Fungal plant pathogens pose a substantial threat to crop production, causing severe yield losses, and effective and sustainable control strategies are needed. Soil bacteria, such as members belonging to the genera Pseudomonas and Lysobacter, can inhibit fungal pathogens and protect plants through the production of antimicrobial metabolites with fungicidal effects. This interaction between the bacteria and the fungi does not require direct cell contact. Now, Lin et al. report a mode of inhibition that involves intercellular contacts between the bacterial cells and the conidia of filamentous fungi. The authors showed that antifungal-deficient mutants of Lysobacter enzymogenes and Pseudomonas fluorescens were still able to inhibit the growth of various filamentous fungi, including the model phytopathogenic fungus Fusarium graminearum. These finding are indicative of a contact-dependent antifungal effect. The authors demonstrated that this mechanism is mediated by the type VI secretion system (T6SS), which mediates interactions between Gram-negative bacterial species by contact-dependent translocation of effector proteins. Moreover, the authors found that the underlying mechanism was associated with the inhibition of growth of fungal conidia into hyphae. In sum, the study reports the T6SS-mediated inhibition of filamentous fungi by soil bacteria, which could guide the development of engineered beneficial soil microbial communities to mitigate plant fungal diseases.