Deft Duelist
Creature — Human Rogue
First strike
Shroud (This creature can't be the target of spells or abilities.)
- CMC
- 2
- Mana cost
- Color identity
- UW
- Rarity
- common
- Set
- Shards of Alara
- Price
- $0.07
- EDHREC rank
- #29198
Deft Duelist gives you a two-mana 2/2 with shroud and first strike — a creature that trades up in combat and ignores targeted removal entirely. The cost is that shroud cuts both ways, so you can't buff it with auras or equipment after it lands.
Format Analysis
Where it lives, where it can’t
| Format | Verdict |
|---|---|
| commander | legal |
| legacy | legal |
| modern | legal |
| pioneer | not legal |
| standard | not legal |
| vintage | legal |
| pauper | legal |
| oathbreaker | legal |
In Commander, Deft Duelist is a role-player in Azorius or Dimir tempo builds that want cheap, resilient bodies — the shroud matters more in a four-player removal-heavy environment than the first strike does. In Pauper, the common slot is competitive, and a two-mana 2/2 with two relevant keywords sees fringe play in white-blue aggro lists that value protection over pump. Legacy and Vintage have the card pool to make Deft Duelist look underpowered, and the shroud limitation actively works against the cantrip-and-equip strategies those formats favor.
Key Combos
Combo lines featuring this card
Price Context
Current price
$0.07 bulk tier
At $0.07, Deft Duelist is deep bulk — grab a copy from any commons box without thinking twice. Bulk commons with niche applications like this don't appreciate, so treat it as a free slot filler rather than a pickup worth tracking.
Explore
Sources
Mentioned
Updated . Data from Scryfall, EDHREC, and Commander Spellbook.