The Magic: The Gathering card Quicksilver Elemental has shot up in price thanks to a brand new infinite combo with perhaps the greatest Commander in the Final Fantasy set. On May 11, this card cost $0.50, according to MTG Goldfish, but just four days later copies are selling for as much as $14.99.
Released in the Mirrodin MTG set in 2003, Quicksilver Elemental has an interesting effect. Pay one blue mana and it gains the activated abilities of one other creature on either side of the battlefield. You can also use blue mana to activate its abilities, ensuring this gloopy thing can use whatever powers it steals.
Quicksilver Elemental is most commonly played in EDH with Mairsil the Pretender, where it helps you bypass the ‘once per turn’ clause and enables loads of nutty combos. Now it’s going infinite again, alongside a new MTG Final Fantasy commander that was just revealed over the weekend.
The spoiler that has set Quicksilver Elemental jumping in value is Vivi Ornitier, the fan-favorite playable black mage character from Final Fantasy IX. This MTG commander gains +1/+1 counters and pings everyone whenever you cast a non-creature spell, but more importantly for this particular interaction, it also has a free activated ability that makes mana.
Of course, you can only use that ability once per turn – otherwise it would just be plain busted. But similarly to how it works with Mairsil, Quicksilver Elemental allows you to break that rule. It’s actually a very straightforward combo this time, so I’ll spell it out.
You need Vivi to have at least two power to go infinite. Then you make a minimum of two mana with Vivi’s ability, use one blue to give Quicksilver Elemental the same effect, and then activate it to gain even more mana.
You might think you’d have to stop there, but if you then use Quicksilver Elemental again to copy Vivi’s effect, you’re actually getting a new copy of the mana-making power, one that hasn’t been used yet. So you can repeat this process as many times as you like. This, then, is a two card infinite mana combo, where one of the cards is your commander. It doesn’t get much better than that.
Vivi Ornitier is an extremely well-loved character, and his card is proving immensely popular. Outside of the set’s Commander precon face commanders, he already has the most decks logged on EDHREC of any of the Final Fantasy cards. With this Universes Beyond set bringing in tons of new players, I’d expect thousands of people to want to build this deck.
Quicksilver Elemental is not only going to be one of the best cards in a Vivi deck, it’s also a rare from a very old set that has never had a reprint. So if you bought 50 copies of Quicksilver Elemental while it was still cheap then congratulations, you’re about to make bank!
What Final Fantasy commander are you most excited to build around? Let us know over at the Wargamer Discord – personally, I think Kuja looks like a lot of fun. You can also check out our MTG release schedule guide and list of the best MTG Arena decks.
Source: Wargamer
