In Alara Reborn, there's a new great mechanic called Cascade. It says:
Cascade (When you play this spell, remove cards from the top of your library from the game until you remove a nonland card that costs less. You may play it without paying its mana cost. Put the removed cards on the bottom in a random order)
Do you have any ideas on how to take advantage of this mechanic?
I've already seen decks that my friends test-played with a bunch of Cascade cards, and I thought it's was pretty solid. What do you think?
I don't think that you should. Unless you have a way to manipulate what's comming up in your library, there's no way to guarantee that what you get will be good or appropriate for the turn. I think cascade would be espically terrible for a control deck because there's the possibility that you cascade a reaction spell that you could have used for another time. I would just put in a few spells, but not make it the focus of a deck.
Cascade is very build around me, but once you do, it can be insane.
Some ways to do it would be to either make it so that the cascading card is the highest CMC spell in your deck so you can fall into anything in the deck and play it, or use some of the lower cost Cascade cards to "tutor" for different spells.
An example of the former would be Bloodbraid elf in a sligh esque deck filled with haste creatures and cheap burn. While the latter would be Ardent plea in a deck where the only two drops were sculler and Meddling Mage.
If you pull of the deck construction correctly, the cards can easily become pure advantage with no downside whatsoever(such as avoiding the aforementioned drawing into a random reactive card.)
I did a cascade misplay in the prerelease. I played a cascade card, and cascaded into a terminate, but the only creature in play is my creature so it was killed. I didn't know that you "MAY" play it, so I have the option not to kill it. Ah! I should read the cards more carefully next time
That's exactly the problem I've got with this mechanic. Completely unplayable in blue (unless you play blue aggro with 90% creatures). And barely better in red and black. All your reactive spells may be payed sorcery speed. And there's nothing worse than cascading into a counterspell card. Cascade is way too slow for aggro and worthless for control. This absurd mechanic is the only problem I've got with this set. Well at least it is a fun casual mechanic, but don't think about abusing it for tourney play.
This mechanic is only bad if you throw it into a deck not built for it. In ANY appropriate instance, its a 2 for 1.
My favorite? Bloodbraid elf cascading into either A) ramgang or B) colossal might. how is that at all bad?
heres how cascade helped me in my prerelease.
turn5: Gloryscale Viashino
turn6: Enlisted wurm cascaded into; bloodbraid elf cascaded into; sigil blessing. Swinging for 20 damage, no blockers.
I think Bituminous Blast will have the most impact on Constructed, mostly as a 3-4 of in control sideboards and maybe a couple copies maindeck in a meta that isn't so :symb::symw: Tokens or 5cc heavy. This card really is that good.
I think Bituminous Blast will have the most impact on Constructed, mostly as a 3-4 of in control sideboards and maybe a couple copies maindeck in a meta that isn't so :symb::symw: Tokens or 5cc heavy. This card really is that good.
I think Bituminous Blast will have the most impact on Constructed, mostly as a 3-4 of in control sideboards and maybe a couple copies maindeck in a meta that isn't so :symb::symw: Tokens or 5cc heavy. This card really is that good.
I'd have to say Thought Hemmorhage is ten times better. It can completely rip apart a deck that revolves around one card or two, like this pest or that pest.
I'd have to say Thought Hemmorhage is ten times better. It can completely rip apart a deck that revolves around one card or two, like this pest or that pest.
Thought Hemorrhage is pretty decent in Constructed and I agree that it can completely rip apart a deck that revolves around one card or two (Reveillark yes, doubt Cryptic Command decks will allow you to hemorrhage them). But at 4 mana, it's always at the expense of exclusion of other cards that fits the curve of the deck more.
However Cranial Extraction has shown that cards of 4CMC does find a place in BR constructed decks. But Thought Hemorrhage gives me the impression that it has a place more suited to it in sideboard decks.
For sure, Thought Hemorrhage is a good card but it does not justify its current high pricing now. I do think the art by Chippy is excellent though.
This mechanic is only bad if you throw it into a deck not built for it. In ANY appropriate instance, its a 2 for 1.
My favorite? Bloodbraid elf cascading into either A) ramgang or B) colossal might. how is that at all bad?
Cascade i believe could be a very rewarding mechanic. However in building a deck meant to cascade, a lot of card choices are sacrificed in order to work the cascade mechanic in it. So I wouldn't say in ANY appropriate instance, its a 2 for 1 (as quoted).
It's a shame most of the Cascade cards' primary effects are underpowered. It becomes a more powerful mechanic in a deck with tight cmcs (aggro) since these will have a greater chance of cascading into something relevant.
This happens a lot. whenever there's an interesting mechanic, most of the cards that have it aren't really that great except for the fact that they have the keyword, and the "balancing" (I call it worsening) of the rest of the card makes them mostly unusable outside of limited, and many times in limited. Other examples were cycling, morph, arcane, soulshift, and a whole bunch of other things.
I'm thinking that Ardent Plea and the RB ones have the most use for combo decks. I could see running an odd deck with only a single 2-drop so they can Cascade tutor it.
That's exactly the problem I've got with this mechanic. Completely unplayable in blue (unless you play blue aggro with 90% creatures). And barely better in red and black. All your reactive spells may be payed sorcery speed. And there's nothing worse than cascading into a counterspell card. Cascade is way too slow for aggro and worthless for control. This absurd mechanic is the only problem I've got with this set. Well at least it is a fun casual mechanic, but don't think about abusing it for tourney play.
Just on individual card power and ability to impact standard:
Bloodbraid Elf is insane and will without doubt be in every aggressive deck packing R/G. One could very well argue that its the most powerful card in the set.
Next up is Bituminous Blast. That casting cost of 5 is what hurts the card, but then one cannot ignore that bituminous blast is an instant which then allows for stupid things like end of turn Bloodbraid, Thought Hemorragh's or Maelstrom Pulses. Something that can honestly not be ignored.
What's even better about these cascade cards is what can only be considered 'synergy' with evoke like Shriekmaw. You still get your 2 mana removal, yet your cascade becomes further specialised.
As a mechanic for possible combo decks:
As a combo deck, I actually feel many of the cards are actually fair in price and power level. Just think about how insane some cascades could already be when cascading down from the Engima Sphinx.
I believe to make the combo deck work, one will need to use Wheel of Sun and Moon to abuse the card advantage as one definite problem the deck will have is running out of cards to impact the game. I honestly believe a cascade combo is available and is competitive, but alas, I am not a combo master and while being able to tinker and identify combo source I'll never achieve something worth anybody's time. One thing I will say, is that the Wheel and evoke from things like Shriekmaw and Mulldrifter is definitely key to the combo deck's success.
Cascade is going to completely change extended. It already sort of has, if you use MWS as an example.
The hypergenesis deck is the most consistent combo deck I have ever seen in that format. Go check out the thread for it if you don't understand why or how it works. It will win tournaments, I guarantee that.
Also, Bloodbraid Elf is the best card in the set. Blightning is splashing green for it just because it makes them win that much faster.
Indeed, cascade is great idea, it's powerful and i like it. What I dont like it is the fact only 2 cascade cards are playable in constructed Magic: Bloodbraid Elf, Bitumunous Blast. That mechanic had so much potential but crappy-too-careful card developers ruined it. R&D shouldnt be so scared of making powerful cards. doh
Trust me, you wouldn't be happy if cascade terminate was printed at 4 mana, it would be overpowered.
Bituminous Blast will see tournament play, Bloodbraid absolutely will and even enigma sphinx may see some. The mechanic is more powerful than you think.
Yeah, I'm not getting the negativity on this mechanic. It's not just a cantrip, it casts the freaking spell for ya. It has combo written all over it. Of course, it is just Goblin Dan and a couple others, so take it for what that's worth.
Rule 502.85b:
If you remove a split card from the game this way, check if at least one half of that split card has a converted mana cost that's less than the converted mana cost of the spell with cascade. If so, you can play either half of that split card.
Cascade works well with spit cards! You don't even have to have the correct mana to play the half you want to.
I'm sure a deck could abuse the spit cards with the cascade mechanics...
You missed the best of the bunch for our purposes... Boom/Bust. Turn 3 Armageddon? Of course, you suspended a gigantic beater (*cough*Gargadon*cough*) before you cascaded into the boom/bust.
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Cascade (When you play this spell, remove cards from the top of your library from the game until you remove a nonland card that costs less. You may play it without paying its mana cost. Put the removed cards on the bottom in a random order)
Do you have any ideas on how to take advantage of this mechanic?
I've already seen decks that my friends test-played with a bunch of Cascade cards, and I thought it's was pretty solid. What do you think?
Some ways to do it would be to either make it so that the cascading card is the highest CMC spell in your deck so you can fall into anything in the deck and play it, or use some of the lower cost Cascade cards to "tutor" for different spells.
An example of the former would be Bloodbraid elf in a sligh esque deck filled with haste creatures and cheap burn. While the latter would be Ardent plea in a deck where the only two drops were sculler and Meddling Mage.
If you pull of the deck construction correctly, the cards can easily become pure advantage with no downside whatsoever(such as avoiding the aforementioned drawing into a random reactive card.)
play 3cmc+ cascade cards and every haste creature you can think of in ext.
turn 3 win or cast another on turn 4 if countered
this is from the new mtgcast pod cast
This mechanic is only bad if you throw it into a deck not built for it. In ANY appropriate instance, its a 2 for 1.
My favorite? Bloodbraid elf cascading into either A) ramgang or B) colossal might. how is that at all bad?
heres how cascade helped me in my prerelease.
turn5: Gloryscale Viashino
turn6: Enlisted wurm cascaded into; bloodbraid elf cascaded into; sigil blessing. Swinging for 20 damage, no blockers.
i run two copies in my blightning deck.
I'd have to say Thought Hemmorhage is ten times better. It can completely rip apart a deck that revolves around one card or two, like this pest or that pest.
Thought Hemorrhage is pretty decent in Constructed and I agree that it can completely rip apart a deck that revolves around one card or two (Reveillark yes, doubt Cryptic Command decks will allow you to hemorrhage them). But at 4 mana, it's always at the expense of exclusion of other cards that fits the curve of the deck more.
However Cranial Extraction has shown that cards of 4CMC does find a place in BR constructed decks. But Thought Hemorrhage gives me the impression that it has a place more suited to it in sideboard decks.
For sure, Thought Hemorrhage is a good card but it does not justify its current high pricing now. I do think the art by Chippy is excellent though.
Cascade i believe could be a very rewarding mechanic. However in building a deck meant to cascade, a lot of card choices are sacrificed in order to work the cascade mechanic in it. So I wouldn't say in ANY appropriate instance, its a 2 for 1 (as quoted).
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Taking it into consideration certainly makes for a more predictable outcome, which is good, but this mechanic is just plain good.
It's one of the most powerful mechanics printed in a long time and it works in almost any deck.
This happens a lot. whenever there's an interesting mechanic, most of the cards that have it aren't really that great except for the fact that they have the keyword, and the "balancing" (I call it worsening) of the rest of the card makes them mostly unusable outside of limited, and many times in limited. Other examples were cycling, morph, arcane, soulshift, and a whole bunch of other things.
U/
Who likes card advantage, anyway? I know I don't.
Bloodbraid Elf is insane and will without doubt be in every aggressive deck packing R/G. One could very well argue that its the most powerful card in the set.
Next up is Bituminous Blast. That casting cost of 5 is what hurts the card, but then one cannot ignore that bituminous blast is an instant which then allows for stupid things like end of turn Bloodbraid, Thought Hemorragh's or Maelstrom Pulses. Something that can honestly not be ignored.
What's even better about these cascade cards is what can only be considered 'synergy' with evoke like Shriekmaw. You still get your 2 mana removal, yet your cascade becomes further specialised.
As a mechanic for possible combo decks:
As a combo deck, I actually feel many of the cards are actually fair in price and power level. Just think about how insane some cascades could already be when cascading down from the Engima Sphinx.
I believe to make the combo deck work, one will need to use Wheel of Sun and Moon to abuse the card advantage as one definite problem the deck will have is running out of cards to impact the game. I honestly believe a cascade combo is available and is competitive, but alas, I am not a combo master and while being able to tinker and identify combo source I'll never achieve something worth anybody's time. One thing I will say, is that the Wheel and evoke from things like Shriekmaw and Mulldrifter is definitely key to the combo deck's success.
The hypergenesis deck is the most consistent combo deck I have ever seen in that format. Go check out the thread for it if you don't understand why or how it works. It will win tournaments, I guarantee that.
Also, Bloodbraid Elf is the best card in the set. Blightning is splashing green for it just because it makes them win that much faster.
Trust me, you wouldn't be happy if cascade terminate was printed at 4 mana, it would be overpowered.
Bituminous Blast will see tournament play, Bloodbraid absolutely will and even enigma sphinx may see some. The mechanic is more powerful than you think.
Yeah, I'm not getting the negativity on this mechanic. It's not just a cantrip, it casts the freaking spell for ya. It has combo written all over it. Of course, it is just Goblin Dan and a couple others, so take it for what that's worth.
I love the suspend spells idea. Very cool.
I ended adding Deny Reality, Bitumninous Blast and whatever the flight enchantment is in my Relentless Rats Karona EDH deck. I'll let yall know how it works.
Cascade works well with spit cards! You don't even have to have the correct mana to play the half you want to.
Just think about it:
Crime/Punishment costs 2 but you can still play the Crime part of the spell.
Hit/Run costs 3 but you can play the Run after Bitumninous Blast
Pain/Suffering distroying an opponent's land for 1?
I'm sure a deck could abuse the spit cards with the cascade mechanics...
DCI Judge
You missed the best of the bunch for our purposes... Boom/Bust. Turn 3 Armageddon? Of course, you suspended a gigantic beater (*cough*Gargadon*cough*) before you cascaded into the boom/bust.
MTGO Writer and Epic Time-Waster.
If you have questions about MTGO PM me, I'm all up ons, as it were.
Check out my articles on http://puremtgo.com/ I'm the nerd you see there... wait, not that one. Nope, not that one either... yeah. That one.