MILLING: A guide to decking out your opponent

[EnkoMaun]

[spoiler=Chapter 1: What is Milling?]

The term milling comes from a card from Magic the Gathering, called Millstone.

Which must give you an idea of what milling is. Milling, is rapidly making your opponent discard cards from their deck, until there isn't anything to draw.

 

Mill decks must be (and are) mixed with Control decks, and perhaps Combo decks, because mill decks are slow in nature, and speed up to some limit. So, they wouldn't go that good with Aggro.

 

Mill is a fun and casual deck to play with, but is not Tier 1/2, perhaps it would go well against some top tier decks, but the cards you need are usually scrambled all around, and hard to collect.

 

Mill decks don't always have to be just discarding cards, you can also abusively make your opponent draw cards to deck them out.

 

 

[spoiler=Chapter 2: What to use in a Mill Deck]

I will post all cards that are designed to mill, good or bad, and give a quick comment on all of them.

[align=center]

Not a necessary card. Tributing a monster to mill 2 cards is not really a cost you MUST take, looking at the cards below. Not recommended to run.

FOUND IN: Dark Revelation 3/Flaming Eternity

Can be useful late game, but easily replaced by other cards. It wastes some of your s/t, space, but proves good later. Your opponent won't see their deck slowly crawling away as they attack.

FOUND IN: Dark Beginning 1/Spell Ruler

YGO's personal Millstone. It is a huge nagger when your opponent attacks, and if it survives to your turn, you can use Book of Moon/Book of Eclipse for deadly combos.

FOUND IN:Dark Beginning 2/Gold Series/Tournament Pack 3rd Season/Tournament Pack 5

A good card to run, if not a staple. It's versatility helps too.

FOUND IN: Pharaonic Guardian/Gold Series/Dark Beginning 2

This isn't a must as much as Don Zaloog, but is more versatile, and might crush a spell in the way if it stands to damage. I'm not going to talk about Gorg the Strong.

FOUND IN: Dark Beginning 2/Magician's Force

Works better in Zombie Mill, which we will get to soon. Outclassed overall by Don Zaloog in regular mill though. It should be kept at a number, but only in Zombie Mill decks.

FOUND IN: Phantom Darkness/Crimson Crisis: Special Edition

Another must in the mill deck. It does a good combo with Don Zaloog, Cliff, or any other attacking card.

FOUND IN: Dark Revelation Vol. 2/Invasion of Chaos

A seriously good addition to the Mill. It helps Don/Cliff/Goblin Zombie get their chance to kill, and does a seriously good mill. Put in a few Iron Chain Repairmen to recycle it.

FOUND IN: Crossroads of Chaos

[spoiler=Sub-Chapter 1: And the card that changes it all...]

...and adds a new dimension to Mill.

Making your opponent draw cards abusively is a perfect way to speed up your mill deck. It helps you get your win condition faster, but you can make your opponent draw their combos/OTK's. There is not much to stop that, but there is this card to make your opponent lose faster. Try to get 3 of these if you're going for Greed Mill, which we will get to.

FOUND IN: Dark Revelation Vol. 3/Soul of the Duelist

 

Of course, we're not going to wait for your opponent to draw. For that, we have these cards:

Quite a helpful card, gives a quick mill, and perhaps an easy 1000 damage. Run 1-2 in the Greed Mill.

FOUND IN:Tactical Evolution

Sadly, it affects both players, if played with Greed. I don't recommend it, perhaps you might.

FOUND IN: Duelist Pack: Jesse Anderson/Turbo Pack

Instead of a number of Hand Destructions, you should run 1 of this card, that way, you can adjust how much damage you'll take.

FOUND IN: Starter Deck: Yugi Evolution/Structure Deck 8: Lord of the Storm/Structure Deck: Zombie World

An awesome beatstick, it throws in a small mill + 500 extra damage when played with Greed. Keep 2-3.

FOUND IN:Dark Revelation Vol. 4/Shadow of Infinity

The defense counterpart of Chainsaw, and very good stalling device. Run 2-3.

FOUND IN:Duelist Pack: Aster Phoenix/Power of the Duelist

I guess it was created as a beatstick that actually helped your opponent in it's time. Well, we'll use it as a free 1000 damager, and a nice milling device.

FOUND IN: Dark Beginning 2/Metal Raiders

Not actually a mill material, but it can dish out huge damage. Run a few, if you'll go for Greed Mill.

FOUND IN: Dark Revelation Vol. 1/Pharaonic Guardian

 

A staple. You must know why by now, although it is quite dangerous. Use perhaps as a finisher, as it will inflict 2500 damage to both players with Greed.

FOUND IN: Champion Pack: Game Two/Dark Beginning 2/Structure Deck: Rise of the Dragon Lords/Tournament Pack 2nd Season/Tournament Pack 4

 

Destroy your opponent's cards, and dish out 1000 with it. Can be kept at two, but it is optional.

FOUND IN:Light of Destruction: Special Edition

 

A sub-Greed. It could be a nice finisher, keep 2 or 3 in the deck, it's a nice defense and a pretty good damager anywhere.

FOUND IN: 5D's Starter Deck 2009/Dark Revelation Vol.1/Magician's Force

 

Fill your opponent's hand quickly, fill it up more with the other cards listed here, then strike with Greed and Des Koala and do massive damage. Because of the low ATK, and because there are a lot of cards that can make your opponent's hand filled with more than 3 cards, run 3 if there's room.

FOUND IN: Dark Revelation Vol. 2/Invasion of Chaos

 

 

[spoiler=And some zombified things...]

This card... is the key to the Zombie Mill deck. You can swarm the field with 3 of these to make yourself unattackable, and keep on special summoning Zombies (pyramid turtle works good) to mill high amounts.

FOUND IN: Structure Deck 2: Zombie Madness/Ancient Sanctuary/Dark Revelation Vol. 2

 

Another cool Zombie, it helps with the mill itself, and gives a chance to trigger Bone Tower's effect when it's destroyed. Run some in Zombie Mill.

FOUND IN: Structure Deck 2: Zombie World/Dark Crisis/Rise of Destiny: Special Edition

 

Kind of useful, it mills one for each copy of itself. Run 3, or none, if you have any space.

FOUND IN:Dark Revelation Vol. 4/Shadow of Infinity

 

You can also try this combo. I'd advise Card of Safe Return, but it's getting banned in less that 2 weeks, so..

By keeping on reviving Plaguespreader, because it can't be removed, you can deal a good mill.

PLAGUESPREADER ZOMBIE FOUND IN: Crossroads of Chaos

IMPERIAL IRON WALL FOUND IN: Structure Deck: Zombie World

 

And how's this for infinitely tribute it.

This way, you can win without even milling.

 

 

 

 

[/align]

[spoiler=Chapter 3:Mill Decks]

This part is still being worked on, especially on the description part, I'd love all help.

I posted cards for different mill decks, but not the mill decks yet.

Classic Mill deck and Greed Burn deck credits go to Fighter.

[spoiler=Classic Mill]

Consists of the cards I posted first. It is quite simple, just deck your opponent out with monsters like Don Zaloog, Cliff, Needle Worm, Goblin Zombie, Iron Chain Snake etc. while supporting them with different spell cards, perhaps Book of Moon/Eclipse'ing Needle Worm to take down very large numbers of cards from your opponent's deck.

 

Perhaps to make it even more effective, and not like a bunch of cards thrown in to mill, you can make it revolve around Needle Worm, which throws in a large number of cards.

 

But the classic mill goes best when merged with a control deck.

 

3 Needle Worm

3 Aztekipede

3 Doom Dozer

3 Chainsaw Insect

3 Man Eater Bug

1 Pinch Hopper

 

3 Book of Eclipse

3 Book of Moon

3 Verdant Sanctuary

2 Lightning Vortex

1 Card Destruction

 

3 Robbin Zombie

3 Assault on GHQ

3 Cemetary Bomb

3 Dark Bribe

 

 

[spoiler=Greed Mill]

The Greed Mill deck makes your opponent draw cards quite abusively, finishing their deck, and inflicting damage too. As the strategy continues, your opponent may draw what he needs to pull a big finish on you (which makes this deck somewhat weak against OTK decks), but the card Greed, (especially dangerous when there are multiples of it on the field) inflicts a good piece of damage for each card your opponent draws, outside of the draw phase. After you gather a good amount of cards in your opponent's hand, you can play either a Card Destruction or Disturbance Strategy to deal HUGE damage.

 

So, this deck has more winning conditions that regular mill, it can burn your opponent to death with large draw combos, or cause a deckout.

Try to keep several numbers of Chainsaw Insect, The Bistro Butcher, D-Hero Defender, Cup of Ace (although it is quite dangerous), Card Destruction (except this one), Morphing Jar(once again, quite dangerous) Gift of Greed, Disturbance Strategy and 3 of GREED.

Greed Burn:

 

3 Hiro's Shadow Scout

3 Bistro Butcher

3 Chainsaw Insect

3 Defender

3 Needle Worm

3 X-Saber Airbellum - for DSF

1 Morphing Jar

 

3 Hand Destruction

2 Book of Moon

2 Book of Eclipse

1 Card Destruction

1 Cup of Ace

 

3 Greed

3 Cemetary Bomb - AMAZING finisher

3 Dark Bribe Negation AND draw? Yes please!

3 Disturbance Strategy

 

 

 

[spoiler=Zombie Mill]

This deck revolves around Soul-Absorbing Bone Tower, which can do serious milling in multiples, and is immune as long as there is another zombie. Vampire Lord, or the Plaguespreader/IIW combo I mentioned works perfectly here, and so does the special summon searcher that is Pyramid Turtle. You can send 6 to 18 cards from your opponent's deck just by searching Pyramid Turtle over and over again while there are 1-3 Bone Towers.

 

Other useful cards may include Malice Ascendant and Goblin Zombie, as they both mill, and Goblin Zombie can help you search stuff around your Deck.

 

 

 

 

[spoiler=Chapter 4: Additional Strategies and effective combos]

This topic too, is still being worked on, I'd love your suggestive PM's, giving strategies. You will be rewarded :D

Milling can be ran in synergy with other decks, such as a RFP deck (or perhaps a Macro Monarch), wouldn't it be awful for your opponent if whatever you milled also got removed from play? This deck mix could be seriously powerful against Lightsworns.

 

As for Greed Mill, try putting in a few Serial Spells, for cards such as Card Destruction. When you make your opponent collect enough cards, you can just throw the Card Destructon in with a Serial Spell.

 

 

I will accept all help, any help, with decklists, strategies, combos, other mill decks. Just PM what you want to contribute to the guide.

 

And do try to contribute to the guide, instead of pointing out what's missing and just leaving like a total jerk, try to tell me how I can fix it, so everyone will be happy.

 

With that note, enjoy the guide.

[.:pyramid:.]

lol you should make the guide on flip troll as that is the only decent mill deck

[EnkoMaun]

lol you should make the guide on flip troll as that is the only decent mill deck

 

How 'bout PM'ing a description of it to me, so that you actually help the guide?

[Spiff!]

I can give you some Sample lists, if you like.

 

PM me if interested.

[tonisanoob]

op need to lrn2millbetter

[DesCrow]

Hrm, I thought empty jar was the "best mill" deck out there.

Either way, ok guide so far, feels like it's missing a lot, but I'm sure you're working on it.

[Spiff!]

I've never really understood Empty Jar.

 

I get that it somehow uses M-Jar #2, but i'm not sure how...

[Manjoume Thunder]

Judging from your Monarch guide I thought that this one won't be good, but I checked some things.

You said that Robin Zombie and Kuraz are a must and Gravekeeper's Servant is deadly.

 

*insert a facepalm picture here*

 

The only way to run mill is to spam MJar 2 with BoM and the other book/Sunlight.

[CrabHelmet]

I stopped reading when you said Assault on GHQ was decent.

[Spiff!]

At least he's trying.

 

Personally, Greed Burn is a favourite of mine.

 

It's one of my main decks in Tag Force Evolution (so what, i don't have a PSP!), and I mst say it is very very deadly when used right.

[EnkoMaun]

I stopped reading when you said Assault on GHQ was decent.

When someone says decent, they're trying to be optimistic.

 

Fighter's decklists added. (I skipped the DSF, it's gonna be banned in 14 days now.)

 

And I never said must. I just said it could work.

Why do you not try to contribute to the guide, try to add your own parts in which I lack in, instead of being a-holes?

[CrabHelmet]

I stopped reading when you said Assault on GHQ was decent.

When someone says decent' date=' they're trying to be optimistic.

[/quote']

 

A one-shot -2 that only mills two cards is not "decent" under any sensible definition of the word "decent". The word you're looking for is "terrible".

 

And I never said must. I just said it could work.

 

Pity that Assault on GHQ is so awful that saying it could work is like saying Tribute to the Doomed could work.

[Guest Chaos Pudding]

Pity that Assault on GHQ is so awful that saying it could work is like saying Tribute to the Doomed could work.

 

Except that Tribute to the Doomed was actually used back in the day.

[Spiff!]

Decks in OP are courtesy of me, BTW.

 

Just a little taste of how I think it should be.

[GenzoTheHarpist]

Where the fck is tronta when you need him?

[Crow™]

Where the fck is tronta when you need him?

He's banned for another day or 2. :(

[GenzoTheHarpist]

What for?

[Crow™]

What for?

I think he said for it was for spamming.

[EnkoMaun]

All right, I'll ask Tronta for help on flip trolls when he gets back.

 

See, I actually try to help.

This guide might look better if you ppl helped too.

 

I also edited some descriptions.

So that you guys don't whine.

[OnSlaUghT]

On konami's site before they deleted everything, there was a post which says if cosmos is on the field and GK servant is as well, your opponent cannot attack. This is because, GK servant requires your opponent to send a card on the top of their deck to the graveyard to attack, but since cosmos removes it from play, they cannot attack. I'm not sure if this rule still exists, but you can check wikia for it.

[Dark_Armed_Zombie]

On konami's site before they deleted everything' date=' there was a post which says if cosmos is on the field and GK servant is as well, your opponent cannot attack. This is because, GK servant requires your opponent to send a card on the top of their deck to the graveyard to attack, but since cosmos removes it from play, they cannot attack. I'm not sure if this rule still exists, but you can check wikia for it.

[/quote']

 

It does, it also works with Dimensional Fissure since you do not know if the card will be a monster or not

[OnSlaUghT]

On konami's site before they deleted everything' date=' there was a post which says if cosmos is on the field and GK servant is as well, your opponent cannot attack. This is because, GK servant requires your opponent to send a card on the top of their deck to the graveyard to attack, but since cosmos removes it from play, they cannot attack. I'm not sure if this rule still exists, but you can check wikia for it.

[/quote']

 

It does, it also works with Dimensional Fissure since you do not know if the card will be a monster or not

 

Exactly, the only problem is that the card isn't milled.

 

The guys at a regionals 2 months ago, told me it didn't work, so i had to change my deck. Unfortunately there was only one judge and he was too lazy to go online.

[EnkoMaun]

On konami's site before they deleted everything' date=' there was a post which says if cosmos is on the field and GK servant is as well, your opponent cannot attack. This is because, GK servant requires your opponent to send a card on the top of their deck to the graveyard to attack, but since cosmos removes it from play, they cannot attack. I'm not sure if this rule still exists, but you can check wikia for it.

[/quote']

 

It does, it also works with Dimensional Fissure since you do not know if the card will be a monster or not

 

Exactly, the only problem is that the card isn't milled.

 

The guys at a regionals 2 months ago, told me it didn't work, so i had to change my deck. Unfortunately there was only one judge and he was too lazy to go online.

And this helps the guide because?

[OnSlaUghT]

On konami's site before they deleted everything' date=' there was a post which says if cosmos is on the field and GK servant is as well, your opponent cannot attack. This is because, GK servant requires your opponent to send a card on the top of their deck to the graveyard to attack, but since cosmos removes it from play, they cannot attack. I'm not sure if this rule still exists, but you can check wikia for it.

[/quote']

 

It does, it also works with Dimensional Fissure since you do not know if the card will be a monster or not

 

Exactly, the only problem is that the card isn't milled.

 

The guys at a regionals 2 months ago, told me it didn't work, so i had to change my deck. Unfortunately there was only one judge and he was too lazy to go online.

And this helps the guide because?

 

Because of the Macro Cosmos + GK Servant strategy can be lethal, but the way you recommended it, it is wrong

[EnkoMaun]

On konami's site before they deleted everything' date=' there was a post which says if cosmos is on the field and GK servant is as well, your opponent cannot attack. This is because, GK servant requires your opponent to send a card on the top of their deck to the graveyard to attack, but since cosmos removes it from play, they cannot attack. I'm not sure if this rule still exists, but you can check wikia for it.

[/quote']

 

It does, it also works with Dimensional Fissure since you do not know if the card will be a monster or not

 

Exactly, the only problem is that the card isn't milled.

 

The guys at a regionals 2 months ago, told me it didn't work, so i had to change my deck. Unfortunately there was only one judge and he was too lazy to go online.

And this helps the guide because?

 

Because of the Macro Cosmos + GK Servant strategy can be lethal, but the way you recommended it, it is wrong

Yes, but it's not milling.

It could be a very nice combo in a control/lockdown deck.

 

But not really in mill.