In Magic: The Gathering, the keyword “cascade” is fun and powerful because it lets you “chain” together spells for big turns. But what happens when cascade interacts with spells whose mana costs are just “X}”? Let’s take a look.
What is Cascade?
Cascade first appeared in the Alara block in 2009. After you cast a spell with cascade and put it on the stack, you remove cards from the top of your library until you find a nonland card with a converted mana cost less than the spell you cast. You can then cast that spell for free!.
As the cascade “cascades” down your library, you can chain together multiple spells in one turn. This is a great way to save mana and get an advantage.
How Cascade Calculates Converted Mana Costs
To fully understand cascade, you need to know how it figures out the cost of converted mana. When checking to see if a spell that has been cascaded has a lower CMC, it looks at the CMC everywhere except the stack.
On the stack, an X spell’s CMC includes the chosen value for X. Everywhere else, X is considered 0.
So what does this mean for cascade? Let’s look at some examples.
Cascading into X Spells with 0 CMC
Most X spells have a base CMC of 0 if you don’t pay for X. For example:
- {X}{R} spells like Cut/Ribbons
- {X}{G} spells like Genesis Hydra
- {X}{U} spells like Sphinx’s Revelation
While these are on the stack, if you pay 3 mana for X, they have a CMC of 4. But cascade sees them as 0 CMC in your library.
So if you cascade with a 4 CMC spell like Bloodbraid Elf, you can hit and cast a 0 CMC X spell. You just have to cast it with X as 0.
This lets you chain extra spells together, even if they don’t do much. It triggers abilities like prowess too. But the X part won’t do anything since X is 0.
Cascading into X Spells with Higher Base CMCs
Some X spells have a higher CMC before you pay for X. These include:
- {X}{U}{U} spells like Pull from Tomorrow
- {X}{B}{B} spells like Torment of Hailfire
- {X}{R}{R} spells like Comet Storm
Here the base CMC is 2 or 3 before paying for X. So those can’t be hit off a Bloodbraid Elf cascade.
But if you cast a 5+ CMC spell with cascade, you potentially can hit and cast them for free. Again X would be 0 unless you pay extra.
Casting X Spells Normally After Cascading
What if you cascade into an X spell but don’t want to cast it for free? For example, say you cascade into a Torment of Hailfire with Bloodbraid Elf. The CMC is only 3 so you can cast it, but then X would be 0.
Fortunately, you can decline to cast it for free off cascade. It will stay exiled. Then later in the turn you can cast it by paying its full cost including X.
This is better if you want the full effect but still got to cheat on the casting cost. Just remember cascade only lets you cast it for X=0 right away.
Summary of Cascade and X Spells
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Cascade looks for lower CMCs everywhere except the stack.
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X is 0 when determining CMCs for cascade, unless the X spell is already on the stack.
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You can cascade into X spells, but will have to cast them with X=0.
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You can decline to cast them for free and pay full costs later.
So in short, cascade lets you chain together X spells, but get no X value unless you pay the extra costs. Use this to your advantage to maximize cascades!
Example Cascade Combos with X Spells
Let’s look at some cascade combos using X spells:
Bloodbraid Elf into Cut // Ribbons
Cascade with Bloodbraid Elf, hit Cut // Ribbons (CMC 0), cast it for free draining 2 life.
Shardless Agent into Sphinx’s Revelation
Cascade with Shardless Agent, hit Sphinx’s Revelation (CMC 0), cast it to draw 0 cards. Triggers prowess creatures too!
Maelstrom Nexus into Comet Storm
Cascade from Maelstrom Nexus (CMC 7), hit Comet Storm (CMC 3), cast it for X=0 dealing 0 damage. Decline free casting, pay RR later for X=2.
Other Rules for Cascading into X Spells
Here are some other quirks that can come up when cascading into X spells:
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You can’t pay kicker or other additional costs when casting for free off cascade.
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If the X spell is countered, X still remains 0 even if you recast it.
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X spells cast for free won’t trigger “when cast” abilities, only “when played.”
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If the X spell has split cards like Cut // Ribbons, you can only cast the half with lower CMC.
While cascade and X spells interact in interesting ways, the basic rule is cascade lets you cheat spells into play for free, even if they don’t do much. You essentially cascade through your X spells to trigger abilities and chain together bigger plays.
This primer should give you a sense of what is possible rules-wise when combining cascade with X spells. Just remember cascade checks CMCs everywhere but the stack, where X has the chosen value. Have fun chaining huge turns together!
History[]
- 702. 85. Cascade 702. 85a: The ability “cascade” is activated when the spell that has it is on the stack. It only works when that spell is on the stack. “Cascade” means “When you cast this spell, deal damage equal to or less than this spell’s mana cost and remove cards from the top of your library.” If the spell that comes from that card costs less in mana than this spell, you can cast it without paying its mana cost. Then, in any order, put all cards that were sent to the graveyard this way that weren’t cast on the bottom of your library. ” 702. 85b If a player can do something with one or more of the exiled cards “as you cascade,” they can do that action after they are done exiling cards because of the cascade ability. Once this is done, the player can decide whether to cast the last exiled card or, if no suitable card was exiled, put the exiled cards at the bottom of their library in any order they choose. 702. 85c If a spell has more than one cascade, each one happens on its own.
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In February 2021, Cascade received a rules update to change the interaction with MDFCs and Adventure cards. From that moment on, the spell that is cast off the triggered ability must also have lesser mana value than the cascading spell. [6].
The rules previously said “You may cast that spell without paying its mana cost. “, allowing players to cast a spell with a higher mana value attached to a card with a lesser mana value. The rules change clarifies “You may cast that spell without paying its mana cost if its mana value is less than this spells mana value. “, making this no longer possible.
What IS Cascade?!
FAQ
Does cascade work on X spells?
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.
What are the rules for cascade in magic?
How does cascade work?A player casts a card with cascade and the spell goes on the stack. That player reveals cards from the top of their deck. The player stops once they reveal a card with a lower CMC. The card with the lower CMC goes on the stack. Both the revealed card and the cascade spell resolve.
How does a cascade work?
A cascade system is a type of refrigeration system in which two systems are independent, and where one of the systems – the lower temperature system – uses a heat exchanger as a condenser, which is responsible for expelling the heat that accumulates in it.
How does CMC work with x spells?
When a card is being cast, an X in its mana cost counts as 0 for that card’s mana value. While on the stack, X takes the value of whatever value you’ve chosen when casting the card.
Do X spells work differently with Cascade?
There are a couple special cases where X spells work differently with cascade: If the X spell has additional modes or abilities beyond just X, you can use those. For example, you could put counters on a Walking Ballista even if X is 0. If the spell has an additional mana cost like kicker, you can pay that cost separately.
How do X spells work?
X spells have a mana cost like {X} {R} where you get to choose the value of X as you cast it. This means their CMC is variable. Here are some examples of X spells you might cascade into: These provide a lot of options to hit with cascade. But what happens if you actually cascade into one of them?.
What is a cascade spell?
Cascade is a keyword that appears on cards like Bloodbraid Elf Maelstrom Wanderer and other big spells. When you cast a spell with cascade, here’s what happens The cascade trigger goes on the stack after paying the spell’s costs.
How does cascade work?
Show cards from the top of your deck until you find a non-land card that costs less to convert than the spell itself. You may cast that spell for free, then put the rest of the revealed cards on the bottom in a random order. So cascade lets you chain into another spell for free if it meets the CMC requirements.
How does x2www cascade work?
You can pay two more mana to make a card with a CMC of 5 become a CMC of 7. This means you can cascade for 7 instead of 5. The thing is, if you pay 7 mana on a X2WWW spell BUT another effect allows you to not spend mana. How does the cost negation interact with bonus costs + cascade? Edit: line breaks.
How does cascade work in MTG?
How does cascade work? Cascade is one of the most powerful keyword abilities ever printed in Magic: The Gathering (MTG). First printed in Shards of Alara, cascade allows players to cast free spells whenever they cast a spell with cascade on it.