FE Worlds 2026: Gloves Off, Mushrooms On

FE40 Champs 2026! I was on the fence about posting a detailed writeup this year, but then fellow FE40 World Champion Troy asked for thoughts on my deck, and since I'm idle today recovering from MammothMarch (a 20-mile hike through Cuyahoga Valley, undertaken with a few other AL members and spouses), now feels like the time. Trails yesterday were super muddy, owing to a combination of rain plus several hundred people trampling up and down the same wooded foothills, and I wiped out around mile 6, leaving me with this gnarly battle scar:

We all finished though, so muscle-arm and foaming-beer-mug emojis all around. Also, I won the FE40 event! Unlike last year, my goal wasn't to build the best deck possible, but to build the best deck possible using cards closest to my heart. While I'll always love thrulls (and especially Breeding Pit), Thallids are my kindred.

Last year in round 1, I faced off against Jim's Spore Flower-canopy control deck, which took us to time, ultimately resulting in a draw. I was looking forward to playing Magic on Saturday, but not that much Magic, and wanted something more proactive. A couple days before the event, I was pretty set on this ramshackle pile:

Goblin War Drums always seems good on paper. Giving all your creatures Menace feels more 2024 than 1994, yet this card somehow exists in Fallen Empires, even if the mechanic is written out in longhand (as it should be). Critically though, you don't want to see multiple copies in an environment with no enchantment removal. Discarding to Ring of Renewal is always a possibility, but that feels like splitting hairs. That said, Dwarven Catapult is great too, so I figured this deck had a bit of everything.

A bit of everything, but I'm not sure it would've played very well. Goldfish hands felt underwhelming; Thorn Thallid seemed like it would take forever to get going, and I didn't have great answers to bigger threats. Thinking back to all the Thrull-Retainered Derelors and Orggs in 2025, I felt like I had to be better prepared. The moment of enlightenment came when I realized (or at least concluded) that there are two kinds of green decks in Fallen Empires, and Thorn Thallid is only good in one of them. The answer, then, was going all-in on the other 1GG FE baddie (with incredible Ron Spencer art to boot), Thallid Devourer. Here's the deck I played:

If Thorn Thallid wants to sit behind a Spore Flower for multiple turns and eventually off an Order while hoping not to get 'piled, Thallid Devourer can attack on turn 4 with a saproling token on standby (if you ideally played a Thallid on turn 1) and pound right through. Multiple Devourers are not, in fact, redundant, because even though you can only sacrifice a given saproling to a single Devourer, instant speed sacrifices allow you to always make the most favorable choices in distributing your buffs, especially as your saproling army grows. Elvish Farmer helps with this while blocking 1/x's and threatening lifegain ("threatening" because more often it was the potential to use this ability as opposed to actually using it that made the difference, as I could take damage aggressively early in games and likely bump myself out of direct damage range later if needed).

So Devourer with 12x saproling-generators was the core, but a beatdown deck needs beaters, and Derelor feels like the best there is. Ebon Strongholds helped keep the drawback manageable without going hard into nongreen lands although, much of the time, a single Derelor paired with other hoodlums ended up being enough.

Finally, Feral Thallid is, of course, an amazing Magic card. There were times I couldn't attack with it immediately (and instead had to wait so it could accumulate spore counters), but at least as many other times where the opposing board was simply unprepared for fungal power of such epic proportions after dealing with my other threats. In this deck, every card needed to contribute to the core game plan; I originally included 2x Elvish Hunter, but ended up moving these to the sideboard for a sixteenth land and a Ring of Renewal. I think I brought the Hunters in once(?) against thrulls (subbing out the Derelors due to the risk of Thrull Champion), and I never sided in the Thelonite Druids, which felt like a crutch I was clinging to while brewing, but didn't actually need.

Through four rounds on the day, the deck never lost a game, winning 2-0 (Jeff on white/red), 2-0 (Brian on black/red thrulls), 1-0 (Fin on black/green thrulls + thallids with game 1 taking ~45 minutes), and 2-0 vs. @seodfac (Adam) in the finals on black/white with Spirit Shields and 8 Orders, which is the deck that actually deserves your attention. The plan was focused and definitely worked. Ring of Renewal was insane and every card served its purpose. Nobody ever expects Spore Cloud.

As with last year and with every event they've hosted at Shuffler's Den, Mike and Snook are the real champions here. Can't say enough about all the work they put into these and the lengths they go to to make sure everyone has a phenomenal time. You guys are the best!