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 — 
, 
: Duggan deals damage equal to twice its power to another target creature. Activate only once.
- CMC
- 4
- Mana cost
- Color identity
- GU
- Rarity
- rare
- Set
- Doctor Who
- Price
- —
- EDHREC rank
- #13683
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
Jenny Flint // Madame Vastra
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.
Morska, Undersea Sleuth
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
| 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 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
Sources
Mentioned
- Jenny Flint // Madame Vastra
- Morska, Undersea Sleuth
Updated . Data from Scryfall, EDHREC, and Commander Spellbook.