We present a novel cost-effective multicast capable optical cross connect (MC-OXC) node architecture which improves efficiency of optical power by constraining splitting to only two output ports, in order to reduce power losses derived from splitting into more than two output ports. This node would manage the following actions when necessary: (a) tap and binary- splitting, which consists of tapping a small percentage of the signal power to the local node (4-8%) and an n-splitting action (n=2); and (b) tap-and-continue. We call this type of node 2-STC node (binary-split-tap-continue). We compare it with other well known state-of-art proposals and analyze its benefits in terms of number of devices and power losses. An evaluation of applicability is given, showing that the binary-split restriction shows a good trade-off between power losses, bandwidth consumption and architectural simplicity. We conclude that the 2-STC node improves power efficiency and contributes to get a good trade-off between use of resources and optical power. © 2008 IEEE.