The 28 Best Detectives in Magic Ranked

Last updated on April 21, 2024

Lavinia, Foil to Conspiracy | Illustration by Chris Rahn

We’re going to rank the best detectives today! And instead of a list with Sherlock Holmes, Kinsey Millhone, Hercule Poirot, Batman, Velma, and Matthew McConaughey in True Detective, we’re going with a brand new creature type in MTG, detective.

It’s a bit awkward that in Murders at Karlov Manor everyone seems to all the sudden be solving mysteries, but I love the idea of a deck full of detectives, so I am here for this. If you are, too, the game is afoot!

What Are Detectives in MTG?

Yasmin Khan | Illustration by Andrey Kuzinskiy

Detective is a new creature subtype that debuted on six cards in the Universes Beyond Doctor Who Commander precon decks. It was then a hallmark creature type of the Murders at Karlov Manor premiere set, the Commander MKM precons, and the associated Magic: the Gathering Ravnica: Clue Edition game. There are 70 detectives all told thus far in MTG.

Although the announced draft archetype for Murders at Karlov Manor suggest that detective typal is the Azorius theme, the detective type is spread across all colors. Various cards in the set make 2/2 white and blue detective creature tokens.

Okay, time to get our little grey cells to work and rank the best.

#28. Duggan, Private Detective

I’m positive there’s a good use for this in a Simic deck that doesn’t want to run fight spells or bounce spells for removal, but Duggan, Private Detective can’t be what you usually want. Still, doesn’t winning by having Duggan punch Brash Taunter in the face feel like you did all the things?

#27. Reckless Detective

This is a niche card, for sure, but I immediately want Reckless Detective in the kind of deck that cares about blood tokens and/or madness.

#26. Vengeful Tracker

Vengeful Tracker seems like it could really put the pain on treasure-happy Commander opponents. But there’s no sideboarding in EDH, so is it worth tossing this into decks to stymie any deck that runs a lot of artifact tokens? Probably not, but I’m sure there’s a way to break this.

#25. Yasmin Khan

I play Yasmin Khan as my doctor’s companion for The Thirteenth Doctor, and I find them to be decent. The ability to restart the engine by impulsing off the top of the library is always useful. By the time Yasmin comes down, no one is really targeting it, so they provide a steady source of value.

#24. Madame Vastra & Jenny Flint

Full disclosure: These are two of my favorite Doctor Who characters. For non-Whovians, Madame Vastra is a lizard dinosaur person who is basically Sherlock Holmes who meets clients in a veil until they are ready to see her face. Jenny Flint starts as her maid and becomes her wife. I am building some sort of Peregrin Took tokens-plus-counters go-wide deck, and it’s going to be fun if nothing else.

#23. Sophia, Dogged Detective

I really want Velma Sophia, Dogged Detective to be my commander, as it’s super funny and flavorful. But there aren’t quite enough good dogs in MTG, much less in Bant. So perhaps this is a changeling or “typal typal” card that looks to stack different creature bonuses?

#22. Nelly Borca, Impulsive Accuser

Is Nelly Borca, Impulsive Accuser good enough on their own, given the relatively shallow pool of cards that can suspect opponents’ creatures? I dunno. It’s similar to Firkraag, Cunning Instigator, the goat of goad at the moment, and Nelly also dishes cards to the table. So that’s sometimes better but often worse.

#21. Ezrim, Agency Chief

Ezrim, Agency Chief is not the second coming of Dream Trawler, but I’d run one if I was trying to make a blink deck work.

#20. Resonance Technician

When you look at Resonance Technician you likely imagine copying extra-turn spells. And I think that’s a thing, but untapping with a 5-drop that screams “Kill Me Now!” at an EDH table seems a lot to ask. But if you do, you are likely easily doubling counters, removal, card draw, and, yes, extra turns.

#19. Morska, Undersea Sleuth

Morska, Undersea Sleuth is worth exploring as a commander, and you can see our upgrade guide for the precon (link when published). The infinite hand size and the Clue token each turn alone are kind of good.

#18. Izoni, Center of the Web

Izoni, Center of the Web feels like a Commander-only card to me. The casting cost is rough, but I can see casting them once and then sending it to the graveyard to synergize with Golgari shenanigans.

#17. Sally Sparrow

Sally Sparrow is seen here surviving the weeping angels in the “Blink” episode, which is a lovely little joke. This is the only Azorius card that lets you cast creatures as if they had flash, and that’s quite something. The Clues are a nice bonus, as well. This isn’t going to dethrone Brago, King Eternal off the blink deck podium, and Sally likely won’t make that deck, as it usually has plentiful better card draw, but is there a draw-go deck they could helm that focused on interactive creatures and packed Errant and Giada and other synergy pieces?

#16. Alquist Proft, Master Sleuth

I just don’t think people are going to let this sit there as a Sphinx's Revelation on a stick. In a really packed control deck, Alquist Proft, Master Sleuth solves the card draw problem control/tempo decks have to deal with in trying to generate a lot of one-for-one answers. So maybe I’m underestimating this admittedly very powerful card. But this means your Azorius deck can’t really be playing a board wipe strategy so concertedly, which puts even more pressure on the card draw. I need to be convinced.

#15. Steamcore Scholar

A little bit of Champion of Wits vibes here. That’s still pretty good in the kind of decks that want draw and discard effects.

#14. Detective of the Month

Dropping Detective of the Month on the right turn to make the team unblockable seems key if detective typal is ever a good enough deck.

#13. Kaust, Eyes of the Glade

Kaust, Eyes of the Glade is kind of a Secret Plans on a creature, but less good. The question will come down to the tap ability, on the one hand, which is good but is a tap ability, and whether or not Naya is better than Kadena, Slinking Sorcerer’s Sultai. I’ll try it to get to run things like Master of Pearls and Ashcloud Phoenix, but I’m not confident. I’m intrigued by 2-mana casting cost with three colors, which may be a harbinger of commanders to come.

#12. Carnage Interpreter

Anje's Ravager, Ox of Agonas, and similar cards do card draw better, so Carnage Interpreter is here for decks that get hellbent and want a bunch of artifact tokens. That’s a niche ability for decks like Jan Jansen, Chaos Crafter and a core ability for Daretti, Scrap Savant.

#11. Sarah Jane Smith

One of the more flexible Doctor Who companions, Sarah Jane Smith, is also a reasonable include for decks that care about historic spells, where they’ll usually make you a Clue token a turn. That works just fine for 2 mana.

#10. Kellan, Inquisitive Prodigy

I believe the sorcery on the adventure side is only good on turn 2. And that attack trigger is powerful when you’re worried about a Urabrask's Forge in Standard or almost anything in Commander or just want to draw a card, but I’m as suspicious that Kellan, Inquisitive Prodigy will work as I am suspicious that he’s all the sudden a detective and stuff.

#9. Aftermath Analyst

Splendid Reclamation is a powerful effect, but you usually want that in a self mill deck, where you often can’t benefit from sorceries in the graveyard if you mill it. Aftermath Analyst synergizes with those decks and has a powerful activated ability you want. It also ETBs with the right effects, so this is great for an uncommon.

#8. Novice Inspector

Novice Inspector is Thraben Inspector reskinned off Shadows over Innistrad. It’s still a really good card in many contexts.

#7. Mirko, Obsessive Theorist

Eloise, Nephalia Sleuth may be the current surveil theme commander of choice, but I like Mirko, Obsessive Theorist a lot better. It’s a much cheaper card, and although it doesn’t provide its own surveilling, the benefits are a lot better. Assuming you’re running a deck of surveil cards and control spells, Mirko feels like a nice late-game commander to drop for reanimation value.

#6. Merchant of Truth

This is a wincon for the Deep Clue Sea precon (link to upgrade guide when it drops), which has to be paired with Tangletrove Kelp to animate the Clues. But with cards like The Antiquities War and Zoetic Glyph, animating Clues could be a larger strategy.

But even if Merchant of Truth is only used for the tokens and actually cracking Clues for card draw, that’s a lot of triggers!

#5. Unshakable Tail

This just feels like it’ll slot into loads of decks: zombies, surveil, Clues. Unshakable Tail just does a whole lot of things. And if you’re sacrificing a lot of things as individual actions, the Tail gives you a lot of Clues.

#4. Lavinia, Foil to Conspiracy

Tapping for 2 mana is the gateway to infinity and beyond. Lavinia, Foil to Conspiracy can only do this on an opponent’s turn, but that doesn’t stop the Dramatic Reversal plus Isochron Scepter combo. Of course, the payoffs for that are harder on an opponent’s turn, but there are still plenty. Putting a piece of that combo in the command zone is kind of a lot, especially because tutoring for the artifact and spell are easier than creature tutors in Azorius.

Assuming you’re playing a fair draw-go deck, Lavinia is making a Clue for you at instant speed any time you cast your second spell for a turn. Then Lavinia taps to crack it, which they can do because they attacked with vigilance. That’s okay.

So Lavinia’s hard to rank. Let’s try here.

#3. Forensic Gadgeteer

The static ability alone on Forensic Gadgeteer is awesome in all sorts of artifact decks. But a Clue for each artifact you cast feels like powerful synergy, especially in artifact sacrifice decks.

#2. Lazav, Wearer of Faces

Lazav, Wearer of Faces is just a lot of utility and value.

In Standard you can start eating graveyards faster than Graveyard Trespasser, and it puts the reanimator deck at serious risk. When Lazav clones Atraxa, Grand Unifier for a turn you don’t get the ETB, but you are swinging with a 7/7 lifelinker or you’re sitting back with threat of activation on defense.

Not sure how that plays in other 60-card formats, but this is a great card in Commander as either a leader or follower.

#1. Final-Word Phantom

I’m sorry, what? Final-Word Phantom does what? End steps are when you want to do most of your flash casting anyway. This is like everything a lot of decks that have to choose their sorcery speed plays want. There are so many uses for this, and note that spells cover everything from artifacts to enchantments to planeswalkers to battles. Underworld Breach at instant speed, anyone?

Best Detective Payoffs

There are not a lot of coherent detective payoffs, as this is a new card type. It’s also tough because they have a wide range of abilities. But there are a few things to think about if you’re building a detective agency deck.

Instant Speed Funsies

There are a number of cards here that really support doing things you wouldn’t normally be able to do at instant speed, like Final-Word Phantom and Sally Sparrow, amongst others. And there are a lot of detectives with powerful tap abilities. So that opens space for folks who are trying draw-go ideas in EDH, especially.

Typal Support

The Murders at Karlov Manor main set and the associated precons have a few cards that buff or synergize with a mass of detectives, and a few of them are worth a look:

• Case of the Pilfered Proof
• Perimeter Enforcer
• Detective of the Month
• Private Eye
• Projektor Inspector

Wrap Up

Mirko, Obsessive Theorist | Illustration by Heonhwa Choe

As Columbo would say on his way out the door, “Ah, just one more question.” Are you ready to play some detectives, and are you ready to see these creatures again?

I am. And I admit that having like 50 in a set is a bit ridiculous flavor-wise; I’d love to see a few detectives pop up in sets from here on out. It’s like rogues, for me. Every set has a few, and you wonder what they’re up to and how they fit into the larger story. Same with detectives. I like the idea of multiple stories going on that we don’t just get in the Magic story we are provided with. There’s something to discover. And detectives are like a clue for that discovery, which they’re also presumably trying to figure out. And if Bloomburrow doesn’t have a callout to The Great Mouse Detective, I will eat my fedora!

Let us know how detectives play for you in the comments or on Discord, and happy deckbuilding!