Forum:Deck Guide/Mill

by Gadjiltron

Intro
The concept of Deck Destruction was a powerful one, being a type that will destroy the opponent's very own source of cards and denying them the powerful cards that they will need. The anime has dramatized this to the extreme, often destroying characters' Decks down to the last card, putting them on the verge of Decking Out, and having them rely on the last card to win. The players in reality, on the other hand, were denied this dramatic power.

Not that this stopped anybody, anyway.

Mechanics
The Mill Deck is not as interested in the opponent's Life Points, but more focused on taking apart the Deck itself. With good luck, the Deck can run through the opponent's Deck and taking out their key cards before they get a chance to use or recover them. The Deck can either play offensively or defensively by either utilising effects that require Battle Damage to be dealt, or stalling out the opponent as its milling effects continue to thin their Deck to 0.

Analysis

 * Speed: This Deck, depending on the type, can range from very slow to medium speed. This will be further elaborated in the various builds.
 * Power: Not so much of an issue with this Deck, as it would rather tear into the opponent's Deck as opposed to his Life Points. There are a few effects that require the dealing of Battle Damage, though, so the Deck may need power modifiers to set them off.
 * Consistency: Don't set up the lock in time, or get bad luck with what you mill? Ouch.
 * Risk: The effectiveness of the Deck depends on what you mill, and what your opponent is playing. Against Lightsworns, for example, it either kicks their milling beyond their control, or helps do the milling for them.
 * Meta Ranking: The meta as of late has been revolving around Graveyard manipulation, which puts Mill completely out of the picture as it ends up putting the cards they want into the Graveyard.

The Basics
While the Decks may vary widely, they all usually have something in common:
 * Needle Worm - This is the main weapon of the mill Deck. While it is relatively weak at 750/600, its flip effect takes 5 cards off the top of the opponent's Deck, no questions asked. Considering the other milling effects requiring some Battle Damage and only shaving 1 or 2 cards off, almost every other milling card pales in comparison to the mighty worm.
 * Morphing Jar - While going straight from the Deck is a good maneuver in itself, sometimes forcing the opponent to draw is a good alternative. Morphing Jar tears out every card in both players hands and gets both players to draw 5. This refreshes one's hand, while possibly disrupting the opponent's, and thinning out his Deck.
 * Don Zaloog - He has two purposes here: Mill 2, or discard 1 from the opponent's hand. The former is usually his main reason of use, the latter often used for controlling the opponent's hand size so that the Deck's setup is harder to break.
 * Book of Eclipse - Another potent card, the Book of Eclipse turns everything face-down, and flips up the opponent's monsters at the End Phase, forcing them to draw a card for each monster. Not only can this be used to stop a rush and force the opponent to possibly overload his hand, it can re-set flipped Needle Worms and Morphing Jars for twice the fun.
 * Card Destruction - A card that forces both players to toss out their hand and re-draw a fresh one of the original size. Once again, a disruptive card, but usually very effective when used either at the start of a Duel, or as a follow-up to Morphing Jar, where the hand size is large enough to do some good indirect milling.
 * Shrink - Way too many milling effects require that the monster deals Battle Damage first. What to do? Ensure they trump battle, of course. Shrink will halve the ATK of an attacking monster down to size so that your (usually weak) monsters can get some damage in.

Cookie Jars
A traditional Mill/Lock Deck, that punishes the opponent for attacking while tearing through the Deck at the same time. This build makes use of both Morphing Jars to thin down the opponent's Deck and disrupt an all-out rush. Notable cards include:
 * Morphing Jar 2 is one of the main aggravators of this Deck. On flip, it sends all monsters back to the Deck and resets the field with other low-level monsters for both players. Any high-level monsters or S/Ts struck while running through the Deck gets thrown out too.
 * The Shallow Grave is good for recycling used Worms and Jars after they've served their purpose on the field.
 * Gravekeeper's Servant punishes the opponent for attacking by running through their Deck, one card per attack. Why not have it see play in this type?
 * Messenger of Peace locks out the opponent from attacking with his stronger monsters. The same would apply to you, but you won't be doing much attacking, and even Don Zaloog can sneak under the lock.
 * Destiny Hero - Defender is an amazing wall at 2700 DEF for a LV4 monster. The double-draw effect will also add to the indirect milling a bit.

Eating Your Brainsss
Even the Zombies like the idea of milling! This form of mill makes use of several Zombies' effects to constantly revive from the Graveyard, and do some selective milling themselves. Noteable cards include:


 * Vampire Lord is a stubborn beatstick who keeps coming back if destroyed by a card effect. Each time he deals damage you get to call a card type and the opponent mills one of those. A very effective card.
 * Vampire Lady is a miniature version of Vampire Lord, with the same effect but not as strong.
 * Soul-Absorbing Bone Tower is good for setting up a tight lock as it cannot be attacked if you have another Zombie. Also, when a Zombie revives you mill 2 off the opponent.
 * Goblin Zombie has an additional effect of milling a card off the opponent each time he inflicts Battle Damage, while also being able to search another zombie when he is sent from the field to Graveyard.

Another Dimension
The Macro Mill style combines mill and removal to basically carve any Deck to pieces, for even fewer Decks have a backup plan when their Deck is going out of play. Noteable cards in this playing style include:


 * Necroface is a key card for this Deck build, because its effect triggers when it, like DD Scout Plane, is removed from anywhere. Its mean effect takes 5 cards from the top of both players' Decks into the RFG zone, no questions asked, but the Macro Mill Build will usually be profiting off of it. If you're lucky, the Necroface will set off another copy for more milling! The powerup effect here is redundant, though, as it reshuffles cards from the RFG zone back to the Deck.
 * As with any other Deck, Macro Cosmos and Dimensional Fissure lock out the Graveyard by removing anything (particularly the monsters) that would enter the Grave.
 * Gravekeeper's Servant adds the cost for the opponent to send the top card of his Deck to the Graveyard to declare an attack. If you have Macro or D-Fissure out, the cards will end up going out of play, and thus the opponent cannot fulfill the cost (in D-Fissure's case, the card type cannot be confirmed) to attack, giving plenty of time to set up other combos.
 * Gold Sarcophagus is capable of searching out any card from the Deck, but what's amazing is its ability to work with Necroface, as it removes the card from play for a turn before it reaches the hand. This will set off the milling effect of Necroface immediately.

FAAAAACE.
Before Necroface got Semi-Limited, there was a potent (but risky) OTK based off Macro Mill. Known as the Necromill OTK, if it was lucky against the Deck it was playing it would wipe the opponent's Deck in one shot.

The main combo is as follows: This totals 35 cards. If your opponent was playing with a 40 card deck, the additional 6 cards into the opening hand will be taken into account, leaving your opponent with nothing, and causing Deck Out the next turn.
 * Ensure all Necrofaces are in the Deck.
 * Special Summon Grinder Golem in Attack Position.
 * Attack Grinder Golem with one of the Grinder Tokens, taking 3000 battle damage.
 * Play Inferno Tempest, removing all monsters in both player's Decks.
 * Total number of cards removed from Deck zone: 20 monsters (on average), then 15 cards due to 3 Necrofaces being played.

Of course, this was highly reliant on the number of cards in the opponent's Deck, and the number of monsters hiding inside too. The OTK has currently been rendered impossible due to Necroface's Semi-Limiting, but even with this it will leave the opponent with a dangerously low card count. Since the March 2010 banlist, Necroface has been Limited, further crippling the Deck's strategy. Hope you have many ways to reuse it.

For those willing to take this risk, the following cards can be useful for a mop-up mill after the Deck ripping takes place:
 * Magical Mallet will ensure that your Necrofaces go into your Deck, while possibly also pulling up monsters to support you since after the combo goes off you won't be drawing into any more monsters.
 * Return from the Different Dimension can pull back all your Necrofaces. Then, by the end of the turn, the Necrofaces will all go out of play and wreck your opponent even more.
 * D.D.R. - Different Dimension Reincarnation can pull out a monster to help defend your Life Points if no other option is available.

Worms in your Apple
Insects also have a little reputation for eating through the Deck, with Needle Worm being their star card. While the theme has been old, it has become more playable with the introduction of more insect-type Worms from the 5D's anime. Prominent cards include:


 * Doom Dozer is a nomi that requires 2 Insects. Its impressive stats make it a force to be reckoned with in battle, and each time it deals damage it takes a card off the opponent's Deck.
 * Aztekipede, the Worm Warrior is a miniature version of Doom Dozer. He only needs one, has smaller stats, and also takes a card each time he deals damage.
 * Warm Worm mills a nice 3 cards off the opponent's Deck when it's destroyed.
 * Shield Worm turtles into Defense Position when Summoned, and takes a card off the opponent's Deck for each Insect you control. If you've been keeping a full field, it can be devastating.
 * Verdant Sanctuary is a staple for Insects, as you get to seek out another insect of the same level whenever one is destroyed. Combo with Warm Worm to keep a fresh supply of Deck-eating reinforcements.

Chained by Fashion
July 2009 introduced Crossroads of Chaos. While it was mainly sought after for the Morphtronics, Plaguespreader Zombie, or the generous Plant support, there was one little archetype that brought a little spark to the Milling theme: Iron Chains. While short-lived, the Iron Chain archetype brought the Milling theme a well-deserved boost, allowing them the option to go aggressive.

Let's look into what cards the Iron Chain theme offers us...


 * Iron Chain Repairman - The main engine for the Deck. Repairman not only serves as a nice beatstick with a little burn bonus, he can also repair any LV4 or lower Iron Chain monster in the Graveyard. Shame that he can't repair another copy of himself, and that he can't attack in the same turn the effect is used.
 * Iron Chain Snake - While not so powerful on its own, Iron Chain Snake likes to latch onto the opponent's monsters, cutting their ATK and DEF by 800 each. Not only will this bring the opponent's monsters into range where yours can take them out, Snake has another surprise - when the equipped monster is destroyed in battle, it mills equal to the destroyed monster's Level. Sic 3 Snakes onto a LV8 monster, and the resultant triumph in battle will take out over 24 cards from the Deck in one shot!
 * Iron Chain Coil - The Tuner of the Iron Chain archetype, and can also serve to power up its fellow members so they can take on more battles. Be mindful of what rulings you play by, for OCG rulings allow for Coil to permanently boost the stats of its members, while TCG rulings state that the boost wears off once Coil leaves the field.
 * Iron Chain Blaster - He makes the Iron Chain theme able to fall back on a Burn/Stall alternative. He can shoot an Iron Chain monster you control to burn 800 points to the opponent, but in exchange you can't attack. Combo with Repairman to continuously cycle back the cannon fodder you use.
 * Iron Chain Dragon - The big beater of the Deck. At 2500 ATK for a LV6 he's not too shabby for a monster that has no summon restrictions. His ATK boosting ability would probably be best only for a last-ditch charge at the opponent's LP, but he shines best with his other effect - he mills 3 each time he deals Battle Damage. With a decent ATK he will almost always get opportunities to deal Battle Damage, and when combined with Snake he can mill out an average of 7 or more cards in one go.
 * Poison Chain - A decent milling card that will shine in numbers. For each Iron Chain monster you control the opponent loses the top card of his Deck, but that's assuming you don't attack first. This card can ensure you still get at the opponent's Deck when you're on the defensive, or serve the main milling engine for the Stall form of the Deck.
 * Paralyze Chain - Though not exactly an Iron Chain support, this can't be ignored since Takasu used this. Each time you mill, Paralyze Chain burns 300 to the opponent. Note that this says "time", and does not count per card. Perhaps decent when used with the Stall form, but otherwise not a wise choice to use.

Example Decks
'Note that these Decks serve to give examples of each different Deck type. It is highly recommended you make your Deck as unique as possible, rather than copying these Decks entirely.'

Other Tips
There are several other cards that can help participate in milling...
 * Chainsaw Insect - 2400 ATK is nothing to laugh at. The fact that it forces a draw each time it battles or attacks helps.
 * The Bistro Butcher - Not as powerful as Chainsaw Insect, but it forces 2 cards drawn when it deals Battle Damage.
 * Voltic Kong - This monkey sports decent stats and can do its fair share of Battle Damage, and as you accumulate more Light monsters onto your field his milling effect gets stronger. Warning: Promotional card.
 * Robbin' Zombie - This card causes your monsters to do some more milling each time they deal Battle Damage.
 * Assault on GHQ - At the cost of destroying a card you control, you get to mill 2 off your opponent. Perhaps used in combo with Warm Worm...?
 * Inferno Reckless Summon - Best when used with Iron Chain Snake or Soul-Absorbing Tower, since they're so easy to Special Summon. While the opponent still gets a free revival, either the Snakes are going to suck the stats out of the target monster, or the Towers are completely unattackable.
 * Dirg the Dark Monarch - This new arrival from Starstrike Blast can't attack the turn he is Nomral or Special Summoned, but his effect triggers when that happens - you remove up to 2 cards from your opponent's Graveyard from play, and your opponent mills the same amount. Good for controlling what exactly falls into the Graveyard and stays there, while providing a potential beatstick to beat face with if you ever need it.

Be careful with your milling, as you may get the cards your opponent wants in his Graveyard. Should that happen, the following cards may temporarily solve this issue...
 * Soul Release - This removes the unwanted cards in the Graveyard from play, and denies the opponent of hopes of retrieving them.
 * D.D. Crow - While it removes only one card, it is good for chaining to attempts to recover the milled card, which results in the opponent's waste of resources.
 * Kycoo the Ghost Destroyer - Each time it deals damage it can remove your opponent's cards in the Graveyard from play.