Marvel Snap Conquest Meta Tier List: July 26, 2023 – A Three-Headed Metagame

If the OTA patch made a trick on the ranked ladder, Conquest has felt even more difficult to analyze for this first week after the big balance changes. As it stands, Thanos Control appears to be the dominant deck. However, if the ladder has more diversity, Conquest rewards tech cards much more, leading to Super-Skrull seeing more play, making life a little harder for Thanos Control as a result. A similar logic applies to a lot of decks, which could seem like incredible on ladder, but can immediately feel helpless whenever the opponent is running that one card you hoped to never see.

This assessment is true for a lot of decks, particularly those with the highest ceiling, and therefore playing very committal cards. Whenever their game plan goes as planned, decks like Hela Tribunal or Negative Surfer can develop an insane amount of points on the board. However, as long the lockdown synergy is dominating, those decks do not have the space required to truly express how strong they can be. As such, the more flexible archetypes are returning, such as Stature, Sera Control, or Lockjaw, which can afford to play one, maybe two cards in order to adapt to the popular opponents, while also not being dependent on one play pattern only.

This mix of the various strategies are making Conquest impossible to guess right every time, it feels. From those looking to just cancel what the opponent would be looking to do, to those hoping the game will simply be about who develops the most points, you are bound to face a wide variety of opponents. In addition, these opponents might be running the tech card you were hoping to dodge during your run, turning the matchup upside down.

In this mist of a metagame, it feels like only Good Cards Stature is kind of left alone, and putting great results thanks to being barely played, and therefore barely considered as well. This could be the name of the game for the time being in Conquest, considering the popular archetypes all have their strengths and weaknesses. Look for a deck the others won’t think about, and dodge the popular tech cards, while running a solid, well-rounded deck.

Obviously, that is easier said than done, as great, forgotten about archetypes aren’t so easy to find in the internet era. Yet, this first dive into the Conquest metagame since the July 20th balance updates will hopefully help in figuring out a part of the answer.

Happy Conquest run, everyone!

Marvel Snap Conquest Meta Tier List

Tier Explanation

Tier 1

Thanos Control

Thanos Control

Created by den

, updated 9 months ago

1

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:

With Professor X and Spider-Man doing a lot of work to limit the opponent’s ability to develop points currently, Thanos Control can capitalize on its great flexibility to boast the best win rate in Conquest. Also, while some might believe the more reliable Evolved Lockdown is a safer pick, it seems like the high rolls provided by the Infinity Stones, particularly the Time Stone, allows for a better Snap and Retreat game.

Indeed, landing a turn four Professor X appears to be one of the strongest things one can do in Marvel Snap right now. Plus, the deck packs a lot of cards able to help dominate the other lane needed to secure the win. As such, a Mind Stone or Time Stone plus Professor X early usually equates to a safe snap, the bread and butter of the best Conquest runs.

However, Super-Skrull has started reappearing a bit, and Killmonger is always a threat to the Infinity Stones. As such, if Thanos Control was the best deck for this first week, it also feels like the deck has a target on its back currently.

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, and most of the time necessary before you enter that second part of the game and commit to the card that will reveal your strategy. Indeed, considering we are looking to lock the game (which creates a situation that is easy to predict on Turn 6), not many opponents will stay to play it out if you established a strong lead.

Potential Additions:

The list is getting greedier by the day, now including Super-Skrull to edge the mirror match, but definitely being the flexible slot in the deck, previously allocated to Luke Cage. Some could be looking to replace Shang-chi with Armor to help against Killmonger as well.

Good Cards Stature

Good Cards Stature

Created by den

, updated 9 months ago

3

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)

3.3

Cost

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

4

Power

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

Rank Justification:

If Stature gave her name to the archetype, it feels like Polaris and Darkhawk are doing the heavy lifting lately. Polaris because of Invisible Woman, as moving that protection away from a lane allows landing a devastating Enchantress to your opponent’s Ongoing combos. Or simply revealing their cards before the timing they were planning around. As for Darkhawk, the card benefits quite a bit from Thanos being so popular, naturally increasing the points the ward is worth. Also, similarly to Lockdown, it seems like throwing rocks in your opponent’s deck is good in any match-ups, a nice security in a metagame difficult to figure out.

Nebula, Stature and Blackbolt are the debatable cards in the deck. Nebula because of Killmonger still being a popular inclusion, and the duo for its relative lack of impact outside of drawing both cards plus committing your turn five to it. In several lists, Iron Lad and Doctor Doom, or Iron Man, have started replacing them.

Even with a few doubts surrounding the archetype, Good Cards is posting very solid results, and leverages Darkhawk, and the cheap Miles Morales to annoy Professor X and Storm decks very well. However, you really need Shang-Chi or Enchantress to be able to compete against the Hela Tribunal and Lockjaw builds in conquest, as these decks will routinely ridicule you when it comes to points across all lanes.

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. Points wise, the deck is built around three cards: Nebula for the early game plus Darkhawk and Stature for later in the match.

The move package with Polaris, Jeff the Baby Land Shark, and Miles Morales represents a great backup plan if we don’t find Zabu for our many 4-costs. Lastly, the deck packs Shang-Chi and Enchantress as counter cards that also benefit from Zabu being in the deck.

With so many options, it is difficult to outline a specific play pattern outside Nebula on Turn 1 and 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, plus Stature or double 4-cost with Zabu in play. 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.

Potential Additions:

Silk, Iceman or Spider-Ham seems like good additions if Nebula isn’t to your liking. As for the top end of the curve, you can go in many directions. Iron Lad, Sera, Doctor Doom, Magneto… Most solid cards will do.

Evolved Lockdown

Evolved Lockdown

Created by den

, updated 9 months ago

3

1x Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)

1x Collection Level 222-474 (Pool 2)

3x Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

4x Series 5 Ultra Rare – Collection Level 486+ (Pool 5)

3x Starter Card

3.6

Cost

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

4.3

Power

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

Rank Justification:

Probably the deck to keep an eye on, as Legion is making a ton of noise in the archetype since its release. Lockdown is otherwise in a great position, as its core strategy annoys a lot of decks in the metagame. Also, the deck isn’t weak to the same cards as Thanos Control, such as Super-Skrull, limiting how much hate cards it regularly faces in the metagame. These two factors could lead to Lockdown being on the rise when we look at these rankings next week.

However, the deck is much less flexible than Thanos, leading to more hands being difficult to navigate, often worth retreating instead of playing out. This needed discipline is likely what is impacting Lockdown the most in its battle with Thanos to be the best Control archetype. Alongside the lack of ability to ramp for an earlier Professor X, which the newly included Iron Lad tries to solve.

How to Play:

The whole point of the deck is to get a lane under control before Turn 6; then, Evolved Hulk can come in and take the necessary second lane. In that regard, Storm, Spider-Man, and Professor X represent the core of the deck, limiting the opponent’s possibilities while pushing our agenda. Also, thanks to Doctor Doom, only Professor X needs to be played on a lane with the lead.

Apart from Evolved Hulk being able to win a lane almost on its own (at least if it spent enough turns growing in your hand), Lockdown usually relies on pairing a points card with a Lockdown card:

• Storm on Turn 3 is great on Nebula‘s lane or with Evolved Cyclops. Also, you can plan to add four points later on with Doctor Doom.
• Professor X receives help from Daredevil and Jeff the Baby Land Shark, alongside being able to lock a lane we are already ahead on.
• Spider-Man is usually at its best when another lane was already impacted, thinning the opponent’s choices to only one lane. Also, since the lane is still playable for us, Spider-Man can be played on a losing lane that we can then drop Evolved Hulk on or impact with Doctor Doom.

Once in control going into Turn 6, the only choice left is whether you want to attack one lane in particular with Evolved Hulk or spread your points across multiple with Doctor Doom.

Potential Additions:

Wasp for Iron Lad is the only change that seems reasonable in the deck. Legion is obviously playable, and probably replaces one of the 6-cost cards. Yet, it’s too early to know precisely how the deck will adapt if the card becomes a new staple in the archetype.

Tier 2

Sera Control

Sera Control

Created by den

, updated 9 months ago

0

6x Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)

2x Collection Level 222-474 (Pool 2)

2x Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

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

1x Starter Card

2.7

Cost

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

2.8

Power

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

Rank Justification:

While Lockdown strategies remain a bit of a problem for Sera, the archetype can build some momentum against Invisible Woman and Magik based decks. Against the first, Polaris is insane, while Enchantress can always be used to remove the ability if needed, for example triggering MODOK on turn five. Against Magik, the deck can play its usual game plan, simply dropping Scarlet With on Limbo on turn six.

If those cards are looking particularly great in the current metagame, the last spots in the deck appear to be a bit more up in the air. Hit Monkey and Mysterio still see play, while Sentinel and Lizard seem to be solid fillers until we figure out the next cards the deck will use for the proactive part of its game plan. As it is customary with reactive archetype based on specific abilities, it might take a bit for Sera Control to be back to a powerhouse status.

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:

Still in kind of rebuild mode, Sera Control has two, perhaps three flexible spots in Sentinel, Lizard, and Polaris. Another direction could be to add Zabu and another 4-Cost card. Also, Rogue can replace Enchantress depending if you value the ability or the cost of the card.

Iron Patriot

Iron Patriot

Created by den

, updated 9 months ago

0

2x 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)

1x Recruit Season

3.5

Cost

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

2.9

Power

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

Rank Justification:

Similarly to its ladder performance, Patriot has many tools which make a lot of sense in the current environment. Particularly, the deck can impact Storm, Spider-Man locations while being able to buff one locked by Professor X. Also, Super-Skrull makes a lot of sense in the deck, and is a red-hot tech card right now.

The trouble for Patriot, is the need to have everything go according to plan, similarly to Hela Tribunal or a Mister Negative deck. Indeed, even if Patriot is much more flexible than these decks, the points potential tends to be on the lower end whenever the deck needs to pass a turn, or misses an important buff card too.

Also, it seems like some slots in the deck are not completely figured out, such as which 6-cost cards are the best. For example, I was surprised to see Onslaught perform better than Ultron this week. It isn’t as blurry as for other decks in those rankings, but Patriot still has a little to figure out in this metagame.

How to Play:

Without a 1-Cost card, this Patriot build is more passive than the traditional one. The idea is that the late game will be crazy enough to not need to invest early on, especially if we intend to use Ultron. With Invisible Woman joining the deck, we now have a way to protect Patriot as well as hide our deck a little, since one could simply play on one lane and let Ultron fill the other two on game’s end. In addition, we can also hide some important tech cards, such as Killmonger, Shang-Chi or Super-Skrull, to keep our opponent in the game while they’ve already lost it.

The biggest choice you have to make with this deck is which route you are looking to take: the proactive one, or the disruptive one. If you think you can beat your opponent in a points contest, and they can’t punish you for it, it is completely reasonable to plan based solely on how many points you can develop. Then, you will be looking to build around Patriot, Iron Lad, Mystique, Doctor Doom alongside the other swarming cards, and Blue Marvel. This is particularly effective now that Invisible Woman can help hide some of our key cards, preventing the opponent from counting how many points they have to beat.

On the other hand, you can also plan for a more disruptive approach and use the reactive cards to counter your opponent’s plan. Then, you would be looking to play Patriot in the mid-game (typically either Turn 3 or Turn 5) and finish with Ultron behind Invisible Woman. This way, you still have a lot of energy on Turns 4 and 5 to use your counter cards. Just make sure to have Killmonger reveal before Ultron so you have a decent amount of points to contest the lanes where you’ve left the opponent impaired.

Because of the many high rolls this deck can pull, it is important to be fearless about your Snaps and Retreats, even with Enchantress representing a scary prospect.

Potential Additions:

Ultron, Onslaught and Doctor Doom are fighting for the two spots at the top end of the curve. Maybe a build with Wave, or looking at the many Magik decks running around could justify running both. Otherwise, Super-Skrull, Shang-Chi, and Killmonger are also fighting for the slots available for tech cards.

On Reveal Lockjaw

On Reveal Lockjaw

Created by den

, updated 9 months ago

1

1x Collection Level 1-14

1x Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)

4x Collection Level 222-474 (Pool 2)

6x Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

3.9

Cost

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

6.4

Power

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

Rank Justification:

With other decks outperforming Lockjaw in the points department, the archetype went back to a more flexible deck, able to spread points on different lanes. Indeed, with Hela Tribunal, Negative Surfer possessing a higher ceiling right now, while Shang-chi is still a popular tech card, Lockjaw is more advised to try to edge its deck against Lockdown, and towards challenging all three lanes in general.

This feels a bit like going back to the drawing board for Lockjaw, which does not seem to have a clear identity currently in the metagame. Seeing the deck go back to a more old school build, based around the On Reveal synergy, is a big hint Lockjaw is trying to find its groove in this new environment.

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.

Most of the time, that second lane will be challenged by Thor or a big 6-cost, we can also get some points from Doctor Doom or move Vision. On the other end, Wasp, Iceman, 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 at on the different lanes. For example, if Lockjaw summoned America Chavez plus Magneto by Turn 4, it might not be necessary to keep focusing on that lane anymore. 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, forced by a really high curve. Iceman can be a play to disrupt specific decks with an important 3-cost card, such as Electro. 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, a simple Doctor Doom or Magneto could 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:

Spider-Ham put up much better numbers than Iceman on ladder this week. Yet, Iceman seems to disrupt Lockdown very nicely in the current metagame. Vision and Doctor Doom are also great to catch on a Storm lane we couldn’t impact early on. The Infinaut is the biggest possible high roll to pull, but can likely be replaced if you want more flexibility.

Hela Tribunal

Hela Tribunal

Created by den

, updated 9 months ago

1

1x Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)

2x Collection Level 222-474 (Pool 2)

5x Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

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

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

1x Starter Card

4.4

Cost

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

6.2

Power

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

Rank Justification:

Echo seemed particularly important for the deck, looking at how much better Hela Tribunal was with the card included. Being able to cancel Cosmo, while preventing a Professor X on said lane, probably had a lot to do with Echo being a valuable asset.

Nevertheless, Hela Tribunal’s inflexibility seems to hurt the deck quite a bit in Conquest, where the surprise effect is gone after round 1. As such, it is crucial to have a deck which can routinely get the combo off, even against an opponent fully aware of our game plan.

Last, if decks with Polaris keep on gaining some momentum, it might be better to drop Hela and run a basic Tribunal deck. Indeed, it will get increasingly more difficult to safely play MODOK without the risk of Invisible Woman being moved.

How to Play:

This deck looks to merge two synergies in the hopes that one makes it through and scores a lot of points. Here is what we are looking to accomplish:

• Discard our hand with MODOK and bring everything back with Hela to summon a ton of points at random.
• Have Iron Man and Onslaught together on the same lane with The Living Tribunal in play. Make sure to maximize points on the Iron Man lane.

For one of these two play patterns to happen, we need to use our support cards to maximize our chances of pulling it off:

• Invisible Woman can hide MODOK, which will only reveal on Turn 6 and before the Hela that we also played behind Invisible Woman. The card can also serve as protection from Enchantress for our Ongoing combo.
• Electro allows us to play MODOK on Turn 4 if we haven’t drawn Hela yet, giving us two more turns to find our second combo piece. Otherwise, the card enables the Iron Man → Onslaught → The Living Tribunal pattern on Turns 4, 5, and 6.
• Magik gives us an extra turn, which functions similar to Electro. We get one more draw for Hela or the energy needed for the Ongoing combo.
• Jubilee can pull a piece of the Ongoing combo or give us a shot at Hela if she’s still in the deck.

Potential Additions:

It is honestly difficult to suggest replacements considering this build did much better than the other Hela Tribunal decks this week. One could probably remove one of the support cards, or maybe Giganto for a tech card, or Death, for Spider-Ham protection.

Closing Words

As lockdown confirmed its hot start on the Ladder with taking two of the top spots in Conquest as well, a lot of the synergy’s strength probably lies in a difficult to understand metagme. Indeed, compared to a Shang-Chi or an Enchantress, both cards being able to turn the lights out on a deck if played at the right time. Lockdown isn’t really trying to counter anyone in particular. Rather, it looks to do its own thing, and it looks like it is the best game plan to have currently, as it punished Magik, Invisible Woman, and other slow start strategies the best.

However, I would like to remind you, Lockdown ended up being the worst of the three High Evolutionary‘s archetype before the changes. Then, the metagame was based around fast-paced decks, and the ability to impact lanes even without directly playing there. As such, if Lockdown strategies are looking so good right now, there might also be a bit of a lot of players testing out the water, and seeing which decks they like or not in this still very new environment. Legion might keep Lockdown atop the competitive pyramid, as the card is off to an incredible start during its first day.

Nevertheless, seeing an established, strong deck which had no card to change from before the patch be the best in the game in Thanos Control, or have another, very similar archetype also do well, isn’t so surprising. We already know how to build, and to play these decks, so why couldn’t they be part of the best ones off the gate when you think about it?

Let’s reassess the situation in a week, once we’ve had a bit more time to try to beat them, using refined archetypes we had more than a couple of days to work on.

Until then, I hope you’re having a good time on Marvel Snap, and don’t beat yourself too hard for now making much progress in a difficult environment to grasp completely. If you had a question, or a coaching inquiry, 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.