Strive is a perfect mechanic for a block that
has both Heroic (encouraging you to target
creatures) and Monstrosity (encouraging you to
ramp mana). In a way, it reminds me of the
Wisdom mechanic from Saviors of Kamigawa, in
that Wisdom was clearly inspired by examining
all the major mechanics in the block thus far
and designing something that would synergize
with them. Splice onto Arcane encouraged you to
keep Arcane cards in your hand, Soulshift
returned creatures to your hand, the Orochi's
"long lasting mana" was mana acceleration that
didn't require you to play out your whole hand,
and the Soratami bounced lands back to your own
hand. Bushido didn't really care, but then Scry
doesn't really care about Strive cards.
The interactions Strive has with Heroic are
obvious, but today's card is a bad choice for
triggering Heroic because it's a kill spell. Is
it a good kill spell? It's four mana to exile a
creature and all its Auras, which is a very
useful effect in a block where creatures are
likely to be wearing Auras... that are also
creatures. For three more mana each, you can do
it to additional creatures, meaning this could
in fact be a one-sided Wrath IF you can pup
enough mana into it. With that much mana, you
should have already won. Even seven mana to
exile two creatures is a bit iffy unless your
opponent is playing a slow deck. Still, we
finally have an answer to the Voltrons that keep
showing up in Limited.
Considering that the Theros block encourages
everyone to play lots of Auras, this card is
either a godsend or a curse. I'm really not sure
which yet. In a setting like Theros, there are
few more powerful removal spells imaginable, but
as a rare, it's unlikely to mess up limited too
drastically. Once it gets loose in constructed,
I wonder if it may scare people away from
experimenting with the block's themes. Wasn't
part of the point of this block to give more
support to Aura-themed decks?
Today's card of the day is Silence the
Believers which is a four mana Black instant
that exiles target creature plus any auras
attached to it and can exile additional targets
for a Strive cost of three each. This is a solid
card that will see some competitive play even
though it is a four cost removal spell as it
exiles, holds late game value, and is even more
effective in response to Bestow or cards like
Rancor.
In Limited this is an excellent rare that is
a strong first pick in Booster and compelling
reason to run Black in Sealed. It can reasonably
three for one later in the game and has several
ways of being very efficient, making it one of
the best topdecks in the format.
There sure are a lot of ways to exile things
in this block! I imagine it is a way to get
around the indestructible Gods. Which, by the
way, today's card will do very well.
There is an additional upside to this card -
did you catch it? It exiles all auras attached
to the exiled creatures. In the past, this would
have been of little consequence, because auras
attached to creatures went to the graveyard if
the creature they were attached to left the
battlefield. But now we have auras that stick
around and turn back into creatures - otherwise
known as bestow creatures. You can easily get a
2-for-one or 3-for-one in the right
circumstances with this card. It also gets rid
of an annoying Gift of Immortality or, in older
formats, Totem Armor.
So, at worst, it's a 4-mana way to exile one
creature. At best, it can take out several cards
at once. More often than not, it's going to be
just a four mana removal spell, which is a
little high for a competitive deck, so it's
probably a sideboard card to be best used
against slower decks or decks with lots of
bestow creatures.
In limited, this is an absolute bomb. Any
removal is great, but the chance to take out 2
or more creatures in one blow can be a HUGE
swing in your favor.
Silence the Believers may be a somewhat more
costly piece of removal - certainly compared to
something like Doom Blade, anyway - but the
effect is much more powerful.
Taking a look at the base effect, at its core
this card is basically 4 mana for "Exile target
creature." Would you pay 4 mana to exile a
creature if you were playing black? I would pay
4 mana to exile a creature if I were playing
black. Then there's that new "Strive" mechanic,
which I really feel could have just been
"Kicker" but I suppose they wanted something
that sounded a little more Greek hero-like. Is 3
mana a lot for an additional target? In limited
it's not unthinkable that you could have 7 mana
lying around to get rid of 2 annoying threats
your opponent has. But 10 mana to get rid of 3?
13 to get rid of 4? I really don't think those
situations will ever really happen.
Possibly the best part of the card is the
aura destruction effect. All auras on the
creature are exiled as well, which is really
only relevant while we're still on Theros.
Obviously the only real reason for this is to
directly counter bestowed enchantment creatures
(or if you really, REALLY dislike your opponent
using Rancor!) since in any other situation any
aura on a creature you exiled would already go
to the graveyard. Heck, one of the main reasons
people even USE bestow is because they survive
the destruction of the creature.
And that can be a real game changer! Because
that turns this into some pretty significant
card advantage. Normally destroying a creature
means you're spending 1 card to get rid of 1
card. But spending 1 card and 4 mana to rid
yourself of 2 of your opponent's cards and very
likely more than 4 mana is a good investment.
Spending 1 card and 7 mana to rid yourself of
3-4 of your opponent's cards and very VERY
likely more than 7 mana is a great investment.
When 1 card can sometimes get rid of 4, that is
a move you definitely want to make.
Welcome back readers todays card of the day is
Silence The Believers a powerful removal spell.
In standard this card is going to see a decent
amount of play, being able to exile any
creatures and the auras attached to it at
instant speed is great, it deals with powered up
creatures and it deals with active Gods, making
it versatile and powerful. Outside of standard
in competitive formats its expensive to keep up
with its strive cost but it gets better the
longer the game goes on, it is however a bit
slow for modern but it could see some potential
play. Outside of that too expensive and slow for
other formats. In casual and multiplayer this
card is amazing, it scales well for game length
and is able to deal with all of the most
horrifying creatures in magic the indestructible
giants to the lowly lords. The amount of
versatility in this card is astounding. In
limited its an amazing removal spell that can
cause major blow outs due to how well it scales
and how it straight up deals with a threat.
Overall a powerful card in every format from top
tables to kitchen and especially in draft,
Silence The Believers is amazing.
