Mill

Mill
Info
Cost
Type(s)	Action - Victory
Kingdom card?	Yes
Set	Intrigue
Illustrator(s)	Marcel-André Casasola Merkle
Card text
+1 Card +1 Action You may discard 2 cards, for +. 1

This page is about the card Mill. For the tactic of trashing and gaining copies of that same card, informally called "milling", see milling.

Mill is an Action–Victory card from the second edition of Intrigue. It is a cantrip that allows you to discard for money, and is also worth 1 .

FAQ

Official FAQ

• You can choose to discard 2 cards even if you only have one card in hand, but you only get + if you actually discarded 2 cards.
• Use 8 Mills for games with 2 players, 12 for games with 3 or more players.

Strategy

Mill can play two roles in your deck, neither of which is overly strong: as a cantrip Victory card, the amount of   it provides is small, and the payload provided by its discard-for-benefit effect is relatively inefficient compared to more specialized sources. However, it can be a low-risk addition to your deck, especially when the opportunity cost is low, as with gainers.

Mill’s ability to discard cards in an exchange of hand size for is relevant in three cases:

1. If you have cards in hand that are not doing anything productive, discarding them can be a way to get value out of them. Most notably, this means that opening with Mill is good at helping you hit on turn 3 or 4, as you can discard your two worst cards (likely Estates) and then be left with three cards (likely Coppers) in hand with which to generate . Mill can have similar relevance later in the game if you expect to continue to have junk in your deck, perhaps due to a junking attack or a lack of Estate thinning.
2. With some decks, you can use Mill to convert your draw into . This is likely to occur with cards such as Scrying Pool or City Quarter which often give you overdraw. In other decks, such as those using draw-to-X effects or Menagerie, Mill can provide a similar benefit while also enabling you to control the contents of your hand, i.e. to discard cards that are otherwise clogging up your ability to continue drawing.
3. Mill is occasionally important as a way to activate effects that give you a benefit when discarded, such as Tunnel.

When discarding with Mill, it’s usually best to discard later in your turn, after playing your other draw cards. This ensures that you will discard your least desirable cards, and that you can avoid triggering a reshuffle after discarding junk. This also means that if you have multiple Mills in hand and anticipate discarding with only one of them, it’s usually best to do so with your last copy rather than your first, in case you draw a card you would have preferred to discard.

As a combined Action-Victory card, Mill is an excellent target for gainers such as Ironworks that provide an extra benefit depending on the card types of the target. Groom is a particularly notable example, and enables a rush in most cases. As a cantrip, Mill does not have the same negative effect on deck control as other cards you might consider gaining for supplemental   (such as Duchy), so it can be a useful way to secure a slight   lead while building or lowering piles for a pileout. Mill can also be relevant with effects that care specifically about Victory cards, such as Battlefield or Crossroads.

Versions

English versions

Print	Digital	Text	Release	Date
		+1 Card +1 Action You may discard 2 cards, for +. 1	Intrigue (Second Edition)	October 2016

Other language versions

Language	Name	Print	Digital	Text	Notes
Chinese	磨坊 (pron. mòfāng)
Dutch	Molen
French	Moulin
German	Mühle			+1 Karte +1 Aktion Du darfst 2 deiner Handkarten für + ablegen. 1	2. Edition (2021)
Japanese	風車 (pron. fūsha, lit. windmill)			+1 カードを引く +1 アクション +のために、2枚捨て札にしてもよい。 1
Polish	Młyn				Although Polish version is not released, this name is referred to in Polish Dominion 2E rulebook.
Russian	Мельница (pron. myelnitsa)			+1 Карта +1 Действие Вы можете сбросить 2 карты, тогда +. 1

Trivia

Official card art.

Secret History

This of course replaces Great Hall. It's a Great Hall that does something. And that something also replaces Secret Chamber. Originally it was the same - discard X cards for + - but the tracking is simpler if the amount is always or (bump the card up from the line of played cards if it made the ). I first tried it without the  , before realizing it was a good candidate for the new Great Hall.

—Donald X. Vaccarino, The Secret History of the Dominion 2nd Editions