Marvel Snap Conquest Meta Tier List: June 28, 2023 – Infinity Conquest Edition!

This week, the long awaited Infinity Conquest league opened its doors, and many players are already trying to run the gauntlet to get their shiny Infinity Avatars. While I expected this last league to help in identifying the very best decks in the game mode, it actually created quite a bit of chaos in Conquest!

Currently, while Bounce and Lockjaw still seem to be a step ahead of the competition, both decks are the target of a lot of other decks. In addition to Wave and Shang-Chi being quite easy to slot in several decks, we are also seeing archetypes dedicated to beating these two. Electro Ramp, Sera Surfer, and Evolved Lockdown are among those with cards that are naturally strong against one (or both) of these archetypes.

Outside of this “cop and robber” situation, we are also seeing a solid showing by the more flexible archetypes. Good Cards Stature and Pure Evolution, notably, are easily able to adapt. While it doesn’t lead to particularly strong or weak match ups, they at least give the player a shot against most opponents they will encounter while trying to complete their Conquest run.

There is still a lot to explore in order to fully understand the Conquest metagame. Once again, I chose to limit myself to the decks I knew when trying to explain their strengths and weaknesses in the current metagame. However, I will include some other decks in the closing words; decks that seem promising but are very fringe when it comes to popularity.

Happy Conquest runs, everyone!

Marvel Snap Conquest Meta Tier List

Tier Explanation

Tier 1

Evolved Lockjaw

Lockjaw Conquest

Created by den

, updated 10 months ago

0

1x Collection Level 1-14

1x 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 Starter Card

4

Cost

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

5.7

Power

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

Rank Justification:
While Bounce tends to win the one on one against Lockjaw, there are currently more decks aiming to beat Bounce, hence why Lockjaw takes the top spot this week.

There are also a few upsides to playing Lockjaw from a gameplay standpoint. Realistically, Lockjaw is much easier to play than Bounce, featuring simpler play patterns. Also, Lockjaw arguably has an easier Snap and Retreat strategy, which is probably the most important mechanic in Conquest.

Last but not least, Lockjaw has various lists going around currently, each of which requires a different counter from the opponent. For example, Shang-Chi will be particularly strong against the greedy lists with The Infinaut and Hulk, while the card will have fewer targets against the Odin and Doctor Doom build. Bounce, on the other hand, seem to always be weak to Wave or Killmonger, no matter the build it runs.

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.

Without Lockjaw, Jubilee and Dracula will serve a similar purpose and try to cheat points for less than the usual amount of energy. We’ll usually throw the cheap cards behind Lockjaw in the last two turns, so Dracula isn’t so difficult to abuse in the deck. Make sure to play Jubilee before doing so if you have both cards available.

The first two turns of the game can be very quiet for a Lockjaw deck, as we aren’t looking to do much (which now feeds Evolved Hulk). On Turn 3, we will either look to have Lockjaw paired with Wasp, or Thor to shuffle Mjölnir into the deck. Turn 4 will typically be Jubilee or Dracula; Jubilee will be stronger behind Lockjaw while Dracula is good to set up on the board with Evolved Hulk or The Infinaut in hand already.

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 Evolved Hulk 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 and Dracula to challenge the second lane.

Potential Additions:
The Infinaut is used as a soft counter to Spider-Ham, and those lists will usually include Dracula as well.

Vision is also seeing play since Doctor Doom‘s nerf, which adds an extra 5-Cost to the deck.

Bounce

Bounce Conquest

Created by den

, updated 10 months ago

2

3x Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)

1x Collection Level 222-474 (Pool 2)

4x Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

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

1x Starter Card

2

Cost

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

1.6

Power

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

Rank Justification:
Probably the strongest deck in the game with an experienced pilot, Bounce can also be very punishing for those without a few dozen games under their belt. Also, since Conquest is much more punishing than ladder play, you are bound to face a Wave or Killmonger deck eventually, and you’ll need to know the specifics of that match up to keep your run alive.

Otherwise, Bounce is able to rival almost any other deck on points while also packing enough flexibility to edge out certain match ups if needed. If it wasn’t for a significant part of the metagame trying to specifically beat it, the deck would easily be sitting atop the rankings this week.

How to Play:
Bounce relies on replaying cheap cards several times through the use of Beast, Kitty Pryde, and Falcon, leading to several benefits:

• Their abilities can be great, such as Iceman or Spider-Ham.
• They serve to buff cards like Angela or Bishop as they grow when you play more cards.
• It gives you an easy way to plan ahead of time because you don’t necessarily depend on your draw to use your energy. You can reuse cards already in play.
• You are much more flexible with your available space because you can remove cards and play others instead.
• Bounced cards are usually quite cheap, leading to very flexible turns down the line.

With Hit Monkey in the deck, Bounce also looks to keep those cheap cards in hand to have an explosive Turn 6 play. Through the Bounce mechanic, we are able to both play cards to buff Angela and Bishop during the game and also have them available to play alongside Hit Monkey.

Strategy wise, the deck wants to be as flexible as possible and only commit to lanes on Turns 5 and 6 in order to withhold as much information as possible from the opponent. Until this last turn, the deck will use Beast and Falcon to manage its hand and locations. The idea should be to abuse the abilities of our cards to disrupt the opponent while building the best hand possible going into the final turns.

Against an opponent you expect to play Wave, it is completely fine to go off on Turn 5. Kitty Pryde, Mysterio, and Hit Monkey will provide enough points on Turn 5, and we can keep a strong standalone card to play on six.

Potential Additions:
Currently, Elektra sees play to help with the mirror match, and Shang-Chi, The Hood, and America Chavez are also common inclusions.

Tier 2

Evolved Lockdown

Lockdown Conquest

Created by den

, updated 10 months ago

0

1x Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)

1x Collection Level 222-474 (Pool 2)

5x Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

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

3x Starter Card

3.1

Cost

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

4.2

Power

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

Rank Justification:
A deck able to annoy both Lockjaw and Bounce, as both decks like to have their space, Lockdown seems to do much better in Conquest than it does on the ladder. Indeed, the anticipation of Spider-Man or Wave from the opponent can lead to extremely effective Snaps and erode the opponent’s cubes in the process.

Also, the deck has a flexible slot that is typically filled by Luke Cage for the mirror match or Jeff the Baby Land Shark, but that slot can easily be adapted to a wide variety of match ups. It might not be much, but a solid deck with a touch of flexibility is the winning recipe when it comes to reaching the end of the Conquest Gauntlet.

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 work the same way they did in the previous Lockdown builds by reducing the space our opponent has available to play.

The new High Evolutionary package does push the deck towards a different play pattern, though, as several cards need some unspent energy. The deck seems to lean towards less of those lately, instead favoring an on curve kind of play style with the Lockdown part taking over as the dominant synergy.

Depending on your hand, whether you lean towards the more traditional Lockdown plan, or if you try to abuse Evolved Cyclops and Evolved Hulk, your play patterns should adapt.

Potential Additions:
Professor X can be played if you are fine having only one 2-Cost in your list. Also, some lists have an extra 1-Cost in the form of Misty Knight or Sunspot. However, it seems like the deck isn’t looking to have unspent energy as much as Lockjaw or Pure Evolution, leading to Nebula being the sole inclusion lately.

Good Cards Stature

Stature Conquest

Created by den

, updated 10 months ago

2

1x Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)

1x Collection Level 222-474 (Pool 2)

6x Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

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

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

3.3

Cost

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

4.1

Power

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

Rank Justification:
On the back foot since both Stature and Black Bolt were nerfed, this archetype is slowly climbing back into the competitive rankings thanks to its great adaptability.
Indeed, while you won’t have any match ups you should easily dominate, you shouldn’t be an easy opponent to beat either. Bounce is probably the toughest opponent considering Shang-Chi isn’t so useful in that match up. Even then, you can disrupt their patterns with Black Bolt discarding Kitty Pryde or Polaris moving Angela to another lane.

Lately, Kitty Pryde made its way into the deck to give it one more way to use a flexible, high scoring card with its unspent energy. Also, Stegron was part of one of the best performing lists, synergizing with both Miles Morales and Zabu and joining Polaris as a disruption tool.

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 any lanes in the last two turns.

The Move package with Polaris, Jeff the Baby Land Shark, and Miles Morales gained Silk, making it very reliable. It represents a great backup plan if we don’t find Zabu for our many 4-Costs. Lastly, the deck packs Shang-Chi and Enchantress (currently replaced by Luke Cage) 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 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. 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:
Enchantress typically replaces Stegron in the more common lists. With very few Ongoing decks and a Move package to support, Stegron seems to make a lot of sense.

Pure Evolution

Pure Evolution

Created by den

, updated 10 months ago

1

1x Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)

4x Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

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

5x Starter Card

3.2

Cost

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

4.7

Power

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

Rank Justification:
Another flexible deck that is able to develop a solid amount of points while packing several annoying cards for popular archetypes. Pure Evolution suffers from Luke Cage being a popular inclusion in Conquest, which is probably the reason why Lockdown is performing better overall.

Still, the deck is great for anyone who likes to innovate with the last few cards in their deck. The 2-Cost slots are wide open in order to adapt to your competition.

How to Play:
High Evolutionary seems to push a proactive play style and tries to play cards while keeping unspent energy in the process. Ideally, the deck will be able to build a very strong lane in the first few turns on the back of Sunspot and Evolved Misty Knight, building our points total early on. Then, Wave can shut down any potential comeback when played on Turn 5 while Evolved Hulk dominates any lane on Turn 6.

Due to of its off-curve play style that typically looks to keep one unspent energy to trigger Evolved Misty Knight, Evolved Cyclops, and Evolved Hulk, the deck can be a bit awkward at first. Keep in mind that each point of unspent energy can be worth up to six total points if all your cards trigger their abilities. Here is a normal play pattern with the deck:

• Pass on Turn 1.
• Sunspot on Turn 2.
• Evolved Misty Knight or a 2-Cost on Turn 3.
• Evolved Cyclops or Evolved The Thing on Turn 4. If you get a shot at discounting Evolved Abomination enough with Evolved Wasp, you should take it.
• Wave plus Evolved Abomination (or Evolved Misty Knight if still in hand). Play Evolved Wasp now if still in hand, otherwise Wave will make it unplayable.
• Evolved Hulk or Doctor Doom on Turn 6.

Although this looks suboptimal for many decks, the various synergies in the deck will make such out of sync play patterns worth it in the end.

Note that this kind of pattern is only worth going for if you have several cards that gain something from unspent energy. Otherwise, you should not purposefully waste resources for cards you are not guaranteed to get a return from.

Potential Additions:
Most of the deck’s flexibility lies in the 2-Cost cards it plays. Sunspot can be slotted as a third 1-Cost, but you might want to have Rogue, Enchantress, or Shang-Chi in the deck as well.

Sera Surfer

Conquest Surfer

Created by den

, updated 10 months ago

3

1x Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)

2x Collection Level 222-474 (Pool 2)

9x Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

2.7

Cost

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

2.9

Power

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

Rank Justification:
My personal favorite, as I got my first shiny avatar with this deck while testing it for this article. Sera Surfer seems to benefit a lot from Bounce being so popular. Indeed, with Shadow King and Killmonger in the list, Surfer has two of the best counter cards in the game in order to punish Kitty Pryde, Angela, Bishop, and Hit Monkey. With Invisible Woman recently joining the build, the deck can make sure these cards will reveal last so the opponent cannot get out of their ability.

If it wasn’t for Lockjaw playing the gatekeeper by beating this deck on points easily, Sera Surfer could have been much higher on the list this week.

How to Play:
The deck follows a pretty simple play pattern that culminates into an explosive Turn 6 and hopefully catches the opponent off guard.

On Turns 2, 3, and 4, you will usually just play a card and focus on spending your energy efficiently and advancing your game plan. Apart from the Storm–Juggernaut duo on Turns 3 and 4, there aren’t many synergies going on. Look to play cards you won’t be able to fit in on Turns 5 and 6 but still need to have in play. Usually, Nova is better to be played on Turn 4 with more information available rather than on Turn 1. It also disguises our archetype from the opponent better.

Turn 5 will usually be a Sera play, if you can. If you don’t have Sera, it can be a 3-Cost plus a 2-Cost (Goose can lock a location from a big card being played by our opponent while barely impacting us). On the last turn of play, the deck has many play patterns. The general game plan is dumping two 3-Cost cards followed by Silver Surfer in order to surprise the opponent with power.

Potential Additions:
Rogue, Cosmo, and Luke Cage are among the most popular inclusions in the deck. These three will allow you to adapt to different match ups depending on what you expect to face during your next run.

Tier 3

In Tier 3, we have another pair of decks looking to punish Bounce for being so good. Still, these two don’t seem flexible enough to adapt to a wide enough variety of match ups, so they tend to be punished whenever the metagame isn’t as anticipated.

Good Cards Wave seemed very solid in testing, especially with Odin included to trigger Wave a second time against Bounce. The card can also serve to shuffle extra Rocks in the opponent’s deck and growing Darkhawk in the process. The latter synergy also serves perfectly to disrupt Lockjaw, leading to good Snapping opportunities.

However, the deck can quickly fall to pieces against the occasional Rogue or Enchantress stealing a lane from Darkhawk. These two are not seeing much play, which could lead to the archetype climbing up the list by next week, but it cannot be completely overlooked either.

As for Electro Ramp, the deck seems to benefit a lot from the current metagame, but it receives very mixed reviews on social media. Some think it is among the very best decks in the game, perfectly punishing the current environment. Others cannot see how one is able to win five games in a row as an opponent with an explosive early game will bully you out of your hard-earned ticket.

Electro Ramp

Electro Ramp

Created by den

, updated 10 months ago

1

1x Collection Level 1-14

2x Collection Level 222-474 (Pool 2)

7x Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

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

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

4.1

Cost

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

4.8

Power

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

Good Cards Wave

Good Cards Conquest

Created by den

, updated 10 months ago

2

1x Collection Level 1-14

2x Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)

1x Collection Level 222-474 (Pool 2)

3x Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

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

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

3.2

Cost

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

3.8

Power

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

Closing Words

Like many others, I thought Conquest would become the default competitive mode for Marvel Snap, replicating tournaments in a way. I’m forced to admit the mode has looked much more casual than I anticipated. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing since it means most players have a shot at getting their favorite avatar some nice infinity borders.

On the other hand, it also makes analyzing the environment much more difficult as you are never guaranteed to face what you expect. On paper, you should be paired up with Bounce, Lockjaw, or another popular deck at some point during your run, meaning you need to have these decks in mind when picking yours. Still, you might also face some crazy exotic deck that you will have barely any idea how to beat.

I like to see this as a blessing. It means the mode has managed to attract more than just the Marvel Snap tryharders. As for the impact it has on these rankings, it means you should definitely bet on yourself and what you believe is important in the game in order to achieve victory.

Here are a few creative decks that have had success lately, in order to give you more perspective than just the dominant decks in Marvel Snap. Unfortunately, these are decks I didn’t have enough time to test thoroughly, so you will have to trust their creators.

Move by JungCat

Move

Created by den

, updated 10 months ago

1

3x Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)

4x Collection Level 222-474 (Pool 2)

4x Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

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

3.3

Cost

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

4.7

Power

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

EvoCombo by GetREKT

Pure Combolution

Created by den

, updated 10 months ago

0

3x Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)

2x Collection Level 222-474 (Pool 2)

2x Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

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

3x Starter Card

2.5

Cost

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

3.5

Power

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

Thanks for tuning in to this week’s breakdown of the Conquest mode. To reach out, 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.