One thing I thought of, which I thought the shard did originally:
Rather than delay, simply sundial style your creatures don't attack. They can still use abilities, so Squids and Chrysoras can still activate. Then again this would really only buff Water/death. Really, It needs a better way to work in general water decks.
What if it targeted? Hmmm...
Shard of Patience. 3.
Permanent
0: Delay target creature. It gets +1/+0, +2+2 if water, +4+4 if in flooding.
So it works both as offense and defense, with both having a drawback. You can use it to lock a creature, but if it is destroyed you have a fatty in your face. Or you can use it on your weak creatures, or to stop your dragons hitting into SoSa, or use it during sundial/phase shield.