Fungal Behemoth MTG Card

Mana cost
Converted mana cost	4
Rarity	Rare
Type	Creature — Fungus
Abilities	Suspend
Released	2007-02-02
Set symbol
Set name	Planar Chaos
Set code	PLC
Power	*
Toughness	*
Number	128
Frame	2003
Layout	Normal
Border	Black
Illustred by	Mark Tedin

Key Takeaways

Card advantage and strategic depth come from Fungal Behemoth’s link to hand size and counter strategies.
It can expedite your strategy and poses a flexible threat due to its synergy with instant-speed plays.
However, its playability is challenged by its specific mana requirements and potential tempo setback.

Text of card

Fungal Behemoth's power and toughness are each equal to the number of +1/+1 counters on creatures you control. Suspend X—. X can't be 0. Whenever a time counter is removed from Fungal Behemoth while it's removed from the game, you may put a +1/+1 counter on target creature.

Card Pros

Card Advantage: As a player, drawing additional cards is a significant advantage, and Fungal Behemoth’s power to potentially increase with each card in your hand adds a layer of strategic depth to your game. Not only does it become a formidable creature on the battlefield, but it also rewards you for a well-maintained hand size, synergizing with strategies that bolster your card count.

Resource Acceleration: Fungal Behemoth can serve as a form of natural resource acceleration by harmonizing with Proliferate mechanics or any counter-adding features. This could effectively reduce the turns needed to reach its full potential, allowing you to press the advantage with a larger creature sooner than expected. Although not directly generating mana, its presence effectively expedites your game plan.

Instant Speed: While Fungal Behemoth itself isn’t an instant, it thrives in an environment that values instant-speed interactions. The ability to grow during each player’s upkeep allows Fungal Behemoth to be a flexible threat. Coupled with instant spells that enable you to draw cards or generate counters during an opponent’s turn, it becomes a constantly evolving danger that can catch adversaries off guard right before your untap phase.

Card Cons

Discard Requirement: Playing Fungal Behemoth might not always be smooth sailing. It requires you to discard a card, which can be a tricky situation when you’re clinging to every card in your hand hoping for a turnaround in the game.

Specific Mana Cost: Setting up your deck to accommodate Fungal Behemoth’s mana cost needs careful planning. With green mana demands, it’s likely to fit only into specific green-themed decks or those with sufficient mana-fixing strategies.

Comparatively High Mana Cost: In the dynamic landscape of MTG, where every mana spent counts, the high mana cost of Fungal Behemoth could set you back, especially when there are other creatures or spells that might provide more bang for your buck in terms of impact on the game at a lower cost threshold.

Reasons to Include Fungal Behemoth in Your Collection

Versatility: Fungal Behemoth’s power and toughness scales with the number of +1/+1 counters across all creatures you control, making it a dynamic asset in decks that thrive on counter manipulation.

Combo Potential: Teamed with proliferate mechanics or cards that double the number of counters, this creature can become a formidable force, synergizing well with various counter-centric strategies.

Meta-Relevance: In a meta where board presence and creature-based strategies are prominent, Fungal Behemoth holds its own by consistently growing and posing a larger threat with each counter added.

How to beat

Fungal Behemoth is a unique creature card that thrives in Magic: The Gathering environments rich with +1/+1 counters. With its power and toughness directly tied to the number of +1/+1 counters on all creatures you control, it promises to become a towering threat on the battlefield. To combat this growing menace, strategic removal of counters is key. Implementing cards that limit the number of counters on the field, such as Aether Snap or Vampire Hexmage, can diminish Fungal Behemoth’s impact. Another approach is to address the Behemoth directly through targeted removal spells. Since Fungal Behemoth lacks inherent protection abilities, a simple Path to Exile or Doom Blade can effectively neutralize this creature before it becomes uncontrollable.

Maintaining control of the board state is also essential. Employ sweeping effects like Wrath of God or Blasphemous Act to clear out the plethora of counter-accumulating creatures that typically accompany the Behemoth. When facing this potent card, it’s imperative to prioritize the removal of life-giving support cards that may include Proliferate mechanics or those that bolster the Behemoth’s potency with additional counters. Ultimately, careful planning and immediate action are vital to ensure Fungal Behemoth doesn’t dominate the game.

Cards like Fungal Behemoth

Fungal Behemoth stands tall in the family of creature cards that grow stronger with the number of +1/+1 counters on the battlefield. Comparable to creatures like Scavenging Ooze, Fungal Behemoth leverages on the accumulation of counters to become a powerhouse on the board. Unlike Scavenging Ooze, which requires mana to grow and can interact with opponent’s graveyards, Fungal Behemoth’s prowess is directly tied to the number of +1/+1 counters present on your side, growing passively as your counter game strengthens.

Another peer in this group is Forgotten Ancient, which gathers counters by keying off spells played by any player and can distribute those counters to other creatures, offering strategic flexibility. Fungal Behemoth, while simpler, doesn’t require any action to become massive, thus can be a more straightforward threat once in play. Furthermore, consider Managorger Hydra, similar in its passive power uptick with spells cast, but it is limited to your own spells and lacks the card draw potential Fungal Behemoth provides with the suspend ability.

Each base creature brings its own merits to a deck builder’s table, but Fungal Behemoth’s unique combination of size-based card draw and uncomplicated counter accumulation can be a major asset for decks that capitalize on +1/+1 counter synergies.

Where to buy

If you're looking to purchase Fungal Behemoth MTG card by a specific set like Planar Chaos, there are several reliable options to consider. One of the primary sources is your local game store, where you can often find booster packs, individual cards, and preconstructed decks from current and some past sets. They often offer the added benefit of a community where you can trade with other players.

For a broader inventory, particularly of older sets, online marketplaces like TCGPlayer, Card Kingdom and Card Market offer extensive selections and allow you to search for cards from specific sets. Larger e-commerce platforms like eBay and Amazon also have listings from various sellers, which can be a good place to look for sealed product and rare finds.

Additionally, Magic’s official site often has a store locator and retailer lists for finding Wizards of the Coast licensed products. Remember to check for authenticity and the condition of the cards when purchasing, especially from individual sellers on larger marketplaces.

Below is a list of some store websites where you can buy the Fungal Behemoth and other MTG cards:

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Legalities

Magic the Gathering formats where Fungal Behemoth has restrictions

Format	Legality
Commander	Legal
Legacy	Legal
Modern	Legal
Oathbreaker	Legal
Vintage	Legal
Duel	Legal
Predh	Legal
Penny	Legal

Rules and information

The reference guide for Magic: The Gathering Fungal Behemoth card rulings provides official rulings, any errata issued, as well as a record of all the functional modifications that have occurred.

Date	Text
2007-02-01	Any +1/+1 counters on Fungal Behemoth itself count toward its base power and toughness, then give it a power and toughness bonus. For example, if there are two +1/+1 counters on Fungal Behemoth and three on other creatures you control, Fungal Behemoth is a 7/7 creature.
2021-06-18	A creature cast using suspend will enter the battlefield with haste. It will have haste until another player gains control of it. (In some rare cases, another player may gain control of the creature spell itself. If this happens, the creature won’t enter the battlefield with haste.)
2021-06-18	As the second triggered ability resolves, you must cast the card if able. You must do so even if it requires targets and the only legal targets are ones that you really don’t want to target. Timing permissions based on the card’s type are ignored.
2021-06-18	Cards exiled with suspend are exiled face up.
2021-06-18	Exiling a card with suspend isn’t casting that card. This action doesn’t use the stack and can’t be responded to.
2021-06-18	If an effect refers to a “suspended card,” that means a card that (1) has suspend, (2) is in exile, and (3) has one or more time counters on it.
2021-06-18	If the card has in its mana cost, you must choose 0 as the value of X when casting it without paying its mana cost.
2021-06-18	If the first triggered ability of suspend (the one that removes time counters) is countered, no time counter is removed. The ability will trigger again at the beginning of the card’s owner’s next upkeep.
2021-06-18	If the second triggered ability is countered, the card can’t be cast. It remains exiled with no time counters on it, and it’s no longer suspended.
2021-06-18	If the spell requires any targets, those targets are chosen when the spell is finally cast, not when it’s exiled.
2021-06-18	If this is suspended, then when the last time counter is removed from it, both its triggered ability and the “cast this spell” part of the suspend ability will trigger. They can be put on the stack in either order.
2021-06-18	If you can’t cast the card, perhaps because there are no legal targets available, it remains exiled with no time counters on it, and it’s no longer suspended.
2021-06-18	If you cast a card “without paying its mana cost,” such as with suspend, you can’t choose to cast it for any alternative costs. You can, however, pay additional costs. If the card has any mandatory additional costs, you must pay those if you want to cast the card.
2021-06-18	Suspend is a keyword that represents three abilities. The first is a static ability that allows you to exile the card from your hand with the specified number of time counters (the number before the dash) on it by paying its suspend cost (listed after the dash). The second is a triggered ability that removes a time counter from the suspended card at the beginning of each of your upkeeps. The third is a triggered ability that causes you to cast the card when the last time counter is removed. If you cast a creature spell this way, it gains haste until you lose control of that creature (or, in rare cases, you lose control of the creature spell while it’s on the stack).
2021-06-18	The mana value of a spell cast without paying its mana cost is determined by its mana cost, even though that cost wasn’t paid.
2021-06-18	When the last time counter is removed, the second triggered ability of suspend (the one that lets you cast the card) triggers. It doesn’t matter why the last time counter was removed or what effect removed it.
2021-06-18	You are never forced to activate mana abilities to pay costs, so if there is a mandatory additional mana cost (such as from Thalia, Guardian of Thraben), you can decline to activate mana abilities to pay for it and hence fail to cast the suspended card, leaving it in exile.
2021-06-18	You can exile a card in your hand using suspend any time you could cast that card. Consider its card type, any effects that modify when you could cast it (such as flash) and any other effects that stop you from casting it (such as from Meddling Mage’s ability) to determine if and when you can do this. Whether you could actually complete all steps in casting the card is irrelevant. For example, you can exile a card with suspend that has no mana cost or that requires a target even if no legal targets are available at that time.