My name is Cami and I am the Community Manager at Shiny Shoe. You might have seen me during one of our weekly dev streams or hanging around the Shiny Shoe Discord server as ‘ShinyCami.’
This week, I’m taking over the dev blogs and putting on my game designer hat to talk about the cutest clan (in my opinion) in all of Monster Train 2: the Underlegion!
Don’t let their cute faces deceive you, the Underlegion is one of the most formidable clans in Hell. Spawned from the putrid soils of a forest on the edges of Limbo, this clan has many dangerous characteristics beneath the surface.
Led by the incomparable Madame Lionsmane and her trusted right-hand mushroom, Bolete the Guillotine, Madame Lionsmane has a slew of followers who adore her and her odorous perfumes. Mistress of the olfactory poisons, Madame Lionsmane disarms her enemies with her fumes before she strikes.
Also, can we all just appreciate her outfit?!
First Underlegion champion: Madame Lionsmane
One of her starting Abilities is Maneating, which has a cooldown of two turns and applies Decay and Sap to one unit. She also has Spawn at Incant. Spawn is a focal feature of the Underlegion clan that you’ll see again and again.
In the example below, I chose for Madame Lionsmane to have the starting Trigger “Incant: Spawn 1,” meaning that every time I use a spell card, she spawns a unit.
But what unit? Well, that is where my all-time favorite unit comes in: the Funguy!
Funguy
Every time an allied Underlegion unit uses Spawn, a Funguy unit will appear. This one shown below is the first unit I spawned after using one of Madame Lionsmane’s starting Trigger: which is to spawn one Funguy whenever I play a spell card on her floor.
Madame Lionsmane’s Tooltips
Funguy spawned after playing a spell card on the floor with Madame Lionsmane.
As I use more spell cards, the more Funguy are spawned. Below, I have shown what happens after I play multiple spell cards on the same floor. As you can see, Troop stacks and Funguy gains health and attack damage with each stack.
Funguy unit with Troop 2
However, the unit loses said stacks when it takes damage. Below, you’ll find before and after images of when Funguy takes damage.
Funguy with Troop 1
As you can see, after losing 4 health, the unit loses one stack of Troop.
Other Underlegion units also have the Spawn mechanic. Take, for example, the Green Recruit which Spawns two Funguys when killed.
Underlegion shroom unit card: Green Recruit
Or Room Cards, such as Infectory, which spawns one Funguy unit whenever a unit without Troop dies.
Underlegion room card: Infectory
As you can see you cannot kill the Funguy in a way that matters.
The second of three core mechanics of the Underlegion clan is Decay.
Born from the roots of the Fatal Elm tree, the Underlegion’s Shrooms often can apply Decay to their enemies. Decay slowly chips away at an enemy until they are overcome by its rotting power. More specifically, Decay deals 3 damage per stack at the end of your turn. While not an immediate damage mechanic, stacking decay on enemy units can be a game changer.
Underlegion shroom unit card: Cheery Deathcap
And, finally, the third core Underlegion mechanic: Propagate. Propagate increases the stack count of Buffs on friendly units and Debuffs on enemy units. To better illustrate this, check out the spell card Proliferate below.
Underlegion spell card: Proliferate
With the spell card Proliferate, all units get Propagate 2 immediately. So, for example, if I have friendly units with Valor, that Buff will increase by two. Propagate will also work for Troop and Decay, which, with the Underlegion clan, can be a huge advantage.
The Underlegion is a dynamic and complex clan that has lots to uncover and plenty of variability. Honestly? It’s my favorite clan (but don’t tell Luna Coven). The characters are a little bit terrifying but mostly formidable, the core mechanics are not too complex that you can’t get a good run but not too easy that it feels impossible to master, and the Funguy is adorable!
Oh, and did I mention that the Underlegion has a dog named Truffles?
Underlegion Shroom unit card: Truffles
If you’re interested in learning more, I’ll be playing this clan with Avarem on Friday, April 25th, 2025 at 12:00 PM PST on Twitch. I'll also be sending out more sneak peeks in our Shiny Shoe newsletter before Monster Train 2's launch on May 21st, 2025!
I hope you’ll love the Underlegion as much as I do and thank you so much for reading!