The 36 Best Fungus Cards in Magic Ranked

The Mycotyrant | Illustration by Chase Stone

Have you ever explored fungi in Magic: The Gathering? These fascinating creatures have evolved from humble beginnings into a captivating and powerful theme thanks to their unique abilities and synergies. From creating armies of tokens to enabling graveyard interactions, the best fungus cards in MTG history are known for their resilience and distinct playstyles.

Today, I’ll take you through the best fungus cards ever printed, along with the synergies and interactions you can exploit with them.

Curious to learn more? Let’s dive in!

What Are Fungi in MTG?

Slimefoot, the Stowaway | Illustration by Alex Konstad

Fungi in Magic: The Gathering are a type of creature known for their ability to generate Saproling tokens, manipulate +1/+1 counters, and synergize with sacrifice mechanics. Many fungus cards like Thallids grow stronger over time by accumulating spore counters, which you can convert into Saprolings.

In this list, I’ll highlight the best creatures of this kind, focusing on those that see the most play or have strong potential to synergize across multiple decks. As always, I won’t include MTG Arena-exclusive cards like Slimefoot, Thallid Transplant.

#36. Thallid

As the classic, base fungus, Thallid exemplifies the core mechanic of accumulating spore counters. For 1 mana, it’s a 1/1 creature that gains a spore counter during your upkeep, and with three counters, you can create a 1/1 green Saproling token. This is very common among fungus cards, with few notable exceptions.

#35. Mycoid Shepherd

Some fungi like Mycoid Shepherd don't directly interact with other fungus creatures, but this card is still incredibly strong in a deck focused on powerful creatures. It offers a great way to recover if you're behind, as you can gain life whenever your creatures enter or die. Plus, it's a significant enough threat on its own for 4 mana.

#34. Akawalli, the Seething Tower

In terms of synergies, Akawalli, the Seething Tower may not offer much for fungi decks, but you can descend towards this being a 7/7 creature in the right graveyard-matters deck.

#33. Boneyard Mycodrax

At first glance, Boneyard Mycodrax might not seem to have direct synergy with typical fungus strategies, but its scavenge ability is incredibly useful for piling large numbers of +1/+1 counters onto a creature, scaling with the number of creatures in your graveyard. Even without scavenge, it’s easy to see this card becoming a 10/10 creature for just 3 mana in the right deck. Additionally, it can transfer a significant amount of power onto an evasive creature, even without any specific synergies, turning that creature into a game-ending threat.

#32. Corpsejack Menace

Corpsejack Menace is an absolute beast in any deck that cares about +1/+1 counters. It straight-up doubles the counters your creatures get, which can get out of control really fast. On top of that, it’s a solid 4/4 body, so it’s not dead weight even if you’re waiting for your counter synergies to kick in.

#31. Fungal Behemoth

Fungal Behemoth‘s power and toughness are equal to the number of +1/+1 counters on your creatures, making it a potential big threat for just 4 mana in the right deck. Additionally, you can cast it using its suspend cost, which allows you to start distributing +1/+1 counters on your creatures based on the amount of mana you spent to suspend this fungus. If you pair it with proliferate cards, you can create an endless engine for spreading counters across your board.

#30. Mycoloth

Mycoloth is a powerful fungus creature with the ability to devour other creatures as it enters the battlefield, allowing you to sacrifice any number of creatures to place twice that many +1/+1 counters on it. Each upkeep, Mycoloth generates a number of 1/1 green Saproling tokens equal to the number of +1/+1 counters it has. This makes Mycoloth a potent token generator and a potential powerhouse, especially in decks that can put more +1/+1 counters onto it.

#29. Sowing Mycospawn

Sowing Mycospawn is a pretty cool card, especially if you're looking to ramp or disrupt lands. For just 4 mana, you get a 3/3 creature that can fetch any land card from your library and put it onto the battlefield. But if you kick it for 2 more mana, you can exile one of your opponent's lands, making it perfect for those pesky Eldrazi Tron mirrors. If that wasn't enough, its devoid ability means it has no color, so your opponent can't interact with it using cards like Flashfreeze (note that is does have a green color identity for Commander purposes, though).

#28. Mold Shambler

Cards like Acidic Slime and Mold Shambler are among my favorite creatures to run in Ponza decks, with the latter being especially useful for dealing with a wider range of threats, including planeswalkers.

#27. Fungal Shambler

As a 5/5 fungus beast with trample, this creature allows you to draw a card and forces your opponent to discard one whenever it deals damage to them. Fungal Shambler’s combination of card advantage and hand disruption can put pressure on your opponent while providing you with a steady flow of resources.

#26. Fungus Sliver

I'm pretty sure that Fungus Sliver can be part of an infinite combo, especially if you give it indestructible with something like Tamiyo's Safekeeping. If you figure this sliver out, let me know in the comments!

#25. Fungusaur

It’s funny that older printings of Fungusaur list its type as “Fungusaur” and that it was later changed to fungus and dinosaur. This last part is enough to put it on a list, and like Fungus Sliver, it can become infinitely large with the proper setup.

#24. Sproutback Trudge

Sproutback Trudge is a huge 9/7 trample creature card, and it becomes cheaper to cast the more life you gain in a turn. Plus, if it’s in your graveyard, you can bring it back by gaining life, which makes it super resilient and perfect for decks that focus on lifegain and reanimation.

#23. Swarm Shambler

Swarm Shambler is a 1-mana fungus that “protects” your team by creating a 1/1 green Insect token whenever an opponent's spell targets a creature you control that has a +1/+1 counter. Additionally, it can grow itself by tapping and paying a small cost to add more +1/+1 counters, making it a low-cost yet versatile card for decks focused on +1/+1 counters.

#22. Deathbonnet Sprout / Deathbonnet Hulk

For decks that focus on graveyard synergies, Deathbonnet Sprout is an affordable creature that will gradually fill your graveyard over time. After a few turns, it transforms into Deathbonnet Hulk, a 3/3 creature that continues to grow by exiling creatures from graveyards, whether you’re leveraging your own or hating on your opponent’s graveyard. This synergizes exceptionally well with cards like Insidious Roots, making it a powerful tool for graveyard-focused strategies.

#21. Mold Adder

Mold Adder is a 1/1 fungus snake that grows stronger whenever an opponent casts blue spells or black spells, allowing you to put a +1/+1 counter on it. This ability makes it a potential threat in certain matchups, and it can quickly grow in multiplayer formats where your opponents tend to run those colors.

#20. Molderhulk

I can easily see casting this card for 2 mana in most decks, where it returns lands from the graveyard and acts as a terrifying 6/6 creature. The issue, however, is that Molderhulk is very difficult to get down too early since you need to spend resources to get lands into your graveyard. Still, it’s a solid creature overall despite not having particular synergies with its own creature type.

#19. Psychotrope Thallid

Like many other Thallids, Psychotrope Thallid can gather counters and create tokens by removing them. However, its true power lies in its ability to sacrifice saprolings to draw cards. This is a huge advantage for fungus-themed decks: It provides an inexpensive way to gain card advantage, especially when compared to other fungi cards with higher activation costs.

#18. Sporecrown Thallid

Most creature types in MTG have their “lords,” creatures that boost fellow members of their creature type. Sporecrown Thallid serves as the perfect lord for fungi and saprolings, granting them a power boost for just 2 mana. It’s an essential piece for any fungus or saproling typal deck.

#17. Sporesower Thallid

Sporesower Thallid is a fantastic addition to any fungus or saproling deck, acting as a key engine for both token generation and counter manipulation. At the beginning of your upkeep, it places a spore counter on each fungus you control, slowly powering up your board over time. 

#16. Tendril of the Mycotyrant

If you’re looking for a creative way to weaponize your lands, this fungus wizard has you covered. It lets you animate a noncreature land by placing seven +1/+1 counters on it, turning it into a massive 7/7 fungus creature with haste. While its ability is costly, it provides a powerful late-game threat that fits well in counter-focused or fungi-themed decks.

#15. Thallid Soothsayer

Thallid Soothsayer is an excellent option if you're looking for a reliable card draw engine in your fungus deck. With the right setup, it can help you outvalue your opponents by turning your tokens or expendable creatures into consistent card advantage. Its ability to sacrifice creatures synergizes perfectly with token-heavy strategies, allowing you to churn through your deck while feeding into graveyard or sacrifice-based mechanics.

#14. Deathspore Thallid

Deathspore Thallid mainly acts as your creature removal Thallid due to its main ability to give -1/-1 to a creature. It would be sweet if it gave –1/-1 in the form of counters though, but don’t be fooled; the ability is still pretty strong.

#13. Myconid Spore Tender

While Myconid Spore Tender lacks the key spore counter ability other fungi have, it compensates by acting as a hate card against the artifacts or enchantments that are very popular in formats like Commander.

#12. Savage Thallid

Savage Thallid is a large fungus compared to the others on this list and is notably harder to cast. However, its mana value of 5 is worth it, as it not only creates additional tokens but also allows you to use them to regenerate your other key creatures.

#11. Thallid Omnivore

If you’re looking for a sacrifice outlet or a card that lets you gain life, which you might need for some strategies, Thallid Omnivore should be on your radar. The lifegain makes it very useful when paired with the likes of Gourmand's Talent or Trudge Garden to create a bigger army and, of course, more fodder tokens to sacrifice.

#10. Sporoloth Ancient

I like Sporoloth Ancient because it gives other creatures the ability to spend two spore counters to create a Saproling. This ability is useful for several reasons. First, most fungi require three counters instead of two, so Sporoloth Ancient allows you to create Saprolings with one less counter, which is very relevant. Second, this effect applies to all creatures. While not many creatures naturally accumulate the right type of counter, you can use cards like Clockspinning or Goldberry, River-Daughter to move counters around and then proliferate them with Contagion Engine.

#9. Thorn Thallid

Like many other fungi, Thorn Thallid accumulates spore counters as turns pass. However, instead of creating Saprolings, this one deals damage to any target at the mere cost of three counters. With that in mind, it’s all about getting creative and exploring synergies. For example, you could use Vhati il-Dal to reduce a creature's toughness to 1, then use Thorn Thallid to eliminate it with ease. Additionally, this card's ability could double as a sneaky win condition, especially when paired with counter doublers like Doubling Season.

#8. Utopia Mycon

Utopia Mycon might be one of the best fungi due to its ability to add mana. There’s a big chance that you could go infinite with it in some scenarios where you can double your counters and consistently add Saprolings to the board.

#7. Insidious Fungus

I appreciate versatility, and Insidious Fungus excels at providing various utilities. It can destroy an artifact or destroy an enchantment, draw a card, or help ramp you ahead in the game. It’s a valuable asset in many different situations, offering both defensive and proactive benefits.

#6. Cankerbloom

Cankerbloom is another versatile creature that provides three useful options when you activate its ability and sacrifice it. For just 1 mana, you can destroy an artifact or enchantment, or even proliferate to add counters to any number of permanents or players. It also packs a punch with its solid 3/2 stats for only 2 mana, allowing you to pressure your opponents when you aren’t using it for its main abilities.

#5. Xavier Sal, Infested Captain

Both populate and proliferate are fantastic abilities that synergize perfectly with fungus-themed decks, as they revolve around adding tokens and counters. Xavier Sal, Infested Captain excels as a powerful commander by offering both abilities, making it a strong engine for this type of strategy. If you want to maximize its potential, pairing it with Scurry Oak and Intruder Alarm creates an infinite army of creatures, turning it into a devastating combo piece.

#4. Ghave, Guru of Spores

Ghave, Guru of Spores is an incredible token commander or counters-focused commander. It starts with five +1/+1 counters and lets you turn counters into Saprolings or sacrifice creatures to move counters around. The real power comes from how flexible it is—you can generate tokens, buff your creatures, or fuel combos. Pair it with things like Doubling Season to double the counters and Ashnod's Altar to generate infinite mana.

#3. The Mycotyrant

For a fungus and saproling typal deck, The Mycotyrant offers both power and synergy.

Its stats scale with the number of fungi and saprolings you control, turning your growing board into a massive threat. It also rewards you for sending permanents to the graveyard by creating Fungus tokens at the end of your turn. With sacrifice outlets or self-mill, it can snowball into an overwhelming board presence. On top of that, The Mycotyrant has trample, ensuring it won’t get blocked by chump creatures.

#2. Slimefoot, the Stowaway

In a deck focused on constantly making and sacrificing tokens, Slimefoot, the Stowaway can be the ultimate win condition, especially since it pings each opponent whenever a Saproling dies. You can start creating a small army of Saprolings for 4 mana a pop, making it an excellent mana sink for decks looking for ways to spend their excess mana.

#1. Slimefoot and Squee

With a bit of bias, my favorite commander of all time—and, of course, the number one fungus on this list—is Slimefoot and Squee. This versatile commander offers powerful synergy in sacrifice or graveyard decks, pairing exceptionally well with cards like Reanimate, Yawgmoth, Thran Physician, or Goblin Bombardment. Its enters ability creates a 1/1 Saproling token and triggers again on attack, providing a steady stream of tokens for various strategies.

Slimefoot and Squee’s second ability, costing and requiring the sacrifice of a saproling, allows you to reanimate it plus one other creature. This is especially effective for reanimating key creatures with strong ETB effects, like Fury or Grief, which naturally go to the graveyard when cast for their evoke costs. In Duel Commander, its potential is even better since you can take advantage of busted multiplayer abilities like the monarch or the initiative to gain a significant edge against your opponents. Overall, Slimefoot and Squee is an excellent commander to build around.

Best Fungus Payoffs

Fungi in Magic: The Gathering excel at creating creatures, generating counters, and sacrificing Saproling tokens. The best payoffs for these abilities include cards like Bristly Bill, Spine Sower and Scythecat Cub, which increase +1/+1 counters on your creatures. Synergistic options like Hardened Scales and Kami of Whispered Hopes add extra counters for even greater value. Top-tier cards like Doubling Season double all counters regardless of type and boost token creation, making it an essential combo piece alongside Parallel Lives.

Some abilities like proliferate or commanders like Atraxa, Praetors' Voice who can consistently use it are excellent to pair along with your fungi. If you get creative, you can even include the likes of Divine Visitation to have a better quality army.

There’s a very convoluted combo with Vorel of the Hull Clade and Intruder Alarm to double each fungus’s counters multiple times during a turn. The last piece of the puzzle is then being able to add at least 2 mana consistently, which you can do easily with mana dorks like Bloom Tender or by using Enduring Vitality to ensure you can add mana with other creatures that don’t have summoning sickness.

Also, I bet there’s a combo with Necrotic Ooze and your dead fungi; if you find it, let us know in the comments!

Are There Any Fungus Commanders?

There are many fungus commanders printed throughout Magic’s history. The most notable is Slimefoot, the Stowaway, as it acts as a win condition when you finally build your ideal board, and you usually won’t deploy it earlier than when you need it. Other options that synergize directly with the theme are The Mycotyrant, Ghave, Guru of Spores, and of course Xavier Sal, Infested Captain.

Wrap Up

Sporecrown Thallid | Illustration by Bram Sels

We've explored the most iconic fungus cards printed so far, their unique abilities, and the interactions that make them stand out. Whether you’re looking to grow an army of Saprolings or manipulate the graveyard, these fungus cards can take your deck to new heights.

Was there a card you think should’ve made the list? Let us know in the comments below! And don’t forget to join us on social media and our Discord server for more discussions, updates, and fun MTG content. We’d love to hear from you!

Take care, and see you next time!