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Silence

Instant

Your opponents can't cast spells this turn.

CMC
1
Mana cost
{W}
Color identity
W
Rarity
rare
Set
Magic 2014
Price
$7.60
EDHREC rank
#418
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Silence card art
Silence locks all opponents out of casting spells for a full turn on one white mana — the most efficient soft-lock piece in the format. On Isochron Scepter it becomes a hard lock, and it shows up in over 90% of Dargo, the Shipwrecker // Tymna the Weaver lists precisely because that pairing runs the Scepter line as a primary win condition.

Best Commanders

Commanders with the highest synergy

01
Dargo, the ShipwreckerTymna the Weaver

Dargo, the Shipwrecker // Tymna the Weaver

91.9% of decks · synergy 0.86

Dargo, the Shipwrecker // Tymna the Weaver is the highest-synergy home for Silence because the deck is purpose-built around Isochron Scepter — imprinting Silence on it locks opponents out of the game entirely while the combo finishes assembling.

02
Thrasios, Triton HeroYoshimaru, Ever Faithful

Thrasios, Triton Hero // Yoshimaru, Ever Faithful

81.4% of decks · synergy 0.76

Thrasios, Triton Hero // Yoshimaru, Ever Faithful runs lean cEDH piles that need to protect a combo turn, and Silence fills that role for one mana while leaving up interaction of its own.

04
Elsha of the Infinite

Elsha of the Infinite

39.7% of decks · synergy 0.34

Elsha of the Infinite casts noncreature spells off the top and frequently runs the Scepter package itself, making Silence a natural fit both as an imprint target and as a one-mana combo protection piece.

05
Winota, Joiner of Forces

Winota, Joiner of Forces

38.5% of decks · synergy 0.33

Winota, Joiner of Forces needs exactly one uncontested attack trigger to take over a game, and Silence on the turn before a Winota activation shuts off the counterspells and removal that would otherwise end the turn before it starts.

Format Analysis

Where it lives, where it can’t

FormatVerdict
commander legal
legacy legal
modern legal
pioneer legal
standard not legal
vintage legal
pauper not legal
oathbreaker legal

Commander is where Silence earns its reputation — a one-mana spell that blanks three opponents for a full turn is an enormous tempo swing, and the Isochron Scepter lock makes it a genuine game-ending piece in cEDH. In Legacy and Vintage it sees only fringe play, mostly as a sideboard answer to combo decks that chain multiple spells on a single turn, since those formats have more efficient disruption available. Modern and Pioneer treat Silence similarly — it surfaces occasionally in prison-adjacent sideboards but rarely earns a main-deck slot when targeted hand disruption does the job without the timing dependency. Oathbreaker is a natural home for the same reasons as Commander: one activation of Silence on the combo turn is often enough to win.

Key Combos

Combo lines featuring this card

Budget Alternatives

Cheaper options that do most of the same work

Silence has no true functional replacement at a lower price point — the one-mana cost and instant speed are what make it worth running. Abeyance is the closest analog, adding a draw trigger at the cost of two mana and sorcery-ineligibility for Isochron Scepter; it trades synergy for card advantage and is worth considering in decks that aren't on the Scepter plan.

Price Context

Current price

$7.60 mid tier

At $7.60, Silence sits in the mid tier — meaningful spend, but reasonable for a card that appears in nearly every cEDH white shell that runs Isochron Scepter. It's a single printing with sustained competitive demand, so the price reflects genuine playability rather than scarcity speculation.

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Sources

Mentioned

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Updated . Data from Scryfall, EDHREC, and Commander Spellbook.