Aura of Silence
Enchantment
Artifact and enchantment spells your opponents cast cost 
more to cast.
Sacrifice this enchantment: Destroy target artifact or enchantment.
- CMC
- 3
- Mana cost
- Color identity
- W
- Rarity
- uncommon
- Set
- World Championship Decks 1998
- Price
- $2.60
- EDHREC rank
- #2106
Aura of Silence does two things at once: it taxes every artifact and enchantment your opponents cast by two mana while it sits on the board, and it cashes in as instant-speed removal when something slips through anyway. Grand Arbiter Augustin IV players run it because the tax stacks with everything else the deck is doing, but it earns a slot in any white deck that needs to slow down opposing permanents.
Best Commanders
Commanders with the highest synergy
Grand Arbiter Augustin IV
Grand Arbiter Augustin IV already makes opponents pay more for spells, and Aura of Silence stacks a separate tax specifically targeting artifacts and enchantments — the combination routinely locks players out of their entire turn.
Daxos the Returned
Daxos the Returned cares about enchantments entering the battlefield, and Aura of Silence is an enchantment that replaces itself with a removal spell when needed, generating an experience counter while also protecting the board state Daxos is building.
Sythis, Harvest's Hand
Sythis, Harvest's Hand draws a card every time an enchantment enters, so Aura of Silence contributes to the engine on the way in and gives the deck a safety valve against opposing enchantments and artifacts without spending a dedicated removal slot.
Lavinia, Azorius Renegade
Lavinia, Azorius Renegade is already taxing and restricting opponents' options, and Aura of Silence adds a targeted cost increase that compounds the pressure on opponents trying to land mana rocks or combo pieces.
Zur the Enchanter
Zur the Enchanter can tutor Aura of Silence directly onto the battlefield from the library, turning a combat attack into immediate tax pressure and on-demand removal in the same package.
Format Analysis
Where it lives, where it can’t
| Format | Verdict |
|---|---|
| commander | legal |
| legacy | legal |
| modern | legal |
| pioneer | not legal |
| standard | not legal |
| vintage | legal |
| pauper | not legal |
| oathbreaker | legal |
Commander is where Aura of Silence earns its reputation — three or more opponents all paying the tax multiplies the tempo swing, and the ability to sacrifice it at instant speed means it's never a dead card against artifact-light tables. In Legacy and Vintage it sees almost no play; dedicated hate pieces like Null Rod or Stony Silence do more work in those formats, where games end too fast for a two-mana enchantment that doesn't immediately answer a threat to matter. Modern is legal but similarly uncompetitive — the format has moved well past the point where a soft tax on artifacts is sufficient disruption. Oathbreaker is a reasonable home for the same reasons as Commander: multiplayer tax effects scale up, and the sacrifice clause doubles as targeted removal for the format's powerful signature spells.
Key Combos
Combo lines featuring this card
Price Context
Current price
$2.60 cheap tier
At $2.60, Aura of Silence sits in the comfortable range where it's an easy inclusion without requiring budget justification. It has seen multiple reprints, which keeps the price floor stable — this isn't a card that's going to spike, but it's also unlikely to drop much further given consistent Commander demand.
Explore
Sources
Updated . Data from Scryfall, EDHREC, and Commander Spellbook.