Bituminous Blast showcases a snazzy new mechanic from Alara Reborn; Cascade. When you play a spell with Cascade you get to reveal cards from the top of your library until you hit a card with a lower converted casting cost and then you can play that spell without paying the casting cost. It is the kind of mechanic that gets you excited to play some Magic — Limited or Constructed. In Limited it will usually result in a free creature since you generally play 16 or 17 of them in a 40 card deck but when you hit a spell it should pretty much be a blowout. But what about Bituminous Blast in Constructed?

Build a better bolt!

At instant speed, there seems to be little doubt that this will be a Constructed card that see abundant play. Prophetic Bolt saw play — although, to be fair, it was a little more flexible in that it could hit players — and all that netted you was a free Impulse. There is obviously not a shortage of exciting, blowouts you can Cascade into with this ranging from a zero casting cost Ancestral Visions to the cost-capped Cryptic Command.

The cold cascaded Cryptic Command is obviously going to be the Holy Grail for this card. Your opponent plays some back-breaking spell and you kill a guy and randomly hit the Command to counter it and draw a card. A free Sarkhan Vol or Garruck is also pretty spicy — who knows what will come off the top of your deck when you blast a creature.

Maybe someone will know… It seems like the ability to arrange the top of your deck will become much more valuable once Cascade cards hit the format. Excluding any new cards that might enter into the equation in Alara Reborn I did a Gatherer search for Standard looking for the character string, “back in any order” and came back with a disappointingly small number of options — and none of them are in Block:

Discombobulate — Is Standard ready for this countermagic to take its place on the Constructed stage? Counter your spell and arrange the next four cards so I draw a land and have a Cryptic Command looming on top with the Blast in hand? It seems far fetched even to me and I made a case for playing Nemesis of Reason in rooms other than kitchens!

Gilt-Leaf Seer — I cannot imagine any scenario where this happens outside of a wacky packs draft.

Inkfathom Divers — I would rather play with Nemesis of Reason.

Ponder – This is obviously the standout here. It is already played in Constructed formats and is even restricted in Vintage.

Sage Owl — Words fail me…

We are basically left with just Ponder as an tool for the Blast from that pool of cards. Other possibilities for managing your Blasts include:

The Harbinger cycle — Flamekin Harbinger is probably the best of the bunch here. On color and something that has seen play in Constructed before and could be part of an Elemental or Shaman strategy.

The Clash mechanic – Lash Out sees play and is also on-color. You don’t get the ablity to manage much but it is still better than nothing.

Cream of the Crop – I love this card and would be thrilled to have it see Constructed play but I don’t see this working out the way I want it to since you have to spend your mana on a creature, set up your deck, and still have enough mana to Blast something.

Footbottom Feast – Not brimming with excitement over this one.

Hag-Hedge Mage — This is kind of interesting and makes me pine for Reclaim. The colors work even if the mana might not. You need to have two forests in play to reclaim anything.

Tutoring can be a Blast!

Lilliana Vess — The Villainess is the best option so far as she lets you go get exactly the card you want to have on top and costs no mana to use beyond what you need to spend to get her into play. I could see this actually happening in a 5-Color Planeswalker deck. Vess tutors Ajani Vengeant to the top and then you Blast it into play. You do also have Cryptic Command in that deck. This could be a spicy one!

Moonring Island – Doesn’t let you manipulate anything but it does let you know whats coming.

Telling Time — This is another fine card to mix with Cascade and could see play. It might just be better than Ponder but that may be my bias for instants coming through.

It is clear that Vess is the best of the bunch, not only letting you set up your Bituminous Blast but finding it for you in the first place if that is way you need. I will be eager to see if the AJ Sacher Planeswalker Control deck makes room for Cascade spells.