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.
This means that cascade lets you use the same card to cast more spells. It can help you get big creatures or spells into play early, or it can just give you value by giving you more cards.
How CMC Works with X Spells
The most important thing to remember is that cascade looks at how much a spell costs in magic. When a spell has a fixed mana cost, like Bloodbraid Elf, the CMC is just the total amount of mana it costs. In this case, 4 is the CMC for Bloodbraid Elf.
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
The important part is that X is always thought of as 0. This means that 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
You don’t have to pay kicker or any other extra costs when you cast a spell for free off cascade. 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[]
- It starts to work when the spell that has it is cast, not when it resolves, which would be before the permanent enters the battlefield.
- This is how cascade works: 1) You cast a spell with it. 2) The cascade ability is used, and it is added to the stack on top of the first spell. 3) The cascade ability resolves. You cast a card if you find one that fits and want to use it. 4) The spell you cast with the cascade ability wears off. 5) The original spell resolves.
- For the most part, cascade is mandatory. Remove cards from the top of your library, even if you know you won’t remove anything you want to cast. The only thing you can choose not to do is cast the last card you exile.
- The spell you cast because of the cascade ability ends before the first spell did. Your creature spell hasn’t finished yet if you cast an aura after casting a creature spell with cascade. This means you can’t enchant that creature with the aura.
- If you put another copy of a spell that does cascade on the stack, like with Cloven Casting or Twincast, cascade won’t happen. It’s because you didn’t cast the copy (like with the Isochron Scepter).
- Countering the original spell doesnt counter the cascade ability.
- Because cascade is a triggered ability, it will be affected by anything that affects triggered abilities, like Stifle.
- As the cascade ability works, all players can see the cards you get rid of.
- If you use this method to cast a card, it is cast as part of the cascade ability. There are no time limits based on the type of card (like creature or sorcery). Other rules, like “Cast this card only before attackers are declared,” are not.
- Your exile is where you cast a spell that is part of cascade, not your library. You can still cast a card with the cascade ability even if you have an ability that stops you from casting cards from your library, like Grafdigger’s Cage’s second ability.
- As soon as you cast a card “without paying its mana cost,” you can’t pay any other costs, like evoke or the cost that comes with the morph ability. If the cost of mana is X, X must be 0. However, you can pay extra costs that aren’t required, like conspire, or you have to pay extra costs that are.
- A card cast with cascade behaves like any other spell. It can be countered. You can cast another card with cascade this way, and the new spell’s cascade ability will work. You’ll repeat the steps for the new spell.
- Casting a card with the cascade ability is optional. You can choose not to put the card on the bottom of your library with the other cards that cascaded out. The order of the cards is random.
- If you cast a spell with cascade and your library doesn’t have any nonland cards with a lower mana cost, you’ll send your whole library into the graveyard. Then you’ll put those cards back in your library after randomly moving them around. It looks like you’re shuffling those cards, but you’re not really; abilities that happen when you shuffle your library won’t happen.
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 the cards you sent to the graveyard this way that weren’t cast on the bottom of your library in any order you choose.
At first, the lowest cost of a Cascade spell was set at 3 mana to force deckbuilders to make changes. This was because it was thought that a deck without cheap interactions wouldn’t be dangerous, even if they could always cast a certain low-mana card. This was a big mistake because the Time Spiral cycle of free sorceries had effects that were strong enough to be a game plan on their own. 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.