The History and Future of Cascade in Modern

Happy Wednesday, all! Today on Modern Times, we delve into the Cascade mechanic. We’ll discuss its place in the format, its problems, its potential going forward, and most importantly, we’ll discuss the best Cascade spells in the Modern format and their financial potential. 

The History of Cascade

Originating in the Alara block, Cascade is a keyword mechanic that triggers upon casting a spell that has the Cascade ability. Upon casting the spell, you reveal cards from the top of your library until you reveal a card that costs strictly less in mana value than the card you cast. Once you arrive at a valid Cascade-able card, you may cast that card for free. The, in order, your Cascade hit resolves, followed by the card with the Cascade mechanic itself.

While I can only speculate on the R&D decisions that went into designing this mechanic, I would venture to guess that Wizards intended Cascade to be a pure two-for-one ability that gave players additional “random” value for casting a spell with Cascade. And in the earliest days of Modern, that’s largely how the mechanic was utilized. In fact, many years ago, Bloodbraid Elf was the only card with Cascade that saw widespread play, specifically in old-school Jund builds. Why? For four mana, you got a 3/2 creature with haste and could rip an extra card from your deck, which in Jund could be anything from Thoughtseize to Liliana of the Veil. Back in the heyday of Bloodbraid Elf in Jund, there wasn’t a card that you weren’t satisfied to get to play for free from that deck. 

$5.50$5.99

$10.94$10.99

In fact, coupled with Deathrite Shaman, one could play Bloodbraid consistently on turn three, which really pushed Jund into a territory of unfair and imbalanced play in the meta–at least imbalanced by yesterday’s standards. What made Bloodbraid interesting was that you wouldn’t actively build your deck around it, rather you were happy to simply play it and get the extra value it provided along with a hasty creature. Somewhere along the way, players realized that you could build your deck around one specific card or synergy  and use the Cascade mechanic to access that card immediately. [card]Breaking//Entering[/card] Reanimator, Restore Balance with the Borderpost artifacts, and Living End all started the trend that has led us to Cascade decks in the format that Modern is today. 

In essence, the value that Cascade provides is that it “breaks” deck construction rules. If you build your deck around resolving Crashing Footfalls and Living End, then you want to access one of your four copies (or sometimes three in the case of Living End) of these cards as soon as humanly possible without actually having to Suspend them. By playing four copies of Violent Outburst and Shardless Agent, it’s like having twelve Crashing Footfalls in your deck in terms of overall frequency, which in a 60-card deck is 20% of your library. Those odds are pretty strong for consistently casting (or Suspending) the singular spell you seek to resolve. The only “drawback” is you can’t have cards in your deck with lower mana value than the Cascade spells that are your engine. However, in a world with the Force cycle from Modern Horizons, the Evoke Elementals from Modern Horizons 2, the Adventure mechanic, the Domain mechanic, and rules regarding the mana value of split cards like Fire // Ice and Dead // Gone, it’s not difficult to build a highly interactive, efficient deck around the Cascade mechanic. So what are the best Cascade spells in Modern, and are they worth the financial commitment? 

Violent Outburst

Violent Outburst is easily the single best Cascade spell legal in Modern currently… emphasis on currently. With the emergence of Leyline Rhinos decks in the wake of RC Denver and Karlov Manor, Violent Outburst has moved to the forefront of players’ minds as a “ban-worthy” target. Ironic for a card that was a bulk bin $0.20 common in a fairly underwhelming set at the time of its release (Alara Reborn that is). 

Today, however, Violent Outburst is far from bulk. In fact, it’s the most expensive card in Alara Reborn, edging out Dragon Broodmother and Time Sieve. I can’t personally recollect another instance where a common in a Modern-legal set is also the most expensive card in the set. That really goes to show how in-demand this single card is directly resulting from its use in Modern.  So why is Violent Outburst the “best” Cascade spell compared to the other options? Simple: instant speed. Being able to play Outburst during your opponent’s end step sets you up to swing with two 8/8 rhinos when you untap during your next turn, or swing with all the creatures you cycled into your graveyard the previous two turns (in the case of Living End). Furthermore, Violent Outburst, so long as it is cast on your opponent’s turn, avoids being countered using the alternative casting condition of Force of Negation. 

And it's for these reasons that there’s some discussion of Outburst being on the banned list radar. Would I ever pay $6 for an Outburst in today’s market? No, but not for the reason you’d think. Yes, Violent Outburst could be banned compared to other format alternatives, but with Modern Horizons 3 casting a shadow over the format, it’s very possible Temur Rhinos or other Cascade-oriented decks could be rendered largely irrelevant by what will in all probability be another power-crept, and format-warping, direct-to-Modern release. I would imagine MH3 will shake up the meta to a point where the relevance or concern of Violent Outburst could fall to the wayside.

Violent Outburst	CardKingdom $7.49	TCGPlayer $6.52
Violent Outburst	CardKingdom	TCGPlayer

Shardless Agent

Originally a Planechase card that saw extensive Legacy play, the second-best Cascade spell in Modern, Shardless Agent, saw its debut as a reprint in Modern Horizons 2. Its color combination containing green complements Violent Outburst’s Gruul color combination, hence Temur Rhinos, and “Temur'' Living End (technically, there’s black in Living End, but the spells actually being cast, Cycled, or Evoked seldom require black mana to be spent directly). 

The drawback of this card is that it can only be played at sorcery speed, so the spell you end up Cascading into is vulnerable to Force of Negation, but it’s also a 3/2 body that resolves after the Cascade trigger. Thus, you can cast Shardless Agent, resolve a Living End, and still have a 3/2 enter into play after you return all your binned creatures into a play. In Rhinos, two 4/4 Rhinos, and a Shardless Agent puts eleven power on board that puts your opponent on a two-turn, rather than three-turn, clock. The additional three power that Agent provides usually results in a win clock that’s a turn faster than usual. So where does this card’s price sit currently?

It doesn’t. Unlike Violent Outburst, Shardless Agent has seen extensive reprinting. Sitting at around $1.00, the original Planechase 2012 printing has been bottoming-out for almost two years. Compared to Outburst, Agent is well worth picking up a precautionary playset (as I call it). If Outburst is banned, Rhinos and Living End will still see format play (holding all else constant), making Agent the best Cascade spell in the format. Low-to-no risk, potentially high reward. An added benefit that Agent provides is that even if it’s a “dead card” in your hand, it can be pitched to Evoke both Endurance and Subtlety, while Outburst can only be pitched to Evoke Endurance in the wake of Fury’s banning. Shardless Agent also can be used to pay for Force of Negation’s alternate casting cost, making its versatility in-deck more appealing than Violent Outburst under certain circumstances. 

Shardless Agent	CardKingdom $1.29	TCGPlayer $1.00
Shardless Agent	CardKingdom $0.49	TCGPlayer $0.49
Shardless Agent (Retro Frame)	CardKingdom	TCGPlayer $1.86
Shardless Agent (Borderless)	CardKingdom $2.29	TCGPlayer $2.11

Ardent Plea

Ardent Plea combines Cascade and Exalted into one Azorius-colored enchantment. I really like Ardent Plea… although I may be biased. Having played Restore Balance decks back in the day, Ardent Plea was really valuable for making your Greater Gargadon swing for ten instead of nine damage thanks to that Exalted trigger. Ardent Plea has the utility of being pitchable to both Subtlety, Solitude, and Force of Negation, which mitigates its potential of being dead in hand more so than either Shardless Agent or Outburst given that Solitude sees more mainboard play than Endurance by a fair margin. 

Financially speaking, is there value nested in Ardent Plea? Most definitely, again, it’s the next-in-line replacement for Outburst should it be banned in the format. For both Living End and Rhinos, while it is mildly inconvenient to incorporate white into the deck to make Plea playable, it’s not so much of a drawback as to incentivize players to stop playing these archetypes altogether. Much like Rakdos Scam when it lost Fury, neither Living End nor Temur Rhinos become bottom-tier decks in the meta if Violent Outburst is gone. It does make them a little weaker and potentially makes for Golgari Yawgmoth to become the best deck in the format, but much like Rakdos Scam lingers around even without Fury, so too can Living End and Temur Rhinos without Violent Outburst, and cards like Ardent Plea make that potential reality possible. Right now, Plea is $3.00 and trending downward. I’d give it another few weeks to see if it bottoms out. I can see this hitting bottom around $2.00 give or take $0.50. At that time, it’s worth picking up a playset. Even so, $3.00 for a Violent Outburst insurance policy isn’t so bad either. Definitely well worth the speculatory investment at least for now.

Ardent Plea	CardKingdom $2.49	TCGPlayer $2.93
Ardent Plea	CardKingdom $1.79	TCGPlayer $1.73

Demonic Dread

The final viable Cascade card in Modern: Demonic Dread. Pros: for Living End, this card is easier to slot into its shell than Ardent Plea, and can be pitched to Evoke Grief. Cons: it’s sorcery speed, and requires a valid target to legally cast. The first con can be overcome, as is the case with both Ardent Plea and Shardless Agent. The second con is a massive limitation. Ideally, you want to be able to Cascade on turn three if you’re in Rhinos to put maximum pressure on your opponent as early as possible, or in the case of Living End, Cascade when your graveyard has roughly twenty damage in combined power of the creatures you cycled. Being hindered by having to choose a target for Demonic Dread is a pretty substantial drawback. So is there faith in Demonic Dread?

No. This card’s price reflects the sentiment that it’s not worth consideration in the format. It’s around a quarter, so I suppose it’s cheap enough to pick up a playset at little-to-no risk, but the return will likely never be there. You could play penny stocks with this card, but I personally wouldn’t waste the time.

Demonic Dread

CardKingdom $0.35

TCGPlayer $0.28

The Future of Cascade

It’s clear with Modern Horizons 1 and 2 that Wizards has some interest in experimenting with Cascade beyond its humble origins. Cards like Bloodbraid Marauder further illustrate this desire to make non-evergreen mechanics interact and work under certain conditions–in the case of Bloodbraid Marauder, this means making a two-mana Cascade spell conditional on satisfying Delirium conditions, which is easier to do when you can play zero-mana cards like Mishra's Bauble. But playing those would defeat the purpose of Bloodbraid’s Cascade mechanic if you’re specifically building around it. 

I highly doubt we’ve seen the last of Cascade, but I also highly doubt that we’ll see better Cascade enablers in the format than what is on the table currently. With any luck, however, we’ll see more alternatives to Living End and Crashing Footfalls to add some diversity to viable Cascade strategies in the Modern Format. Decks like Glimpse Casino are encouraging examples of using the Cascade mechanic closer to what it was intended as: fun value from RNG. I’d love to see more cards like Glimpse of Tomorrow in MH3, but we’ll have to wait a couple months or so to see what that future brings. Speculate safely!

Further Reading:

Three Barometers for the Magic: the Gathering Market