Dogged Detective
Creature — Human Rogue
When this creature enters, surveil 2. (Look at the top two cards of your library, then put any number of them into your graveyard and the rest on top of your library in any order.)
Whenever an opponent draws their second card each turn, you may return this card from your graveyard to your hand.
- CMC
- 2
- Mana cost
- Color identity
- B
- Rarity
- rare
- Set
- New Capenna Commander Promos
- Price
- —
- EDHREC rank
- #6500
Dogged Detective is a self-recurring threat that returns from the graveyard whenever a card is put into your graveyard from anywhere — meaning any mill, discard, or loot effect reanimates it for free. The cost is real: you exile it instead of returning it from the graveyard if you're not actively fueling the yard, but in the right shell it's essentially unkillable. Mirko, Obsessive Theorist decks hit the threshold trivially, making this a near-staple in that archetype.
Best Commanders
Commanders with the highest synergy
Mirko, Obsessive Theorist
Mirko, Obsessive Theorist mills cards every time a creature attacks, which means Dogged Detective comes back turn after turn without any additional investment — it's the textbook engine piece for that deck.
Anhelo, the Painter
Anhelo, the Painter incentivizes filling the graveyard to enable casualty costs, and Dogged Detective's automatic recursion turns any self-mill or discard payoff into a free 2/1 that never stays dead.
Syrix, Carrier of the Flame
Syrix, Carrier of the Flame cares about Phoenixes dying and returning, and Dogged Detective slots in as a reliable recursive body that keeps triggering graveyard-matters synergies every time a card hits the yard.
Format Analysis
Where it lives, where it can’t
| Format | Verdict |
|---|---|
| commander | legal |
| legacy | legal |
| modern | not legal |
| pioneer | not legal |
| standard | not legal |
| vintage | legal |
| pauper | not legal |
| oathbreaker | legal |
Commander is where Dogged Detective earns its slot — the format's graveyard-heavy strategies, high card-velocity commanders, and multiplayer threat density make the recursive body consistently relevant. In Legacy and Vintage it's legal but competes with a much higher power floor; the recursion condition is achievable but slow relative to what those formats demand, so it sees essentially no play there. Oathbreaker is a reasonable home if your planeswalker is fueling the graveyard, though the 20-life format makes the 2/1 body feel marginal unless you're looping it multiple times per turn.
Key Combos
Combo lines featuring this card
Price Context
Current price
unknown tier
Price data for Dogged Detective isn't available at the moment — check Scryfall or TCGPlayer for current market listings. Given its Commander demand and narrow competitive appeal, it typically sits in the low-to-mid bulk rare range, making it an easy pickup if you're building any graveyard-focused blue-black deck.
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Sources
Updated . Data from Scryfall, EDHREC, and Commander Spellbook.