I play my general from my command zone. The general costs 4. The general has been killed twice before, so I actually have to pay (8) to cast him.
1. Does Maelstrom Nexus still trigger on a card played from the command zone. (I assume so.)
2. What cost am I cascading for, the 4 of the base cost or the 8 I really payed?
3. Not directly and EDH question, but what about kicker and multi-kicker? Do they count towards the cost I have to cascade for less-than? (My gut is no.)
1. Yes; you are still casting the spell, putting it on the stack, so it triggers cascade.
2. Just the base converted mana cost. I think the extra cost functions like an additional cost. Whenever you pay a spell you are paying the total cost. The total cost = printed mana cost + additional costs. Normally, you don't have to worry about additional costs; you just pay the printed costs. However, the additional costs are separate, and don't count towards the converted mana cost.
3. No. I don't know if kicker is different because it's a modal cost, but I'm pretty sure it's just an additional cost like the general cost. Regardless, I'm 99.9999999% sure that neither the general cost or kicker add to the cascade count.
I would agree with the above post. The extra (2) is extra that is part of the EDH ruling. It does not change the mana cost of the card so your cascade would be off the original.
Unrelated note: how does Maelstrom nexus work out for you. I always thought cascading on each spell could get pretty chaotic.
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I also play Maelstrom Nexus in my Horde of Notions deck. It can be a little chaotic, but not unmanageably so because, ultimately you can choose to play spells you cascade into. It's great in decks that don't play too many counterspells, and provides back breaking card advantage. To truly optimize it, it's good to play some counter spells or instant speed removal to trigger it on opponent's turns, but then you need other cheap spells to cascade into.
I dunno, I don't really optimize it, but it's fun to cast.
You'd probably get better results posting this in the Rulings forum, but I'll give you the answers here anyway
Bigjim is pretty much right on all counts here.
1. Yes, Nexus just cares that you cast a spell, not from where.
2. and 3. Cascade only cares about the card's converted mana cost, not any additional costs such as Kicker or additional general mana. If the card costs 2RG, its converted mana cost is 4, even if you paid 12 mana to cast it.
Strategy-wise, Nexus seems like a good call for a 5-color deck, though unless you have something like Top out, it's way too random with 99 unique cards to really build around.
Just as a generalisation, NOTHING can change a card's converted mana cost. Except the value of X you choose for it while casting it, and then only while it's on the stack.
Unrelated note: how does Maelstrom nexus work out for you. I always thought cascading on each spell could get pretty chaotic.
I run it in my Reaper King deck (pay 5 but cascade sees 10cmc!) and it is a such a huge target I almost never get to use it (since the turn you cast it it's kind of useless). I did manage to get it onto the board with a Vedalken Orrery once, though, and that was pretty fun.
Strategy-wise, Nexus seems like a good call for a 5-color deck, though unless you have something like Top out, it's way too random with 99 unique cards to really build around.
Even if you don't have deck manipulation for Nexus, it's still a powerful source of brute force card advantage and tempo advantage. Though as hjerk said, it really shines when you have Orrery out.
I play the Nexus in my Horde of Notions Elemental toolbox deck. I especially like that the nexus triggers on Evoking a Lorwyn elemental, as Evoke is an alternative way to cast. So with Mulldrifter, I pay just 2U, but the cascade cares about the 4U. So I pay 2U, cascade for 5, and then draw 2 cards.
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I play my general from my command zone. The general costs 4. The general has been killed twice before, so I actually have to pay (8) to cast him.
1. Does Maelstrom Nexus still trigger on a card played from the command zone. (I assume so.)
2. What cost am I cascading for, the 4 of the base cost or the 8 I really payed?
3. Not directly and EDH question, but what about kicker and multi-kicker? Do they count towards the cost I have to cascade for less-than? (My gut is no.)
1. Yes; you are still casting the spell, putting it on the stack, so it triggers cascade.
2. Just the base converted mana cost. I think the extra cost functions like an additional cost. Whenever you pay a spell you are paying the total cost. The total cost = printed mana cost + additional costs. Normally, you don't have to worry about additional costs; you just pay the printed costs. However, the additional costs are separate, and don't count towards the converted mana cost.
3. No. I don't know if kicker is different because it's a modal cost, but I'm pretty sure it's just an additional cost like the general cost. Regardless, I'm 99.9999999% sure that neither the general cost or kicker add to the cascade count.
Unrelated note: how does Maelstrom nexus work out for you. I always thought cascading on each spell could get pretty chaotic.
I only learned one thing in kindergarten: The bigger you were, the less you had to share!
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As far as now it works, don't know yet. I agree on it usually being too chaotic. I just built a new 5-color EDH deck based on allies.
Horde of Notions is the general, and I'm using changelings to trigger the allies. (And Horde can bring them back.)
Because of all the Alliy come in to play triggers, I thought Nexus would be fun to try.
I dunno, I don't really optimize it, but it's fun to cast.
Bigjim is pretty much right on all counts here.
1. Yes, Nexus just cares that you cast a spell, not from where.
2. and 3. Cascade only cares about the card's converted mana cost, not any additional costs such as Kicker or additional general mana. If the card costs 2RG, its converted mana cost is 4, even if you paid 12 mana to cast it.
Strategy-wise, Nexus seems like a good call for a 5-color deck, though unless you have something like Top out, it's way too random with 99 unique cards to really build around.
I run it in my Reaper King deck (pay 5 but cascade sees 10cmc!) and it is a such a huge target I almost never get to use it (since the turn you cast it it's kind of useless). I did manage to get it onto the board with a Vedalken Orrery once, though, and that was pretty fun.
Even if you don't have deck manipulation for Nexus, it's still a powerful source of brute force card advantage and tempo advantage. Though as hjerk said, it really shines when you have Orrery out.
Commander Decks:
WBRQueen Marchesa's Powerful FriendsRBW
URArjun, Mindmoil SphinxRU
GFreyalise and the ElvesG
GROmnath, Ramping to RageRG
UBaral, Chef of CounterspellsU