Cascade is a fun and powerful mechanic in Magic The Gathering that allows you to cast spells for free when you cascade into them But how does it interact with cards that have a variable mana cost like X spells? Let’s break it down step-by-step
What is Cascade?
First, a quick refresher on what cascade does Cascade is a keyword ability that appears on some cards like Bloodbraid Elf When you cast a spell with cascade, after putting it on the stack but before resolving it, you exile cards from the top of your library until you hit a nonland card with a converted mana cost less than the cascading spell. You can then cast that spell for free.
So cascade lets you chain into casting more spells off a single card. It’s useful for cheating big creatures or spells into play early or just value through card advantage.
How CMC Works with X Spells
The key point is that cascade looks at a spell’s converted mana cost (CMC). For spells with a fixed mana cost like Bloodbraid Elf, the CMC is simply the total amount of mana in its cost – so Bloodbraid Elf’s CMC is 4.
But X spells have a variable CMC that depends on the value chosen for X. For example, Earthquake costs XR. If you cast it for X=3, its CMC would be 4. If you cast it for X=5, its CMC would be 6.
Cascade Uses the Base CMC
Here’s the key part: for cascade purposes, X is always considered to be 0! This means the base CMC is used, before any cost increases from X.
So Earthquake’s base CMC is just 1 – the X doesn’t count! This means you could cascade into it off Bloodbraid Elf’s cascade.
Casting the Cascaded Spell for Free
When you cast a spell for free off cascade, you can’t pay any additional costs like kicker. That includes choosing a value for X.
So if you cascade into an X spell, X is considered 0 when casting it. You can’t pay to pump it up.
For example, say you cascade into Rolling Thunder. Its base CMC is 1, so you can cast it off Bloodbraid Elf. But when you do, you must cast it with X chosen as 0. So it will deal 0 damage when it resolves.
Getting Value from X Spells
While you can’t pay extra for X when casting a spell off cascade, the spell will still resolve! So there are tricks to getting value from X spells cascaded into:
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Spells that scale based on X targets or X in graveyards can still work. So cascade into Consume Spirit with 5 creatures in your graveyard, and it will still drain for 5 life.
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Some spells scale based on cards in hand. So Fiery Gambit can still do damage even if X has to be 0.
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Spells that have an additional effect besides X still work. Rolling Thunder with X=0 still deals 1 damage to each creature and player.
So you can’t pump extra mana into X spells from cascade, but they’re not totally useless! Clever deckbuilding can find ways to extract value.
Examples of Cascade into X Spells
Let’s look at some examples to see cascade with X spells in action:
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Your opponent has a massive board of small creatures. You cast Bloodbraid Elf, cascade into Blasphemous Act (CMC 1), and wipe their board! Even though X has to be 0, the spell still works.
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You cascade into Blue Sun’s Zenith (CMC 1). You draw 0 cards when it resolves. But it still shuffles itself back into your library to be reused later.
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You control Graf Harvest (gives +1/+1 counters for creatures dying) and cast Shriekmaw (CMC 5) with cascade. You hit Consume Spirit (CMC 1). When it resolves with X=0, it still triggers to drain 1 life which triggers Graf Harvest.
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You cascade into Walking Ballista (CMC 1). You have to cast it with X=0, so it enters with 0 counters. But you can later pay mana to put counters on it and use its damage ability.
When to Use X Spells with Cascade
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The base CMC must be low enough to hit off your cascader’s CMC. Don’t rely on pumping X to raise the CMC.
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Look for value engines like counters, graveyard recursion, or additional effects besides X.
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Effects that scale based on cards in hand or other variables can still work when X=0.
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Cascade into X draw spells lets you reuse and recast them later.
With clever deckbuilding, X spells can enable some explosive cascades and powerful synergies. But you have to work within the constraints of X always being 0 off cascade. Use this guide to understand these interactions and build cascading X spell decks effectively!
Rulings[]
- Cascade triggers when the spell that has it is cast, not when it resolves (that is, before the permanent would enter the battlefield).
- Heres the timing for cascade:
- 1) You cast a spell with cascade.
- 2) The cascade ability triggers and goes on the stack on top of the original spell.
- 3) The cascade ability resolves. If you find an applicable card that youd like to cast, you do so.
- 4) The spell you cast as a result of the cascade ability resolves.
- 5) The original spell resolves.
- For the most part, cascade is mandatory. You must exile cards from the top of your library, even if you know that you wont exile anything you want to cast. Whether or not you cast the last card you exile is the only optional part.
- The spell you cast as a result of the cascade ability resolves before the original spell. If you cast a creature spell with cascade and then cast an Aura as the result of the cascade ability, you cant enchant that creature with it because the creature spell hasnt resolved yet.
- Cascade wont trigger if you put a copy of a spell with cascade on the stack (due to Cloven Casting or Twincast, for example). Thats because you didnt cast the copy (such as with Isochron Scepter).
- Countering the original spell doesnt counter the cascade ability.
- Since cascade is a triggered ability, anything that interacts with a triggered ability (such as Stifle) will interact with cascade.
- All players can see the cards you exile as the cascade ability resolves.
- If you cast a card this way, you cast it as part of the resolution of the cascade ability. Timing restrictions based on the cards type (such as creature or sorcery) are ignored. Other restrictions are not (such as “Cast [this card] only before attackers are declared”).
- A spell cast as part of the resolution of cascade is cast from exile, not from your library. Abilities that prohibit you from casting cards from your library (such as Grafdiggers Cages second ability) will not stop you from casting a card with the cascade ability.
- If you cast a card “without paying its mana cost,” you cant pay any alternative costs, such as evoke or the alternative cost provided by the morph ability. If it has X in its mana cost, X must be 0. However, you can pay optional additional costs, such as conspire, and you must still pay mandatory additional costs.
- A card cast with cascade behaves like any other spell. It can be countered. If you cast another card with cascade this way, the new spells cascade ability will trigger, and youll repeat the process for the new spell.
- Casting a card with the cascade ability is optional. If you choose not to, the card is put on the bottom of your library in a random order along with the other cards exiled with cascade.
- If you cast a spell with cascade and there are no nonland cards in your library with a lesser mana value, youll exile your entire library. Then youll randomly rearrange those cards and put them back as your library. Although youre essentially shuffling those cards, youre not technically doing so; abilities that trigger whenever you shuffle your library wont trigger.
Description[]
When you cast a spell with Cascade, exile cards from the top of your library until you exile a nonland card whose mana value is less than the cascading spell. You may cast that card without paying its mana cost. Then put all cards exiled this way that werent cast on the bottom of your library in a random order.
Originally, the minimum cost of a Cascade spell was locked at 3 mana to force deckbuilding concessions, as it was believed that a deck without cheap interaction would not be threatening even if they could consistently cast a particular low-mana card every game. This ended up being a major oversight due to the Time Spiral cycle of 0-cost sorceries, whose effects were powerful enough to be a game plan in themselves. Additionally, the “filler effect” that cascade ability was attached to swung wildly in power: compare two four-mana cascade cards Captured Sunlight and Kathari Remnant with the most infamous Cascade spell Bloodbraid Elf, where gaining 4 life is worth less than a mana, Will-o-the-wisp is perhaps one to two mana, compared to a 3/2 haste, which is evaluated between three and four mana.
Two cards in Warhammer 40K give the next spell you cast cascade. This means that the next spell you cast gains cascade as you begin to cast it by putting it on the stack, and the cascade ability will trigger when you finish casting that spell.
Commander 101: Keywords- Cascade #mtg #edh
FAQ
What is the cascade rule in magic?
Cascade (When you cast this spell, exile cards from the top of your library until you exile a nonland card that costs less. You may cast it without paying its mana cost. Put the exiled cards on the bottom in a random order.)
How does CMC work with x spells?
An X in a card’s mana cost is counted as 0 towards its mana value, except when that card is being cast. While on the stack, X takes the value of whatever value you’ve chosen when casting the card.
How does Vial Smasher work with X spells?
If that spell is Vial Smasher itself, Vial Smasher’s ability can’t trigger. in their mana costs, use the value chosen for X to determine the spell’s mana value. Vial Smasher’s triggered ability resolves before the spell that caused it to trigger.
How does Zhulodok cascade work?
Cascade triggers when you cast the spell, meaning that it resolves before that spell. If you end up casting the exiled card, it will go on the stack above the spell with cascade. When the cascade ability resolves, you must exile cards.