Is Mill Back? — A Look at Great Tusk Mill

Hey PokeBeach readers, Ciaran here with another article for you today! Hopefully you’ve been seeing success at your tournaments and you’re ready for rotation. Today, I want to look at a deck that might be flying a bit under the radar right now: Great Tusk . I want to go over what an ideal build might look like, how to play the deck, and its position in our upcoming meta.

Winning by deckout is the least common win condition, and it’s rare that we have a deck in the meta that uses milling as its main focus. We have seen success from Snorlax recently, but that’s more of a control deck. Durant saw some fringe play during the 2022-23 season, peaking with a Top 4 at the 2022 Brisbane Regional Championships, but we have to go all the way back to the 2011-12 season to find our last true Tier 1 mill deck, which focused on the Durant from Noble Victories. They even printed a Heatmor to directly counter the card! Similar to that Durant, Great Tusk can mill four cards a turn, but only as long as you play an Ancient Supporter during that turn.

Milling your opponent to zero cards in deck isn’t easy. If they can take a Knock Out every turn, you will simply run out of time. Assuming we can get a minimum of six Land Collapse attacks off, that’s only 24 cards milled, and between setup, initial draw for turn, and Prize cards, our opponent will start the game with 46 cards in their deck. If we subtract the 24 from our minimum mills, that still leaves 22. Now, our opponent will have to play and draw cards to get set up, so they will help us mill along the way, but we still need to find ways to buy extra turns for Great Tusk to get as many Land Collapses off as possible. Let’s start by going over the most successful Great Tusk list from the recent Champions League Fukuoka, so I can show off how the deck does what it does.

Top 16 Champions League Fukuoka List

 

Pokemon (8)

4x Great Tusk (TEF #97)1x Mimikyu (PAL #97)1x Comfey (LOR #79)1x Radiant Greninja (ASR #46)1x Pidgeot V (LOR #137)

Trainers (42)

4x Professor Sada's Vitality (PAR #170)4x Explorer's Guidance (TEF #147)1x Eri (TEF #199)4x Pokégear 3.0 (UNB #182)4x Nest Ball (SM #123)4x Earthen Vessel (PAR #163)3x Trekking Shoes (ASR #156)3x Counter Catcher (CRI #91)2x Pal Pad (ULP #132)2x Super Rod (BKT #149)1x Hisuian Heavy Ball (ASR #146)3x Bravery Charm (PAL #173)2x Rescue Board (TEF #159)1x Ancient Booster Energy Capsule (PAR #159)1x Hero's Cape (TEF #152)3x Artazon (PAL #171)

Energy (10)

4x Double Turbo Energy (BRS #151)4x Fighting Energy (EM #106)2x Psychic Energy (EM #105)
This is the list Takeru Yamano used to get Top 16 at the Champions League Fukuoka tournament in February. I’d say this list is extremely simple and consistent, but I will discuss some cards we can add to spice up the deck later on.

Pokemon

First, let’s take a look at the Pokemon lineup. I think the four copies of Great Tusk are self-explanatory — it’s going to be our main attacker — but there are a couple of things I want to point out.

Land Collapse takes two Colorless Energy, so we can satisfy the attack cost using Double Turbo Energy, but more interestingly, we can also use any type of Basic Energy. This opens up opportunities to play interesting tech Pokemon. Great Tusk’s second attack also has some utility. It does 160 damage for four Energy, and while this seems trivial on the surface, it actually has some use cases. Most opponents will limit the amount of Pokemon they have in play, and won’t expect you to attack for damage. If a deck like Chien-Pao ex has only one Baxcalibur in play, you can take it out to buy yourself time. You won’t use this attack often, but it’s important to be aware of it as an option.


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@CiaranTCG Would you say this deck will continue to function even once Radiant Greninja rotates in March of 2025? I’ve heard that Ancient Box is dependent upon Radiant Greninja due to just how far you need to dig into your deck, and while Great Tusk doesn’t seem as high-maintenance, I thought I should verify that the deck wouldn’t fall apart after the 2025 rotation.
 
@CiaranTCG Would you say this deck will continue to function even once Radiant Greninja rotates in March of 2025? I’ve heard that Ancient Box is dependent upon Radiant Greninja due to just how far you need to dig into your deck, and while Great Tusk doesn’t seem as high-maintenance, I thought I should verify that the deck wouldn’t fall apart after the 2025 rotation.
I can't really project out that far since we will have a lot of new sets. Greninja is important, but the deck isn't unplayable without it
 
I can't really project out that far since we will have a lot of new sets. Greninja is important, but the deck isn't unplayable without it
Thanks for the help.

I have a friend who I may start going to small events with this fall or next winter, and I’ve been trying to figure out which deck would be the best for my value if I’m only using it in a few small tournaments without prior practice, trying to find a good balance between playability and the ability to play it comfortably as a casual player. I consider Charizard ex to be good value, but depending on just how few games I expect to play Great Tusk may be more in my budget range. That’s a long way away, of course, so it’s probably better to let the meta shake out.

(Ancient Box also looks neat, but it looks more stressful to play as games feature a drawn out prize trade with a not unsubstantial chance of bricking on any given turn. I’m not sure I have the emotional energy to try playing Ancient Box casually, while Great Tusk at least has a simpler game plan where I always know what the bare minimum is.)