Stony Silence

In Commander, Stony Silence is a premier piece of stax: it hits Sol Ring, Mana Crypt, Arcane Signet, and every piece of equipment at the same time, and enchantment commanders recoup the card naturally. In Modern and Legacy, it's a sideboard staple that lands before most artifact-based strategies can fully assemble, answering Affinity, Urza shells, and artifact combo in a single card. Vintage is the one format where Stony Silence is legal but genuinely constrained — Workshop lists often outrace it, and the format's fast mana can make a two-mana spell land too late — though it still sees fringe sideboard play against slower artifact shells. It has no legal path into Pioneer, Standard, or Pauper, so those formats are off the table entirely.