Card Acquisition in Marvel Snap is changing.
Since the introduction of Snap Packs, the amount of new cards per season has increased. This means with larger seasons and more cards, it’s never been more important to spend your resources wisely. You need to know exactly how you should be spending them and how you are acquiring the cards you want. Some card acquisition methods will seem better than others. It’s up to you to pick what you are willing to engage with, but it’s up to me to inform you.
I invite you to read along with me as I breakdown all 25 datamined upcoming new cards to Marvel Snap between now and September!
Master of the Arcane Season
June 03 - July 08
We have two weeks remaining in our current season, which means two more weekly releases. Dormammu and Clea are Series 5 cards, meaning they release with two methods of acquisition. You can either spend 6000 Collector’s Tokens and buy it while it is the featured card of the week, or you can spend 5000 Collector’s Tokens and buy a Seasonal Series 5 Pack.
My personal recommendation stems from my history playing other TCGs throughout the years. Opening a pack in hopes of getting what you want is usually wasting resources. What if you really want Dormammu but open Elixir instead? That means you “wasted” 5000 tokens, and still need to spend to get Dormammu. I know opening packs can be fun, it’s certainly great when you high roll and get 5000 tokens as one of the bonus rewards, but personally I stick to buying the cards directly.
Thankfully Second Dinner makes this manageable by giving us a way to get 3000 tokens weekly through the Collector’s Track. Two weeks of playing equals one new Series 5 card.
Dormammu and Clea (along with the other weekly releases from this season) will remain in Seasonal Series 5 packs until August 5. After which they can then be found in Collector’s Series 5 packs.
High Voltage: Overdrive
June 16 - June 25
Sigh.
Okay, let’s get this over with.
High Voltage: Overdrive is sort of offering two new cards, Cobra and Kid Omega. For those interested, we have a good breakdown of the mode (here). The biggest issue in my opinion is that these cards aren’t available any other way until JULY 16. It will be nearly a month before you can get them outside the mode.
Unfortunately, as of now the only way to get these cards is to not only grind the mode an exorbitant amount, but to then spend gold on top of that. At the time of writing, we have yet to hear from Second Dinner about their plan to address this and make it right, but be sure to come back after we have, because I will update this section then.
Cobra and Kid Omega are available now for 15,000-45,000 Volts and 50,000 Volts respectively. They will join Series 4 and Series 5 on July 16 and can be found in the appropriate Seasonal pack.
Sanctum Showdown
June 26 - July 03
For those we were not aware, we are having TWO limited time game modes this season. Coming in hot a day after the end of Overdrive, is the first return for Sanctum Showdown.
They are keeping the rewards close to the vest this time, so not even we have them datamined. Based on previous datamines and a statement from Glenn it appears as though Mercury and Hellion were planned to release through this mode.
This season already has an unprecedented 12 new cards releasing, so I wouldn’t expect another three like the previous Sanctum event, but I am expecting at least one new card.
Surely they wouldn’t release a game mode with no new card to get.
Fantastic Four: First Steps
July 08 - August 05
Coming up in conjunction with the newest MCU release is the First Steps season. I’m personally very excited for this one! I know not everyone is a fan of revamped and updated versions of previously existing characters, but I can’t wait to take some of these cards for a spin. I think this new version of The Thing looks especially great!
Herbie, Human Torch First Steps, The Thing First Steps, and Invisible Woman First Steps will release weekly in that order into the Seasonal Series 5 pack as well as be available to purchase directly with 6000 Collector’s Tokens. They will remain in Seasonal Series 5 packs until September 2, after which they can then be found in Collector’s Series 5 packs.
First Steps Season Pass
MisterFantasticFirstSteps
Our season pass card for this season will be Mister Fantastic First Steps.
You’ve heard dozens of Content Creators say it, so now add me to the pile, the Season Pass is the best value per dollar you could spend on this game.
If you are looking to spend any money it’s definitely on the season pass first. There’s too much value in it. We have the full breakdown of available rewards in the season pass (here).
For our Free to Play friends out there, Mister Fantastic First Steps will be available in the Seasonal Series 5 pack and for direct purchase with tokens on August 5, the start of the following season. It will remain in Seasonal Series 5 packs until September 2. After which it can then be found in Collector’s Series 5 packs.
First Steps Super Premium Season Pass
Wait, what’s this? A second season pass card??
According to datamines it appears as though the Super Premium Season Pass is getting an update. Currently it features a variant and borders along with 10 season pass levels, but starting in July it looks like it will also include a new Series 4 card.
I can see this not being popular with everyone. The idea of monetizing new cards is always a sticky situation but let’s look at it from a numbers perspective.
Series 4 cards cost 3000 tokens. If you have no tokens you get a prompt saying you can buy it for 3900 gold. Otherwise you have to buy 2500 and 1000 tokens since they don’t sell 3000 tokens. That would cost you 4550 gold. That’s $60! You could use your weekly 3000 from the Collector’s Track but that’s supposed to be saved for the weekly Series 5 cards. On the other hand, the Super Premium Season Pass is only another $10 on top of the $10 you’d spend on a Season Pass normally. You can’t beat 2 new cards for $20 in this game. Not even close.
It’s worth noting that Fantasticar is also labeled as a limited time event card. I personally think this is an artifact from a previous plan that was changed, but it is equally possible that Fantasticar will be offered in other methods than just the Super Premium Season Pass on release.
Like with the Season Pass, Free to Play players will have to wait a little to get it. Fantasticar will be available in the Seasonal Series 4 pack and for direct purchase with tokens on August 5, the start of the following season. It will remain in Seasonal Series 4 packs until October 7. After which it can then be found in Collector’s Series 4 packs.
Data Mined Extras
Every season they have a couple extra cards for Series 4 releases. We typically see those used for limited time game modes, but they can also be used for releasing direct to Seasonal Series 4 packs. For this season those cards are Mad Thinker and Mole Man. We have no datamined release date for these cards.
We have no future events announced at this time, but we do have datamines that tell us about a brand new game mode, Champion’s Arena, which due to its ties to the Fantastic Four First Steps cards, we can expect to be launching this season. For all our currently known information about Champion’s Arena, you can check out our recent article (here).
Heralds of Galactus
August 05 - September 02
Coming off the back of a Fantastic Four season we set off for the Cosmic side of Marvel. If you haven’t seen much discussion about this season yet, it’s because we don’t have card art for the Base Cards. However, we were able to datamine their stats and abilities, along with their respective Series.
Stardust, Frankie Ray, The Fallen One, and Cosmic Ghost Rider will release weekly in that order into the Seasonal Series 5 pack as well as be available to purchase directly with 6000 Collector’s Tokens. They will remain in Seasonal Series 5 packs until October 7. After which they can then be found in Collector’s Series 5 packs.
Heralds of Galactus Season Pass
I can think of no one more perfect way to kick off the Herald’s season than Galactus.
If you aren’t looking to snap this card up through the season pass, Galactus First Steps will be available in the Seasonal Series 5 pack and for direct purchase with tokens on September 2, the start of the following season. It will remain in Seasonal Series 5 packs until October 7. After which it can then be found in Collector’s Series 5 packs.
Heralds of Galactus Super Premium Season Pass
Following the new status quo set by the previous month, Silver Surfer First Steps appears to be part of the Super Premium Season Pass. We’ll have to wait and see how this shakes out, but for now we’ll assume this is the method of release for this card.
Silver Surfer First Steps will be available in the Seasonal Series 4 pack and for direct purchase with tokens on September 2, the start of the following season. It will remain in Seasonal Series 4 packs until November 4. After which it can then be found in Collector’s Series 4 packs.
Datamined Extras
These cards are an interesting case. Thematically they match the rest of the Heralds of Galactus season but they all have a release date of September 2, the start of the next season. I have no idea what that means but I would instead expect them to release in some manner during their appropriate season. As they are all Series 4 cards they could be direct to Seasonal Series 4 packs or used for a game mode.
Wild Mad Guesses
This last section is pure speculation, so bear with me, but we do have some reasonable evidence to support the release of these cards.
Tombstone was datamined back along with the Symbiote Spider-Man season back in September of last year, but never released with the rest of them. In the same vein, Dum Dum Dugan was datamined as a What If season card. We’ve seen them mix and match season themes before with Series 4 cards like when they released Batroc, Topaz, and Fan Fei all together. Perhaps we will see these release at the start of the July season in Series 4 packs?
Astral Projection is a funny one. It’s a Skill with no other card that makes it. It doesn’t come from a location or a game mode either, so what is it? We saw it first datamined back in back in April and I theorized then that it would be a Series 4 release as a standalone Skill you could include in deck building. Since then Glenn has answered that, yes, standalone Skills are coming, and soon! This is the only card we have datamined that this makes sense for. Maybe this is our Sanctum Showdown reward for this month?
Final Thoughts
When Second Dinner announced the coming of Snap Packs they said that it would allow them to release more cards every season. Judging from what’s on the way, it looks as though they intended to keep that promise.
People will worry. More cards means you can’t possibly keep up with everything. I truly believe that’s okay. I don’t buy bundles. I get only the Season Pass. I typically get 2-4 cards a month because I still believe that I only need the cards I want instead of trying to chase everything.
In more exciting news I have a PAX CODE to give away! If you’re looking for that sweet card back and exclusive PAX border this is your chance to snag it. Come follow me on X, and comment in the post for this article telling me which upcoming new card you are most excited for! The deadline for this giveaway is Sunday June 22nd! I can’t wait to see which cards you all are looking forward to!