I’m kind of on a graveyard manipulation kick lately. Two weeks ago I ran the numbers and showed you why an effect like D.D. Crow’s is so important to the average competitive metagame these days: which matchups it cripples, what decks could cripple you in turn if you aren’t prepared, and the finer points of tempo and deck manipulation that Crow cards can affect. But there was one big detail I missed out on: 
there are some cards that can provide similar effects, and while they see far less play than the ever-popular D.D. Crow, they’re actually better suited for certain strategies or matchups.
On the one hand, the newest form of Dark Armed Dragon is arguably the least dependent on its namesake: Teleport Dark Armed Dragon decks like the ones we saw at Shonen Jump Championship Baltimore really don’t need to summon Dark Armed to make game, and will often remove it for Allure of Darkness without a flinch. So the importance of keeping your graveyard at three Dark monsters has degraded a bit—Strike Ninja, Prometheus, King of the Shadows, and Phantom of Chaos have all taken a tumble in popularity, as their ability to help you manage your graveyard just doesn’t seem to count for much.
At the same time though, these decks are getting more and more popular every day, which means you’ll see more mirror matches as the months wear on. And when you’re playing one explosive deck against another, every play you make could be your last: you need every advantage you can get. Graveyard management can be make-or-break in a fast format like the one we’re starting to see, but the big challenge is this: how do you run cards that manipulate your graveyard without slowing down your central strategy? How do you get the benefit of running Strike Ninja or Prometheus without actually running them and can you accomplish this goal while achieving others in order to find additional benefits?
Okay, so I might be making a bit of a tempest in a teapot. But lately I’ve drawn more dead copies of Dark Armed Dragon and more double-Malicious openings than I’ve really felt comfortable with. We all hate those scenarios, and The Transmigration Prophecy is the answer.
It’s Like . . . Two Crows! . . . If You Squint Really Hard
Alright, so let’s get the weaknesses of this card out of the way first. Unlike D.D. Crow, it’s a trap card, which means it can be pre-empted by an end-phase Mystical Space Typhoon or Dust Tornado. It gets locked down by Royal Decree, and Jinzo is a beating. Worst of all, when your Teleport Dark Armed-playing opponent goes first and pitches Destiny Hero - Malicious to the graveyard with Destiny Draw, you can’t stop him or her from unleashing a Synchro or two: you can’t activate Transmigration from your hand.
But some of these negative scenarios break down to be better than they look at first glance. For instance, if your opponent is relying on Dark Grepher or Destiny Draw to get that Malicious into his or her 
graveyard, you are indeed at your opponent’s mercy. But if your opponent has set Phoenix Wing Wind Blast and plans to discard Malicious for its cost, you can still flip Transmigration in the opponent’s draw or standby phase to send Malicious back to the deck before the effect can be activated.
By the same token, you can chain The Transmigration Prophecy to many of the cards that would threaten to destroy or negate it, often resulting in an even trade of cards while you claim the Prophecy’s effect. Getting your opponent to waste Mystical Space Typhoon or Dust Tornado (or even a monster effect like Breaker the Magical Warrior’s or that of Gladiator Beast Bestiari) is pretty sweet. While many players won’t make "blind" plays like this, it’s incredibly hard to get an accurate read on a card you don’t expect, and nobody’s really anticipating The Transmigration Prophecy. At the same time, the faster the format gets, the more blind destruction plays we’re bound to see.
In addition, discarding Crow can help you meet the threshold requirement to special summon Dark Armed Dragon. That’s great, but at the same time, running three copies of Crow can put you over that threshold almost as often, so I’d say this factor is pretty up in the air.
So those are the detractors. But the benefits? They’re pretty huge. As the header to this passage alluded to, the best Transmigration plays will often have the impact of two D.D. Crow cards for the price of just a single card. Shuffling two cards back to your opponent’s deck will often be much better than removing just one from play. Go ahead: send back Malicious and one of the Dark monsters your opponent was relying on for Dark Armed Dragon. Has your opponent worked through all of his or her Tuners? Jam Emergency Teleport back in there to mess with the opponent’s draws. Send back Destiny Draw when the opponent is out of Destiny Heroes, or Dark Armed Dragon when he or she has got too many Darks. Trap Dustshoot? Not too hot when you’re under three cards, so go ahead and make the opponent draw it again.
These scenarios are all conditional and may not happen too often, but there are just so many of them that the odds are really in your favor. You’ll almost always find something to shuffle back in addition to that pesky Malicious. Even if you don’t, there are still other uses for Transmigration’s effect . . . but we’ll talk about those later.
In the meantime we need to look at the impact of the card in matchups beyond Teleport Dark Armed, because it might be even better in those.
Sending a Gladiator Beast back to your opponent’s deck cuts off Gladiator Beast Darius plays, either preemptively or in direct response on the chain. The more Gladiators you get rid of, the harder it will be for your opponent to bring down that all-important Gladiator Beast Heraklinos. The same is true when you’re facing Lightsworn—reducing an opponent with four Lightsworn in his or her graveyard to just two is far more of a setback than removing one. The same goes for Necro Gardna—discarding D.D. Crow to remove a single Gardna is a costly move, but ridding the graveyard of two Gardna with a single card—especially in response to the Prophecy being targeted by the effect of Lyla, Lightsworn Sorceress or Celestia, Lightsworn Angel—is nothing short of awesome.
The Transmigration Prophecy is great against what I’d consider to be the top decks at the moment. All three have a variety of weaknesses for you to exploit with Transmigration, and all of them have effects that may be wasted if they target the Prophecy. Though there are many fine differences between removing a card from the graveyard and sticking it back in your opponent’s deck, they won’t matter all that often, especially if your opponent has already played his or her search cards.
But That’s Just The Half Of It
The really cool part about The Transmigration Prophecy is that while you’re sending your opponent’s Malicious, Gladiator Beast Bestiari, or Necro Gardna back to the deck, you can also kick a card back to your own. If things are going well for you, that can mean shipping back a power card like Heavy Storm, Monster Reborn, Breaker the Magical Warrior, or Solemn Judgment so you can use it again. If, however, lady luck has been somewhat cruel, the Prophecy can get you back on track.
Did you send Judgment Dragon to the graveyard instead of a Lightsworn monster with that end-of-turn top-of-your-deck effect? Load it back into your deck so you can draw it again: I 
think Level 3 Judge Frank Debrito has nailed me with that little trick a good fifty times. Lost your Stratos to Solemn Judgment? Ship him back and search him out with Reinforcement of the Army, good as new! The same trick works with Krebons and Emergency Teleport. Drew two Malicious in your opening hand? Send one back to the deck after discarding it, and your remaining copy suddenly gets a whole lot better.
I like to think of The Transmigration Prophecy as a slightly more narrow version of D.D. Crow. But the fact that it takes a little more effort to play is balanced by the dozens, perhaps hundreds of extra conditional scenarios beyond its most basic use. It’s almost always useful. It’s a bizarre way to achieve utility, but it works, and the result is a really damaging tech card that can be splashed into virtually anything.
If you’re packing two copies of D.D. Crow and were considering a third, or if you run three already, try this over the third copy. Better yet, if you’re playing a deck where D.D. Crow just doesn’t seem to fit (like The Immortal Bushi or Lightsworn), definitely give The Transmigration Prophecy a go. It’s really gotten good over the past few weeks, and nobody sees it coming.
—Jason Grabher-Meyer