This article was co-authored by wikiHow staff writer, Eric McClure. Eric McClure is an editing fellow at wikiHow where he has been editing, researching, and creating content since 2019. A former educator and poet, his work has appeared in Carcinogenic Poetry, Shot Glass Journal, Prairie Margins, and The Rusty Nail. His digital chapbook, The Internet, was also published in TL;DR Magazine. He was the winner of the Paul Carroll award for outstanding achievement in creative writing in 2014, and he was a featured reader at the Poetry Foundation’s Open Door Reading Series in 2015. Eric holds a BA in English from the University of Illinois at Chicago, and an MEd in secondary education from DePaul University.
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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. This infuses your deck with a dose of very powerful randomness, which can make your games spicier and more explosive. In this article, we’ll cover how the cascade mechanic works, what key interactions you should be aware of, and which cards and decks make the most of the mechanic.
Things You Should Know
- Cascade is a triggered ability that occurs when you cast a card with that keyword.
- To cascade, reveal cards from the top of the library until you reveal a nonland card with a lower CMC.
- The cascading player may cast that nonland card without paying its mana cost.
- Cascade is a powerful ability, especially in conjunction with the suspend cards, (like Living End) since cascade only cares about the CMC.
Steps
How does cascade work?
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A player casts a card with cascade and the spell goes on the stack. Let’s say a player casts Bituminous Blast, targeting an opponent’s creature. Bituminous Blast is a 5 CMC instant that reads, “Bituminous Blast deals 4 damage to target creature.” Bituminous Blast goes on the stack and the other player gets a chance to respond.[2]
- Smart opponents will normally not respond until the cascade target is revealed, but they do have the opportunity.
- The stack is where spells and effects go before they resolve (meaning “happen”). The stack is “first in, last out” meaning that when multiple effects are cards are on the stack, the most recent effects and cards resolve first.
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That player reveals cards from the top of their deck. With Bituminous Blast on the stack, the casting player begins flipping cards from the top of their library so that both they and their opponent can see the cards.[3]
- Just FYI, your opponent is allowed to look at all of the revealed cards in detail, if they’d like.
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The player stops once they reveal a card with a lower CMC. Let’s say the player reveals a swamp. Cascade says “nonland” card, so they keep revealing cards. Then, they reveal a Grave Titan. It has a CMC of 6 so they keep revealing cards. Next, let’s say the player reveals a Fatal Push. Since Fatal Push has a CMC of 1, which is lower than Bituminous Blast, that player stops revealing cards.[4]
- To identify CMC, add the total value of the casting cost together. Grave Titan costs 4BB (4 colorless mana and two black mana). Add it together to get a total CMC of 6.
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The card with the lower CMC goes on the stack. Remember, Bituminous Blast is still on the stack. The Cascade trigger resolves, and the Fatal Push goes on the stack, on top of the Bituminous Blast.[5]
- Shuffle the cards you revealed and give your opponent the opportunity to cut the deck if they’d like. Then, put those cards on the bottom of your library.
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Both the revealed card and the cascade spell resolve. Fatal Push reads, “Destroy target creature if it has mana value 2 or less.” Since Fatal Push is on the top of the stack, it resolves first. The casting player chooses a target and casts the spell. It resolves (so long as the opponent doesn’t counter it). Then, the Bituminous Blast resolves and hits its initial target.[6]
- You cannot change the target of a card once it’s selected. So, if the Fatal Push destroys the creature the Bituminous Blast was targeting, you wouldn’t get to choose a new target for the Bituminous Blast.
Expert Q&A
Tips
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Cascade is so powerful that it’s a 7/10 on the game designer Mark Rosewater’s “Storm Scale,” a list of all keywords ranked on how unlikely a given keyword is to reappear in future sets.[19]Thanks
References
- ↑ https://media.wizards.com/2023/downloads/MagicCompRules%2020231013.pdf
- ↑ https://media.wizards.com/2023/downloads/MagicCompRules%2020231013.pdf
- ↑ https://media.wizards.com/2023/downloads/MagicCompRules%2020231013.pdf
- ↑ https://media.wizards.com/2023/downloads/MagicCompRules%2020231013.pdf
- ↑ https://media.wizards.com/2023/downloads/MagicCompRules%2020231013.pdf
- ↑ https://media.wizards.com/2023/downloads/MagicCompRules%2020231013.pdf
- ↑ https://media.wizards.com/2023/downloads/MagicCompRules%2020231013.pdf
- ↑ https://media.wizards.com/2023/downloads/MagicCompRules%2020231013.pdf
- ↑ https://article.hareruyamtg.com/article/55449/?lang=en
- ↑ https://media.wizards.com/2023/downloads/MagicCompRules%2020231013.pdf
- ↑ https://media.wizards.com/2023/downloads/MagicCompRules%2020231013.pdf
- ↑ https://media.wizards.com/2023/downloads/MagicCompRules%2020231013.pdf
- ↑ https://ultimateguard.com/en/blog/reid-duke-is-modern-jund-still-good
- ↑ https://articles.starcitygames.com/articles/everything-you-need-to-know-about-shardless-bug/
- ↑ https://www.channelfireball.com/article/Mastering-the-Cascade-A-Comprehensive-Guide-to-Modern-Living-End-in-MTG/3910ee9b-b1ce-4fdb-b09f-84a038c19547/
- ↑ https://articles.starcitygames.com/articles/the-shardless-bug-primer/
- ↑ https://mtgdecks.net/Pauper/gruul-cascade
- ↑ https://edhrec.com/themes/cascade
- ↑ https://mtg.fandom.com/wiki/Storm_Scale