Duggan, Private Detective

Legendary Creature — Human Detective

Duggan's power and toughness are each equal to the number of cards in your hand.
Whenever Duggan enters or attacks, investigate.
The Most Important Punch in History — {1}{G}, {T}: Duggan deals damage equal to twice its power to another target creature. Activate only once.

CMC
4
Mana cost
{2}{G}{U}
Color identity
GU
Rarity
rare
Set
Doctor Who
Price
EDHREC rank
#13683
Buy on TCGplayer
Duggan, Private Detective card art
Duggan, Private Detective puts a clue on the board every time a creature you control deals combat damage to a player — that's repeatable, free card selection stapled to your attack step. The cost is a three-mana 2/2 with no evasion of its own, so it lives or dies by how many creatures you're pushing through. In any deck running Jenny Flint // Madame Vastra, Duggan, Private Detective is close to mandatory.

Best Commanders

Commanders with the highest synergy

01
Jenny FlintMadame Vastra

Jenny Flint // Madame Vastra

25.8% of decks · synergy 0.25

Jenny Flint // Madame Vastra is the natural home — Duggan, Private Detective's clue generation feeds directly into the investigate-matters engine, and the deck is already attacking every turn to flip Vastra, so the trigger fires constantly without any additional setup.

02
Morska, Undersea Sleuth

Morska, Undersea Sleuth

17.9% of decks · synergy 0.17

Morska, Undersea Sleuth rewards every clue and artifact token you produce, turning Duggan, Private Detective's combat triggers into incremental card advantage that compounds quickly across a long game.

Format Analysis

Where it lives, where it can’t

FormatVerdict
commander
legacy
modern
pioneer
standard
vintage
pauper
oathbreaker

Commander is where Duggan, Private Detective does its best work — longer games mean more combat steps, more clues, and more time for the card advantage to compound. In Legacy and Vintage, a three-mana 2/2 with no immediate impact on the board is well below the rate those formats demand, and the clue payoff is far too slow to matter. Oathbreaker gives it a narrower window in shells built around investigate or artifact synergies, but the same fragility applies — it needs a supportive gameplan to justify the slot.

Key Combos

Combo lines featuring this card

Price Context

Current price

unknown tier

Pricing data for Duggan, Private Detective isn't currently available, so check Scryfall or TCGPlayer for the live number before buying. Given its niche application — primarily Jenny Flint // Madame Vastra and Morska, Undersea Sleuth builds — expect it to stay affordable unless investigate strategies spike in popularity.

Explore

Mentioned

← All cards

Updated . Data from Scryfall, EDHREC, and Commander Spellbook.