Written by Matthew Williams
Hero Characters
I have always been a fan of alternate win conditions in CCGs. Each game has something more than kill your opponent, and Destiny is no different. Since the ‘90s, my favorite archetype has been mill, which gets its name from the Magic the Gathering card Millstone.
The mill strategy does a number of things in Star Wars: Destiny. First, it means that the opponent starts the game with 30 “life” (cards in deck) and has very few ways of regaining those cards once they are gone. Second, a number of the cards in your opponents deck are often rendered useless in the mill match-up. Cards like Caution usually become discard only cards because you aren’t planning on doing any damage in the first place.
I want to look at Hero and Villain mill separately, as the cards they have available to them are drastically different. Due to a large number of new options in Legacies, I will start with Hero Mill.
The Characters
In this article, we need to start with our lineup, and heroes have a few characters to access.
Yellow
Padme Amidala (10/14 cost – 10 Health)
Padme has a decent set of sides on her dice. A two focus side can trigger Spy Net as well as set your board up. The discard side is important, especially in the end game. However, her two special sides make Padme a must consider (not necessarily a must have) in a mill deck.
Her special states that the opponent mills one card, or two if you pay a resource. Two cards milled per turn from one character is about as much as your going to get out of any of these mill characters. It does cost one and only has a 33% chance of happening, but there is enough dice fixing out there that this isn’t usually an issue.
Pros:
Discard side is important, direct mill
Cons:
Low health, high cost for elite, 50% chance (33% chance with Spy Net) that her rolls don’t progress your game plan.
Jedha Partisan (8 cost – 8 health)
Jedha is a nice addition to the mill game. There is a 33% chance that it will trigger it’s own mill condition (1st indirect damage causes opponent to mill), and it also has a discard side. Depending on your deck, other cards can also trigger it, so it happens relatively often. They also stack, so two Jedha’s means milling two per turn.
Pro:
Often the last targeted in a game, cheap, every side is useful, discard side
Con:
Low health, only 33% chance of hitting its condition
Jar Jar (7/9 cost – 7 Health)
Jar Jar is not really a mill character, with the exception of the fact that he does have a discard side. His inclusion is due to his disruption to the opponents game plan. Since Jar Jar doesn’t have any direct damage sides, any time he is rolled out, all direct damage has to be rerolled. However, I feel Jar Jar will be relatively easy to play around so I think he’s less important than originally theorized. The opponent will be one action behind if they activate Jar Jar for you, but you eventually have to think about activating him yourself if you don’t want to lose your rolls.
Blue
Yoda (10/13 cost – 10 Health)
Yoda, Yoda, Yoda. There’s a reason his cost jumped so high so quickly. He’s good in a lot of archetypes and mill is no different. All of his options are good and you get to choose two per special. He has the direct option to mill cards with his special, and shield you up or produce resources, depending on your needs. The built in focus is also important for many reasons.
Realistically, every mill deck needs to consider Yoda.
Pros:
Great sides, specials put in serious work, consistent due to two specials and no blanks, discard side for end game
Cons:
His health is a little low
Red
General Rieekan (12/15 cost – 11 Health)
Two focus sides, two shield sides and a resource. Not bad for a utility character, and the focuses can help with Spy Net. However, his ability says the opponent mills a card for each other character with a shield. Two shielded characters, opponent mills two. This can be very strong early in the game. Additionally, it causes the opponent to split damage to remove shields to prevent this. The more distracted they are, the better.
Pros:
Focus sides are helpful, great ability, shields help his ability, red has decent support
Cons:
Most expensive of the mill characters, no discard sides
Conclusion:
With four direct mill characters, heroes have a number of options for their lineups. As this series continues, I want to address the important mill centric cards each color has to offer and determine optimal lineups to attack the shield meta. I will be reviewing the two best lineups in hero mill right now; Rieekan/Yoda/Jedha and ePadme/eYoda.
Is there anything you want me to cover in this series? Leave a comment and I’ll try and address it.
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