Categories: Pokémon TCG HighlanderStrategy Article

Milling – The Destructive Asset

Pokémon has seen its fair share of mill-focused decks in standard, such as Flygon Lv. X and Noble Victories Durant. “Milling” is the act of discarding cards from the opponent’s deck and chipping away from their hub resource to (usually) win by depleting their deck count to 0.

An Omni Win Condition Threat

When you look at Pokémon like Magmortar, Rhyperior, and Ambipom, milling is seen as a strong bonus for Pokémon that all deal good damage in their own regard. The most consistent strategy for milling is the fact that your opponents built a 60-card deck and most likely valued every single card in there, so directly getting rid of their foundation can give you an edge in the prize run. Especially with Highlander only allowing one max of each fully evolved Pokémon.

Essentially, never dismiss milling as a bonus while you promote attacking threats. Even in the case of a deck fully committed to hyper defense and milling to win, it’s important to have a prepared countermeasure if the opponent sets up a sweeper. Staraptor and Drfiblim serve as great candidates for this role, but you can also start attacking with your mill-focused Pokémon like Flygon Level X and Centiskorch.

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Staying aware of potentially winning the game by a deck out is a rewarding skill. Even if your deck isn’t mill-focused, if the opponent overextends to get their resources mid- to late-game with a Professor’s Research or Colress, they can be one Scrape Down away from losing.

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