I know about the nerfs Owl and Keeper got but isn't Silence still worth it? Before you make Purity jokes, just think about it.
I've recently started to play some old-fashion Handlock with a few changes. I run two Ancient Watchers and Owls as usual, and I remembered how good Handlock was. I also realised that I forgot how powerful and maybe broken Silence is.
Silencing a Watcher is a great tempo swing but aren't there enough enemy targets to silence in the current meta? Deathrattle minions (Tirion, Sylvanas), small minions that keep growing (Trogg, Hyena) can be the first ones to consider. Taunts that will keep you away from face or important targets are also good.
I matched with a paladin that played Tirion to stop me going for lethal. For a moment I got worried to deal with him and then I saw that I was holding an Owl in my hand. I wasn't even saving it for Tirion which I should've in the first place. That is the exact moment of my realisation.
What do you guys think? Is it hard to fit Silence in decks nowadays or is it just not worth it?
I know about the nerfs Owl and Keeper got but isn't Silence still worth it? Before you make Purity jokes, just think about it.
I've recently started to play some old-fashion Handlock with a few changes. I run two Ancient Watchers and Owls as usual, and I remembered how good Handlock was. I also realised that I forgot how powerful and maybe broken Silence is.
Silencing a Watcher is a great tempo swing but aren't there enough enemy targets to silence in the current meta? Deathrattle minions (Tirion, Sylvanas), small minions that keep growing (Trogg, Hyena) can be the first ones to consider. Taunts that will keep you away from face or important targets are also good.
I matched with a paladin that played Tirion to stop me going for lethal. For a moment I got worried to deal with him and then I saw that I was holding an Owl in my hand. I wasn't even saving it for Tirion which I should've in the first place. That is the exact moment of my realisation.
What do you guys think? Is it hard to fit Silence in decks nowadays or is it just not worth it?
Let's look at the top tier decks and see what's worth silencing.
Shaman
Trogg (Potential but you wasted a 3 mana card on a 1 mana 1)
Totem Golem
Totems (Again potential but its still a body they can use)
Tuskarr
Valiant (Can be useful but by the time they play it they already got the value out)
Thing from Below
Flamewreath
Dragon Warrior
Champion (No point, got the value once played)
Azure Drake (Not worth)
Twilight Guardian (Not worth, only losing a stat point and taunt)
Grom (Already got the value)
Most dragons in general have battlecries
Druid
Fandral (usually played with the value before you can silence)
Malygos (Very useful but again usually played for combo as people have hard removal)
Yogg (SIlence can be very situationally useful here)
Violet Teacher (Could be good but again usually played with combo)
Arcane Giant
Auctioneer (Useful but already comboed with)
I don't see the value of playing any silence against those decks. Yes silence is very powerful against certain cards, but the meta isn't full of those and holding one card to counter another is usually not the right way to play. People still wouldn't play owl or keeper they would play Spellbreaker which reno lock occasionally runs.
Tirion is one card out of many, and the top tier decks have other answers for him (usually hard removal matched with a taunt for weapon). That's also just a point on it's own, that people run more hard removal these days, so why run silences?
Owl used to be auto-include in every deck, 2/1, beast tag and silence, for 2 manas is awesome, maybe broken, for 3 don't, too expensive for aggro and others decks have better options than this.
All games with mana system works this way, sometimes 1 mana is the diference between a broken card and a useless card, for example, in MTG, a goblin 2/2 haste/vigilance for 2 manas (1 red and 1 white) is a garbage card, no one use it, a goblin 1 mana 2/2 haste with a downside (your opponent reveal the top card from this deck, if is a land he draw the card) is a premium card used almost every red deck.
CotW, Dr.7, MC, etc... become much less broken if increase a single mana in cost.
I dont think running a "one of" of a silence is bad in any control style deck. it will increase your options in situations and whilst sometimes not good enough on its own, can be game winning in other situations that occur nearly just as much.
The real question is whether the one mana difference between owl and spellbreaker justifies playing the 2-1 instead of the 4-3
The problem isn't that silence as an effect isn't good, there just are not any good silences for tempo gain outside of Earth Shock, which is class specific.
Against aggro, silence is generally bad in the current meta as it is way over costed. Spellbreaker and owl are both pretty horrible cards atm, and not only dont trade for their mana cost, but often dont trade favorably with cards costed 2 less than themselves, in owls case it doesnt even trade favorably with 0 drops. Sticking with the aggro explanation, if you play owl/spellbreaker on just about any aggro minion you are probably losing more tempo than if you played someone else for 3/4 mana and did not silence. In most, if not all cases, for Warlock as an example, Shadowbolt (a pretty terrible card), is better against aggro. That is when the silence isn't a complete dead card anyway.
Against control it is a little better, but still isn't as good as it used to be because of N'zoth. Best case scenario is you silence Tirion or Sylv, and you trade another card with it. That still makes the opponent go 1.5 or 2 for 1 AND they get it back with N'zoth.
Long story short, the effect is still great, but as of now, we dont really have any cards that utilize the effect AND gain us tempo / board when they are played.
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SWCCG World Champ- Star Wars CCG, best card game ever
I run Owl just for science actually. Never played it after it got nerfed. Losing 2/2 stats for 1 mana (beast tag doesn't matter) feels bad. However, turn 2 Watcher and turn 3 Owl is a good plan, so i decided to go this way. It wouldn't matter if it was 2 mana, for this plan specifically.
As for silencing enemy minions, I agree with you all. Since the rotation of GvG and Naxx, all these deathrattle minions, and welcoming Yogg and many spells, it may not be worth it. Thanks for your thoughts.
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I know about the nerfs Owl and Keeper got but isn't Silence still worth it? Before you make Purity jokes, just think about it.
I've recently started to play some old-fashion Handlock with a few changes. I run two Ancient Watchers and Owls as usual, and I remembered how good Handlock was. I also realised that I forgot how powerful and maybe broken Silence is.
Silencing a Watcher is a great tempo swing but aren't there enough enemy targets to silence in the current meta? Deathrattle minions (Tirion, Sylvanas), small minions that keep growing (Trogg, Hyena) can be the first ones to consider. Taunts that will keep you away from face or important targets are also good.
I matched with a paladin that played Tirion to stop me going for lethal. For a moment I got worried to deal with him and then I saw that I was holding an Owl in my hand. I wasn't even saving it for Tirion which I should've in the first place. That is the exact moment of my realisation.
What do you guys think? Is it hard to fit Silence in decks nowadays or is it just not worth it?
Owl used to be auto-include in every deck, 2/1, beast tag and silence, for 2 manas is awesome, maybe broken, for 3 don't, too expensive for aggro and others decks have better options than this.
All games with mana system works this way, sometimes 1 mana is the diference between a broken card and a useless card, for example, in MTG, a goblin 2/2 haste/vigilance for 2 manas (1 red and 1 white) is a garbage card, no one use it, a goblin 1 mana 2/2 haste with a downside (your opponent reveal the top card from this deck, if is a land he draw the card) is a premium card used almost every red deck.
CotW, Dr.7, MC, etc... become much less broken if increase a single mana in cost.
I dont think running a "one of" of a silence is bad in any control style deck. it will increase your options in situations and whilst sometimes not good enough on its own, can be game winning in other situations that occur nearly just as much.
The real question is whether the one mana difference between owl and spellbreaker justifies playing the 2-1 instead of the 4-3
Why does Vicious Fledgling exist
The problem isn't that silence as an effect isn't good, there just are not any good silences for tempo gain outside of Earth Shock, which is class specific.
Against aggro, silence is generally bad in the current meta as it is way over costed. Spellbreaker and owl are both pretty horrible cards atm, and not only dont trade for their mana cost, but often dont trade favorably with cards costed 2 less than themselves, in owls case it doesnt even trade favorably with 0 drops. Sticking with the aggro explanation, if you play owl/spellbreaker on just about any aggro minion you are probably losing more tempo than if you played someone else for 3/4 mana and did not silence. In most, if not all cases, for Warlock as an example, Shadowbolt (a pretty terrible card), is better against aggro. That is when the silence isn't a complete dead card anyway.
Against control it is a little better, but still isn't as good as it used to be because of N'zoth. Best case scenario is you silence Tirion or Sylv, and you trade another card with it. That still makes the opponent go 1.5 or 2 for 1 AND they get it back with N'zoth.
Long story short, the effect is still great, but as of now, we dont really have any cards that utilize the effect AND gain us tempo / board when they are played.
SWCCG World Champ- Star Wars CCG, best card game ever
Silence is still used in Wild
I run Owl just for science actually. Never played it after it got nerfed. Losing 2/2 stats for 1 mana (beast tag doesn't matter) feels bad. However, turn 2 Watcher and turn 3 Owl is a good plan, so i decided to go this way. It wouldn't matter if it was 2 mana, for this plan specifically.
As for silencing enemy minions, I agree with you all. Since the rotation of GvG and Naxx, all these deathrattle minions, and welcoming Yogg and many spells, it may not be worth it. Thanks for your thoughts.