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Mister Fantastic First Steps is the Season Pass card for the July 2025 Season, Fantastic 4. It is a 2-Cost, 2 Power card that reads: End of Turn: Give a card in your hand -1 Cost or +2 Power.
Decks with Mister Fantastic First Steps
Season Pass cards can only be obtained through purchasing the Season Pass they are attached to when they release. At the end of their season, Season Pass cards become Series 5, and can be purchased for 6,000 Collector’s Tokens from the Token Shop as part of the daily rotation. They will be also be included in the Seasonal Series 5 Snap Pack during the season following their release.
Strengths and Weaknesses
To be fair, I really don’t like the new Season Pass card. I don’t think it is bad; it will probably be insane. It’s because we already have something very similar in the game, and I don’t want both cards to coexist in the same deck.
Decks with Surge
Zabu and Surge plus 4-Cost cards have formed the best shell to play in Marvel Snap for a while now. Adding yet another card to that mix will make the Good Cards concept even more reliable than it already is.
Not much of a believer in that possibility? Let me present it another way: do you Snap when you play Phastos on Turn 3 in the right deck? When you do, you’re basically granting its bonus to three cards, which you will start to draw on Turn 4. Mister Fantastic First Steps will grant the exact same bonus… four times. Plus, you’ll know which cards get buffed and can even manipulate your hand to direct the bonuses.
Looking at the other cards releasing this season, it seems like Second Dinner wants to push something around “End of Turn” abilities. Unless something is done, Mister Fantastic First Steps will join Surge as yet another 2-Cost that most decks are happy with, and we won’t bother building a synergistic archetype.
With that rant out of the way, let’s talk about the card because it is pretty bonkers.
We all know how good cheating energy is in Marvel Snap. Certain cards, such as Sera, should not be played ahead of their natural curve because they allow so many play patterns that would otherwise be impossible. It is fun if you’re the pilot, but you’re typically met with a quick Retreat and never truly get to enjoy it.
Two more power isn’t so bad either. Think about it: if Mister Fantastic First Steps grants +2 power to your hand between Turns 2 and 5, you got a [2/10] card, which doesn’t even factor in the extra benefits from certain cards:
Decks with Clea
Decks with Mister Sinister
Decks with Sebastian Shaw
Decks with Scarlet Spider
Decks with Nimrod
They nerfed Galacta in a recent OTA, but it wasn’t because the play patterns were a problem, apparently (I guess I needed to rant a little more, sorry).
Let’s talk about the weaknesses now. There is a big one: Red Guardian, which happens to be another card Second Dinner recently nerfed. Surge is probably a stronger card when everything goes perfectly, but Mister Fantastic First Steps does not fear Cosmo, nor does it care whether you play a specific card during your turn. Just play it on Turn 2 and reap the rewards turn after turn.
It isn’t really a weakness, but Mobius M. Mobius should really become a staple in a ton of decks. Otherwise, these energy cheating engines will run free.
I think we’re heading towards a Surge + Mister Fantastic First Steps in every deck type of meta for the July 2025 season.
The Verdict: Should You Buy Mister Fantastic First Steps?
If you read the previous section, you already know my answer.
If you didn’t, let me give you a quick recap: YUP.
Pre-Release Score:
Mister Fantastic First Steps Decks
I feel like you’ve picked up on the fact I believe the new Season Pass card can be played in virtually any deck you like, the same way Surge is at the moment. With that said, here are five decks that I believe build around the buff granted by Mister Fantastic First Steps.
First up, High Evolutionary, which can play the new Season Pass card in both its decks:
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In the affliction build, Clea will gladly take those buffs, and the -1 Cost will help smooth the curve just like Zabu and Surge already do.
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Here, you still have the Clea synergy, but the deck revolves around End of Turn abilities to build power. This deck will be limited to Premium Season Pass holders only, as the whole point is to give Fantasticar as many targets as possible (and Mister Fantastic First Steps is obviously on that list).
Let’s move on to decks that are just glad to see a second Surge join their ranks. Once again, I could have listed almost every deck in the game baring the super synergistic ones like Mister Negative and Bullseye. The Good Cards Buff deck and Small Good Cards are probably the biggest winners here:
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I love Nimrod, so I’m including it as the representative of the non-flexible decks that are interested in running the new Season Pass card.
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Variants
Conclusion
I don’t really understand how this kind of card passes play testing if I’m honest. A Tier S card (Surge) sports a very similar ability, and Phastos is a 3-Cost with more randomness attached to it.
When played on time, Mister Fantastic First Steps will be a [2/10], [1/8], [0/6]… In what balanced universe is that not an instant top tier card?
I guess Second Dinner just likes 2-Cost cards that are able to dominate the game when they are played on time. Agent Venom, Iron Patriot, Sam Wilson Captain America, Merlin… You know, Kid Omega was also meant to be monetized now that I think about it. There might be some sort of pattern here.
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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