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The Thing First Steps is the third Series 5 cards joining Marvel Snap for the July 2025 Season, Fantastic 4. It is a 5-Cost, 6-Power card that reads: End of Turn: +2 Power. Once per game, if your side here is full, destroy an enemy card here with less Power.
Decks with The Thing First Steps
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
A [5/10] that dodges Shang-Chi (because the power is added at the end of the turn) is already not bad. Destroying one of your opponent’s cards on top of that means The Thing First Steps represents 12 to 15 power on average. That’s a pretty solid card overall.
In addition to this initial assessment, there are two more ways to make The Thing First Steps much stronger. First, you can play it earlier than Turn 5, which will give you an additional two power for each extra turn:
Decks with Luna Snow
Decks with Mister Fantastic First Steps
Decks with Surge
Decks with Lockjaw
Decks with Arishem
Decks with H.E.R.B.I.E. Champion
There are plenty of cards in the game that allow you to cheat energy, which allows you to play the 5-Cost on Turn 4. That turns the initial [5/10] into a [5/12]. If you get lucky with Lockjaw or H.E.R.B.I.E., you might even get a [5/14].
Reaching those higher numbers will be crucial for making The Thing First Steps able to take out bigger cards. The 5-Cost will only destroy something with less Power than itself, but you can also buff it rather than trying to summon it early in a match:
Decks with Mister Fantastic First Steps
Decks with Galacta
Decks with Gwenpool
Decks with Nico Minoru
Decks with Toxie Doxie
Decks with Fantasticar
There will be an interesting balance between growing The Thing First Steps as much as possible while being aware of Shang-Chi. A good way to dodge the 4-Cost will be to play the 5-Cost on Turn 6 to fill a location. In that context, buffing it while it’s safe in your hand will be an important part of improving the pool of potential targets you can destroy. Fantasticar is considered a safe buff, as you can lose priority so the +2 is granted after the opponent’s Shang-Chi has revealed.
Last, I also have to talk about the possible synergies with destroy abilities. Indeed, The Thing First Steps will often be the card you support, but it can also enable a few others:
Decks with Fenris Wolf
Decks with Knull
Alright, Knull and Death probably won’t synergize with the new card, but Fenris Wolf definitely will. Following the OTA, the 2-Cost has been very popular alongside Gladiator, Negasonic Teenage Warhead, and Shang-Chi, sometimes even with the Mercury + Cannonball duo. The Thing First Steps probably won’t join that package as a direct synergy, but considering it looks like a solid generic 5-Cost it could become a new option to consider for decks with Fenris Wolf.
The Verdict: Should You Buy The Thing First Steps?
In my opinion, The Thing First Steps is the best purchase this season. It looks like a solid 5-Cost—something we don’t have very many of in Marvel Snap, except for Legion and Cannonball. The others are typically synergistic options. It also synergizes with plenty of the dominant cards in the game while perfectly fitting the current energy cheating fest that the meta is built upon.
The new card makes a lot of sense in the current environment, and it would probably remain a fine standalone addition as long as the Marvel Snap meta relies on energy manipulation and hand buffing.
Pre-Release Score:
The Thing First Steps Decks
There are two archetypes I foresee as great landing spots for the new 5-Cost: Good Cards and Fantasticar.
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In Good Cards, you have everything you need to make The Thing First Steps a star, and the card gives the archetype a flexible high cost card with a disruptive ability. You can either build to make the new card as powerful as possible with the hope that it will dominate a lane otherwise filled with support cards like Zabu and Surge, or you can simply add The Thing First Steps to the current best deck in the game and add yet another way to feed Fenris Wolf.
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I have yet to be convinced the Doom Fantasticar deck will become a thing. However, I can’t deny the obvious synergy with The Thing First Steps when it comes to filling lanes. Although I believe the more flexible High Evolutionary deck will remain the best performer, the new card might be more effective in the Doctor Doom build.
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Arishem has been quiet recently, but it is one of the rare decks that can make 5-Cost card shine due to its unique ability. There, The Thing First Steps is a potential [5/12] that is able to destroy an opponent’s card, and that’s pretty good.
Variants
Conclusion
Simply because it fits into some of the top tier archetypes of the current meta, I expect The Thing First Steps will look great early on. However, compared to H.E.R.B.I.E. and Human Torch First Steps, The Thing First Steps isn’t part of a very competitive cost of cards. The 5-Cost has a higher chance of simply turning into a fine standalone in the future, which raises its value even more.
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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