Lets build up an almost comprehensive list of combat tricks

[MageHorst]

Just an addition to the Battle-Forge-Mage-Wand-Action-Saving trick: I worked out the same trick with the Warlord's [mwcard=FWQ05]Helm of Command[/mwcard]. The cool thing is that the 'old' spell goes back to your spellbook, so can you either use for the Mage or for Gurmash and therefore cut down some copies of your command spells.

[Alexander West]

My favorite trick lately is boring, but effective:

"Something Between Us"
When an opponent's mage or creature is causing trouble, and you want it gone for a while, how do you get rid of it?  For 8 mana I love to Force Push something, and then put up a Wall of Thorns or Wall of Earth.  The thing is now effectively 3 squares away since it will have to go around the wall.  Sometimes it's worth the extra 3 mana to put them through a Wall of Thorns.  They can walk back through such a wall, but once again it will take their whole action and it won't do anything until the next turn.

I have found it can also work very well if the square in question isn't important to just walk away and throw up a wall between your mage and the square they were just in.  This saves the Force Push and 3 mana.