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[Gherald]

First of all please set aside the obvious action-happy engines based around conspirator and scrying pool and even minion.

Such obvious cases aside, what are some good examples of decks, kingdoms, and/or game stages in which buying silver -- or even accepting a "free" silver will actually worsen your deck?

We all know Colony games make massing silver less interesting, but can we quantify this more or give good examples of when to "avoid" silver?

For example if you have more Platinums than coppers, silver starts looking pretty meh.

[ycz6]

You probably already know this, but this was the subject of one of the first articles on the site. There's a lot more to be said nowadays, of course.

[ftl]

Double-tactician decks.

Library, Watchtower, or Menagerie engines which would prefer money on actions rather than treasures.

Throne Room or King's Court, which need to be matched up to the right target, and can be game-warpingly powerful if they do - and Silver isn't a target.

Any engine which has a little bit of trouble getting started probably wants to keep silvers to a minimum, just enough to start buying engine components.

[DG]

The biggest problem with silver is that it takes up space in your hand and your deck. When it takes up space in hand it takes the space that could be occupied by another card in your deck. A simple example might be a hand of {baron, copper, copper, copper, silver} where the silver occupies a space that could perhaps be occupied by an estate from your deck. If you replace the silver in that hand with a warehouse or wishing well then you are getting more value from your baron.

When you add a silver to a deck you increase the number of cards that you need to draw and play between each shuffle. This essentially leads to longer delays between the play of your other cards in the deck. If your other cards are coppers and curses then this is good but often you have key cards in your deck that you want to play as often as possible. In the most extreme case, silver can be bad when you eventually want to draw your whole deck each turn but will struggle to do it.

[Qvist]

The biggest problem with silver is that it takes up space in your hand and your deck. When it takes up space in hand it takes the space that could be occupied by another card in your deck. A simple example might be a hand of {baron, copper, copper, copper, silver} where the silver occupies a space that could perhaps be occupied by an estate from your deck. If you replace the silver in that hand with a warehouse or wishing well then you are getting more value from your baron.

When you add a silver to a deck you increase the number of cards that you need to draw and play between each shuffle. This essentially leads to longer delays between the play of your other cards in the deck. If your other cards are coppers and curses then this is good but often you have key cards in your deck that you want to play as often as possible. In the most extreme case, silver can be bad when you eventually want to draw your whole deck each turn but will struggle to do it.

I agree here. That's something I tend to ignore way too often.
{Moneylender, Silver, Estate, Estate, Estate} ftw!

[SirPeebles]

In Marin's first post, he talks about how much he doesn't even like buying Gold.

Another big instance not mentioned on here is Fishing Village.  For many engines, you're better off building early economy from Fishing Villages rather than Silver.  Ultimately, engines which produce money will often prefer not to have Silver (maybe even not have Gold), although it can be useful to grab a couple early Silvers to get started.

Oh, and Vault can sometimes be useful for bypassing and Silver and going straight for Gold or Grand Markets.

[PitzerMike]

Generally you want to stop for a second and rethink a Silver purchase when there are Cards that look through your deck for specific other cards.
Hunting Party and Sage come to mind.
I'm not saying you never want Silver in a Hunting Party or Sage deck, but if there's a better card that you want to play reliably and often you should look if there's a way to get there without Silver.

[GendoIkari]

First of all please set aside the obvious action-happy engines based around conspirator and scrying pool and even minion.

Such obvious cases aside, what are some good examples of decks, kingdoms, and/or game stages in which buying silver -- or even accepting a "free" silver will actually worsen your deck?

We all know Colony games make massing silver less interesting, but can we quantify this more or give good examples of when to "avoid" silver?

For example if you have more Platinums than coppers, silver starts looking pretty meh.

I will sometimes Ambassador Silver to my opponent on a really strong Engine board like Goons or KC Bridge Or Grand Market. Only after he has all my Estates and Coppers, of course. But I'll usually still keep the Silver for buying power that turn.

[Drab Emordnilap]

Hi Ho! - $1
Action

Gain a Silver.

[cluckyb]

Hi Ho! - $1
Action

Gain a Silver.

Or a Cherry-O token