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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.

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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 ability{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 needs

Plays as combat trigger. What the commander asks of the other 99 — read from the card and checked by hand.

• blink and recursion aimed at the commander itself (its value is its own enter trigger)
• cards (its size grows with them)
• haste and untap effects that reach the commander (a tap ability is unusable the turn it lands)
• haste, evasion and protection for the commander, and extra combats (its own attack is the engine)

The Duggan, Private Detective deck plan

The roles the Forge fills for this commander, and how many cards of each.

• 9× Put haste on the commander the turn it resolves — a tap ability is unusable otherwise
• 6× 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
• 8× A permanent whose value is in its enter-the-battlefield trigger — the payload a blink deck reuses
• 5× Make the commander connect — a body that never deals combat damage never triggers
• 5× Actually remove one problem permanent — preventing its damage is not removing it
• 9× Find the exact card the plan needs
• 2× Answer a spell or ability before it resolves
• 1× Answer a whole board at once

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.

Build this deck in the Arcane Forge →

Arcane Foundry is free to join and every tool is included: the Arcane Forge deck builder, the ARCANE Analyzer that scores a deck by simulating games rather than counting staples, a card scanner, a collection vault, and live webcam Commander tables. Read the guide · Browse all commanders · Pricing