Marvel Snap Conquest Meta Tier List: October 29, 2023 – The Old Pillars of Marvel Snap Return With a Vengeance

Welcome to our Marvel Snap Meta Tier List for Conquest mode! Each week, we review the best decks in the ever-changing Marvel Snap metagame. Then we bring you the decklists, and we provide an in-depth report about them. This report contains information like how their ranks are justified, how to play the decks, and how to build the deck with alternate cards to accommodate different collections.

Marvel Snap Conquest Meta Overview

We are just a few days after one of the most impactful OTAs in Marvel Snap history that (naturally) shook a large part of the metagame. At least, the part that relied on Angela and Elsa Bloodstone to create a huge amount of points.

From that bunch, it appears many have survived the changes if we trust the early data we have about Conquest. Loki Collector and Move, in particular, could both compete to be in Tier 1 if it wasn’t for their minuscule popularity compared to the other decks in our rankings, hence their placement in the Silent Performer section. Their lists have kept a significant part of what they were before the OTA, which is a sign they were indeed very strong. However, there are also notable changes, such as Angela missing from both archetypes. This could be the sign of these two being resilient enough to stay atop Marvel Snap once they have regained some of their past play rate. Sera Control is still doing pretty good, too. It managed to stay afloat, although it looks a bit worse than what it was earlier this week.

Funnily enough, both decks sitting in the top two ranks also suffered slight nerfs, as Sauron lost one power and Thanos Control was, and still is, running Elsa Bloodstone. However, just like Shuri‘s nerf two weeks ago, it looks far from enough to turn Shuri Sauron into a bad deck. Similarly, Thanos Control benefited much more from a lot of other decks not being able to abuse Elsa Bloodstone anymore.

Outside everything the nerfs have meant for the decks who had to endure them, the biggest and most notable repercussions were probably on those that were not nerfed in this OTA. Decks built around High Evolutionary, Discard, Zabu, or Destroy, to name a few, have all progressed a lot this week compared to before the OTA. We’ll have to see which ones will manage to keep this early momentum, but there is no denying this wind of change is extremely refreshing.

As for brand new archetypes, it will probably take a bit for these to make their entrance; there are still quite a lot of decks with plenty of power after the OTA. Still, we can already see there is much more space for these decks to emerge, so let’s be a little patient. I’m sure a few surprises are on the horizon.

Happy Tier List, everyone!

Marvel Snap Conquest Meta Tier List

Disclaimer and Tier Explanations

Conquest is not played as much as the Ladder, so it is difficult to have a clear representation of the metagame in the game mode. Indeed, there currently is not enough data to precisely assess the power of each deck – even more so when the Proving Grounds have become the default unranked mode for Marvel Snap. Nevertheless, by scanning social media, looking at what players are having success with, and which decks are performing on Ladder, in addition to the data available through deck trackers. We can form an educated opinion about the best performing decks in Conquest, as well as those worth keeping an eye on.

This Tier List won’t be as detailed as the Ladder one; instead, it will focus on the very best decks right now and a few more worth keeping in mind (similar to the Silent Performers in the Ladder Tier List). I would rather keep this to a shorter list for now so I can provide a more in-depth reasoning, rather than a longer list that I would have to extrapolate on.

Tier 1

Shuri Sauron

Shuri Sauron

Created by den

, updated 6 months ago

0

2x Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)

2x Collection Level 222-474 (Pool 2)

6x Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

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

3.3

Cost

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

5.2

Power

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

Rank Justification:
It doesn’t take a veteran of the game or an expert card slinger to know Shuri Sauron will be pretty strong after an impactful balance patch (that it wasn’t really targeted by). Then, with Sauron losing a power not damaging the deck’s potential at all, it is only logical to see this archetype at the top of the rankings.

Considering the deck was already top five in the previous metagame and all the other decks were built around Elsa Bloodstone, there is no surprise that Shuri Sauron is sitting on the throne this early after the changes. The deck is historically among the best performers in uncertain environments. Also, Destroy has been very popular early on, so a deck with Armor as part of its core must have gained a few cubes from it. Let’s revisit this situation next week once more decks have managed to refine their strategy.

How to Play:
Shuri Sauron is based around the idea of cancelling negative Ongoing abilities with Sauron and abusing Shuri to create a huge amount of points. In that regard, the deck is very rigid in the mid-game since Turns 3, 4, and 5 are almost always the same: Sauron → Shuri → any card worth doubling the power. Often times, Turn 2 will also be dedicated to Armor as a way to prevent an opposing Shang-Chi from ruining your plans. Speaking of Shang-Chi, Vision is another way to play around it, as hitting a moving target isn’t so simple.

This leaves only Turn 1 and Turn 6 to be truly flexible, with Nebula or Zero taking up the 1-Cost slot and Taskmaster usually being the default Turn 6 play alongside Ebony Maw.

If this very straightforward approach can lead to a ton of points on two lanes, it also often doesn’t equate to a lot of cubes. Indeed, unless you are Snapping aggressively, the opponent can see the points coming and will rarely stay in the game once you show Shuri (and they can’t handle it). This creates two important factors to take into consideration when playing Shuri Sauron:

• You have to accept Snaps early in the game, especially when Sauron and Shuri show up.
• You need to find lines of play even when you don’t have the best play pattern with the deck, especially when the opponent does not Snap. Even without Shuri, the deck can develop a solid amount of points, and Alioth is able to steal a few wins.

Potential Additions:
America Chavez and Enchantress are the common replacements for Alioth and/or Nebula. The deck can also use strong standalone cards such as Mobius M. Mobius.

Thanos Control

Thanos Control

Created by den

, updated 6 months ago

1

2x Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)

1x Collection Level 222-474 (Pool 2)

1x Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

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

6x Series 5 Ultra Rare – Collection Level 486+ (Pool 5)

1x Recruit Season

3.9

Cost

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

4.3

Power

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

Rank Justification:
Thanos is widely regarded as the most flexible card to build around in Marvel Snap, which makes it the perfect candidate to have a deck emerge right away when a lot of other decks suffered nerfs.
On the back of this flexibility, Thanos Control remained pretty much the same as what it was before the OTA, and it kept running Elsa Bloodstone when a lot of other decks had to go back to the drawing board. The points potential was reduced, just like for every other deck running the card, but when your core game plan isn’t based around points only then you won’t get hit as hard as other decks.

Plus, with most players electing to go for a synergistic approach early on in this new metagame, Professor X has a lot of opportunities to lock out lanes. It’s not that difficult to figure out where the opponent is unlikely to play once you know which deck they are running.

Overall, things are looking great for Thanos right now. Apart from Junk picking up a ton of momentum, nothing points towards the deck feeling worse in the near future.

How to Play:
Thanos Control aims at quickly getting set on a lane through Professor X locking it in your favor, or building points as flexibility as possible and only committing late in the game.

In that first scenario, you will leverage the Infinity Stones and your cheap cards in order to build points, seize priority, and, ideally, get an extra energy going into Turn 4. Then, Professor X can come in to lock the lane and ensure you win it on game’s end. Even if there is always a risk to an early Professor X, the deck is also running Jeff the Baby Land Shark and Blue Marvel in order to help that lane later on, if needed.

Once in control of the first lane, the deck will turn to Devil Dinosaur, Alioth, and other high potential cards to secure the second one.

The other route Thanos Control can take is playing a very flexible game. Focus on Vision and Blue Marvel to spread your power across the various lanes with the Infinity Stones. This approach will usually be more careful since you’re focused on gathering information about your opponent. Here, the goal will be to seize priority so Alioth can win the game on Turn 6, or leverage your move cards to hide when the biggest chunk of your points will end up.

Potential Additions:
Cosmo, Shang-Chi, and other disruptive cards tend to do really well in the deck. You can typically fit them in by flexing out a 2-Cost or Iron Lad.

Discard Dracula

Discard Dracula

Created by den

, updated 6 months ago

1

5x Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)

2x Collection Level 222-474 (Pool 2)

3x Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

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

2.9

Cost

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

3.8

Power

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

Rank Justification:
Fresh off a nice power boost to Hellcow, Discard Dracula has immensely benefited from the current post-OTA chaos. First, while a lot of decks figure out how to craft their points strategy, this archetype knows exactly where it’s going in that department since the deck is the same as it’s always been.

Then, in a metagame with two big trends going around (a lot of points from decks like Shuri and locking lanes with Professor X), Discard Dracula isn’t so badly positioned. It’s able to develop quite a lot of points on two lanes, and it naturally annoys Professor X with Morbius and Dracula.

I doubt the deck will be able to maintain such a strong showing in the future – especially if people start adapting against it. We know how fragile the Discard synergy can be. Nevertheless, it’s a great sign to see it react so well to what could have been a forgettable buff.

How to Play:
Discard Dracula aims at developing as many points as possible while dodging cards like Shang-Chi (destroys a big Morbius), Cosmo (no more discards on that location), Mobius M. Mobius (resets Swarm to base cost), and other disruptive tools. Ideally, the deck will discard as often as possible, except when Morbius, Daken, or Dracula are at risk, as these three typically represent your largest points contributors. Then, if you have all three, you might want to split them, either with one on each lane, with Dracula alone (if you have Apocalypse), or with Morbius alone (If you anticipate a ton of discards during that match).

Your other cards can also contribute to quite a lot of points, so you should never have to rely on one card alone to win a location. Still, a 20+ power Dracula can do that fairly easily. Daken, in particular, will typically be an eight power card, which is great for a 3-Cost but often not enough to secure a location on its own.

Apart from Hellcow and MODOK, which will typically be used over the last two turns, all the other discards are targeted, meaning you can control their outcome and plan accordingly during the course of the match. With Mobius M. Mobius roaming in various decks, I would advise you to just play Swarm whenever the card is a 0-Cost, at least until you get more information about your opponent. This leads the deck to be very tempo oriented because it is looking to maximize the use of its available energy on every turn if possible, especially if it can discard safely.

Overall, Discard Dracula kind of plays itself when it comes to which cards make sense to use on each turn. The emphasis as a pilot should be on where to place your cards and what information you want to hide from your opponent, rather than just slamming points on the table.

Potential Additions:
A couple of 4-Cost cards were battling for the last spot until the OTA with Silver Samurai or Absorbing Man often seeing play. It seems like Hellcow took that slot for now, which doesn’t leave much room for changes anymore.

Tier 2

InSheNaut

InSheNaut

Created by den

, updated 6 months ago

0

2x Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)

3x Collection Level 222-474 (Pool 2)

2x Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

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

4x Starter Card

3.5

Cost

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

5.5

Power

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

Rank Justification:
Completely gone since the end of the September season, InSheNaut has soared back to the rankings. It benefits from this environment with a lot of different decks. It’s likely that Mobius M. Mobius will come put a stop to it if the deck keeps riding that momentum, but Rogue might help solve that particular issue.

Otherwise, there are plenty of good things to say about the current version of InSheNaut. First, Destroy is a good match up thanks to Armor and Cosmo, and Leech helps against a lot of other decks, too (it disables Alioth, which is a problem card for InShenaut). Then, with a large part of the metagame suffering from a lack of power compared to last week, a build that is able to flexibly develop more than 20 points on the last turn can catch a lot of opponents off guard since they definitely won’t be able to match that unless they already built quite a lead.

Depending on where this metagame is headed, InSheNaut could be the comeback story of this OTA, or get locked out once again. Stay tuned!

How to Play:
This deck is built around an explosive last turn where She-Hulk joins either Evolved Hulk or The Infinaut to bolster your points total. The intricacies of InSheNaut lie in making this powerful last turn come to life:

• You can pass on Turn 6 if you created Limbo.
• If Shocker hits any of She-Hulk, Evolved Hulk, or The Infinaut, you can pass on Turn 5 and and make it work.
• With Limbo in play, you can also pass on Turn 5 to play The Infinaut on Turn 6 and Evolved Hulk on Turn 7.
• If Shocker hits The Infinaut, you can pass on Turn 4 and play it on Turn 5 and Evolved Hulk on Turn 6.

In order for any of those scenario to secure the win, you need to build up your points total a little and make sure the opponent cannot stop you in your tracks:

• Points wise, you have Sunspot, Evolved Misty Knight, and Evolved Cyclops to help because they all love it when you pass a turn to save some energy.
• Protection wise, you can count on Armor to derail Killmonger, and Cosmo can protect Limbo from Scarlet Witch or Reality Stone. Leech can disable Legion and Alioth as well.
• Wave is the card you can’t do much about in this deck, apart from running Mobius M. Mobius instead of Armor (but that makes the deck worse against Destroy and Killmonger, both of which are more popular threats than Wave).

With all this information, the secret to playing InSheNaut is to anticipate your next move based on your opponent and your draws, thus avoiding any traps along the way.

Potential Additions:
Rogue replacing Cosmo could help the deck a lot if you see too much of Mobius M. Mobius.

Zabu Darkhawk

Zabu Darkhawk

Created by den

, updated 6 months ago

0

1x Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)

1x Collection Level 222-474 (Pool 2)

5x Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

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

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

3.3

Cost

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

3.5

Power

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

Rank Justification:
Zabu suffered a lot from Mobius M. Mobius joining the game late in September, which has led to the deck losing quite a lot of popularity (even with Rogue to help). However, Thanos is currently very popular, which makes Darkhawk an appealing prospect and balances the threats and opportunities around this deck right now.

Then, this deck also represents the trends of the metagame well after several of its most impactful cards were nerfed. It is the embodiment of the idea “look for the new good cards that you can build around.” Logically, as Zabu Darkhawk was once part of that club and considered the gold standard for the “Good Cards” synergy, the deck has found a lot of success early in this new environment.

So far, the deck is on the rise, and its popularity is growing quite rapidly. It’s already representing more than 5% of the entire field. The Win Rate, however, isn’t growing as rapidly (typically around 57% for the lists with a decent sample size). This is already a solid performance for a deck that many have picked up recently, and it probably needs to be refined to match the current metagame. Plus, Zabu Darkhawk is one of the most flexible archetypes on this list when it comes to including various disruptive cards, so it should only progress in the near future.

How to Play:
Built around the Darkhawk synergy, this revamped Zabu Darkhawk deck looks to disrupt the opponent as much as it tries to build points. Indeed, Darkhawk represents about ten points on average, and Man-Thing is also able to represent a solid amount of points for a 4-Cost. The deck needs to land a devastating Rogue, Shang-Chi, or Shadow King to really secure some wins, though, since Darkhawk can only win one lane. Doctor Doom is more of a security blanket once you’re ahead rather than a win-from-behind kind of card.

With that in mind, the goal with this deck will be the scout what the opponent is doing all game long so you can figure out which lane you have to win on points and which lane can be won with a tech card. For example, if you see a bunch of cheap cards on the same location, you will already know where Man-Thing should go, even if the card will only be played a couple of turns later. This same logic will apply to most of your disruptive cards since you can play with Korg, Zabu, Rockslide, Black Widow, and even Iron Lad early in the match (these don’t tip your opponent off about your strategy).

It is important to figure out how much energy you will need for your disruptive cards later in the match, though, as that will impact the timing for when you play your Darkhawk or Man-Thing. Indeed, if you anticipate using Shang-Chi plus Shadow King on Turn 6, you’ll need to have Darkhawk out by Turn 5 at the latest – even if that opens it up to an opposing counter card.

Potential Additions:
Shadow King, Luke Cage, and Man-Thing could be replaced with Black Bolt, Stature, and a disruptive card (Armor, Mobius M. Mobius…) if you want more of a proactive approach to the deck.

Destroy

Deadpool Destroy

Created by den

, updated 6 months ago

0

4x Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)

1x Collection Level 222-474 (Pool 2)

4x Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

1x 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+

2.8

Power

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

Rank Justification:
Destroy is part of a group of decks, the same as Shuri Sauron, that get a big popularity boost every time a balance patch shakes the metagame. Unfortunately, many people expected this archetype to do well, so, even though the popularity is really high, the Win Rate is solid but not stellar, ranging from 56% to 59% depending on the list.

Once again, it seems like Destroy will be that really good deck that suffers from being too predictable; therefore, it struggles to get more than one or two cubes when it pops off with Deadpool, and it almost feels forced to Retreat in fear of Armor every time the opponent Snaps with priority.

Maybe once other synergies appear and start diverting the attention towards different counter cards Destroy will have more space to develop and finally become that Tier 1 that deck many players believe it deserves to be.

How to Play:
If you find Deadpool in your opening hand, buffing it with Forge or Nico Minoru and destroying it over and over again until Turn 6 is the main concept with this deck. But there are other ways to score lots of points.

First, it is important to understand the role of X-23: to give you energy on specific turns so you can break the expected timing your opponent has for your cards. For example, going for Deadpool plus Taskmaster on Turn 5 can throw an opponent off, and it opens a Knull play on the following turn. Similarly, if you destroy X-23 on Turn 5, you can play both Deadpool plus Knull, or Arnim Zola on Turn 6.

Since you are playing a deck that is easily recognizable and well known in the community, finding those unusual ways of developing your play patterns will open avenues to catch your opponent off guard.

Once you understand the key concepts around your 1-Costs, the rest of the deck is really about dodging the opponent’s traps. Death needs to be played as soon as possible if you suspect your opponent is playing Mobius M. Mobius. Killmonger can be used to destroy opposing cards, not just your Deadpool. Last, Arnim Zola can also be used on Knull, Death or Venom, and create a lot of points this way as well.

Potential Additions:
Hulkbuster and Taskmaster are two popular inclusions in the archetype, as is America Chavez to help find Deadpool more often.

Tier 3

Pushed by Thanos being an extremely popular synergy right now, Junk is having quite a good time in Conquest. Unfortunately, its terrible match ups against Destroy and Shuri(basically any deck without the need for a ton of space available to function properly) are holding it back a little.

Thanos Zoo was among the most played decks after the OTA, which is a logical aftermath of Spectrum gaining two power. However, the deck didn’t progress that much when it comes to its performance; it remains a little above a 50% Win Rate, far from the decks ranked in the higher tiers.

Sure, Thanos Zoo will bully some decks, such as Destroy, with Armor and Cosmo able to completely deny some strategies. Still, when it comes to beating your opponent the old-fashioned way by putting more points than they have on the table, you suddenly realize that Thanos Zoo might not be there just yet.

As for Hela Lockjaw, the deck picked up a lot of popularity with the OTA. Hela gained popularity because it was already considered a sleeper pick by many, and the synergy remained intact. This lead to many players thinking it would have among the highest points potential in the game. Unfortunately, the deck didn’t make it to the Tier 1 archetype that several players expected it to become. It still beat Hela Tribunal when it comes to highest Win Rate in Conquest, though, since counter cards are still a big problem for that deck.

Finally, Sera Control was a deck that I expected to see disappear after the OTA. The nerfs to both Elsa Bloodstone and Angela seemed like quite a big deal for the deck. Apparently, it is still fairly popular (around 2.5% of the metagame according to the data I had available), but it lost quite a bit of momentum and only managed to hit a 53% Win Rate overall. Even though this is more than I expected for the deck, it seems like Sera Control will return to being that deck that needs to leverage its Snaps and Retreats to consistently pick up wins in Conquest.

Junk

Junk

Created by den

, updated 6 months ago

1

1x Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)

1x Collection Level 222-474 (Pool 2)

8x Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

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

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

2.7

Cost

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

3

Power

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

Thanos Zoo

Thanos Zoo

Created by den

, updated 6 months ago

0

1x Collection Level 1-14

3x Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)

2x Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

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

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

2x Recruit Season

3.6

Cost

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

4.2

Power

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

Hela Lockjaw

Hela Lockjaw

Created by den

, updated 6 months ago

1

2x Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)

3x Collection Level 222-474 (Pool 2)

7x Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

3.8

Cost

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

6.2

Power

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

Sera Control

Sera Control

Created by den

, updated 6 months ago

0

2x 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)

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

2.8

Cost

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

2.5

Power

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

Hela Tribunal

Hela Tribunal

Created by den

, updated 6 months ago

1

2x Collection Level 18-214 (Pool 1)

1x Collection Level 222-474 (Pool 2)

5x Collection Level 486+ (Pool 3)

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

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

1x Starter Card

4.4

Cost

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

6.7

Power

0-
1
2
3
4
5+

Closing Words

Outside of synergistic archetypes making a splash early in this new Conquest environment, we are also seeing a few packages of cards make it into several decks. There is the late game counter package that is typically built around Shang-Chi, Shadow King, and any card that can turn a lane around on Turn 6. We also have the early package that is looking to block whatever the opponent might do during the match, with Luke Cage, Armor, Mobius M. Mobius, and other disruptive cards that you can play on curve. Last, we have more targeted counter cards that will usually help a deck against their direct counter, such as Rogue and Leech in InSheNaut.

On top of all of those, we also have to keep in mind the staple strong cards like Alioth, Legion, and Doctor Doom, all of which are easily slotted into a multitude of decks that are based on playing solid cards.

So far, these good cards have helped flexible decks do a little better overall, as they have managed to adapt and limit how much decks like Destroy and Hela can build momentum early on. In particular, Thanos, Zabu Darkhawk, and Move are part of those builds that are able to switch a couple of cards to adapt to their opponents fairly easily. Nevertheless, you can’t always counter everything in the metagame, and this has opened the door for other synergies to emerge in this early stage of the metagame, such as Dracula Discard.

I’m sure we haven’t seen everything this massive OTA had in store, and the Ranked Tier List early next week should unraveled even more of what is going on in the metagame. I’m really curious to see if Move and Loki will regain their prestige, or if they are doing well simply because they aren’t the focus anymore. Same for Iron Patriot, which gained some traction on social media after several players shared their success with the archetype (but the deck didn’t make it to the deck tracker data yet).

I hope this first report in the new metagame was helpful and you managed to get a clearer view of what happened over the first two days after the OTA. Let us know how you’ve been doing in this chaotic environment so far! Maybe you have a sleeper deck that other players could benefit from.

As usual, if you require anything, 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.