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H.E.R.B.I.E. is the first Series 5 cards joining Marvel Snap for the July 2025 Season, Fantastic 4. It is a 2-Cost, 3-Power card that reads: Each turn this is in play, swap to a new Activate ability until one is used.
Decks with H.E.R.B.I.E.
H.E.R.B.I.E. has four different programs in the rotation:
- Program 1 – Next turn, you get +2 Energy.
- Program 2 – Give 2 of your cards at each other location +1 Power.
- Program 3 – Create a Rock here. Set its Power to 4.
- Program 4 – Double this card’s Power.
Today, let’s explore the new card strengths and, of course, the best decks to try it out in.
Series 5 cards can be purchased for 6,000 Collector’s Tokens from the Token Shop as the latest Seasonal Spotlight card. They will be also be included in the Seasonal Series 5 Snap Pack for 5,000 Collector’s Tokens during their season and the following one.
Strengths and Weaknesses
Here are a few important things to understand the new card:
- Programs rotate in a random order, but they will not return until all four have been offered.
- If H.E.R.B.I.E. stays on the board for five turns (i.e. played on Turn 2 with Limbo involved), the program offered on Turn 7 will be random, not necessarily the first one you were offered in the first sequence.
H.E.R.B.I.E. offers four solid Activate abilities to pick from, which is its biggest strength.
- An extra two energy on any given turn is massive. There is a reason why Wiccan became a foundational card.
- Programs 2 and 3 both make H.E.R.B.I.E. a potential [2/7], which beats both Lizard and Maximus to represent the highest raw power for a 2-Cost card.
- Program 4 makes H.E.R.B.I.E. a [2/6], but it scales with any buff the card might receive.
Arguably, you could run the new card as a decent standalone card in most decks that are looking for another high power 2-Cost. The +2 energy can simply come as a bonus whenever it enables a strong play pattern or you have a big card in hand you want to play early.
However, the roulette aspect will be very limiting in my opinion, as H.E.R.B.I.E. feels quite situational:
- If not played on Turn 2, there is at least one program you will never see. You’ll continue to lose possible programs with each turn that passes.
- Giving +1 power to your other cards will likely be useless if offered on Turn 3.
- The +2 energy will be useless when offered on Turn 6, or if you have a time sensitive card to play next turn.
Decks with Surge
Decks with Merlin
Decks with Hawkeye Kate Bishop
Decks with Mister Fantastic First Steps
There are a multitude of examples like those that make H.E.R.B.I.E. much more difficult to play compared to other top tier 2-Costs. Between Surge, Merlin, Hawkeye Kate Bishop, the new Season Pass card Mister Fantastic First Steps… these are 2-Cost powerhouses because their random outcomes are always a net positive.
With that said, the challenge for H.E.R.B.I.E. will be finding decks that are able to synergize with multiple programs so the card can be a net positive.
The Verdict: Should You Buy H.E.R.B.I.E.?
Considering the new Season Pass card is a 2-Cost and some other powerhouses of the game, such as Surge and Merlin, are as well, H.E.R.B.I.E. is going to have an uphill battle in order to earn a spot in a deck. Plus, even though the card might have four solid abilities, the roulette aspect should naturally drive players toward the more reliable 2-Costs, especially considering their power levels.
I believe H.E.R.B.I.E. is a fine card, but it might suffer too much from being compared to the other fantastic cards in the 2-Cost slot.
Pre-Release Score:
H.E.R.B.I.E. Decks
I can’t think of a deck that is not interested in getting two energy at some point in a match. As such, decks for H.E.R.B.I.E. will likely look to leverage the buffs first and foremost.
All these decks are quite demanding in terms of rare cards, and none of them particularly need to run H.E.R.B.I.E.. Low Collection players might be the ones that are most interested in grabbing the new card, especially if they don’t own any of the 2-Cost powerhouses already.
den
Variants
Conclusion
You probably noticed Surge and Mister Fantastic First Steps were in most of the decks above. That is because they are stronger than H.E.R.B.I.E. at both buffing other cards and giving your deck extra energy.
These two make H.E.R.B.I.E. a skip in my opinion, simply because they represent better, more reliable 2-Costs to include in any deck.
I hope this review of the new card was helpful. You can find everyone on the Marvel Snap Zone team in our community discord to have a chat or ask any questions.
Good Game Everyone!
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