BlueLegendary Artifact Creature — Synth DetectiveNick Valentine, Private Eye
Mana value3Rank#10,568
The Commander
Nick Valentine can't be blocked except by artifact creatures.
Whenever Nick Valentine or another artifact creature you control dies, you may investigate. (To investigate, create a Clue token. It's an artifact with "
, Sacrifice this token: Draw a card.")
Guide
Gameplan
Build a mono-blue artifact deck that floods the board with cheap artifact creatures, swing with an effectively evasive Nick Valentine, and turn every dying robot into Clue tokens for relentless card advantage. You spend the early game ramping with mana rocks and deploying artifact creatures, then sacrifice and recur them to bury opponents in cards before closing with a big swing or an artifact-based combo.
Strengths
- Generates card advantage off any artifact creature death, fueling a grindy long game
- Nick is nearly unblockable, making him a reliable commander-damage threat and Clue engine
- Mono-blue gives access to the best counterspells, card draw, and artifact tutors
- Synergizes with the deep, well-supported artifact and Clue support pools
Weaknesses
- Mono-blue struggles to remove enchantments and resilient permanents
- Clue value is slow — per card adds up and can be mana-hungry
- Heavily reliant on artifacts, so a Vandalblast or Bane of Progress wipes your engine
- Lacks a fast clock; can get run over by aggressive or combo decks before it stabilizes
- Nick is only 3 power, so commander-damage wins take many connections
Key Cards
- Ashnod's Altar — Free sacrifice outlet that triggers Nick's investigate while ramping for artifact payoffs.
- Goblin Bombardment — Repeatable sac outlet to convert artifact creatures into Clues and ping for damage.
- Lonis, Cryptozoologist — Doubles down on the investigate plan and turns Clues into bodies and card draw.
- Tezzeret the Seeker — Tutors artifacts to the battlefield and can ultimate into a lethal artifact-creature swarm.
- Reckoner Bankbuster — Cheap artifact that makes tokens and self-sacrifices into card draw, feeding the engine.
- Trading Post — Repeatedly sacrifices artifacts for value while triggering investigate every turn.
Upgrade Path
Add fast mana rocks (Sol Ring, Mana Vault, Mana Crypt) and free sac outlets to accelerate the investigate engine, then lean into a tight combo finish such as an infinite-token loop with Ashnod's Altar. Cut slow, fair Clue makers for tutors like Tezzeret the Seeker and Whir of Invention, and protect the engine with counters and Padeem-style hexproof. Improve the mana base with utility lands and consistency to make Nick's beatdown plan a real backup.
Core Cards
The most-played cards for this commander, built from aggregated deck data (the Mythic Graph). Build public decks to seed it.
Win Conditions
- ▸Commander damage from a buffed, nearly-unblockable Nick Valentine
- ▸Going wide with artifact creature tokens for a lethal alpha strike
- ▸Card-advantage grind into a finisher like a big artifact creature or Thopter Assembly loop
- ▸Artifact combo finish (e.g., infinite tokens with a sac outlet plus a recursion engine)
Archetypes
- Artifacts — Nick rewards a critical mass of artifact creatures with evasion and card advantage.
- Aristocrats — His death-triggered investigate turns sacrifice loops into engine-grade card draw.
- Voltron — His near-unblockable text lets you suit him up and chip in commander damage.
- Clues/Value Control — The deck grinds with Clue tokens, counters, and card advantage to outlast the table.
Combos
- Nick Valentine, Private Eye + Stridehangar Automaton + Krark-Clan Ironworks
→ Infinite LTB, Infinite ETB, Infinite sacrifice triggers
- Nick Valentine, Private Eye + March of the Machines
→ Infinite death triggers, Infinite ETB, Infinite LTB
- Nick Valentine, Private Eye + Stridehangar Automaton + Ashnod's Altar
→ Infinite LTB, Infinite ETB, Infinite sacrifice triggers
- Nick Valentine, Private Eye + Stridehangar Automaton + Arcbound Ravager
→ Infinite LTB, Infinite ETB, Infinite sacrifice triggers
- Nick Valentine, Private Eye + Stridehangar Automaton + Grinding Station
→ Infinite LTB, Infinite ETB, Infinite sacrifice triggers
Combos via Commander Spellbook.
Related Commanders
Same color identity (U), by popularity.
