Hello! ;-) I know I just went over Transfiguration Exam in a recent
article, but I found a good combo that includes this card, so I'll use it again.
As I said in that particular article, Transfiguration Exam is quite an
interesting card. Its effect is quite powerful if your opponent is playing a
beatdown deck, but it can hurt you, too, if you have some decent Creatures in
play. This is where the card Cage comes in...
Cage (2 CMC)
Item
During your turn, you may discard this card from play and use an Action to
choose a Creature in play (yours or your opponent’s) and return it to it’s
owner’s hand.
Provides: 1 CMC
Pretty good for returning a damaged Creature to your hand, or putting a
dangerous Creature your opponent played back where it came from. And it provides
a CMC Power to boot. Now, here's the combo scenario:
You have a Transfiguration Exam in your hand and you're itching to use it,
because your opponent has been slapping you around with some heafty Creatures.
However, you also have a Creature army that is definitely nothing to sneeze at.
Can you avoid a total sacrifice? Well, for this to work, you should have played
a Cage card earlier in the game. For the first Action of your turn, discard Cage
and return your most valuable Creature to your hand. Then play Transfiguration
Exam and wipe out every Creature on the table. But!... you still have that
powerhouse Creature in your hand. Play it next turn to get an advantage over
your opponent, who may not have any Creatures in their hand to play!
Cage combos well with Transfiguration Exam when you want to conserve one of
your own Creatures when you play the Exam. You can even have multiple Cages in
play so you can return a few Creatures to your hand before you play
Transfiguration Exam! It would take a bit longer, but you'd be losing less. One
might say that Fluffy Falls Asleep could also combo with Exam and have the same
effect. But Fluffy Falls Asleep costs one more CMC Lesson than Cage... and it
doesn't provide a CMC Power, which could definitely come in handy.
See yas all later! ;-)
*~ The Gamelord ~*