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Forensic Researcher

Creature — Merfolk Detective

{T}: Untap another target permanent you control.
{T}, Collect evidence 3: Tap target creature you don't control. (To collect evidence 3, exile cards with total mana value 3 or greater from your graveyard.)

CMC
3
Mana cost
{2}{U}
Color identity
U
Rarity
uncommon
Set
Murders at Karlov Manor
Price
$0.28
EDHREC rank
#8181
Buy on TCGplayer
Forensic Researcher card art
Forensic Researcher puts a tap outlet on the board the moment it enters — untap anything on demand, every turn, as long as you can keep paying the activation. The cost is real: two mana plus a card and discard each activation makes it expensive compared to free untappers like Ioreth of the Healing House, but the repeatability and versatility push it well ahead of narrow alternatives, and Red Death, Shipwrecker decks in particular treat it as a near-staple.

Best Commanders

Commanders with the highest synergy

01
Red Death, Shipwrecker

Red Death, Shipwrecker

38.4% of decks · synergy 0.38

Red Death, Shipwrecker wins by tapping creatures to drain life, and Forensic Researcher turns that engine into a loop — untap Red Death after each activation to squeeze out multiple triggers per turn cycle.

02
Alaundo the Seer

Alaundo the Seer

31.4% of decks · synergy 0.30

Alaundo the Seer loads spells onto the stack by tapping, then needs to untap to do it again; Forensic Researcher is one of the cleanest repeatable untap outlets that fits inside Alaundo's color identity and creature-centric gameplan.

03
Merieke Ri Berit

Merieke Ri Berit

24.3% of decks · synergy 0.24

Merieke Ri Berit steals creatures when tapped and kills them when untapped, so the loop only works if you can control the timing — Forensic Researcher gives you an on-demand untap trigger to steal, retap, and repeat without relying on combat.

04
Neerdiv, Devious Diver

Neerdiv, Devious Diver

15.9% of decks · synergy 0.15

Neerdiv, Devious Diver cares about tapping permanents, and Forensic Researcher slots in as a reusable untap effect that keeps Neerdiv's tap triggers firing every turn rather than once per combat.

Format Analysis

Where it lives, where it can’t

FormatVerdict
commander legal
legacy legal
modern legal
pioneer legal
standard legal
vintage legal
pauper not legal
oathbreaker legal

Forensic Researcher is a Commander card — the repeatable untap effect only reaches its ceiling in a format where games go long enough to activate it four or five times. In competitive 60-card formats like Modern and Pioneer, three mana for a 1/3 with a conditional, costly activated ability doesn't come close to the rate you need to win before turn five. Legacy and Vintage are even harsher cuts; the card is legal but irrelevant there. Standard is the one exception worth watching: if a tap-synergy shell emerges in the current format, Forensic Researcher is cheap enough to test, though the discard cost is a real tax in faster environments. Stick to Commander, where the card earns its slot.

Key Combos

Combo lines featuring this card

Price Context

Current price

$0.28 bulk tier

At $0.28, Forensic Researcher is deep bulk — pick up a copy without a second thought whenever you're sleeving a tap-synergy Commander deck. Bulk rares with genuine combo applications rarely spike hard, but this one has enough homes across multiple archetypes that supply stays steady and the floor is unlikely to drop further.

Explore

Sources

Mentioned

← All cards

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