Fungal Dwarves - The Advanced Guide

(Article written by Profit)

Ah Fungal Dwarves, a concept as interesting as it is disgusting. I love recursion mechanics in any card game and Fungal Dwarves has such an interesting and unique way of approaching it. True to theme, Fungal Dwarves want to slowly power creep throughout a match by infecting enemy units with fungal spores and incorporating them into Kuldak's mushroom army. Slow and methodical, Fungal Dwarves combine Earth elements of growth and boosts with Dark elements of death and decay to get a wonderful cycle of life and death.

This guide is meant to be an advanced and detailed discussion of Fungal Dwarves, for a faction overview and starter strategy guide - please refer to this page.

Key Takeaways

Limited by time? Just starting out and want to understand basic strategy at a glance? Despise reading with a passion? Have no fear, I absolutely understand. A faction overview should be posted soon, but in the meantime here is a TLDR of key things to improve your FD game play:

If anything, try these tips and see if your FD gameplay improves. Enjoy a more detailed discussion? Well come right in, we’re about to get started.

Strengths

As an avid FK player, there's so much to like about FD.

Weaknesses

As with all things, balance brings great gameplay - so we need to address some of FD's core weaknesses.

Value Proposition of a Boost

Before we get into any detailed discussions, it's important to establish a normalized metric in which we can measure the "value" of a boost. In the SW2E realm, the true value of a boost has been a long debated one - with different decks implying different value propositions.

For simplicity’s sake - I'll start with Iantic's practical value metric (go read his article if you haven't). All else equal, units are costed so that 1 magic equates to roughly 2 stats (weighted slightly towards attack/damage as units are likely to get more than one hit in). This factors in the opportunity cost of discarding for magic as well as the bounty you give up upon kill.

For example, a 0-cost unit is typically some distribution of 2/2 or 3/1 - a total of 4 stats all around. This would imply a magic cost of 2, which is true for 0-cost units when you factor in the 1 magic opportunity cost of discarding plus the 1 magic bounty provided to the opponent on kill.

Awesome - math checks out. How does this play into FD?

Great question me, to answer that we'll take a look at the core loop that is Fungal Dwarves - the evolution of a Spore Carrier into a Fungal Beast. At face value, the "pop" of a Carrier into a Beast represents 4 additional stats (from 2/2 into 5/3). Based on the above math - this translates to roughly 2 magic.

Great, so 3 boosts = 2 magic when placed on a Spore Carrier, so does that mean 1.5 boosts = 1 magic or (.67 magic/boost)? Not quite ...

This is where things get kind of inconsistent. 3 boosts on a Carrier equates to 2 magic, but on anything else - the value is much less. Let's take a look at the value of a boost on everything else in the deck:

Fungal Beast - 1 boost represents 1 life, so 0.5 magic/boost
Blood Shaman - Complicated, but we'll assume best-case that they hold the same value as Spore Carriers since they have an innate ability to transfer, so approximately .67 magic/boost
Blight Mage - Useless
Monstrosity - Useless
Maldar - Useless
Thoon - 1 boost represents 1 strength, so 0.5 magic/boost

Before you get up in arms, yes, I know that 5 boosts on a Beast represents a potential stat upgrade to 13/5 in the form of Monstrosity. However, unlike commons, when you draw Monstrosity and the board-state you'll have at that moment is far less predictable and not something you should rely on in determining a consistent value for your boost economy.

When considering everything else in the deck, it's probably best to be conservative and use the lowest common denominator of the value of a boost - so we'll conclude that on average each boost is worth approximately 0.5 magic each.

General Strategy

I don't think I could cover all the possible intricacies of FD in a manner that would be effective at retaining your attention. That being said, I feel that there are a few key strategies that players can implement during their first few games of FD to really capture the strengths of the deck.

Turns 1-3

These are likely your weakest turns as FD without a doubt. The board is small, your discard pile is close to empty, and Kuldak is subject to the RNG that is his first 10 cards in his deck.

Discard Goals - At least one Carrier and one Beast minimum, aggressively discard these from your hand during the early game and don't look back. Stimshrooms are usually an auto-discard for me during this stage, as I likely don't have the board state or economy engine to support breaking formation away from Kuldak. Always aim for at least 3 magic, since the entire deck outside of Thoon is playable at that level.

Positioning - Your fungal colony is just beginning, no need to play super aggressive. I typically keep Kuldak at or behind his third row (where his starting gate is) to prevent early aggression from putting me in a lethal position. This will differ slightly depending on how many gates you're able to draw turn 1 - see gate placement section for further discussion on this.

Play the board turn 1 - it's usually the best move. Kowloon enlightened me on this - but to those who are unaware, Beast's ability to revive a Carrier from the discard pile triggers after the kill is resolved. The implication here is that Kuldak's starting setup is enough to get 3 attacks in on the first turn. Carrier attacks enemy unit, Beast kills Carrier and revives it, newly revived Carrier hits again. This combo also generates a boost for the Beast that farmed, thus preventing decay on turn 1.

Some caveats to the above:

Turns 4-6

Mid-game is where things get really interesting. By now, you should have a fair amount of cards in your discard pile - hopefully you're able to reach at least 2 Spore Carriers and 2 Fungal Beasts in the discard pile if not more.

Discard Goals - If you feel that you have enough Carriers/Beasts in your discards to optimize your recursion engine each turn, then the aim each turn is to end with at least 3 magic. You'll be surprised with how little you need to play from your hand once you get the FD engine running - more often than not, you will find yourself rarely needing to discard for magic. At this stage, we're really discarding to "search" through the deck for gates, events, or champions to support our mid-game goals.

If you're struggling to draw Carriers/Beasts, then an aggressive discard strategy could be warranted here. I typically prioritize discarding Stimshrooms, Symbiotic Healing, and even Thoon/Monstrosity in that order. The logic here is that these cards have very little synergy without their underlying components (Carriers/Beasts) - so we prioritize searching the deck and building magic to play commons so that we're not overwhelmed in the meantime.

Positioning - As mentioned above, at this stage of the game there's so many nuances that require experience and board awareness to truly come up with the optimal play. However, when determining the optimal play I tend to follow a checklist of goals I try to accomplish.

In one turn, how can I:

The checklist is listed in order of priority - fundamentals don't really change when playing FD. You will often find yourself in range to kill high value targets, but not with Beasts. In that case, it's typically still worth removing critical threats from the board, even if it doesn't play to your recursion engine. You might also be able to land a kill with a Beast, but not positioned so that their potential deaths would trigger Kuldak's Blood Bloom. Depending on his remaining life, it might not be wise to over-extend Kuldak just to capture an additional boost or two - as his inability to escape lethal situations is one of his greatest weaknesses. You're better off hoping for a few whiffs and pulling the newly created Spore Carrier and Fungal Beast back the following turn.

As for Kuldak himself, I tend to keep him in the center of the board if possible. Obviously, you will want to play around your opposing faction - however, the first thing you will need to think through each turn is where will Kuldak end up? Maximize your effect range while minimizing the threats to Kuldak - that is your goal.

Turns 6+

Kuldak has an extremely strong end-game potential if played correctly. At this stage, magic is less relevant and board presence is king. Your opponent will struggle to out-grind your recursion and will find that their last remaining units will at some point become part of the problem.

Discard Goals - Once I dip under 10 cards remaining, I find myself discarding almost nothing. If I am struggling to keep board presence and tempo, I might try to fill the gap back up to 3 magic - but every card counts at this stage. I generally try to avoid discarding Shamans/Mages if possible, but will always take a look at my discards to make sure I have at least one of each remaining by end-game. Shamans are crucial as they're the only means of moving boosts stored on Mages and champions - which you will often find that you have plenty of at this stage. Additionally, you want to make sure that you have at least one Beast/Carrier on board or remaining in hand/draw pile at all times (this includes Release Spores). If you run out of both, your engine is dead with no chance of revival.

Positioning - There's not much to say here that hasn't already been said above. I find myself taking more aggressive risks in this stage of the game, often exploiting Kuldak's 4 melee attack to make up for any shortfall in units in the end-game. Kuldak doesn't have to risk a lot to provide value in most matchups, so you should be able to use him as a pseudo-champion as he should have a fair bit of health remaining if you’ve kept him safe. Otherwise, keep him away lethal as best as you can and find opportunities to turtle and farm to gain/re-gain control of the board.

The Golden Question:
"Well what if I don't draw any Beasts or Carriers throughout the match?"

Interesting question me, and one I'm sure many FD players will have to tackle at some point. The answer is quite simple - survive. Your engine is your powerhouse, it is what gives you the advantage and the remainder of your deck functions on that principle. If you're not drawing the Carriers or Beasts necessary, simply fall back and discard aggressively to search your deck. Focus on summoning your ranged units - they're quite capable of efficiently trading, even if their abilities are practically useless without Carriers/Beasts. Use Shamans to move boosts from useless units to store on Kuldak, then transfer them when you can get your engine going again. Forget Monstrosity, Stimshrooms, Symbiotic Healing - you'll need your engine cards so discard these to search further. Thoon is decent to play and you'll likely have enough magic if you trade well and discard events. Maldar is an always-play for me, summon him next to Kuldak and bank those boosts - make sure you don't lose your last Shaman or these boosts will be worthless. Do this until you can draw Carriers/Beasts and gain back some footing in the game.

Card Overview

Kuldak

The boss man himself. Kuldak can hold his own in battle - boasting an incredible 13/4 stat-line. However, the temptation to charge in with Kuldak is misleading and quite often a trap. Remember, FD lack meaningful tools to reposition themselves away from lethal damage, so making sure Kuldak is safe at all times should be the priority. While obvious, this is easier said than done. Your positioning will vary from matchup to matchup - where you'll likely want to stay further back from assassin decks (CL/CG/SA), but can afford to be slightly more aggressive against other decks (PE/SE/EC). I give examples here, but really a lot of decks have the tools to perform assassinations or strong combo turns so it really depends on how aggressive your opponent is playing, overall you'll play very similar to Grognack in the sense that you'll want to carefully advance Kuldak and exploit his 4 melee dice, while staying in range to maximize his ability without being in range for any of the opponents combo/assassination turns as much as possible.

Typically I try to keep Kuldak near a gate as much as possible. Gates provide decent protection from most abilities and can be quickly placed on your turn next to Kuldak. You'll want to be very careful that you don't clog up Kuldak's diamond with Gates though, but we'll get to that in a bit. While Kuldak is the primary driver of boost generation, he is not the only way the deck can function. On their own, Fungal Beasts paired with a Shaman or Mage can still support their own ecosystem - just with a bit more effort. I say that because there will be scenarios where a difficult choice has to be made - keep Kuldak near the battle to get value from his ability, or keep Kuldak safe from all threats - but generate little to no boosts from that position. I typically tend to choose the latter - where Kuldak's safety is my number one priority.

You will eventually get a breather turn, where you can bring Kuldak into a reasonable position to jump start the boost economy again, so just be patient and throw bodies to protect Kuldak. Most assassination attempts typically involve significant investment anyways, which puts that player behind on their economy, so your win condition is to just survive long enough so that the pushing player runs out of resources or overextends their summoner enough for a counter-attack.

Spore Carrier

The backbone of the deck. Unassuming at first, but if left alone can become a huge problem. Obviously, the goal is to get 3 boosts on these guys and get them to transform ASAP, but this can be easier said than done. Here is a list of card combinations that should help you get to three boosts:

0-boost Carrier
1-boost Carrier
2-boost Carrier
Special mentions
*requires Carrier and target of card to be in Kuldak's diamond (aka Blood Bloom's effect range)

At a glance, you'll notice the dramatic decrease in resources needed to transform a Carrier as you increase the amount of boosts already on them. This should give you an idea of how "valuable" a boost is on a Carrier, and why death within Kuldak's diamond is effectively a partial return on your investments.

Farming Carriers

A popular strategy to generate boosts is to farm Carriers or low health allied units in Kuldak’s diamond with a Beast to trigger death (and subsequently Blood Bloom) while replacing the farmed unit. With enough units to soak up the boost, this can be a viable strategy for those looking to pump out value in situations that require a more defensive approach. In some cases, Kuldak can afford to take inactivity damage to pull back and farm boosts while repositioning his units in defensive positions within his diamond. This often forces opposing summoners to overextend or waste attacks on gates if Kuldak can position his units away from all possible attacks. The trade-off inactivity damage is usually worth it if Kuldak can strengthen his position, avoid losing valuable units, and farm much needed boosts on Carriers, Beasts, or Shamans.

As a counterpoint, players will often need to evaluate if pulling back and farming is truly the most effective strategy. Infect is a strong ability, and while it’s versatile enough to utilize defensively on your own units to farm boosts - it’s much more economically sound to Infect enemy units instead. Not only are you removing threats from the board, but you’re also gaining magic as a result. I find myself almost always preferring to Infect enemy units as opposed to farming my own.

In either case, players should evaluate their short-term goals and determine if farming Carriers would make for a better turn then simply removing enemy units. If you’re able to farm boosts and protect a 5 boosted Beast for Monstrosity, I would encourage taking the time to get him out as he is a win condition on his own. If you’re 1 boost short from transforming a Carrier into a Beast - farming the last boost can be critical. Of course, not every farming strategy requires inactivity - the most successful FD players will combine both approaches to properly manage Kuldak’s boost economy.

Chaining Carriers

The epitome of Kuldak's rebirth engine culminates at the Carrier chain - an event in which three Carriers at three different boost levels (3/2/1) all evolve into a Beast, using each of their deaths to reach the desired 3 boosts on each. Whether you infected the Carriers, used Release Spores, or simply played them from hand - the economic growth here is tremendous and will likely give you a board to play with for the next 2-3 turns. From a stat-line perspective, a successful Carrier chain nets you 6 magic worth of stats.

Additionally, your Beasts will retain the amount of boosts that were initially on the Carrier (for example the 3 boosted Carrier will become a 1 boosted Beast and witness 2 additional deaths - 3 boosts). This makes Monstrosity a very real possibility, gives your Shamans some additional resources to transfer, or simply prolongs your Beast's life for a few turns. If you find yourself with 2-3 Carriers at different boost levels, always try to seek out how you can set up a Carrier chain as the economy swing is almost always worth it.

Carrier Discard Management

When it comes to the Carrier/Beast engine, discard management is absolutely crucial. There will be several instances in which a FD player has more Carriers/Beasts than their respective counterparts. It’s crucial to evaluate at each turn the number of Carriers/Beasts you have in your discard, hand, and board to make important decisions. When it comes to Carriers - the number of Beasts is critical as fully boosted Carriers will pop regardless if they can transform.

Occasionally, you will run into situations where you lack enough Beasts to support the transformation of all Carriers. In this case, consider a trick Aaronvw8 suggested - farm the unwanted back-line Carrier to reset the boost count and control where the single transformation will occur. This helps you generate boosts in Kuldak’s diamond while maintaining board presence. Typically, you’ll want to farm back-line units since their transformation is less impactful as it will take them 2 turns to reach the front-line, incurring decay along the way.

Fungal Beast

If Spore Carrier is the backbone of Fungal Dwarves, Fungal Beast is the muscle that pulls everything together. Infect is a very strong ability, so strong in fact that FK's version of Infect disables magic gain on kill. The fact that Beasts are able to Infect AND gain magic is incredibly powerful and something every FD player should seek to exploit in order to further their economic advantage. Carriers have a variety of uses, but we'll focus on some of the immediate benefits and tactics you can utilize from infect:

There are a few cases in which a Beast would not want to use their ability:

Ultimately, these decisions are made on a turn-by-turn basis where board state and game awareness play a crucial role. I would go with the rule of thumb that you should always take the free Infect if possible. However, mastering the positioning of your Beasts, Infected units, and when to/not to Infect will distinguish the good FD players from great FD players.

Parasitic

Parasitic can function as more than a natural decay timer on your Beasts. Consider letting your Beast take 1 damage to set them up for a Symbiotic Heal turn, store boosts for Shamans or Monstrosity, and (my favorite) use it to kill your own Beast and deny magic.

Infect Strategy

While we're on the topic of Fungal Beast, I figured I'd share some strategy on formation to maximize Kuldak's Blood Bloom after Infecting a unit. A rule of thumb I tend to follow is to position Kuldak and the infecting Beast so that they're adjacent to each other. Having this formation allows for any infected unit to be positioned immediately in Kuldak's diamond, which is exactly where we want them. Obviously don't overextend to make this happen, but if presented with various different formation options, consider maximizing the amount of Beasts adjacent to Kuldak prior to attacking.

Blood Shaman

Blood Shaman is our cheap ranged unit - a role necessary to maintain pressure in any deck. However, you might find yourself wanting to keep Shamans away from the battle - and reasonably so. Asides from using them to maintain battle pressure, Shamans play a key role in redistributing boosts to units that can actually utilize them. I typically prioritize the movement of boosts to the following in order of priority:

Carrier is an obvious top pick. Thoon can bring some serious damage if your turn has enough deaths to fuel him. Fungal Beast and Thoon can swap priorities depending on how close you are to getting Monstrosity (or if you have it in hand). Other Blood Shamans are decent range extenders to distribute boosts, or as alternative boost banks if you can keep them safe. Kuldak is typically my last resort as a boost bank if I have an extra movement on board.

I think it's important to always use your three movements, however, given FD's strict formation requirements - you might find yourself not wanting or needing to move at all. Shamans give you a way to spend these resources in a manner that is beneficial to your engine - always move Shamans to redistribute boosts off of Mages, Maldar and Monstrosity, if you have extra movement left.

Shamans are also decent self-kill targets if you need to restart your fungal engine and lack Carriers on board. Because they're ranged, a Shaman can usually get an attack off, then transform into a Carrier after getting attacked by your own Beast. Killing a Shaman lets you pump up other units with boosts in Kuldak's diamond, which could trigger Carriers to pop, which in turn would boost up your newly transformed Carrier.

Blight Mage

To round out our unit cost versatility, we finally have our 2-cost unit boasting an incredible stat-line of 3 life and 4 strength, precisely what you want to see on a ranged unit. I've made the claim before that FD have an extremely solid ranged game and Blight Mage embodies every bit of that. I typically try to play all 4 copies in every game, but will occasionally consider discarding 1 or 2 if I'm looking to play Thoon.

Paired with a Carrier, Beast, or Shaman, Blight Mages act as a jump start to the FD death engine by converting 1 life into 1 boost. There isn't really an economic gain here given the life loss, rather, players should use this ability as a tempo boost. While there are numerous possibilities with Blight Mage, some of my favorite notable combinations are:

Special Consideration: While not the most efficient way to farm boosts or transform, Blight Mages can also help accelerate Fungal Beast's decay if you find that you need an additional Beast in the discard pile for a fully boosted Carrier to transform into at the end of the turn. If you're finding that the amount of Carriers on the board and in the discard pile are outpacing the amount of Beasts you have in either, you can utilize the internal decay of Beasts and Mage’s ability as a way to reposition your Beasts via Carrier transformation closer to the front-lines. I find this especially helpful when I have a non-contributing Beast in the rear of my formations, with too much congestion to reinforce the front-lines in a timely manner.

Maldar

Hands down the best champion in Fungal Dwarves, and probably in any Earth/Growth deck. Given his decay and timing of decay, Maldar is effectively a 7/3 (since at 1 life he's dead by the end of the move phase). Assume we can keep Maldar alive for at least 2 turns, and Maldar is fairly costed at 5/3 (2 life loss due to 2 turns of decay). However, once we start considering the economics behind his boosts - his value begins to skyrocket. Paired with a Carrier, Beast, or Shaman - he effectively produces 1 magic's worth of boost (0.5 magic per boost x 2 boosts) each turn. Assuming we're able to use all 7 of his health, that's 7 magic worth of boosts he's output, which is 2 magic in profit once you add bounty and discard costs. If you're positioned well, Maldar can provide an additional 3 strength without risking too much, which further adds to the value proposition.

Even if you're finding little space to store your boosts, it can be worthwhile to throw Maldar out next to Kuldak. This serves as a two-way bank - Kuldak stores the boosts from Maldar, and Maldar soaks up the boosts generated on deaths from Kuldak's Blood Bloom.

Thoon

At 6 magic, Thoon asks for a lot and often sees the discard pile more than he sees the board. However, his ability is not to be underestimated - a fully charged Thoon can and will terrorize your opponent's board. 6 magic is generally a difficult number to get to, however, FD can justify this with the ample amount of magic they gain from discarding Beasts and Carriers in addition to their strong economic engine. Typically I discard Thoon if he arrives in my top 10 or so cards - I would much rather play 3 Blight Mages for the same cost. However, if I'm hovering around 4-5 magic, I'll consider discarding a Mage or two for an upgraded version in the form of Thoon.

Typically you'll want to keep Thoon in Kuldak's diamond, as allied deaths count as 2 boosts (on your turn) which dramatically speeds up Thoon's threat. However, much like Undead Warriors, Thoon will naturally get stronger as you progress your attack phase. Aim to attack with Thoon last as that will maximize your chances at delivering the most amount of damage possible. Shamans pair well with Thoon as they are able to instantly boost him, however, given his ability to generate boosts on his own - I would prioritize Carrier evolution over Thoon damage.

Monstrosity

Literally the strongest card to exist in SW2E to date, Monstrosity is the gold standard reward for proper boost management. Monstrosity boasts an incredible 13/5 stat-line, which translates to 18 total stats, or 9 magic. Given that a Fungal Beast is 5 magic (3 cost + discard + bounty) and Monstrosity is 4 magic (3 cost + discard - not counting bounty since it was captured in the Beast calculation) - Monstrosity is appropriately costed at 9 magic.

Now the 5 boosts required to transform into Monstrosity is offset by the fact that we almost never pay 3 magic to summon Beasts in the first place. If we consider our above calculations of 0.5 magic per boost, we're technically 2.5 magic short of what we would expect if we had paid 3 magic to outright summon Beast (since we calculated the above costing without factoring the value of a Boost). However, I feel that there are diminishing returns on stats per magic the higher you go, as there is some value in maximizing the amount of damage in your limited 3 moves, 3 attacks per turn. In this case, I hardly doubt anyone would forgo summoning Monstrosity if they had the board and magic to do so.

Monstrosity is straight-forward, use it as you would a summoner - without the risk of losing the game. 5 melee strength is enough to deal with nearly anything, and 13 health makes it very difficult to deal with. Do note that it is not invincible, so be mindful not to send it on suicide missions. Monstrosity can almost be considered an alternate win-condition for most FD games, since it'll be extremely difficult for your opponent to deal with it and your economy engine at the same time.

Getting the 5 boosts to summon Monstrosity is likely the most difficult part of the equation. Don't be afraid to let your Beasts take damage or even hang around at 4 boosts - it's likely your opponent plans their turn around killing at least one unit, which can be a surprise to opponents looking for 5 boosted Beasts to avoid Monstrosity. It's essential to protect the boosted Beast at all costs, so make sure you're safe from every possible combination of cards when attempting to boost a Beast to Monstrosity, as your opponent will make that priority #1 in targeting.

Stimshrooms

To kick off our event suite, I'll start with my least favorite event. It's not a terrible event by any means, but just one that deviates from how I like to play FD.

Stimshroom is FD's mobility card that can also serve as a boost generator and death accelerator. Stimshrooms help Fungal Beasts get into unpredictable positions, allowing them to flank units to ensure they get the killing blow. Carriers love Stimshrooms as they do the two things Carriers want the most - generate a boost, and get closer to death. One of the farthest reaching combos FD can pull out is having a 1 life Carrier with at least 2 boosts utilize Stimshroom, generate the third boost, kill itself, then spawn a fresh Beast that can now move 3 again with Stimshrooms. Shamans also pair very well with Stimshrooms, as it effectively extends the reach of their ability while also generating a boost for the Shaman to transfer - if she is the source.

As for champions, I really only use Stimshrooms on Monstrosity as he can afford the damage. Thoon is not bad if you can heal the damage with Symbiotic Healing, however, I value his lower health pool too much to justify boosting him at the cost of a damage - there's just easier ways to get boosts on him in my opinion. Maldar is just no. Besides mobility, Stimshrooms is your only reliable way of generating a boost on ANY unit at will (well at the cost of a move action and health). This is crucial as there will be situations where the board-state or cards in hand simply don't have great ways in generating a much needed boost to finish evolving a Carrier - Stimshroom solves that for you.

It is important to note that one not-so-obvious benefit of Stimshrooms is that the third movement is a "force", which circumvents any abilities that would trigger at the end of a "move". Mind Knight is the most obvious that comes to mind, as Stimshrooms effectively cancels his zoning ability. However, there could potentially be other future interactions where this nuance is important.

All that being said, I typically discard Stimshrooms if I don't anticipate playing it within 2 turns. To start, the extra mobility is typically used offensively - which often positions units away from Kuldak and closer to the enemy board. This is counter-intuitive with how FD likes to play generally, and only really valuable in opportune counter-attacks. The boost that it generates is great, but the odd-times I didn't plan my boosts correctly versus the times I actually draw this card are not typically one in the same. Hand space is valuable in the early-game, primarily because you want to search through your deck to get enough Spores/Beasts into the discards as well as at least one other gate to support Kuldak's position. If I can't use it, I'll build it into magic and move on with the match - no real heartbreak here.

Symbiotic Healing

Symbiotic Healing is everything Mass Heal wants to be. Symbiotic Healing has the potential to be an economic powerhouse if played at the right moment. Let's get into some math here:

This means that in its worst case, you'll be using Symbiotic Healing at break-even on 1 injured unit. Not my favorite way to do things as you're trading 1 possible magic for a less-flexible life and boost. However, at 2+ injured units the returns become much more attractive. I typically try to hold-off on using Symbiotic Healing until I can get 3 injured units, however, this is easier said than done - since most opposing players will focus-fire damaged units if possible.

Where Symbiotic Healing really shines is when paired with Blight Mage or Stimshrooms. Both cards are able to incur damage on demand, and usually for free or at the cost of a movement. This sets FD up for some incredible value plays, and allows Symbiotic Healing to really make an impact. Having a Mage, Stimshrooms, and Symbiotic Healing guarantees 3 boosts on any Carrier - with the added benefit of positioning from Stimshrooms. Even when I don't have any Carriers, I'll often use either Stimshrooms or Blight Mage for essentially 2 free boosts on any card - which we can always find a use for later.

To round off our conversation, Symbiotic Healing is great and I can easily see players playing both copies. Personally, it's not crucial to the engine - so I wouldn't hold onto a copy in an attempt to get the maximum possible value. However, when paired with the right cards, Symbiotic Healing can easily be played and gain a reasonable enough return to justify the hand space.

Demand

Demand is very strong, and is FD's assassination/surprise card that many opponents will need to plan around. Demand is straightforward enough - double the dice thrown at a target by killing your unit. This obviously gains more value the more injured your unit is - with 1 health allied units usually being the best targets for Demand.

Where the "surprise" really comes from is not necessarily the double attack from the unfortunate subject of Demand, rather, the ranged unit behind it that now has a clear line of sight for their attack. This can be difficult for players to see and plan around, which is what gives Demand so much power - 3 attacks from one contact point is not only lethal, but difficult to prevent. Even if a Summoner at risk decides to interpose a medium-health blocker (let's say 2-3 health), it's very possible that the initial attack outright kills the blocker which allows for 2 direct hits onto the defending Summoner if both units are ranged. That's typically enough to drop a Summoner to half health if unscathed prior, or close to lethal if any damage has already been put onto the Summoner.

In a perfect world, we would have a line of 3 units (Beast/Mage/Mage) next to an opposing Summoner with 2 Demands in hand. Demand the Beast and the middle Mage after attacking with each, then utilize the third attack with the last Mage to throw a whopping 6 melee and 12 ranged dice (18 dice total). Of course, this is a best-case scenario for us - but it just goes to show you how devastating Demand can be. I almost always play both and will try to work my turns and discards around keeping them in hand until I need them.

A popular strategy with Demand is to use it on a fully boosted (3) Carrier. Carrier will be able to put out 4 melee dice on up to two separate targets, then immediately transforms into a Beast with the ability to attack. Use this strategy to weaken enemy units for the upcoming Beast, then immediately Infect them after Demand kills your boosted Carrier. The ability to multi-target with Demand means that you can split your attacks into two attacks of 2 melee dice each, which is often great when you want to avoid killing a unit so you can later Infect it.

Either way, Demand can easily be seen as one of your win conditions. Keep both and play both.

Release Spores

Kuldak's epic event, and rightfully so. Release Spores does two very important things for us. First, it revives two much needed Spore Carriers and places them immediately in Kuldak's diamond. Second, it gives Kuldak a way to defend himself outside of summoning units from a gate. Typically, you'll want to gain Carriers through Infect as that is essentially free and comes with taking out opposing units. However, if there are enough Carriers in the discard pile after going through your Beast's attacks - players should consider releasing spores next to Kuldak to soak up boosts for the upcoming turn. Be careful that you're not congesting the board too much and that you'll have ample amounts of moves and attacks to remain efficient in the upcoming turn. Beasts and Maldar are built with internal decay mechanics - meaning that FD can't afford to waste time repositioning units to the front-lines. If you're convinced that you already have your three attackers that will live through the upcoming turn, it's likely better to save Release Spores until your other units are closer to death.

I typically always wait until I can pull two Carriers from the discard pile to maximize the value I get from this card, however, there have been several times where I will use Release Spores to pull the last single Carrier in a dangerous situation. Usually, these situations arise from assassination attempts - where I'm able to kill the assassin with Kuldak, but leave an empty spot after killing. Release Spores is perfect for covering Kuldak in this situation - and while it's painful to not be able to pull two Carriers sometimes, it's not as painful as losing.

Gate Placement

I'm a personal believer that every faction guide should come with a section on gate placement, and Fungal Dwarves are no exception. In fact, I found it extremely difficult at first to figure out what the most optimal placement should be. As I played my initial games with FD, I found myself constantly blocking my own units as the instinctual urge to protect your Spores often comes at odds when they transform into a melee infecting Beast that you want on the front lines. This issue is compounded even further when considering the complexity behind positioning Kuldak and ensuring that all vital units are within his diamond without exposing him to too much risk.

The Kuldak Gap

I follow a rule of thumb typically when placing gates - maximize summoning spots while covering as many vertical lanes as possible. This isn't set in stone by any means, but I think it makes for a good gate placement strategy generally. When it comes to Kuldak and FD, I add another rule to this - always try to leave two spaces in between each gate. Having two spaces in between each gate allows Kuldak to rotate his units and reposition without wasting movement due to unnecessary congestion. Units to the left or right of Kuldak's flank can easily get into the front-lines, which frees up the flank for rear units to position themselves.

Keeping this in mind, there are two types of initial gate placement I almost always use when drawing my first gate:

Placement 1 (A3) - Reliable/Defensive

I've found a lot of success in this initial gate placement and have found myself placing this gate in almost every game. To begin, the gate placement here is reliable - as in you're always able to place a gate in your back 3 rows. Additionally, we're following the rule we set for ourselves earlier of leaving two spaces in between gates so that units can easily cycle around Kuldak while staying in his diamond. You'll see with this gate placement that in Kuldak's initial starting position, only 1 gate is in his diamond - moving one space to the left, the same is true. Ideally, you'll want to minimize the amount of gates in your diamond at all times, as that could be space for your units to soak up boosts from Kuldak. In trickier or aggressive matchups, Kuldak can reliably retreat behind either gate for protection - which makes this set up great to fall back to when playing defense.

Placement 2 (B4) - Situational/Aggressive

Well here we go breaking our own rules - the B4 set up is another opener that I've been playing more often as I learn FD. Immediately, you'll notice that we're staggering our gates - which maximizes our summoning spots, but restricts our movement. With this set-up, Kuldak has very limited retreat options - you basically have to avoid summoning or having a unit at C3 as best you can. FD (along with SA) is one of the only factions that can easily get a gate on their fourth row on the first turn - that can be very powerful. With this set-up, you're looking to play aggressively and hold the middle two rows by throwing as many bodies as your engine can support. As your opponent rushes to block the forward summoning spot of your new gate, your Beasts can easily Infect and even flank from the other side - turning the invader into your own blocker with the added benefit of being in Kuldak's diamond. The setup here is situational and often requires you have a gate in your first hand and also go first. You'll also need a great starting hand with enough Beast and Carriers to jump start your engine and support this position. If you attempt to do this without either, you'll easily get pushed back and put Kuldak in a risky position.

Honestly there are tons of viable gate placements early on - it's more an art-form than an equation, you'll need to assess your hand, board-state, and matchup whenever you manage to draw your first gate. A1 and A2 are also decent opening options as well if you find that you're drawing into ranged units and you believe you will win the ranged matchup against the opposing summoner. B1 can also work under the same principles.

Conclusion

Well this guide has officially gotten longer than I'd like, but I hope that readers will find the tips and strategies here helpful. Fungal Dwarves can be very intimidating to pilot as a faction, and rightfully so. They require great positional analysis in addition to foresight and planning of future board-states in order to truly reach their potential. FD players will need to constantly manage their discards as well as position Kuldak appropriately to maximize his ability without exposing him to unnecessary risks. However, if players are able to accomplish this, what results is a nearly unstoppable economic engine with never-ending 5/3 units swarming the field and slowly advancing on your opponent's position. Glory to the Fungal Army!

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