Arcane Foundry › Commanders › Duggan, Private Detective
Duggan, Private Detective
Legendary Creature — Human Detective · {2}{G}{U} · Green/Blue commander
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.
Build a Duggan, Private Detective deck →
What Duggan, Private Detective actually does
Read off the card by the same engine the Forge and Analyzer use — this is the mechanical classification, not a summary.
- Triggered ability · attackWhenever Duggan enters or attacks, investigate.
- Activated abilityThe Most Important Punch in History — {1}{G}, {T}: Duggan deals damage equal to twice its power to another target creature. Activate only once.
- Keyword · investigateinvestigate
What a Duggan, Private Detective deck wants
The plan the Forge derives for this commander: the roles it fills and how many of each.
- 8× Put haste on the commander the turn it resolves — a tap ability is unusable otherwise
- 5× Untap the commander so the tap ability is an engine, not a one-shot
- 6× Exile a permanent you control and return it — the button a value-ETB deck presses
- 16× A creature that HAS the keyword the commander's trigger counts — a card that merely says the word is not one
- 10× Make creature tokens — a static anthem or a go-wide commander needs a board to be wide
- 8× A permanent whose value is in its enter-the-battlefield trigger — the payload a blink deck reuses
- 5× Actually remove one problem permanent — preventing its damage is not removing it
- 1× Answer a whole board at once
- 2× Answer a spell or ability before it resolves
Best cards for Duggan, Private Detective
Ranked by an engine that reads what each card does — its real cost, its delay and how reliably it works — rather than counting how often other people play it.
Put haste on the commander the turn it resolves — a tap ability is unusable otherwise
- Thousand-Year Elixir3 mana
- Lightning Greaves2 mana
- Swiftfoot Boots2 mana
- Runadi, Behemoth Caller3 mana
- Akroma's Memorial7 mana
- Super State7 mana
- Ulvenwald Oddity // Ulvenwald Behemoth4 mana
- Lavaspur Boots1 mana
Untap the commander so the tap ability is an engine, not a one-shot
- Bear Umbra4 mana
- Sword of Feast and Famine3 mana
- Wilderness Reclamation4 mana
- Amulet of Vigor1 mana
- Freed from the Real3 mana
- Nature's Will4 mana
- Pemmin's Aura3 mana
- Retreat to Coralhelm3 mana
Exile a permanent you control and return it — the button a value-ETB deck presses
- Displacer Kitten4 mana
- Eternal Acrobat Toast0 mana
- Conjurer's Closet5 mana
- Nephalia Smuggler1 mana
- Y'shtola Rhul6 mana
- Lilysplash Mentor4 mana
- Escape Protocol2 mana
- Gandalf, Shadow's Foe7 mana
A creature that HAS the keyword the commander's trigger counts — a card that merely says the word is not one
- Tamiyo, Inquisitive Student // Tamiyo, Seasoned Scholar1 mana
- Tireless Tracker3 mana
- Floodhound1 mana
- Tamiyo, Inquisitive Student // Tamiyo, Seasoned Scholar1 mana
- Forensic Gadgeteer3 mana
- Erdwal Illuminator2 mana
- Piper Wright, Publick Reporter2 mana
- Mistway Spy1 mana
Make creature tokens — a static anthem or a go-wide commander needs a board to be wide
- Chasm Skulker3 mana
- Hornet Nest3 mana
- Kozilek's Unsealing3 mana
- Esika's Chariot4 mana
- Trendy Circus Pirate0 mana
- Myr Battlesphere7 mana
- Broodhatch Nantuko2 mana
- Tervigon2 mana
A permanent whose value is in its enter-the-battlefield trigger — the payload a blink deck reuses
- Chrome Mox0 mana
- Mystic Sanctuary0 mana
- Simic Growth Chamber0 mana
- Temple of Mystery0 mana
- Cabaretti Courtyard0 mana
- Hedge Maze0 mana
- Lotus Field0 mana
- Riveteers Overlook0 mana
Actually remove one problem permanent — preventing its damage is not removing it
- Reality Shift2 mana
- Pongify1 mana
- Rapid Hybridization1 mana
- Resculpt2 mana
- Suspend1 mana
- Snap2 mana
- Into the Flood Maw1 mana
- Planar Incision2 mana
Answer a whole board at once
- Displacement Wave2 mana
- Simplify1 mana
- Filter Out3 mana
- Aligned Hedron Network4 mana
- Coercive Portal4 mana
- Needle Storm3 mana
- Whirlwind4 mana
- Whelming Wave4 mana
Answer a spell or ability before it resolves
- Pact of Negation0 mana
- Counterspell2 mana
- Three Steps Ahead1 mana
- Long River's Pull2 mana
- Force of Will5 mana
- Abjure1 mana
- Archmage's Charm3 mana
- Cancel3 mana