Cascade is a triggered ability that fires when you cast the spell, and it can only ever hand you something cheaper. The Comprehensive Rules put it in one sentence: "When you cast this spell, exile cards from the top of your library until you exile a nonland card whose mana value is less than this spell's mana value. You may cast that card without paying its mana cost if the resulting spell's mana value is less than this spell's mana value. Then put all cards exiled this way that weren't cast on the bottom of your library in a random order" (rule 702.85a). Three things follow from that sentence and decide most cascade arguments. Cascade is not a choice: the first qualifying card is the card. It can never hit a land or anything of equal or higher mana value. And because the trigger resolves before the spell that caused it, the free spell resolves first.
This guide is part of our MTG keywords and mechanics glossary, the index of every mechanic guide on Mana Grove.
Below: the trigger step by step, what "less than" means for X spells, double-faced cards and Adventures, why a cascade into a cascade works, why a zero-mana-value cascade hits nothing, the things cascade does not do, and the cascade cards Commander players run, read from our card database.
The rule, step by step
Cascade is a keyword ability, and the rules give it three lines.
Rule 702.85a
Cascade is a triggered ability that functions only while the spell with cascade is on the stack. "Cascade" means "When you cast this spell, exile cards from the top of your library until you exile a nonland card whose mana value is less than this spell's mana value. You may cast that card without paying its mana cost if the resulting spell's mana value is less than this spell's mana value. Then put all cards exiled this way that weren't cast on the bottom of your library in a random order."
Rule 702.85b
If an effect allows a player to take an action with one or more of the exiled cards "as you cascade," the player may take that action after they have finished exiling cards due to the cascade ability. This action is taken before choosing whether to cast the last exiled card or, if no appropriate card was exiled, before putting the exiled cards on the bottom of their library in a random order.
Rule 702.85c
If a spell has multiple instances of cascade, each triggers separately.
In play, that is five steps:
- You cast the spell, and cascade triggers. Rule 601.2i: once a spell is cast, "any abilities that trigger when a spell is cast or put onto the stack trigger at this time." The cascade trigger goes on the stack above the spell, and your opponents get priority before you exile anything.
- You exile from the top until you hit. Lands are exiled and skipped. So is every nonland card whose mana value is not lower than the cascade spell's. The first nonland card with a lower mana value stops the process.
- You may cast it. Rule 608.2g governs a spell cast during resolution: you follow the normal casting steps, no player receives priority in the middle, and the new spell "becomes the topmost object on the stack." Because it is the effect that lets you cast it, the usual timing rules for sorceries and creatures do not apply. It is optional: "may" means you can decline.
- The rest go to the bottom in a random order. Everything you exiled that was not cast, lands included.
- The free spell resolves first. It is on top of the stack, above the cascade spell, so Bloodbraid Elf hits the battlefield after whatever it cascaded into has already resolved.
How cascade actually works
"Less than" is strict
A mana value of 4 hits 0, 1, 2 or 3. It does not hit 4. Bloodbraid Elf, at {2}{R}{G}, can never cascade into another Bloodbraid Elf, and Shardless Agent at {1}{G}{U} only ever finds cards costing two or less.
X counts as zero
Rule 202.3e: "When calculating the mana value of an object with an {X} in its mana cost, X is treated as 0 while the object is not on the stack." So Walking Ballista, whose cost is {X}{X}, has a mana value of 0 in your library and is a legal hit for any cascade. Then rule 107.3b finishes the job: when an effect lets you cast a spell without paying its mana cost, "the only legal choice for X is 0." The Ballista enters with zero counters and is put into the graveyard by rule 704.5f for having toughness 0. Cascade decks cut their X spells for exactly this reason.
Lands are skipped, but a card you cannot cast still stops the exiling
A land is never the hit, whatever its mana value; the rule says "nonland card". A nonland card with a lower mana value is the hit even when you cannot legally cast it, for example a counterspell whose only legal target is your own cascade spell. You may cast it, you decline or cannot, and it goes to the bottom with the rest.
Cards with no mana cost have a mana value of 0
Rule 202.3a: "The mana value of an object with no mana cost is 0, unless that object is the back face of a nonmodal double-faced permanent or spell, or it is a melded permanent." Living End, Hypergenesis and Crashing Footfalls have no mana cost at all, which rule 118.6 calls an unpayable cost ("Some objects have no mana cost. This represents an unpayable cost"), and rule 118.6a says an effect that lets you cast a spell without paying its mana cost is an alternative cost that "may be paid". Build a deck where these are the only nonland cards with a mana value below 3, and every Shardless Agent, Violent Outburst, Demonic Dread and Ardent Plea finds one every time. That is the whole architecture of the best-known cascade decks.
Modal double-faced cards and Adventures
This is where the second sentence of the rule earns its place. Rule 712.8a: while a double-faced card is anywhere other than the battlefield or the stack, "it has only the characteristics of its front face." So Valki, God of Lies, a {1}{B} creature on the front and, on the back, Tibalt, Cosmic Impostor, a planeswalker whose printed cost is {5}{B}{R} for a mana value of 7, has a mana value of 2 in your library and is a legal hit for a three-mana cascade. But you may only cast it "if the resulting spell's mana value is less than this spell's mana value", so you may cast Valki and you may not cast Tibalt. Adventures work the same way from the other direction. Bonecrusher Giant is a three-mana creature card that carries a two-mana Adventure, Stomp, and rule 715.3b says a spell on the stack as an Adventure "has only its alternative characteristics". Off a four-mana cascade you may cast either half. Off a three-mana cascade the card is not a hit at all: rule 715.4 says that in every zone except the stack an adventurer card has only its normal characteristics, so the card in your library has a mana value of 3.
Cascade into cascade
The free spell is cast, so if it has cascade, its cascade triggers too (601.2i again), and that trigger resolves before the free spell does. Maelstrom Wanderer has two instances of cascade at mana value 8, and rule 702.85c says each triggers separately. Resolve the first: exile until you find, say, Bloodbraid Elf, cast it, and the Elf's own cascade triggers and resolves, its free spell resolves, then the Elf resolves. Only then does the Wanderer's second cascade trigger resolve and start exiling again. Apex Devastator does this four times from mana value 10.
A zero-mana-value cascade hits nothing
Cascade can be granted. Maelstrom Nexus gives your first spell each turn cascade, and Yidris, Maelstrom Wielder gives it to the spells you cast from hand after connecting. Give it to Ornithopter at {0} and you exile card after card looking for a nonland card with a mana value less than 0, which does not exist. You exile your entire library, then put all of it on the bottom in a random order. You have shuffled your deck and shown it to the table, and you have not lost: rule 704.5b only makes you lose for attempting to draw from an empty library.
Responding to cascade, and what a copy does
Once cascade has triggered, the trigger is its own object. Rule 113.7a: "Once activated or triggered, an ability exists on the stack independently of its source. Destruction or removal of the source after that time won't affect the ability." Counter the cascade spell in response and the cascade still resolves, and you still get your free spell. The only way to stop it is to counter the triggered ability itself. Copies are the other direction: rule 707.10 says "a copy of a spell isn't cast", so copying a cascade spell never triggers cascade. The difference between casting and copying is the same one that runs through storm.
What cascade does not do
- It never hits a land. Land cards are exiled with the rest and go to the bottom.
- It never hits an equal or higher mana value. Strictly less, always.
- It does not let you choose. The first qualifying card is the card. The one exception is written into rule 702.85b: Averna, the Chaos Bloom lets you put a land from among the exiled cards onto the battlefield tapped "as you cascade", before you decide whether to cast the hit.
- It does not shuffle. Only the exiled cards move, to the bottom, in a random order among themselves. The rest of your library keeps its order.
- It does not pay X. X is 0 (107.3b), so X spells are dead hits.
- It does not trigger on a copy, and it does not need the cascade spell to survive. Copies are not cast (707.10), and countering the cascade spell leaves the trigger on the stack to resolve anyway (113.7a).
The best cascade cards in Commander
Our card database holds 37 Commander-legal cards with the cascade keyword, and they cluster by mana value: 4 at mana value 3, 5 at 4, 11 at 5, 9 at 6, 3 at 7, 3 at 8, 1 at 9 and 1 at 10. That distribution is the mechanic's whole design: the cheap ones are for decks built around one or two specific hits, the expensive ones are for decks that want two or three random spells for the price of one. These are the ones Commander players run most, ordered by how often they appear in Commander decks.
| Card | Cost | Mana value | What it is doing in the deck |
|---|---|---|---|
| Apex Devastator | {8}{G}{G} | 10 | Four separate cascades, each of which can find anything costing nine or less |
| Maelstrom Wanderer | {5}{G}{U}{R} | 8 | Two cascades and haste for your whole team, the Temur cascade commander |
| Call Forth the Tempest | {5}{R}{R}{R} | 8 | Two cascades, then damage to each opposing creature equal to the total mana value of the other spells you cast this turn, which the two free spells add to |
| Imoti, Celebrant of Bounty | {3}{G}{U} | 5 | Cascades herself, then gives cascade to every spell you cast with mana value 6 or greater |
| Annoyed Altisaur | {5}{G}{G} | 7 | Reach, trample and a 7/7 body with a free spell attached |
| Volcanic Torrent | {4}{R} | 5 | Damage to each opposing creature and planeswalker equal to the number of spells you cast this turn, and the cascaded spell counts |
| The First Sliver | {W}{U}{B}{R}{G} | 5 | Every Sliver spell you cast has cascade, so a Sliver deck becomes a chain of free Slivers |
| Maelstrom Colossus | {8} | 8 | The colourless cascade, for any deck that can reach eight mana |
| Bloodbraid Elf | {2}{R}{G} | 4 | The card that made the keyword famous: a hasty 3/2 and a free spell costing three or less |
| Sweet-Gum Recluse | {4}{G}{G} | 6 | Flash, cascade, reach, and three +1/+1 counters on each creature that entered this turn, including the one it cascaded into |
| Aurora Phoenix | {4}{R}{R} | 6 | Returns to your hand from the graveyard whenever you cast a spell with cascade |
| Throes of Chaos | {3}{R} | 4 | Cascade with retrace, so a spare land in hand buys another cascade from the graveyard |
| Shardless Agent | {1}{G}{U} | 3 | The cheapest cascade creature, and the engine of every deck built around a spell with no mana cost |
| Bituminous Blast | {3}{B}{R} | 5 | Four damage to a creature and a free spell, at instant speed |
| Quandrix, the Proof | {4}{G}{U} | 6 | Gives cascade to every instant and sorcery you cast from your hand |
Three cards that grant cascade rather than carry it complete the picture: Maelstrom Nexus, Yidris, Maelstrom Wielder and Averna, the Chaos Bloom, all covered above.
Want the rest of the list? Ask Scry for spells that cast a random cheaper card for free, and it searches on what the card does rather than on the word cascade, so the granting cards come back alongside the keyword ones.
Using cascade in a deck
Cascade decks are built from the top down, because every card below your cascade point is a card you may be made to cast at a random moment.
- Clear the space below your cascaders. With Maelstrom Wanderer, every card with a mana value of 7 or less is a possible hit. Cut the cheap situational spells: a counterspell cast off cascade has nothing to counter but your own spell, an Aura with no legal target is wasted, and an X spell is a blank. Fill the range with cards that are good whenever they arrive: ramp, card draw, removal that always has a target, and creatures.
- Or do the opposite and aim. A deck whose only cards below mana value 3 are Living End, Hypergenesis or Crashing Footfalls turns Shardless Agent, Violent Outburst, Demonic Dread and Ardent Plea into four copies of the same three-mana haymaker. Just remember that every other card in the deck must cost 3 or more, lands aside.
- Pick the commander that fits the plan. Maelstrom Wanderer for the top-down version, Imoti for a deck full of six-drops, The First Sliver for Slivers, Quandrix for spells, Yidris for chaos. Browse the Commander hub for each one's page, and check the Commander brackets before you sit down: a chain of free spells reads as a higher bracket than the cards alone suggest.
Frequently asked questions
How does cascade work in MTG?
When you cast a spell with cascade, exile cards from the top of your library until you exile a nonland card with a lower mana value. You may cast that card without paying its mana cost, and the rest of the exiled cards go to the bottom of your library in a random order (Comprehensive Rules 702.85a). The free spell resolves before the cascade spell.
Can cascade hit a land?
No. The rule says "nonland card", so lands are exiled and skipped, then put on the bottom with everything else that was not cast.
Do I have to cast the card cascade finds?
No. Rule 702.85a says you "may cast" it. If you decline, or if you cannot legally cast it, it goes to the bottom of your library with the other exiled cards.
Does the cascaded spell resolve before the original spell?
Yes. The cascade trigger resolves before the spell that has cascade, and the free spell is cast during that resolution and becomes the topmost object on the stack (608.2g). It resolves first, then the cascade spell resolves.
Does cascade count as casting a spell?
Yes. The card is cast, so it counts for storm, triggers prowess and anything else that cares about casting, and if it has cascade itself, that cascade triggers too. A copy, by contrast, is not cast (707.10).
What happens if I cascade into a spell with X in its cost?
X is 0. Rule 202.3e treats X as 0 for mana value while the card is in your library, and rule 107.3b makes 0 the only legal choice for X when you cast a spell without paying its mana cost.
If my cascade spell is countered, do I still cascade?
Yes. The cascade trigger is already on the stack and exists independently of its source (113.7a). Countering the spell does not counter the trigger, and you still cast the card it finds.
Can I cascade into a card with no mana cost?
Yes. A card with no mana cost has a mana value of 0 (202.3a), and casting it without paying its mana cost is an alternative cost that can be paid even though the card's own cost cannot (118.6a). This is how Living End and Hypergenesis are cast.
Build a deck that cascades into something good
Open a list in the deck builder and sort it by mana value. Every card below your biggest cascade spell is a card cascade might cast for you, so read that column as the list of spells you are happy to see at random. Grover can take a brief such as "remove the cards a Maelstrom Wanderer cascade would waste and replace them with hits" and propose swaps in plain language, and the Suggestions tab, powered by Tutor, scores them against the rest of your list. New to the format? Start with the deck builder basics, or try the deck builder without an account.
Create a free Mana Grove account to build with the full deck builder and format legality checks, see plans and pricing for more time with Grover, Scry and Tutor, and read the rest of the MTG keywords and mechanics glossary. Convoke and improvise, the two other ways to cast a spell for less than its printed cost, are covered there.
Sources
- Magic: The Gathering Comprehensive Rules, effective August 7, 2026: https://magic.wizards.com/en/rules. Read on September 20, 2026. Rule 702.85 (Cascade) including 702.85a to 702.85c, rule 601.2i (casting a spell), rule 608.2g (casting during resolution), rules 202.3a and 202.3e (mana value), rule 107.3b (X when cast without paying a mana cost), rules 118.6 and 118.6a (unpayable costs), rule 113.7a (abilities on the stack), rule 707.10 (copies), rule 712.8a (double-faced cards), rules 715.3b and 715.4 (Adventures), and rules 704.5b and 704.5f (state-based actions) are quoted above.
- Mana Grove card database, MTGJSON build of September 14, 2026: the cascade keyword, the Commander legality, the mana cost, the mana value and the rules text of every card named above, and the count of 37 Commander-legal cascade cards with its split by mana value. Commander play frequency is the deck-inclusion popularity rank carried in the same data.
This article is updated when the Comprehensive Rules change the cascade entry or when a set adds a cascade card worth listing. The date at the top is the last revision.