We are a little over 24 hours into the Infinity Conquest league, and the first day was widely promoted through the Conquerors event on Twitch. As such, Conquest saw more matches being played than usual, generating enough data to already have a bit of an idea of the solid performers. Of course, the metagame can still shift during the four days we have left to play before the Infinity League closes once again. However, for those looking to pick up some clues on what to play or what to expect, this early data is the best source of information available yet.

So, what are the big headlines so far? Well, they are pretty close to what we already know from Ladder play, except for a few decks posting a surprisingly good performance for their current status.

Good Cards and Darkhawk have ascended to the top of the mountain, finally dethroning Thanos Control in Conquest (after doing so in Ladder already). Sera Control also is putting up a much better performance than anticipated since the Lockdown meta really wasn’t a good one for the deck to shine. Below that dominant trio, Hela Lockjaw and Big Hands Mirage are the surprise decks this week, putting up solid performances while dodging the usual counter decks. Hela Lockjaw in particular has posted great results this week, after it was chosen as a sleeper deck before the league opened. As for Big Hands, I have my doubts regarding Mirage boosting the deck enough to make it a solid contender, but Zabu, Shang-Chi, and Enchantress do seem to be an incredible trio to run.

Last on this week’s agenda is the arrival of Silent Performers in our Conquest Tier List. The data is very limited regarding these decks, so take it with a grain of salt. Considering we are in a meta where tech cards seems to be the best way to rack up cubes, finding the deck that can dodge the most popular ones while putting up solid numbers can be a huge advantage over the competition.

In that regard, Bounce and Thanos Death have posted promising performances lately, which were largely helped by the Lockdown archetypes being less oppressive thanks to Darkhawk roaming about. Overall, it feels like the Infinity League opened at the perfect time, right when the metagame started to shift to reward different decks and opened up to various strategies and play styles. One deck I was expecting to see more of was the Moon Girl Double archetype, which has been making some noise in tournaments lately. However, the deck did not appear during my research, so I had to leave it out of this Tier List.

Happy Conquest runs, everyone!

Marvel Snap Conquest Meta Tier List

Tier Explanation

Tier 1

Good Cards

Good Cards

Created by den

, updated 9 months ago

2

2x Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)

1x Collection Level 222-474 (Pool 2)

5x Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

2x Series 4 Rare – Collection Level 486+ (Pool 4)

2x Series 5 Ultra Rare – Collection Level 486+ (Pool 5)

3.5

Cost

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

4.4

Power

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

Rank Justification:
The ability to put up enough points to compete with most decks while holding powerful counter cards for Turn 6 is perfect for a diverse metagame. Plus, the core of the Good Cards archetype is only about ten cards total, allowing you to slot in a few tech cards for match ups you struggle with or expect to see a lot of. In the featured build, Polaris and Miles Morales are taking up these last two slots, providing some nice disruption for Invisible Woman while granting another way to develop points for cheap. Cards like Luke Cage, Cosmo, Killmonger, and Spider-Ham could also be included in those slots. The same can be said for Stature and Black Bolt, which have been replaced by America Chavez and any strong, standalone 5-Cost in many players’ decks.

Compared to the other decks, Good Cards isn’t necessarily able to develop more points than the other decks. Shuri, Lockjaw, and Hela would probably beat it if it was just about who can score the most; however, thanks to Zabu reducing all the 4-Cost cards and the ability to discount cards like Miles Morales and Stature to one, this deck can hold its resources longer than other decks, which makes it much harder for the opponent to get a read on your future plans. In an environment with very powerful counter cards, this ability to keep Darkhawk in hand until the very last turn or drop it early to counter a Professor X trying to lock a lane is one of the greatest strengths that Good Cards has.

How to Play:
Good Cards Stature is a very tempo oriented build looking to use its energy while staying flexible on where it can invest in the future. Ideally, one would be looking to stay flexible for a large part of the game before committing to lanes in the last two turns. Overall, this archetype relies on a lot of deck building space, which will impact your game plan a lot.

With so many options, it is difficult to outline a specific play pattern outside Black Bolt on Turn 5 with Stature in hand. Ideally, we want to set up Turn 6 to be a 4-Cost plus Miles Morales and Stature. The rest of your game plan should be based on which package of cards you draw and your opponent. Try to assess early on which cards are fundamental to play and which turns make the most sense to play them; you can then use your other cards to fill the holes in your established pattern.

Finally, keep in mind that the deck is able to play proactively with Darkhawk and Stature, but also reactively with Enchantress and Shang-Chi. This can lead to a desire to play every card since they all have their upsides. But remember, Darkhawk also requires Rockslide and Korg to be effective, and Stature needs Black Bolt. As such, don’t forget the commitment that goes with each card. It will help you plan how much energy you can work with, and thus how many other cards can fit into your plan.

Potential Additions:
Polaris and Miles Morales (or Stature and Black Bolt) can be replaced for other duos you would consider more fitting. Having another source of points apart from Darkhawk is recommended so you avoid not drawing your cards and being left to play with low power counter cards.

Thanos Control

Thanos Control

Created by den

, updated 9 months ago

2

4x Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)

1x Collection Level 222-474 (Pool 2)

3x Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

3x Series 5 Ultra Rare – Collection Level 486+ (Pool 5)

1x Recruit Season

4

Cost

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

3.7

Power

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

Rank Justification:
Still considered the best pick for Conquest by many, Thanos Control isn’t the walk in the park it was during the first week after the OTA. Right now, even though the core of the archetype still looks rock solid, the deck needs to pick the right tech cards in order to perform at the highest level. Indeed, Professor X is now widely expected to hit the board on Turn 4 or Turn 5, and you should be facing more proactive opponents that are able to make your set up harder to abuse.

Nevertheless, even if the metagame isn’t as good as it used to for Thanos Control, the deck remains the most popular in Conquest, and it keeps posting a win rate above 60%. As such, I have no doubt the deck is great – as long as you can read the environment correctly and adapt your deck accordingly.

Depending on your play style, you could either try to adapt to the most anticipated opponents (i.e. the mirror match and High Evolutionary), or use the tech cards to help in the match ups you naturally struggle with.

How to Play:
The goal with Thanos Control is to quickly figure out where we want to compete and which location we can use to dump our utility cards. These utility cards do not mean we are abandoning that lane, though, as we can use Professor X, Blue Marvel, or Spider-Man to steal it later on. The goal is to make it look like the lane isn’t a threat and just use it to manage space. This way, if the opponent does not challenge it, we can easily lock it down later on.

This first part of our game plan is crucial to the success of the deck, as it is quite rare for Thanos Control to win a points shootout on two different lanes. When only one remains to dominate, Devil Dinosaur, Thanos, and Shang-Chi can prove exceptional tools to win the points battle.

The other big strength of Thanos Control is its flexibility. It’s able to do a bit of everything during the last three turns of the match, and this flexibility is exactly what we are looking to leverage – especially if we are already in the lead. Here are some examples:

• Professor X or Spider-Man can lock a lane that we are ahead on.
• Blue Marvel and Klaw can impact multiple lanes at once.
• Devil Dinosaur, Shang-Chi, and Thanos help win over a single lane with points.

Depending on the situation and the opponent, you might want to take a different route in order to push your opponent towards a game plan they should struggle with. Finally, the timing of your Snaps is crucial.

Potential Additions:
Luke Cage, Armor, Valkyrie, Spider-Ham… the deck is very adaptable when it comes to which tech cards you might want to include.

Sera Control

Sera Control Conquest

Created by den

, updated 9 months ago

3

5x Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)

2x Collection Level 222-474 (Pool 2)

2x Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

2x Series 4 Rare – Collection Level 486+ (Pool 4)

1x Starter Card

2.7

Cost

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

2.5

Power

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

Rank Justification:
Probably the biggest winner of the metagame slowly shifting away from Lockdown dominating the fray, Sera Control is very happy with Good Cards not coming back with Wave included. I was surprised to see Sera post a solid performance, as the deck still seems to be figuring out its perfect list as we speak. For now, Mysterio and Hit Monkey still represent the core of how the deck looks to create points around Angela and Bishop. However, various players have shared their desire to find a different way to create points and make the deck a little more flexible.

Outside this quest for the perfect list, Sera Control is the textbook archetype when it comes to relying on counter cards to rack up cubes. As such, in a metagame rewarding the ability to deny the opponent their most important pieces, Sera Control and its core of tech cards seems well indicated to perform currently. Killmonger, Scarlet Witch, Shang-Chi, and Enchantress all have incredible targets that are popular in this meta, if you think about it.

How to Play:
This archetype relies on giving up priority going into the last turn, so it can punish the opponent with reactive cards like Shang-Chi and Killmonger. Ever since Hit Monkey joined the deck, it also unlocked a proactive pattern on Turn 6 with the monkey assassin able to challenge a lane with points rather than looking to counter what the opponent did.

Sera is at the core of this strategy, as she allows reducing the cost of cards in your hand, strengthening your Turn 6 potential and making it worth to purposefully give the lead to your opponent. Note that losing priority doesn’t mean losing the game – we can be in the lead on a location and close on the other two. Since Sera only has four power, your opponent will typically have a stronger Turn 5 than you do and take back priority. This way, we don’t need to have an incredible Turn 6 or perfectly guess our opponent’s plays to win every game. Most of this deck’s strength relies on its ability to be able to stay as close as possible while not having priority, so our reactive cards are at their best.

While the basic ideology of Sera Control remains the same from one build to another, this is one of the most flexible archetypes in Marvel Snap. As such, some builds will look to focus on reacting to the opponent, while others might have more of a proactive development in mind by answering one lane and developing points on another. Make sure to understand the goal of your build and how your deck aims to win over two lanes by game’s end.

Potential Additions:
Zabu and Polaris are two popular cards in the deck as well. With Zabu included, one can look into more 4-Cost cards in order to bolster its points potential.

Tier 2

Evolved Lockjaw

Lockjaw

Created by den

, updated 9 months ago

3

1x Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)

2x Collection Level 222-474 (Pool 2)

6x Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

1x Series 4 Rare – Collection Level 486+ (Pool 4)

1x Series 5 Ultra Rare – Collection Level 486+ (Pool 5)

1x Starter Card

3.7

Cost

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

6

Power

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

Rank Justification:
Although Shang-Chi remains quite the threat for Lockjaw, the points ceiling for the deck is much higher than the most popular ones. As a result, instead of considering Shang-Chi as a problem for us, Lockjaw players might want to change their perspective and consider it the only solution for the opponent.

Indeed, if we look at the Tier 1 decks on this list, none of them are able to beat Lockjaw on more than one lane if the game is only about points. The result of this is the tech cards being so important for these decks. As such, if you can spread your points across all three locations, you are forcing your opponent to have Shang-Chi or be doomed. This might sound inefficient and very risky since you can expect almost every opponent to run Shang-Chi in the current environment. But this also puts you in charge of the game, and creating a situation where Shang-Chi wouldn’t be a factor almost guarantees you to win that round.

It can be a difficult situation to create or navigate, but it seems to be helping Lockjaw‘s momentum.

How to Play:
Based on its signature card, the deck aims to use cheap, weak cards behind Lockjaw in order to summon much stronger ones without paying the required energy. In that sense, Lockjaw’s lane is often very strong, and it is important to keep in mind how to win another one and not get caught up in abusing Lockjaw only.

Most of the time, that second lane will be challenged by Thor, Dracula, or a big Evolved Hulk. On the other end, Evolved Wasp, Spider-Ham, and Mjölnir are perfect to play behind Lockjaw in order to get high points cards for cheap. As the game progresses, we should be able to track where we are on each lane. For example, if Lockjaw summoned America Chavez plus Magneto by Turn 4, it might not be necessary to keep focusing on that lane. Similarly, if you already have Jane Foster Mighty Thor in hand, you can expect Thor to be a ten power card, which is a solid anchor for a lane.

The first two turns of the game can be very quiet for a Lockjaw deck, as we aren’t looking to do much (which feeds Evolved Hulk when in hand). On Turn 3, we will either look to have Lockjaw paired with Wasp, or Thor to shuffle Mjölnir into the deck. Turn 4 will often be Jubilee or the card we didn’t play on Turn 3 (if we had both Lockjaw and Thor available).

It is usually good to assess the situation at the end of Turn 4 to know where the match is headed. Once in the final two turns of the match, the goal is to think about our best outcomes and how we can high roll enough to win the game. If ahead, the goal should be to think about tech cards the opponent can use to turn a lane around, such as Shang-Chi. Otherwise, dropping more big cards to get ahead on all three lanes with priority should be enough to secure the win. If behind, it is important to know the chances of winning Lockjaw‘s lane based on what is left in our deck, while counting how big we can get Thor to challenge the second lane.

Potential Additions:
Considering the Evolved build posted the better numbers on both Ladder and Conquest this week, it feels like only Spider-Ham is a consideration to replace in the deck.

Hela Lockjaw

Hela

Created by den

, updated 9 months ago

2

1x Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)

3x Collection Level 222-474 (Pool 2)

8x Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

3.9

Cost

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

6.2

Power

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

Rank Justification:
A sleeper deck when I took a look at the data this weekend before the Infinity League opened, Hela Lockjaw seems to have maintained its level of play and even gained some success. Now, one has to wonder if the surprise effect is playing a role in that success or if this is legitimately a rising deck. I think I’m leaning towards the latter, as this correlates with Lockjaw putting up great numbers as well. In the end, one might consider this deck a Lockjaw build with some Discard sprinkled on top.

The result of merging both archetypes creates quite a reliable deck that is able to fetch its big cards through Lockjaw and Jubilee if they’re in the deck, or Dracula and Hela if they’re in your hand. Obviously, if you compared this to Hela Tribunal, you would notice the ongoing build has a much higher points ceiling, but it’s also much more easily countered by the popular decks. On the other hand, this deck barely fears any of the current most used tech cards (apart from Shang-Chi when you summon a big card before Turn 6). Otherwise, the amount of points you can put up is largely enough to beat Thanos and Darkhawk, and your approach to getting those points on the various locations is much safer than Hela Tribunal.

It’s not about putting as many points as possible in the end. Instead, it’s how to safely put up more points than your opponent on two lanes.

How to Play:
Hela Lockjaw is a primarily a points deck that wants to win in the simplest way you can in Marvel Snap. However, compared to decks with one precise game plan leading to a ton of points, Hela Lockjaw aims to be more flexible in how it dominates two locations.

• Lockjaw and Hela are our big win conditions. Lockjaw will usually put up a lot of points on its lane, while Hela is more of a Turn 6 reward to send points everywhere. Note that you can also use Lockjaw in order to look for Hela if the card is still in the deck by Turn 6.
• Dracula and Jubilee are the other two strong contributors. They serve to pressure a lane early on, especially against a Professor X deck. We usually won’t summon all our big cards, so Dracula should routinely be a 9 to 20 power card.
• The 6-Cost cards are meant to be cheated in with our win conditions, but Magneto can be a good play on occasion – especially against Darkhawk and other decks loaded with 3- and 4-Cost cards.
• The Discard package is our support, and it helps create cards to throw behind Lockjaw with Swarm, discarding big boys for Hela, or simply disrupting the opponent with Gambit and Moon Knight‘s ability.

During a match, it is important to keep in mind we are looking to develop a lot of points. However, we are not trying to have as much as possible in play. Instead, the goal should be to assess how much we will need and find the safest route possible to get there by leveraging our various win conditions optimally.

Potential Additions:
Considering the deck recently came out of the shadows (and is a full Pool 3 deck), I would recommend playing it this way first.

Big Hands Mirage

Big Hands

Created by den

, updated 9 months ago

2

3x Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)

2x Collection Level 222-474 (Pool 2)

3x Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

3x Series 4 Rare – Collection Level 486+ (Pool 4)

1x Series 5 Ultra Rare – Collection Level 486+ (Pool 5)

2.8

Cost

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

3

Power

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

Rank Justification:
The other surprising performer of the week, Big Hands seems like it found some help in the newly released Mirage, as well as the tech package of Zabu, Shang-Chi, and Enchantress, of course.

When you look at it, the deck looks like Good Cards with a different points package, which might be an accurate description of the deck. The Collector and Devil Dinosaur have their support cards to grow their power, and we can use Kitty Pryde and Angela as a back up plan for points. Round it out with the usual tech cards for a deck able to play 4-Cost cards already and you should recognize the recipe.

The one upside this deck has over throwing Rocks and having more 2-Cost card slots to work with in the Darkhawk shell is the ability to surprise your opponent with random card. It probably won’t be a regular occurrence, but picking up a Spider-Man, a Doctor Doom, or another very strong card can open your deck to a completely different play pattern that is impossible for your opponent to anticipate. It can immediately translate to a devastating Snap for them.

How to Play:
This deck works around three different packages of cards that each contribute to different parts of the game plan:

• The Collector and Devil Dinosaur are our anchors. The 2-Cost card comes down early while Devil Dinosaur is safer to play on Turn 6 alongside a buffed up Kitty Pryde to avoid a counter card.
• Angela can be a second copy of The Collector, especially with Kitty Pryde in hand. You can use the 1-Cost card to buff both your 2-Costs each turn and build a solid foundation.
• Enchantress and Shang-Chi give us some reactive capacity, especially with Zabu on the board. We can’t pair any of these two with Devil Dinosaur, so you either have to play the 5-Cost on Turn 5 or plan on your double 4-Cost cards to take over on Turn 6.

The other cards in the build are support tools that boost our win condition while bringing an unpredictable aspect to the deck. Especially with Quinjet in play, take a second to consider the cards you create with Agent Coulson and Nick Fury; they might open completely new avenues to explore.

Potential Additions:
Cosmo is probably the card I would want the most in this deck. Otherwise, America Chavez seems good with Angela, Kitty Pryde, Zabu, and The Collector since they’re time-sensitive cards.

Tier 3

Tier 3 sees two completely different decks round up our list for this week. First, we have Shuri Zero, which looks like a solid pick if the top contenders don’t inspire you. However, the need to Snap aggressively with this deck tends to lead to a riskier strategy, and that requires a riskier mindset to go with it. Plus, with Shang-Chi in every deck around the corner, not drawing into Armor or Vision to pair with Shuri can immediately feel like you are about to be punished on the next turn. The results are still solid, though, so Shuri Sauron must be doing something right.

Then, and this comes as a bit of a surprise that I can only explain with Luke Cage being very popular as a tech card, the Pure Control archetype took over Evolved Control in Conquest this week, edging it out by a few percentage points in win rate. With quite a basic list that looks to be as reliable as possible, it seems like this deck is showing the Lockdown strategy isn’t done yet. Also, being able to add the current strong tech cards to an already limiting strategy can be hell for the opponent to navigate properly. The deck isn’t taking over Marvel Snap (or anything close to that), but this switch in the best performing Lockdown list this week is an interesting development to follow in the future.

Shuri Sauron

Shuri Sauron

Created by den

, updated 9 months ago

2

3x Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)

1x Collection Level 222-474 (Pool 2)

7x Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

1x Series 5 Ultra Rare – Collection Level 486+ (Pool 5)

3.2

Cost

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

5.1

Power

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

Pure Control

Pure Control

Created by den

, updated 9 months ago

2

1x Collection Level 1-14

4x Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)

1x Collection Level 222-474 (Pool 2)

3x Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

1x Series 4 Rare – Collection Level 486+ (Pool 4)

1x Series 5 Ultra Rare – Collection Level 486+ (Pool 5)

1x Recruit Season

2.8

Cost

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

3.1

Power

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

Closing Words

Similarly to Ladder play, Conquest is starting to show the same decks taking over the mode, or at least posting the best results over large sample sizes. However, this isn’t a metagame where one deck is head and shoulders above the competition; rather, it’s packages of cards that one can support with different options. Then the choice of these options will impact the fate of the deck by a lot.

For now, it seems like Shang-Chi plus Enchantress are the popular fillers. We can see many decks include Armor, Cosmo, Luke Cage, Super-Skrull, and other such cards to gain an edge in specific matchups, meaning no one is really safe from being countered. Also, with decks like Hela Lockjaw and Big Hands picking up momentum, we are seeing some decks that are able to dodge the more popular techs or come up with a way to limit their impact on the game by pushing them to be used at very specific times.

Overall, this metagame feels great for Conquest. Both deckbuilding and playing well are rewarded on the way to getting your Infinite avatar. One could decide to go crazy on a very committed build that is looking to demolish certain opponents, while another might decide to go with their comfort archetype and simply navigate the various match ups they will encounter along the way. This is perfect for a game mode such as Conquest.

As usual, I hope you are having fun with the game and progressing towards your goals. For any questions or coaching inquiries, you can find me on the Marvel Snap Zone community Discord, or follow my Twitter page where I share decks and biased opinions about the game.

Good Game Everyone.