Fungal Bloom is one of those cards players keep asking about. Here is, in plain words, what its official text says, the rulings published by Wizards of the Coast, and the combos players actually run.

Official card text

: Put a spore counter on target Fungus.

Complete guide

Fungal Bloom is a classic green enchantment that provides a repeatable way to accelerate the growth of your fungal army. By spending two green mana, you can manually place spore counters on your creatures, bypassing the slow turn-by-turn wait time usually required by Fungus-type creatures.

Cultivating Your Garden

Fungal Bloom features a simple activated ability: '{G}{G}: Put a spore counter on target Fungus.' This ability can be activated as many times as you can afford during any part of the turn, including your opponent's end step or in response to a removal spell.

Step-by-Step Resolution

First, you pay the cost of two green mana and choose a legal target with the Fungus creature type. Once the ability resolves, one spore counter is placed on that creature. If the creature loses the Fungus type before the ability resolves, the ability will have no legal target and will fail to resolve.

Common Misconceptions

It is important to remember that Fungal Bloom specifically places 'spore counters,' not +1/+1 counters. Therefore, effects that specifically look for +1/+1 counters will not interact with this card. Additionally, you can only target creatures that currently have the Fungus subtype on their type line or through an effect.

When to Activate

Because many Fungus creatures allow you to remove three spore counters to create a Saproling token, Fungal Bloom acts as a mana sink to generate blockers or attackers on demand. It is best used when you have excess mana at the end of an opponent's turn to maximize your board presence for your next upkeep.

Interaction examples

Accelerating Spore Growth

If you control a creature like Thallid, you can pay {G}{G} to use Fungal Bloom to add a spore counter immediately. Instead of waiting three turns to create a Saproling, you can spend {G}{G}{G}{G}{G}{G} to place three counters and generate a token in a single turn.

Counter Type Mismatch

Hardened Scales

If you activate Fungal Bloom while you control Hardened Scales, you will still only put one spore counter on your Fungus. Hardened Scales specifically increases the number of +1/+1 counters being placed, but it does not affect spore counters.

Synergy and Trample

Garruk's Uprising

While Fungal Bloom helps you create tokens, Garruk's Uprising ensures your larger Fungus creatures can push through damage. If you use Fungal Bloom to help a Fungus reach a high power level through other means, Garruk's Uprising will grant that creature trample, though Fungal Bloom itself does not trigger the draw effect since it places counters rather than having a creature enter the battlefield.

Guide written with AI from the official text and rulings. Official English text prevails.