maybe the other playable cascade. the haste is the key, sans haste this would be no good, but some free burn/removal/extra attacker or blocker is awesome. hells thunder, hellspark elemental, any number of hasty drawback red guys is awesome with this card.
SavageBrain89
★★★★☆ (4.6/5.0)(7 votes)
Amazingly powerful in red green aggro since most good cards in red green agrro are generaly cheap.
Sicktoid
★★★★☆ (4.5/5.0)(5 votes)
I've played this in my aggrodeck for a while now and I think it's the best creature they've printed in years. Feels great flipping up a Boggart Ramgang, Woolly Thoctar or Jund Hackblade with it.
Zeranox
★★★★☆ (4.5/5.0)(3 votes)
Stupendously powerful. Simple elegant and destructive. 'Nuff said
asmallcat
★★★★☆ (4.0/5.0)(2 votes)
Swans anyone?
Vorthosian
★★★★☆ (4.2/5.0)(2 votes)
Good in control, too. I win about half my Cascade Control games on the back of this little elf.
ChaoticNature
★★★☆☆ (3.2/5.0)(3 votes)
The best cascade card of all. 4 mana for a 3/2 haste plus a free Ball Lightning or what have you, AND it thins the deck by one card. AND cascade still triggers even if the Elf is countered or dealt with.
Cascade is a broken ability. It is a very FUN ability though. Still, I'm not quite sure what the design team was thinking when they deemed cascade "balanced." They could've changed SOMEthing about the mechanics of it to make it more balanced.
Iiory
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.5/5.0)(6 votes)
now that is a gooooood RG craeture...btw last night i played with a friend and this card won him the game....this-erathic explosion-some guy with 10 converted......well it wasnt pretty
Grimn777
★★★★☆ (4.7/5.0)(6 votes)
at the very least, you are running into a 1 drop creature or spell, worst case scenario, which essentially means you have played a 3/2 haste for 3 mana, great deal. can be ridiculous as well. bloodbraid elf into violent outburst into jund hackblade... game over. 5/5
Th3_Dark_On3
★★★☆☆ (3.5/5.0)(1 vote)
waytamminit... they printed this?!
inmypants22
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
great card. play it, get a free card, and slap the opponent for 3 damage
PaladinOfSunhome
★★☆☆☆ (2.0/5.0)(3 votes)
Played in an aggro deck, you will most likly get soming from Cascade which will burn. That's the kinda kind you play with this one. ^_^
3.5
felpa-kun
★★★☆☆ (3.2/5.0)(2 votes)
One of the best cascade cards, this one and blightning are friends forever :D
Reliquium
★★★★☆ (4.8/5.0)(8 votes)
The engine driving Naya to victory at Worlds '09! It drove Jund, too, and dropped him off just a couple blocks down from victory, leaving Jund to walk the rest of the way. And then it started to rain...
martin74
★☆☆☆☆ (1.5/5.0)(2 votes)
today was great with this card. cascaded three times into ball lightning for the win. too good.
VirtueVsVice
★★★★☆ (4.0/5.0)(2 votes)
Cannot wait for Jund to cycle out. I really hate when there's one deck type that dominates pretty much all other deck types in a block. Faeries, Jund, and now maybe Vamps?
trooperofdoom
★★★☆☆ (3.7/5.0)(7 votes)
Two cards for one. What more can I say?
It's like, o hi Baneslayer, I may be playing a 3/2 hasty but now I FIRE MY LASER BLAAAAAAAAAAAAA
That's my way of saying Terminate.
durdent
★★★★☆ (5.0/5.0)(20 votes)
The best Fedex elf ever. "Hey, I ordered a Blightning! Oh well, guess I'll have to settle for a Lightning Bolt."
TheTraitorKing
★★★☆☆ (3.4/5.0)(4 votes)
Hmm. An elf. With cascade. THose four words tell you ro stick it in any elf deck ever.
mdakw576
★★★★☆ (4.8/5.0)(4 votes)
@ ChaoticNature
Most of the cascade cards are really overpriced for their non-cascade effects (pretty sure wizards knew how powerful cascade is). For example, violent outburst is 3 mana for only getting +1/+0 to your creatures until end of turn, which is normally terrible beyond words (e.g. trumpet blast gives +2/+0 and is the same cmc but with more lenient colors, and it's not even that good). It's not the same for bloodbraid elf.
Norro
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.7/5.0)(3 votes)
lmfao @ trooperofdoom
SereneChaos
★★★☆☆ (3.5/5.0)(1 vote)
I LOVE this card. Never played it; don't even own a copy. But it wiped the floor with my Vamp deck while i was up about 29 life to1 with complete board control. Of course, I made one very regrettable mistake that was the only reason I didn't win, but still, any card that good deserves my respect.
Incredible card, but horrific artwork.
Seriously, out of all the cool things they could be showing, like an elf slicing someone in half with an axe, or even it braiding...blood...or whatever, they chose the nastiest looking elf possible and just show it standing there.
Dominick Domingo, you have failed me!
thornraven
★★★★☆ (4.2/5.0)(9 votes)
One of the T2-defining cards. One of the biggest draws to play Jund. For this, 5/5. People hate it or love it, which is evidence of its impact on the game.
Midnight-Star
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.5/5.0)(1 vote)
Very effective and generally awesome card. The only problem is if you're me and somehow manage to cascade past 10 of your lands before winding up with something you can cast.
Enchantment_Removal
★★★★☆ (4.2/5.0)(2 votes)
So it is THIS card that incriminated Alara in the whole "power creep" scandal.........
THIS card is not Alara.
I've been playing awhile; I play blue; I played Esper.
I didn't notice a thing in terms of power level of cards.
Out of the cascade cards, this is the only one that REALLY mattered. So it wasn't the cascade mechanic that upped the stakes.
Bloodbraid Elf started the recent power creep. Not cascade. Not Shards of Alara block.
InsanePirate
★★★☆☆ (3.5/5.0)(3 votes)
The best creature in standard. Plain and simple. I splash green just for BBE in my RDW because cascading into ball lightning or hell's thunder is a beautiful thing
ZombieSnail
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
This card is too good, T2 will be better off without it. What fascist madmen would print this? 4.5 because the art is quite average.
n00bmag1
★★★☆☆ (3.0/5.0)(1 vote)
This gets a 5/5.
Just personal opinion, but "T-2 defining" makes me sad.
Sironos
★★★☆☆ (3.0/5.0)(1 vote)
Too powerful card imo because of cascade and haste combined for 4 CMC, but it seems that when something has the word "elf" on it, it just has to be overpowered.
The art is just horrible! An elf that rushes into combat while bringing something else with it is NOT captured in this art that mostly looks like a grumpy elf with bad hair and an eating disorder, waiting in line, just standing there.
Beastlygreen
★★★★☆ (4.8/5.0)(5 votes)
Definitely up there with the best cards. If you say this is outright bad, reread the card. If you still have that opinion, get glas ses. If you still believe it's bad, go to your doctor, cause you're sick. An okay creature without cascade, but the extra spell makes it insane!!! And no downside?! if you have a fast deck, USE IT!!!
surewhynot
★★☆☆☆ (2.4/5.0)(7 votes)
To be honest, this might just be the result of the designers not realizing how powerful two keywords would end up together. It's not the first time that mistake has happened.
Do elf and beserker really mix? Also everyone seemed to miss the obvious bloodbraid into Yawgmoth's Will combo, oldest trick in the book. Now all your Blightnings, Lightning Bolts, and Colossal Mights come back around!
MasterOfEtherium
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.9/5.0)(22 votes)
@SureWhyNot Shut The F U C K up. What A Great Card FNM Version Looks A Bill x's Better Though. I CAP IT up B-ITCH !
Tovaras
★★★★☆ (4.9/5.0)(6 votes)
Needs better art. The art does nothing to capture how ruthless this card really is. Otherwise, perfect card.
NoobOfLore
★★★☆☆ (3.8/5.0)(2 votes)
Some numpnut tried to tell me that if he put this guy directly into play from his graveyard, he got to cascade. He remained convinced of this after discussing it with someone else who knows some rules.
After seeing the oracle rephrase cascade as "when you cast this spell," I'm pretty sure you don't get to cascade if you use something like Wargate or Elvish Piper to hax it into play.
scumbling1
★★★★☆ (4.1/5.0)(7 votes)
"if you have no cards to flip into, do you loos from not haveing any cards in your deck?"
Once again, who are the jerks that downrate people asking sincere rules questions?
Anyway, no -- you won't lose from having no cards to cascade into. You only lose from being unable to actually draw cards.
land_comment
★★★★☆ (4.5/5.0)(14 votes)
I was reading the comments, and I saw the word f*ck. I looked at the user name... yep, MasterOfEtherium.
bijart_dauth
★★☆☆☆ (2.9/5.0)(9 votes)
if you have no cards to flip into, do you lose from not haveing any cards in your deck?
kiseki
★★★☆☆ (3.5/5.0)(3 votes)
come on hasty tim! I only regret that she cannot rancor herself...
Wulfsten
★★☆☆☆ (2.4/5.0)(17 votes)
This card is stupid. It ruined Standard when it was around. I don't see where all the love for it is coming from. It's clearly designed to be a game-breaking, format dominating card, and that's not a good thing. It makes matches more boring, predictable, and similar.
If you're running red and green, you NEED to run Bloodbraid. If you run Bloodbraid, you NEED to run Blightning and Sprouting Thrinax. If you're splashing black for those two cards, you might as well add Putrid Leech and Maelstrom Pulse. Since you know what colours you're running already, and you're using Cascade, you'll probably run a couple of Bituminous Blasts, or Broodmate Dragons, if you're feeling like more creatures. Common sense will make you throw a couple of Lightning Bolts and Terminates in, and you're done.
The deck builds itself, and requires no thought or imagination. That goes completely against the grain of what makes magic fun.
This card has made Magic worse, not better. And it's not by ignorance. The developers knew exactly the effect it would have.
Crag-Hack
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(5 votes)
At worst, you get some spell that you cant cast. At best you win the game. I'll take my chances.
Kryptnyt
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
@Wulfsten Bloodbraid is great, but not broken. It was only insane at the standard of that day because the mana was so good, with Tri-lands, fetches, dual lands, dual manlands, vivid lands, need I go on? Three color decks are rediculously mana fragile unless they get that kind of boost, and if bloodbraid was only a 2-color deck deal, then it would have not completely dominated the format like it did.
Bloodbraid elf is just good value for an aggressive deck. It can also be used to do silly and fun things, like cascade into Boom//Bust to get a free Armageddon, or hit a removal spell and be a control-resistant Flametongue Kavu. BBE is a creature that beats control decks senseless, but that doesn't make it broken!
TheWallinator74
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(1 vote)
I'd call it the best Elf ever if Allosaurus Rider didn't exist. Regardless, you must play these in any R/G beatdown deck. They're that damn good.
shotoku64
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(2 votes)
I'm looking forward to "From the Vault: Elves". This would be in there, no doubt.
Semionic
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(1 vote)
An opponent's Bloodbraid Elf can mess up everything in your game out of nowhere. Your Bloodbraid Elf can mess up everything in your opponent's game out of nowhere.
tarmogoyf1590
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(1 vote)
Outstanding. This in my modern deck, cascade into a Dark Confidant, Tarmogoyf, or even a Liliana of the Veil. Obscene.
DacenOctavio
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(1 vote)
We are looking at a card that serves many perposes, one of which is killing Faeries by cascading into Volcanic Fallout, resolving, and then punching your opponent in the face.
Kuroth
★★☆☆☆ (2.2/5.0)(3 votes)
"What's that? Turn four 3/2 haste cascading into Ball Lightning? Thanks for playing, it's been fun."
crimson_sunrise
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(2 votes)
The reason there's so much "love," as the comment put it, for this card is that we've seen what Standard became without her: a control winter darker than Dralnu, Psychatog, or even Buehler Blue. Wizards let her rotate out and gave the aggressive side of the color pie basically NOTHING.
JimmyNoobPlayer
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(2 votes)
I think we all need to address a big problem with this card. I'm talking, of course, about the lack of braids in the art.
It may be that the nasty strands of hair are really tiny braids, or the braids are hard to see because they are close to her head and have a bunch of pulled out strands, or it may be some kind of metaphor for braiding actual blood that makes no sense but SERIOUSLY WHAT IS WRONG WITH THAT HAIR I AM GLAD I CAN'T SMELL IT.
Thank you, Wizards, for correcting this serious problem with the Planechase edition Bloodbraid Elf. You've restored my faith in you!
CorkBulb
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(1 vote)
I run this in my red/green speed aggro deck (duh) and I usually cascade into a Colossal Might or a lightning bolt, which just makes my opponents cry. All the cards except this one are 3 or less to cast, and all the creatures have haste, so I'm gonna get something extra to smash with. Then if I'm lucky enough to play another one next turn, it's usually GG. This usually winds up being my finisher along with the other creatures. The haste just makes it all the better, since you can attack if you cascade into a buff spell playing it on her if you don't have any other creatures.
My only complaint is the P/T is a bit low, but for the abilities vs the CMC it's above the curve.
4.5/5 great card
TheWrathofShane
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.5/5.0)(3 votes)
I gave it a 0.5 for poor balancing.
FangDude
★★★☆☆ (3.2/5.0)(5 votes)
Good bye and good riddance.
zalakke
★★★★☆ (4.5/5.0)(2 votes)
Banned from modern for almost obvious reasons. I guess this was a liiiittle bit too good... Jund player is not amused!!
yousquiddinme
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Goodnight sweet prince.
tanglestasis
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
i guess the banning in modern is to help diversify the format i was told that wizards is aiming to make the game more grindy so i present modern stasis zur's weirding + ensnaring bridge + leyline of sanctity
Technetium
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Pretty amazing creature. Goes well with Red/Green decks that use 4 Ball Lightnings and 4 Groundbreakers.
dmedwards
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Somebody give this girl a chicken wing! She hungry.
Comments (64)
Cascade is a broken ability. It is a very FUN ability though. Still, I'm not quite sure what the design team was thinking when they deemed cascade "balanced." They could've changed SOMEthing about the mechanics of it to make it more balanced.
3.5
It's like, o hi Baneslayer, I may be playing a 3/2 hasty but now I FIRE MY LASER BLAAAAAAAAAAAAA
That's my way of saying Terminate.
Most of the cascade cards are really overpriced for their non-cascade effects (pretty sure wizards knew how powerful cascade is). For example, violent outburst is 3 mana for only getting +1/+0 to your creatures until end of turn, which is normally terrible beyond words (e.g. trumpet blast gives +2/+0 and is the same cmc but with more lenient colors, and it's not even that good). It's not the same for bloodbraid elf.
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=ApoxHiLvI9aZpafIGfqFkXXty6IX;_ylv=3?qid=20100421075329AAYnPAX
BloodBraid in to BLighting = Good Game!!
Seriously, out of all the cool things they could be showing, like an elf slicing someone in half with an axe, or even it braiding...blood...or whatever, they chose the nastiest looking elf possible and just show it standing there.
Dominick Domingo, you have failed me!
THIS card is not Alara.
I've been playing awhile; I play blue; I played Esper.
I didn't notice a thing in terms of power level of cards.
Out of the cascade cards, this is the only one that REALLY mattered. So it wasn't the cascade mechanic that upped the stakes.
Bloodbraid Elf started the recent power creep. Not cascade. Not Shards of Alara block.
Just personal opinion, but "T-2 defining" makes me sad.
The art is just horrible! An elf that rushes into combat while bringing something else with it is NOT captured in this art that mostly looks like a grumpy elf with bad hair and an eating disorder, waiting in line, just standing there.
Turn 2: Mountain, Bloodbraid, into a Jund Hackblade, Blightning, Ball Lightning, And More!
He remained convinced of this after discussing it with someone else who knows some rules.
After seeing the oracle rephrase cascade as "when you cast this spell," I'm pretty sure you don't get to cascade if you use something like Wargate or Elvish Piper to hax it into play.
Once again, who are the jerks that downrate people asking sincere rules questions?
Anyway, no -- you won't lose from having no cards to cascade into. You only lose from being unable to actually draw cards.
I only regret that she cannot rancor herself...
If you're running red and green, you NEED to run Bloodbraid. If you run Bloodbraid, you NEED to run Blightning and Sprouting Thrinax. If you're splashing black for those two cards, you might as well add Putrid Leech and Maelstrom Pulse. Since you know what colours you're running already, and you're using Cascade, you'll probably run a couple of Bituminous Blasts, or Broodmate Dragons, if you're feeling like more creatures. Common sense will make you throw a couple of Lightning Bolts and Terminates in, and you're done.
The deck builds itself, and requires no thought or imagination. That goes completely against the grain of what makes magic fun.
This card has made Magic worse, not better. And it's not by ignorance. The developers knew exactly the effect it would have.
Bloodbraid is great, but not broken. It was only insane at the standard of that day because the mana was so good, with Tri-lands, fetches, dual lands, dual manlands, vivid lands, need I go on? Three color decks are rediculously mana fragile unless they get that kind of boost, and if bloodbraid was only a 2-color deck deal, then it would have not completely dominated the format like it did.
Bloodbraid elf is just good value for an aggressive deck. It can also be used to do silly and fun things, like cascade into Boom//Bust to get a free Armageddon, or hit a removal spell and be a control-resistant Flametongue Kavu. BBE is a creature that beats control decks senseless, but that doesn't make it broken!
This would be in there, no doubt.
Your Bloodbraid Elf can mess up everything in your opponent's game out of nowhere.
This in my modern deck, cascade into a Dark Confidant, Tarmogoyf, or even a Liliana of the Veil.
Obscene.
It may be that the nasty strands of hair are really tiny braids, or the braids are hard to see because they are close to her head and have a bunch of pulled out strands, or it may be some kind of metaphor for braiding actual blood that makes no sense but SERIOUSLY WHAT IS WRONG WITH THAT HAIR I AM GLAD I CAN'T SMELL IT.
Thank you, Wizards, for correcting this serious problem with the Planechase edition Bloodbraid Elf. You've restored my faith in you!
My only complaint is the P/T is a bit low, but for the abilities vs the CMC it's above the curve.
4.5/5 great card