Dungeon Enemy

What would a classic RPG be without hordes of mobs to slay? Dungeon World delivers on this idea of PvE by bringing to life countless different types of monsters that one would potentially face in a dungeon. From doges to slimes, from dragons to demons, Dungeon World allows you to become a GM and launch an invasion with your mob army.

Playstyle-wise, Dungeon Enemies hit fast and hard. The weaker monsters serve as complete annoyances with a variety of debuff effects and support-oriented abilities. The stronger monsters have good to godly stats and aggressive effects that aim to wipe out entire fields and deal as much damage as possible. The ultimate boon to playing Dungeon Enemy, however, is in the amazing selection of item support and that one set card from hell. Needless to say, playing Dungeon Enemies is just as fun and crazy as any Dungeon World deck can be.

I'm not a part-timer!

Demon Lord, Gagnar is the ultimate Demon Lord of Dungeon World (in Japanese, Demon Lords are called "Maou" which means "King of Evil Magic"). Gagnar is a very situational card, but he pulls of incredible advantage when he is played correctly. His on-call skill gives him the ability to generate 3 gauge after returning all the current gauge to the deck. 3 gauge is +1.5 advantage, and Gagnar only costs 2 gauge to call. If you call him with 2-3 gauge, you'll be able to maintain a respectable pool of mana for your future spells. He has decent stats and a huge 4 crit, which allows him to push for game very easily. Combined with Fate Skeleton and Doge 0 support, Gagnar certainly makes for a very impressive boss. Note that he does have Lifelink 2, which makes his total cost a -2. Keep this in mind and play him accordingly.

Caw! Caw!

I stick to my advantage scale pretty adamantly. It's well-calculated and math is hardly ever wrong. But there are times now and then when a card that's clearly a minus advantage-wise is one of the best cards you could possibly play. Bladewing Phoenix is such a card. It has completely abysmal stats that can't be justified. If we compare 5000/2/1000 to the vanilla Size 2 (6000/2/5000), we see that Phoenix is a whopping -5000 in total stats. That's a -1 in total advantage. And he has 1 gauge to play? -1.5 for something that's weighted as a +1 is usually not worth it.

But there will always be exceptions, and honestly, Double Attack will probably be where the exceptions are. Bladewing Phoenix is scheduled to die next turn, but when you call it he can clear the field or deal 4 damage no problem to your opponent. Double Attack is so versatile and so flexible on a Size 2 monster that Phoenix becomes way better than he's projected to be. He may be destruction/bounce bait, but you'll be calling him to the side which means that your opponent will be losing prospective field control in order to stop your bird from crapping all over their field and life.

By the way, on the subject of stat calculations, Thunder Spartis is completely broke and would be a staple in DE decks if life was actually replenishable in Dungeon World.

Tech Dungeon Explosion at 1. It's nice to have the option but it's really overcosted, even with a Demon Lord. Be sure to cast it as a counter and watch as you drop 3 gauge and 2 life (-3.5) to stop 3 attacks and destroy 3 monsters (+6).

Your princess is in
another dungeon!

While Gagnar may be an impressive boss, nothing screams "final boss" more than Guardian Dragon of the Ruins, Meteor Rain. That name is so badass. Just take a moment to appreciate how awesome it sounds. I call Guardian Dragon of the Ruins, Meteor Rain! I swear, makes my day every time.

Meteor Rain is just so lovely. 2 gauge and Lifelink 2 for 2 Soulguard, which is perfectly even (and actually better, as Lifelink is more quality than gauge-cost). So the Penetrate? Free. And the effect? Free. And what an effect. When this card is being attacked, you can counter discard 2 Dungeon Enemies to destroy any monster on your opponent's field. Including the monster that's attacking you. -2 from hand, +1 card destruction, +1 negate attack (if card was destroyed). Yes, that's right, it's a perfect wash. But it's one of the best washes possible. You can use this effect to get rid of attackers on the side columns and leave the center column occupied so you can Penetrate the next turn. Don't use this on cards with Soulguard, however, since you won't be negating their attack if they still have soul. Or you could, but then it would be costed like a Dragonic Destroy and you have better options.

!! It's a trap!

Hax is a part of every game, but Dungeon Enemy takes hax to another level. Mimic with a Prize introduces damage hax. When it's destroyed, both players mill the top card of their deck and either lose or gain 1 life depending on the card milled. It's a really great card to punish decks that are monster heavy. Problem? Dungeon Enemy is a monster heavy deck. Yeah. Until Dungeon Enemy gets more spell support, this card is not worth it, even if it does gain +2000 in vanilla stats for free. Also, why would you give Magic World users even more reason to love their spells?

The other hax card is Big Surprise Pandora. This card is slightly better. Again the +2000 vanilla stats and a RPS hax game. Winner takes no damage, otherwise 1 damage is dealt. A tie means both players take 1 damage. This is much less deck-oriented and deals damage in classic RNG-style. Unfortunately, since Dungeon World really can't regain life, Pandora becomes quite a risk to play. You're better off running Doge 1.

I'm Wanaid...and I
hate my parents who
named me

One-eyed Demon Lord, Keith Wanaid is a nice alternative Size 2. Like Phoenix, he has 1 gauge call cost and a similarly costed ability, Penetrate. Unlike Phoenix, he actually has decent stats and an ability that increases his survival chance. It acts like infinite hand encore, for those who play Weiss. He does have Lifelink 2 which is a bummer, but he is a Demon Lord which is important for getting the requirements of spells down. Phoenix is better, however, and Thunder Spartis offers more defense so Keith is a bit undersupported.

Stage 6-1

The one card that brings Dungeon Enemy together is Demon Lord's Dungeon. Welcome to the land of infinite respawns. Like Return to the Underworld, Demon Lord's Dungeon gives players the ability to resurrect a Size 1 or lower Dungeon Enemy per card per turn. Remember, this is at the beginning of the turn (spawn timers) so remember to do this before stand-and-draw. The cool thing is that while you need a Demon Lord to set the card, you can activate forevermore afterwards even without a Demon Lord on the field. What makes this card viable is the 8 Size 0's that can be called to the field with it's effect, even when you have a Size 3 on the field. Suddenly, field control is easy. Also you can have infinite gummies.

You too can be a
Demon Lord

Dungeon Enemy's main form of support are from Staves. There are two Staves, both searchable on-call by Evil-Break. Dominion Rod gives +1000/1000 to every Dungeon Enemy for 1 gauge, which is just like Cavalry Academy and Armorknight Formation. However, Dominion Rod also gives the player Demon Lord properties, allowing Dungeon Explosion and Demon Lord's Dungeon to be cast with no issues. Secondly, Dominion Rod can actually attack and function as a 3000/2 weapon. This is more useful than you'd think.

Go, my minions!

The second Staff, and my personal favorite, is Staff of Monster Master, Alerta. This Staff is essentially a continuous and slightly weaker Dragoenergy. Whenever you have it equipped, you can rest it to give one Dungeon Enemy +2000/2000 and Counterattack. Of course, you can only do this once per your-opponent's turn cycle but it's great when it goes off. Importantly, this makes Gagnar 11000/8000 and Meteor Rain 12000/6000 (time to kill some Tempest Enforcers) as well as bringing Spartis to 10000/11000 and Tosa Hound (Doge 3) to 9000/8000. We're talking huge numbers here. Every two turns. Since Meteor Rain and Doge 3 both have Soulguard, even if they're destroyed you can still activate Counterattack which is simply wonderful.

K-k-k-kawaii!

Last, but certainly not least, is Gummy Slime. Gummy Slime is a great card because it is pink and squishy. And it has adorable wings that it's trying to flap so earnestly.

Thanks to the huge amount of self-bouncing and Move cards in Dragon World and Magic World to some extent, Gummy Slime is a great counter to both strategies. Particularly Thunder Knights and Dragon Knights. Especially Thunder Knights, since you just casually shut down their entire gauge engine.

Oh man, ever since BT03 we haven't seen any help for poor Dungeon Enemies who have had to rely on quaint and cheesy strategies to make do in the competitive scene. With Perfect Pack 1...they're still not competitive. But at least they have a few new options to toy around with.

Say my name three
times fast

The first is an alternate Size 3 to Meteor Rain, but with an even longer name. Say hello to Guardian Dragon of Demon Lord Castle, Deukruzar. I was skeptical about this card at first, but this card is seriously good. First, we have 8000/3/7000 stats, just out of PoF range and hits some of the newer walls that have come into existence - and trumps 5000 + Dragoenergy, which is relatively common. Fair Soulguard is great, but on-play you get a free card from your drop zone. You can target either Destruction (damn mistranslations) or Demon Lord. Destruction cards are kinda meh, but you can grab weird stuff like Dungeon Pit, Dungeon Explosion, and Cecilia's Spell Disarm. Demon Lord stuff is actually pretty useful. You can grab monsters, weapons, and that ever-broken set spell. Lifelink 2 is a small price to pay for having a better early game option than Meteor Rain.

I'm not going to talk about this. I'm not part of the #freeamigo campaign but this was truly disappointing. Even though there are literally no other ways to gain life in Dungeon Enemy.

Aww hell what a good card.

First Death Rulers, now...

Death Master, Lelag Monarch starts off our newest bunch of Dungeon Enemy support. Lelag Monarch is a bit of an interesting case, being 8000/3/7000 with Penetrate is pretty great and only Lifelink 2 seems decent. Demon Lord attribute sure doesn't hurt. His on-play effect allows you to call 2 Size 0 from the drop zone. You think this might overlap with Demon Lord's Dungeon but it doesn't because you don't pay call cost. There's only one Size 0 with a call cost that matters, and it's Dragon Tooth Warrior. Hence, it's hard to evaluate how good Lelag Monarch is without touching Dragon Tooth Warrior.

Unfortunately, here is where it gets kinda confusing. Dragon Tooth Warrior costs 1 gauge and is a Size 0 that acts as on-field Soulguard for any Size 3 you might have. This sounds all good and stuff, but the issue lies in that your opponent could just kill Dragon Tooth Warrior, which is a lot easier to deal with. So it acts as bait, right? But not really. Dragon Tooth Warrior is also liable to practically every mass-field wipe spell in existence. The fact that it costs 1 gauge just to get on the field is the worst. Dragon Tooth Warrior tries to be an extra life for your Size 3 but just ends up bleeding gauge in a deck where you can't consistently get it back. He doesn't even have viable stats.

Long story short, Lelag Monarch is pretty good because he gets Dragon Tooth Warrior for free, but Dragon Tooth Warrior itself is not that worth running, which hinders Lelag Monarch from being the best choice for a Size 3 boss.

Rise my Construct army

Mech Army Demon Lord, Agos Marh is a better Demon Lord candidate than Lelag Monarch because he's a Size 0. Takes up no space on field and can be targeted by Demon Lord Dungeon. He has Lifelink 1, which is unfortunate, but that can't be helped. It's better than 1 gauge, I guess, as long as you don't keep hemorrhaging life. But Agos Marh is fantastic as a Size 0, with 5000 very potent defense he can serve as a decent wall, won't get easily removed on the sides either. Every turn, you can rest him to summon a Construct monster from the drop zone - for free. Since Agos Marh's offensive specs are just 1000/1, he's probably better off summoning something every turn you can. As far as Construct targets, there are quite a few good ones, notably Blade Wing Phoenix though. Getting a free Double Attacker every single turn is hard to beat.

Medium-rare, please

When you compare Meteor Rain and Hades Dragon Chief, Red Arrogant, you notice that they're practically carbon copies of each other. 10000 power. Low Defense. 2 gauge call cost. Ditch 2 Dungeon Enemy Counter-destroy. Soulguard. Lifelink 3. Given all this, it's difficult to choose one over the other, so let's look closer at some of the difference. Meteor Rain packs 3-crit and Penetrate, while Red Arrogant gets 2-crit and Double Attack. The latter is usually better, but against decks with a center, Meteor Rain gets more value off. Next, defense. Meteor Rain's defense is at 4000, which is very irrelevant and easy to hit. Red Arrogant has 5000 which may seem trivial, but this gets boosted to 7000 with Alerta as opposed to 6000. 7000 is currently the key walling number for any card to hit, so Red Arrogant's extra 1000 defense is a big big deal. But when it comes down to it, Meteor Rain comes in with an entire extra soul which means a lot in a deck where hand is hard to come by. 

The choice really comes down to a meta call, but I wouldn't really rate either higher. I will say that Red Arrogant is a lot more flexible and that there's argument for calling him to the side as well. With Meteor Rain, you basically have to commit him to center with an Alerta and hope your opponent doesn't pack Penetrate.

Bronze Golem, Jaish is better than Doge 0 because it has 1000 more power. Relevant against Hero World. Also Construct. 

Diamond isn't a Fluud

Speaking Construct. Diamond Golem, Fluud is the Size 3 boss of the archetype. He's great. 2 gauge for soul is good, 9000/3/7000 is amazing, and Penetrate on top is icing on the cake. Defensively, Fluud is really solid. Not only is 7000 defense really great, but Fluud also negates all Penetrate effects - allowing Fluud to always be a safe call. I wish you could use Agos Marh to call Fluud, but unfortunately Agos Marh bypasses call cost - you won't have to pay 2 gauge, but you won't get any soul either, which isn't that great.

Instead, the best Construct target is Steel Golem, Futoff. With a ridiculous 3 gauge call cost and a Lifelink 2, you think that this monster would be some kind of beast. And it is, with 8000/3/7000 and the Guard ability, redirecting all attacks to it, even if its on the side. Considering that the vanilla Size 2 stats for this world is 6000/2/5000, we're getting +2000/+1/+2000 for the 3 gauge and Guard for Lifelink 2. And when you call him with Agos Marh, you not only bypass that crazy 3 gauge cost, you also get something to protect Agos Marh with. You can imagine how good this card can be with Alerta equipped, but he's also great with Alcsbane because he can protect the center even on the right.

LICKILICKY

Send up your offerings

Evil Deity Altar is probably the greatest thing printed for Dungeon Enemies. As a heavy fan of this archetype, I've always been dreaming about what Bushiroad could do to make this archetype not suck. But I've never thought they could do it in a single card. Evil Deity Altar gets you a consistent wash in the form of a revived Size 3 every three monsters that die. Factor in the fact that Demon Lord Dungeon means you have an endless supply of respawns essentially means that you have pretty much continually respawning raid bosses as well. Combining this with the cool selection of Size 3s opens up a lot of strategies. You can revive defensive walls like Futoff, advantage engines like Gagnar and Deukrazar, or aggressive options like Meteor Rain, Red Arrogant, Iron Cyclops, etc. The gimmicks get real when you activate the destruction on your turn using something like Pillar of Fire and Counter call during your Attack Phase. The dream is reviving Lelag Monarch and calling 2 new 2-crit Size 0s for an extra 7 damage worth of attacks.

Impact selection is pretty important because they offer effects that Dungeon World is pretty low on. Hundred Demons Raid, Hundred Legion! is the only card in Dungeon World that can destroy spells without minusing (since you also deal 2 damage). The issue is that you destroy all spells, including your own, but in some matchups you need to make sacrifices so you don't auto-lose (cough cough Great Fate Frozen Stars).

I love humans

When Bushiroad decided that the Dungeon Omni Lord was going to be from Dungeon Enemies, they faced a hard hurdle of making a deck based around said Omni Lord good. After all, Dungeon Enemy support so far has been dismal and not very impactful. They dealt with this by buffing a very small trait in Dungeon Enemies that they could give arbitrary power to without blowing the whole archetype out of the water. And this, in short, is why Demon Lords stand as one of the best two decks in the game.

Let's start with the single card that makes Demon Lord great: "World End". This is a Mission card that's also an Impact with the Demon Lord attribute (meaning it can be grabbed via a variety of means). After it's set, you simply have to attack with 5 Demon Lord monsters to prime its effect. At the end of the attack phase that World End has 5 soul or more, you trash the Impact and the soul to completely wipe your opponent's field and reduce their life to 1. That's right. No matter how much life they had before, it's all gone now. Your opponent is literally hanging on by the cards in their hand and their gauge.

My Mission? To win!

Getting World End to pop is the easiest way to win a game - just keep attacking monsters and then reduce your opponent's life to 1. The rest of the deck is built around World End, giving you the most flexibility in finding it, priming it, and ending the game after it.

Let's start in order. Twin Tail Incubus is a mandatory staple in decks that run World End. Although not a Demon Lord himself, the fact that he grabs World End for 2 life is great (paying 2 life to draw is always good). In this deck, controlling your life is very important in order to unlock the only good draw spell available (Oracle of Tubal) so Incubus is a fantastic out. T1 Incubus into World End ensures a straightforward T4 win.

Once World End is out, you want to have strong attackers. Here's where the resident Omni Lord comes in: Miserea, a Size 2 with 6000/2/5000 and Double Attack. He also has 2-soul, meaning he's not going anywhere anytime soon. Double Attack gives +2 to the World End counter and allows you to quickly get World End primed and ready to activate.

Removing you wasn't
very hard

Miserea is backed by his partner Stein Blade Joker. A Size 0, Rock Joker can't be called without a Demon Lord monster on the field. But he has a really cool effect that auto-destroys anything in the center that he attacks. This happens on-attack, so if the opponent has Soulguard and the monster comes back, Joker continues to attack with a relevant 3000 power. Alongside Rhodes Dylan, your field-clear in this deck is strong as it should be.

When World End finally pops, what do you do? Well, there's only one damaging Impact in available to Dungeon Enemy and it's not that great. So you use Zein Blestand with his double Thunder Mine to prevent your opponent from setting spells and equipping items. That leaves monsters left, which Rock Joker can handle easily. And then your opponent is dead.

What if World End somehow gets removed? Since it's a Demon Lord, Deukruzar can grab it back from the drop zone. Against Great Fate, Frozen Stars you might have a harder time, but that's inevitable (and also where Set spell removal comes in real handy).

The rest of the Dungeon Enemies in the set give you thematic options to choose from to fill your sideboard. Most notably, Lumiere is an absolute beast against any deck that favor Size 1s. I wouldn't get too hyped over Arkdra, but her synergy with Dungeon Explosion is something to be considered.

Turn up the fire!

Heat Blade Joker is really interesting. It's one of the few cards in the game that can gift Soulguard to monsters, provided that they're Demon Lords. You can put it into the soul of any Size 2 or higher Demon Lord. But the real value of Heat Blade Joker is the synergy with Demon Lord's Castle. Now if your opponent can't kill your dude twice, they're back to facing the same monster again because you can freely revive Heat Blade Joker and feed your Arkdra or whatever you have tanking.

I really like cards with modes, and Secret Arts of the Water Lord is no exception. So you can use it as a way to grab Demon Lord monsters back or as a way to convert life to gauge while dealing damage to your opponent. It's like Trans-flame with utility that also can salvage stuff.

Dark Miserea (they didn't even try something clever with the name) is the opposite of regular Miserea. Where regular Miserea is mostly an offensive tank with Lifelink, Dark Miserea is a defensive healing machine. Every time he's destroyed, you gain 1 life. If you can keep Dark Miserea alive, Heat Blade Joker can go back into his soul for more stickiness and more life-gain. In fact, this is the best heal engine Dungeon World has ever gotten. Especially in the more defensively-oriented Dungeon Enemy decks, Dark Miserea is more valuable than regular Miserea.

Additionally, Blessing of Nereus gets extra value when used with Dark Miserea, making Miserea a 9000 power wallbreaker that also has more healing potential. Blessing of Nereus is pretty good alongside Heat Blade Joker's ability to gift Soulguard to anything.

Enemin Gold α (that alpha is going to be annoying) shows off how powerful you can tank up with a Size 3 boss. You didn't read that incorrectly, it does say "for this turn". Counterattack for a turn on some gigantic Size 3 boss and/or with lots of soul for a whole turn. Sounds like a great plan.

- updated to H-BT04, CP01, H-EB04, H-TD02, H-PP01 -

All images used obtained from the official Bushiroad website and used here solely for reference purposes. Future Card Buddyfight!, logos, and respective content belong to Bushiroad. Large images belong to the Buddyfight! Wikia.