Commander Deck Tech: Casey Jones, Asphalt Hooligan

In today's article, we'll say goodbye to the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles set with a pretty unusual commander. Casey Jones, Asphalt Hooligan can be quite aggressive and add some politics to your board, even though he'll mostly see play in Monored lists.

Casey grows easily and can get a lot from distracted opponents. He's also quite fun to pilot. So, let's go straight into our article and understand how this beefy guy works.

Casey Jones, Asphalt Hooligan is cheap, has double strike, and comes with an activated ability that costs 4 mana and doubles his power until the end of the turn. All of this already points to aggro lists and obviously Voltron strategies, but what changes everything is the very important fact that any player can activate his ability and double his power.

Instead of just putting a lot of equipment cards on this red attacker, we can use him to negotiate in every combat phase, and your entire pod can change how much damage he deals. Obviously, a great player will take advantage of this and build this list in a way that nearly all small interferences can favor them more than the others.

The first great thing about Casey is that he only costs 3 mana. This makes a huge difference in Voltron game plans because then spot removals are less impactful and you'll be able to put him in play early without compromising the rest of your strategy. The second great thing about him is that he has double strike naturally, and usually we add cards to these types of lists to give that keyword to our cards, like equipment or support spells.

So, the idea is to do more than just grow Casey and make him huge. Instead, we'll make each time his second effect is activated more valuable than it should be. Our game plan is to use secondary effects with him, like getting treasures, dealing more damage to more targets, creating extra combat phases, getting mana to use other abilities, and forcing the board to respect this commander. By himself, Casey is quite functional, but he can be a lot more destructive with the right pieces.

This list is pretty straightforward. All you have to do is literally take advantage of Casey's double strike to create a lot of value when he deals damage. Meanwhile, you'll encourage your opponents to grow him. If they don't do this, then you'll do it yourself.

The list we'll see today was built by a player called "TheHylind":

Evasion

Every Voltron list learns the same lesson early: growing a single unit isn't enough because it actually needs to deal damage. This list invests a lot in this game plan quite objectively and in a very standard way. Brotherhood Regalia might be one of the best cards for this strategy because it does two things at the same time. It makes removing our commander harder because it gives him ward and gives the creature it is equipped to the "can't be blocked" effect. With a commander that is as straightforward as Casey, this is incredibly valuable.

Trailblazer's Boots and Rogue's Passage play a similar role, but in different ways. Both will help you go over the enemy board in combat, which is essential considering this deck centers entirely around a single creature. You'll need to do more than just set up a big body with lots of buffs and abilities. You'll have to make sure all of this will turn into real pressure.

Cards that protect your commander directly are also in this list, including Lightning Greaves and Swiftfoot Boots. These cards would already be critical in many builds and with many commanders. Casey might be cheap (so returning him to the command zone won't always feel like a disaster), but each removal he takes will disrupt you, force you to spend mana, and delay you considerably. So, playing cheap ways to make sure he has haste and is protected will make this game plan a lot more fluid.

Multiplying Abilities

Your main strategy will be making Casey's attacks unblockable. The second step is making each time his ability is activated as valuable as possible. That's why this list plays Illusionist's Bracers and Battlemage's Bracers. Both interact really well with this commander, as his main way to interact with the game is with his activated ability. Copying this type of effect will be quite helpful because this creature is already a serious threat, and you'll be able to grow your Casey even more with it for very little mana.

The most important thing about Casey is that he has double strike. So, anything you use to grow him or double his power will be two times as valuable, both because of double strike and because you can make him huge for very little mana. You won't need a lot of time to set up a lethal attack. Simple pump cards, like Unleash Fury, will make him a lot more powerful than other red lists could.

The Sound of Drums and Monstrous Rage also fit this kit really well but for slightly different reasons. The first one will make Casey a lot more powerful and make blocking even more uncomfortable for the opponent.

The second card is a cheap pump that plays a relevant role on the board after it resolves. In a great Monored list, this type of card works better when it is not just a temporary combat trick but rather a way to save resources for the following turns.

Extra Combat Phases

When Casey is ready to deal a lot of damage, the next step is making him hit more than once. This list embraces this idea with a very efficient kit centered around extra combat phases. Full Throttle and Overpowering Attack give you extra combat phases and allow you to reuse a board that already attacked. The difference is that, in this list, you don't need a large board to make these cards useful. Casey, by himself, is already enough to make any extra combat phase a serious threat. Like so, you won't have to build unrealistic boards, and this list will work well even after you take global removals.

Great Train Heist and Fast Forward complement this game plan and are also slightly different. You won't always have to stack these effects, but you need to make this list redundant. Aggressive decks and decks that focus a lot on their commanders in EDH are known for struggling precisely because they rely too much on a single card to win. This list will struggle with both of these issues. So, it plays lots of ways to turn a great attack into two or three, gives the opponents just a short time to answer, and is quite consistent.

Turning Damage into Resources

Besides buffing the commander, this list also plays cards that make each attack worth more. If you equip The Reaver Cleaver on Casey, you'll turn all the damage he deals into treasures. Kediss, Emberclaw Familiar is one of the most important cards in this group. When Casey deals combat damage to an opponent, Kediss spreads that value to other players. This will help you solve a classic problem Voltron archetypes face, that is, that they often can only defeat one player at a time with a single creature and often lose the lead against the rest of the board. With Kediss in play, one single strong attack can progress your game plan with all opponents at once.

City on Fire is a sort of "top of the curve" card that works best when you already set up your base and got a lot of treasures. Dealing three times as much damage, considering this list works with double strike, extra combat phases, and evasive equipment cards, is naturally threatening. You won't play this card in any situation, but, when you can play it, it usually pushes you to a victory.

Goldspan Dragon, Professional Face-Breaker, and Curse of Opulence are similar to The Reaver Cleaver. They turn combat damage into treasures. So, the idea is to create mana and resources with your attacks to keep going and set up the following turns. Considering this is a red list and we can't ramp like green lists, we'll rely a lot on these cards to create treasures and double Casey's power.

I have never really cared for Casey Jones, but his MTG version stood out a lot to me because I really enjoy Monored lists. Saying goodbye to the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles set with a character that never really stood out to me when I was a kid was quite cool, and it was only possible because of Universes Beyond.

What do you think? Tell us your thoughts in our comment section below.

Thank you for reading, and see you next time!