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Nick Valentine, Private Eye
Legendary Artifact Creature — Synth Detective
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 "{2}, Sacrifice this token: Draw a card.")
2 / 2
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“Unblockable artifact detective that draws cards every time your artifacts die.”
Midrange
Intermediate
Combat damage, Card advantage
Artifacts, Sacrifice, Tokens
Strategy
Nick Valentine is a evasive artifact creature that turns your artifact deaths into card draw engines via investigate tokens. The deck wants to fill the board with cheap artifact creatures—especially ones with enter-the-battlefield or death triggers—then sacrifice them repeatedly to generate Clue tokens while chipping away with Nick's unblockable damage. You're essentially drawing cards while your commander beats down, creating a self-sustaining card advantage loop that lets you outgrind opponents and find your win conditions.
The core gameplan is to pack the deck with artifact creatures that either generate value when they die (like Sojourner's Companion or Tooth and Nail effects), enter the battlefield with triggers (Thought Monitor, Emry), or enable sacrifice outlets (Ashnod's Altar, Viscera Seer). Since Nick can only be blocked by artifact creatures, most decks won't stop your commander damage, letting you close games while your Clues pile up. The deck wins through repeated artifact death triggers, Clue-fueled card advantage that finds combo pieces or voltron effects, or simply unblockable commander damage.
Strategy generated by Tapped Decks AI. Not affiliated with Wizards of the Coast.
Key Synergies
Budget Build
Skip expensive fast mana and tutors; replace with cheaper cantrips like Ponder and artifact creatures like Ornithopter or Frogmite. Ashnod's Altar and Viscera Seer are the budget sacrifice outlets.
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Inclusion = % of Nick Valentine, Private Eye decks running this card. +lift = percentage-point boost over the format average.
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Art Variants
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