See below for a spotlight on the top performing archetype from Gen Con.

Last weekend’s Gen Con $2k Constructed Event came down to two “mill” decks in the finals, though Matt Smith’s innovative brew is harder to categorize. Meanwhile, Nick Glaser’s winning list has a direct line to running the opponent out of cards – with its own hidden nuances!

Gen Con Finalists

Many beatdown decks are capable of decking an opponent in an opportunistic moment, but there are generally three ways for dedicated “mill” decks to further their gameplan. Some mill strategies attempt to hit your deck directly (such as Black Lanterns), while others will make you draw cards with effects like Hawkman and Birds of a Feather. A third pillar, “stall,” focuses on refilling its own deck/defensive position as your deck dwindles solely through the Prep Step. Of course, these approaches all have various bits of overlap and combining them can yield powerful results!

Regardless of which flavor of mill you expect to face at an event, there are countless options available to improve your matchup. The question is – how many deck slots to devote to a specific deck? That’s what metagaming is all about, but keep in mind that these results are from just a single event! When deciding how to tech against the field as a whole, it’s also worth noticing that certain archetypes can have a natural advantage against a given deck – allowing you to counter a strategy without devoting any slots to that matchup.

Here are four natural counters to decks that force both players to draw a lot of cards:

1) Fast Attacks

Examples: 4 Special, 3 Strength, Joker – Unpredictable

These cards enable you to swing for VP before your Characters can be controlled.

2) Extra Characters

Examples: Gotham City’s Finest, Dynamic Duo, Flanking, Blue Beetle, Ra’s Al Ghul

Extra Characters means getting ahead of the opponent’s blocker count, but these effects are also great at recovering from opposing board clears.

3) Regeneration

Examples: Catwoman – Thief, Rebirth, 6 INT/SP

These flexible effects have value in nearly every matchup, but it can be difficult to remember to find space.

4) Matchup Specific Cards

5 Strength, Echolocation, Supergirl, Hawkgirl, Direct VP Gain (Microscopic Victory, 7 Intelligence, etc) all offer varying levels of devastation in the mill matchup!

Have a great weekend, and check back on Tuesday for our latest Deck Tech submission.