MTG x TMNT may have only had one Commander precon, but it certainly delivered. Instead of the usual 10 new cards that a Commander precon has, Turtle Power! offered a whopping 45! With so many new things for players to try, there was plenty of opportunity for some cards to get missed. That’s exactly what’s happened with Casey Jones, Back Alley Brute, who creates multiple two-card infinite damage combos.
Casey Unleashed
Thanks to his two counter-based abilities, Casey Jones, Back Alley Brute is a natural addition to any red +1/+1 counter deck. Offering Menace and a scaling attack ability, Casey Jones makes for both a great body and a support piece in buff-based strategies. That said, Casey Jones’s second ability is what +1/+1 counter-based decks will truly be interested in.
Thanks to turning acquired +1/+1 counters into damage, Casey Jones creates multiple two-card infinite combos, even when in the Command Zone. Alongside The Red Terror, for instance, it and Casey Jones create a feedback loop, triggering off one another, to give you infinite counters and damage. Phyrexian Devourer, on the other hand, isn’t quite infinite, but unless an opponent has hundreds of life, the sheer number of +1/+1 counters Devourer gains should allow Casey Jones to knock out most opponents.
Branching out, Casey Jones also creates death combos with a few other non-red cards. Ob Nixilis, Captive Kingpin turns increments of one damage into counters and Impulse draw, creating an infinite pinging loop with Casey Jones. If you want to play three-color, Casey Jones and Body of Research can one-shot an opponent, so long as you have more cards in your library than they have life.
When playing white, Casey Jones creates six more infinite combos of the same variety. Heliod, Sun-Crowned is the only two-card variant here, granting infinite damage, lifegain, and +1/+1 counters once you give Casey Jones Lifelink with Heliod’s ability. Spider-Man, Peter Parker, Archangel of Thune, Light of Promise, Cleric Class, and Sunbond also go infinite with Casey Jones once you have Lifelink. This is easily acquired with a card like the Basilisk Collar, which is worth playing with Casey Jones anyway.
Extremely Cheap
For a card that makes so many combos, Casey Jones, Back Alley Brute is surprisingly easy to acquire. Like many of the Turtle Power! Precon cards, Casey Jones is currently worth less than a dollar, making it an insane budget pickup for your counters matter decks. This seems to align with a broader trend with the new Turtle Power! cards, despite many of these new cards being stellar upgrades to existing archetypes.
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