How often is Wear and Tear cast for both halves?
Silence has the same flexibility as Hope. You can use it as a bad Time Walk. You can use it as a super Duress. You can use it as a "hard lock" in the lategame with the help of specific recursion tools. It lacks the specific synergies that Hope has, and the ability to hit multiple "modes" at once, but it has all the flexibility.
So, now you have a new thing that does almost all of those roles worse than Silence (which already sees no play) and the new thing is allegedly a busted staple for years to come. I have a hard time imagining what deck could plausibly play this and values the combination of effects above and beyond their individual elements. Storm decks, for example, which use this as a 1-shot colorless Xantid Swarm, are not going to be focused on disrupting the opponent's next turn in a usually-modest way. There may be some corner cases with this and Hurkyll's Recall, but it's just not why they're putting it in the deck.
Let's place a bet on it. I am willing to bet $50 (fifty USD) on even odds that no deck will emerge as a metagame force (defined as Top 8 in 2 or more 32+ player events in a 3-month period, starting on the date the bet is accepted and ending 90 days later or March 31 2017, whichever comes first) which contains 2+ Hope and either Goblin Welder or Auriok Salvagers, and not counting finishes piloted by Stephen Menendian, Kevin Cron, or if some third individual wants to take the bet that player (the reason being that I could easily fulfill the bet with e.g. Dredge at the cost of 2 sideboard slots)
If I were doing a SMIP-style card prediction on the number of Top 8s I would put it at something like 3-4, but those would all be combo players trying it out as a colorless Xantid Swarm. I am quite confident that the number of players who will succeed with the Minislaver plan is zero, and am willing to put my money where my mouth is on that.
last edited by ajfirecracker