, recurring draw engine that costs nothing to set up once she's in play.
Tatsunari, Toad Rider
Tatsunari, Toad Rider creates a legendary Frog token, giving Combat Research a permanent home even when Tatsunari isn't on the battlefield — that redundancy is exactly why the deck values it as a reliable source of card draw.
Format Analysis
Where it lives, where it can’t
| Format | Verdict |
|---|---|
| commander | legal |
| legacy | legal |
| modern | legal |
| pioneer | legal |
| standard | not legal |
| vintage | legal |
| pauper | not legal |
| oathbreaker | legal |
Combat Research is legal in Commander, Legacy, Modern, Pioneer, Vintage, and Oathbreaker, but Commander is where it actually earns a slot. In competitive 60-card formats the one-mana enchantment is too conditional — it requires both a legendary creature and repeated combat to generate value, and those formats would rather run unconditional draw or disruption. Commander is the natural home: legendary creatures are everywhere, games go long enough for the draw trigger to fire multiple times, and one blue mana for a repeating card advantage engine is an outright bargain at that table.
Key Combos
Combo lines featuring this card
Price Context
Current price
$0.48 bulk tier
At $0.48, Combat Research is firmly bulk — easy to pick up as a throw-in or in a common/uncommon lot. For what it does in the right shell, that price point makes it one of the better value pickups in blue enchantment strategies.
Explore
Sources
Mentioned
- Ivy, Gleeful Spellthief
- Francisco, Fowl Marauder // Malcolm, Keen-Eyed Navigator
- Bruna, Light of Alabaster
- Lyse Hext
- Tatsunari, Toad Rider
Updated . Data from Scryfall, EDHREC, and Commander Spellbook.