MTG Final Fantasy's Water Crystal card creates brutal, overpowered Mill setups

A recent spoiler from the MTG Final Fantasy expansion has been making waves, pardon the pun: The Water Crystal. One of a set of five crystals from FF3, each one has specific effects that fit that color archetype. The Blue version, The Water Crystal, has what might be the most horrifying Mill buff I’ve ever seen. Which, of course, excited me, because I like decks that are Not Fun To Play Against.

Now if only I had an easy way to turn MTG Final Fantasy’s The Water Crystal into an artifact creature, so I could Rite of Replicate it, to force people to mill 20 or so cards each time they milled something. I’m relatively certain that’s how that interaction would work out, but let’s talk about this card in greater detail.

MTG Final Fantasy’s The Water Crystal Card might be the perfect addition to any Mill deck

The Water Crystal is a 4-drop rare Legendary Artifact in the MTG Final Fantasy expansion, and represents the Blue part of the five-card set. Each color received their own Crystal, but this one has to be my favorite. It, like all the others, makes spells of its color one less to cast, but that’s not really what makes it tick. Here is the card's breakdown.

The Water Crystal

Mana Value: 2UU
Rarity: Rare
Card Type: Legendary Artifact
Ability #1: Blue spells you cast cost 1 less to cast.
Ability #2: If an opponent would mill one or more cards, they mill that many cards plus four instead.
Ability #3: 4UU, Tap: Each opponent mills cards equal to the number of cards in your hand.

That second ability on MTG Final Fantasy’s The Water Crystal is absolutely vile. In the right Commander setup, you can defeat a player in one or two turns. Here’s a good example: Grindstone. Grindstone makes you put the top two cards of someone’s library into the grave. If both cards share at least one color, repeat this.

Now, that becomes six cards, so you have a lot wider range, when it comes to repeating the mill process. This could easily end deck someone out in one turn. I’m a fan of that third ability too, with a nice, huge hand, but nothing says “I want you out of my game right now” like that second ability.

You could also run Mesmeric Orb, so that each time someone untapped a permanent, they mill a card. This becomes five cards per untap. In a matter of turns, a player suddenly has no deck. There are some other fun cards you can use to make this devastating.

You could Rite of Replicate The Water Orb in MTG Final Fantasy, if you just turn it into an artifact creature. Or, instead, you could Rite of Replicate a Hedron Crab, which makes a player mill three cards anytime you play a land. Now, that’s five cards per land.

There are plenty of ways to put this card to good use, such as in conjunction with Jace, the Perfected Mind, but these are just a few of my favorites. All told, The Water Crystal looks to be a must-have card for Mill fans.

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