Table of Contents
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
The Infinity Conquest league opened yesterday, but already we can see the first trends pop up. As expected, Alioth has retained most of its momentum, with two decks in Tier 1, Iron Patriot and Move Alioth. The card still sees play in Ramp and Cerebro 5 as well by the way. However, Ramp is a little notch behind, as Galactus is slowly being adapted against, mostly as decks are developing more points early to seize priority going into the late game. As for Cerebro 5, the deck unfortunately did not see enough play to be ranked. I don’t think it is a bad one to run, but remain convinced it is an inferior move deck in the current metagame.
The second expected trend was Mobius M. Mobius seeing a lot of play, and you will notice the card in several featured builds today. In particular, the card helped bring Shuri Kitty back as a very strong deck and sunk the win rate of Evolved DoomWave a bit. That deck had to relinquish the top spot of our rankings, and even though it kept a top 5 placement, who knows if it will continue it’s downward trajectory going forward.
The other huge impact of Mobius M. Mobius, has kept Loki extremely relevant, while it was expected to put an end to that archetype incredible run over the season. Not only Loki Collector did not loose much popularity, still posting an above 10% play rate, the deck also climbed in the ranked, reclaiming a Tier 1 spot, and almost beating Iron Patriot for the top spot on the list overall.
One thing to be a little disappointed about so far, is the expected increased diversity, which is a little slow to show up. It might just be a case of decks needing a little bit of time to be refined and learned. Yet, apart from Sera Control, and some players reporting good results with Thanos as well, we haven’t seen any archetype break the popularity threshold to be featured this week. I was a little surprised to not see Discard Dracula for example, the deck posting solid numbers recently. I guess Swarm not being a 0-cost anymore with Mobius M. Mobius in the game hurt the deck too much. Hopefully, this trend will change for the Ranked Tier List, and more archetypes are worth featuring.
Overall, I would say the metagame hasn’t changed too much so far, but we can already see a few indicators it very well might in the near future. Evolved DoomWave falling, Kitty Pryde coming back and Sera feeling relevant again are several clues Mobius M. Mobius is having an impact. Loki remaining a premium card was a bit unexpected, but we can’t guess everything correctly all the time, so let’s be happy for those who enjoy playing Loki, as their favorite deck is still competitive.
Let’s take a look at the early form of this newly shaped metagame, and see if we can get an edge over the competition.
Happy Tier List, everyone!
Marvel Snap Conquest Meta Tier List
| Tier | Deck | Guide |
|---|---|---|
| Tier 1 | Iron Patriot 🔼 | Guide |
| Tier 1 | Loki Collector 🔼 | Guide 🆕 |
| Tier 1 | Move Alioth | Guide |
| Tier 2 | Shuri Kitty | Guide |
| Tier 2 | Evolved DoomWave 🔽 | Guide 🆕 |
| Tier 2 | Galactus Ramp | Guide |
| Tier 3 | Sera Control 🆕 | Guide |
| Tier 3 | Deadpool Destroy | Guide |
| Tier 3 | InSheNaut | Guide |
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, 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: Very high Win Rate decks over the last week. These decks look great in the current environment, either because of their overall strength, or thanks to a few match ups they can abuse. Depending on which reason prevails, a deck in Tier 1 can be considered one of the best archetypes in the game, or a great counter to the latest trending archetype.
Win Rate > 70%
Tier 2: Strong decks that are either not completely refined or have a weakness holding them back from Tier 1. When everything goes according to plan, these decks can reach the top of the mountain. However, considering one has to win a lot of matches in a row to successfully run the gauntlet, it is unlikely one of these decks will not face a counter or a deck with a higher points potential that it will have to overcome at some point during a full Conquest run.
Win Rate > 60%
Tier 3: Weaker synergies compared to Tier 1 or Tier 2 if we look at their potential or match up table. Tier 3 decks will typically be decks that can make the most of a metagame that has completely forgotten about them (or if one of their good match ups is particularly popular). As such, if we add in the surprise effect, these decks are able to compete against the best.
Win Rate > 55%
No matter which Tier a deck is ranked in, keep in mind that they represent one of the Top 10 or 15 archetypes in the game for Conquest. Also, decks with less than 1% representation are left out, as their sample size is too small to give us a real representation of their strength.
Meta stats and analytics directly from our Marvel Snap Tracker can also be found here.
Tier 1
Iron Patriot
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Rank Justification:
Probably the easiest deck to pilot amongst the elite group of build using Alioth lately, Iron Patriot also had the luxury of not being impacted at all by Mobius M. Mobius joining the game. Paired with a fairly simple Snap and Retreat strategy, mostly based around the opening hand and whether Forge and Brood are in there, Iron Patriot looked like a great early pick for the Infinity League.
Although the card will be featured a lot in the other decks on this report, Patriot doesn’t seem to care much about the new card, be it to be included in the deck, or if the opponent was using it. The deck is simply looking to go through the motions of its gameplan, mixing it up when the hand doesn’t allow for the basic Forge, Brood, Absorbing Man pattern. In a new environment, this kind of deck was bound to do well. Indeed, Iron Patriot was already on the rise, so should be seen as a safe pick for all the players who couldn’t afford Mobius M. Mobius, or simply didn’t want to consider it too much early on.
How to Play:
Ideally, this deck only has Turn 5 as a flexible option, and that is often where it plays Blue Marvel or Patriot. Otherwise, it is hard to deviate from this archetype’s go-to play pattern:
- Forge on Turn 2.
- Brood on Turn 3 (with five power thanks to Forge).
- Absorbing Man to copy Brood and create three 4-Power cards on Turn 4.
- Alioth or Doctor Doom on Turn 6. Patriot plus Silver Surfer can also be played here.
When this pattern happens, the deck is usually in the lead for most of the match and, therefore, possesses priority for the last two turns. This allows it to play the Turn 6 card, Alioth or Doctor Doom, in the ideal scenario with no worry of an opposing Alioth ruining its plan.
There are still a few things to keep in mind since this very anticipated scenario can be ruined by a few things:
- Cosmo counters almost any card in the pattern, and then the opponent will usually have priority going into Turns 3 and 4.
- Space will quickly fill on your side of the board – especially after Brood and Absorbing Man. Be careful not to lock yourself out of future plays.
- Outside this specific pattern, particularly Forge into Brood, the deck can quickly fall behind and be preyed upon by decks that are much stronger with priority available to them.
Potential Additions:
Cosmo is usually the preferred tech card for the deck. It can be played alongside Silver Surfer or Patriot on turn six, and do a lot of damage with priority against the many decks using On Reveal abilities lately.
Loki Collector
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Rank Justification:
For a deck that is supposed to die following Mobius M. Mobius joining Marvel Snap, Loki is doing surprisingly well so far. Even better, it barely changed its list, only including the new card over the usual Cable or Mirage and posting an impressive win rate doing so. Also, Loki Collector represented about 10% of the decks played in the Infinity league over the first few days, showing the community still has a lot of trust in the deck.
We can see two reasons for this unexpected performance. First, it might be that the newly released card isn’t so popular yet, meaning Loki can still run moderately free. However, considering we will see quite a bit of Mobius M. Mobius in the decks of this report, I’m not sure how much of this is true. Sure, the large part of the community might not have the card yet, but a win rate north of the 70% mark is too impressive to just ignore. As such, it might be that the deck isn’t so weak to the new card in the end.
I mean, Angela and Kitty Pryde remain a solid duo to build points, The Collector being an average six to ten power is still incredibly good, and Loki still is a [3/5]. There is a new way to annoy, the second part of this deck, once it stole your deck. Yet, it seems like other changes in the metagame had much more impact overall, such as Wave being more discreet for example.
It might not stay this way, but the early data is letting us believe Loki will live on for the time being.
How to Play:
Centered around its two signature cards (with support from Quinjet), Loki Collector aims to build a lot of points on two lanes while keeping as many options as possible open for later on. Indeed, if you commit too hard, you might lack the space required for the cards Loki generates, or you might let your opponent know too much about your potential. Speaking of potential, the deck creates many cards during the match, so its biggest strength is keeping the opponent in the dark as to what they should expect. It could be a disruptive card, a big bomb created randomly, or Legion to change the locations in play.
Early on in the match, the deck will set up its anchors, which are usually Angela and The Collector. As direct support to these two, you have all the cards at three energy or less that will generate cards or simply grow Angela. While you can use a lane as a bit of a dump for Cable, Snowguard, Quinjet, and Mirage, these cards represent a not insignificant amount of points. Keep in mind that Angela and The Collector could very well challenge a lane on their own if you support them enough, which means you can use some of the space in their locations for cards with minimal contribution to your end game score.
Depending on your opponent, the timing of your Loki will vary. If their deck is expensive or runs a lot of counters to your primary plan, you might want to switch early on and create a new game plan with their cards. Otherwise, Loki can be played on Turn 5 to grow The Collector and open a very flexible Turn 6.
One of the biggest upsides of this deck is its ability to always find new options and play patterns. As such, it is really important to set your mind early on whether you are looking to play with the cards in your deck or trying to generate a new way to achieve victory. Legion, in particular, is a card that will impact your decision to change your hand or not. It is expensive, but it can represent an alternate way of winning the match.
If you still have not drawn Legion by Turn 4, you might want to make the switch and have the option to play Legion if you draw it. If you already have Legion in hand, you need to decide which path you will prioritize. You can’t play Legion and play Loki in time to use the cards copied from the opponent’s deck.
Potential Additions:
Legion and Cosmo are the flexible cards in the deck, used as proactive tools to disrupt the opponent. Feel free to run cards adapted to your most popular opponents.
Mobius M. Mobius replaced Jeff the Baby Land Shark as the good standalone card in the 2-cost slot.
Move Alioth
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Rank Justification:
The other Alioth deck expected to do great even with Wave out of the equation, Move Alioth retained a similar ranking to before Mobius M. Mobius joined the game. Indeed, apart from Miles Morales occasionally not being a playable card, Move doesn’t care much for being unable to change the cost of its cards. Plus, if the metagame goes back to a more normal way of spending energy, Move’s natural flexibility is a great asset for the archetype, as it remains very flexible in how to spread its points, even once the cards are in play.
Then, you can actively work for priority, placing your cards a bit ineffectively on the various locations. Yet, once on turn six and Alioth or Doctor Doom sure to secure you the win, you can replace several of your cards, both surprising the opponent, and correcting your points spread as well.
Compared to Patriot, which is the other deck looking to build priority to abuse both 6-cost superstars even without Wave, Move clearly is more difficult to pick up. The need to understand the various synergies, anticipate where to play and move our cards, will cause many more headaches to a new player compared to an Iron Patriot which will steamroll your opponent if you get the right hand.
Nevertheless, the big takeaway here is Alioth stills looks a very strong card to play in various archetypes able to seize priority in the mid-game.
How to Play:
Move Alioth is looking to create points through the Move synergy during the first five turns, before it can get a clean Alioth or Doctor Doom on the last turn.
Kraven, in particular, but also Angela if you run the card, will serve as a lane anchor by growing anywhere form six to ten power over the course of the match. Then, the deck can count on Silk, Spider-Man, and Miles Morales to add solid points for cheap in order to take the lead going into Turn six. Apart from Silk dictating where you want to play, the deck aims to be as flexible as possible. In an ideal scenario, you want to start focusing on priority around Turn 3 or Turn 4. This will largely impact where you place your cards during the mid game. Yet, because we are a Move deck, we will change that setup on turn six to contest the laneswe really covet.
Then, cards like Vision, NightCrawler or Jeff the Baby Land Shark, can be placed solely depending on whether you have Kraven, and to wrestle priority. It might look weird during the match, but once Kraven comes down and we move everything to him, or reposition our cards to take the lead on a lane, while Alioth locks the opponent from another one, it all makes sense.
Mobius M. Mobius and Iron Lad are flexible cards in the deck. The former is just the popular standalone strong inclusion right, and will help against explosive decks which can play around Alioth a little better, as their turn six will have lots of cards. Iron Lad simply has many good abilities to copy in this deck, so it represents a good 4-cost to drop in the mid-game.
Potential Additions:
Aero, Polaris or Juggernaut are interesting Move cards to explore in the deck.
Tier 2
Shuri Kitty
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Rank Justification:
Regarded as a deck which could come back swinging with Mobius M. Mobius, Shuri Kitty did not disappoint, and finally beat Shuri Sauron in their head to head for the best Shuri build.
Without Wave, the deck only has Alioth to consider as a big hurdle to overcome, as it will often give up priority considering how Kitty Pryde works. However, thanks to Armor, or the ability to use Vision as a great Shuri back up, the archetype doesn’t have to retreat against any deck with Alioth. Sure, it will be a bit scary, and typically a gamble, but this is part of running Shuri in the current metagame. You remain one of the highest points output in the game, as long as you can get your game plan underway.
Then, similarly to Iron Patriot, Shuri is also a comfort pick for many players, and a pretty simple archetype to pick up for anyone looking to change their deck in case the metagame wouldn’t be so suited for it. The lack of flexibility kept Shuri out of Tier 1 this week, but the deck definitely improved with less of Wave around.
How to Play:
Shuri Kitty is based around the idea of growing Kitty Pryde to an absurd amount of point, until we can play her and Taskmaster together on turn six, to challenge two lanes at once. To build that set up, we will use Forge, Shuri and Hulkbuster to grow Kitty Pryde’s power. Vision and Red Skull can serve as back up plans in case we would not find Kitty Pryde early enough, and then default back to the usual Shuri, big 5-cost, Taskmaster pattern.
Through keeping our most important card in hand most of the time, and leaving priority to the opponent as we aren’t putting much points on the board once Kitty Pryde bounces back. Shuri Kitty is able to dodge cards like Shang-Chi or Shadow King quite effectively, not giving these cards a window to ruin your buffed Kitty Pryde. Plus, the deck now pack Mobius M. Mobius to protect form a turn a five Wave ruining our plan. Against Alioth, a problematic card when purposefully giving up priority, we can either buff Vision, which will open all three lanes for Taskmaster instead of two, or rely on Armor to make sure at least Kitty Pryde is safe to play.
One of the big emphasis with this deck will be to snap early enough to keep our opponent in the game, as they usually won’t once they understand how big we can grow our Kitty Pryde. Then, a hand with Shuri, Kitty Pryde should usually be an early snap.
Without these two, the deck can still mount a decent amount points with Angela and Red Skull for example, but it is probably safer not to try complicated patterns then. Invest points on two lanes, and play it safe with a retreat if you see your opponent is having a solid hand early in the match and snaps.
Potential Additions:
Legion is seeing some play as an extra 5-cost card to bring some disruptive ability to the deck. Otherwise, the Sauron build is also posting solid results.
Evolved DoomWave
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Rank Justification:
Speaking of Wave not being around to annoy Shuri or Loki anymore, Evolved DoomWave is the big loser of this early Mobius M. Mobius metagame, at least for now. The deck remains quite strong to be honest, as a top five ranking is nothing to be ashamed of. Yet, when that ranking goes to the deck which took the top spot in the previous week, it shows a little regression in the overall performance.
In the future, once Mobius M. Mobius won’t be the spotlight card, we could expect its duo with Wave to be devastating for an opponent not expecting it. I guess it’s just a case of the current environment running the new card a lot, especially Loki Collector.
Indeed, if Patriot and Move were already able to play around Wave pretty well, Loki now feeling safe when it draws its own Mobius M. Mobius is quite a big deal for Evolved DoomWave win rate.
How to Play:
Similar to other High Evolutionary decks, Evolved DoomWave tries to create power while not spending all of its energy every turn. If you have Evolved Hulk in hand, one energy is worth two power, plus the other bonuses you would get from the cards you have on the board. If you have at least two of your four cards (Sunspot, Evolved Misty Knight, Evolved Cyclops, Evolved Hulk), it is usually worth looking for a play that leaves an energy to spare. Otherwise, Sunspot or Evolved Misty Knight alone are rarely worth the deal of one energy for one power.
More often than not, the turns you are likely to leave some energy on the table are Turns 4 and 5, which are typically dedicated to Evolved Cyclops and Wave, respectively. Turns 2 and 3 will depend on your hand, but you tend to play a 1-Cost, 1-Cost, 2-Cost pattern over the first three turns. Then, you will naturally float some energy on Turn 6 if you played Wave.
Outside of this signature High Evolutionary game play, the rest of the deck is centered around Wave limiting what can be done on Turn 6, which usually rewards the player in the lead. By that point, you have two options: go tall with Evolved Hulk, or go wide with Doctor Doom. Considering you run America Chavez, this choice is usually set in stone by Turn 4, or Turn 5 if you are still missing a key card. This makes it easier to craft a game plan where your big 6-Cost card can be at its best and seal the deal.
Another big strength of this deck is its ability to play into any kind of location and impact those that have been locked during the whole match. Indeed, with Jeff the Baby Land Shark and Doctor Doom, you can easily reach any location. Then, Sunspot, Evolved Misty Knight, and Evolved Cyclops are also able to impact a location after it’s impossible to play there, like after Professor X has locked it down. In that regard, knowing early on where your opponent might be playing some of their space limiting cards can have a big impact on the match.
Potential Additions:
Armor was included in the deck until Mobius M. Mobius took its spot.
Galactus Ramp
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Rank Justification:
One of the very top archetypes in the lower ranked ranks, the nature of Conquest changes who you can be paired against. As such, even if Ramp remains a solid archetype, it’s very inflexible nature can be punished if you are pitted against an experienced player.
However, even if the deck can feel quite predictable at times, and Electro‘s limitation can be difficult to work with when other decks are playing Alioth or being super flexible. Ramp has adapted its list over the past few weeks, and feels like it hit the sweet spot with the Professor X and Galactus duo. Indeed, whenever either of these two cards land, Leader and Alioth immediately become very strong, as you only need to care about one lane to secure the win.
Compared to the Galactus centric deck, this second play pattern, which sets up the same cards, but uses Professor X to limit the playing field, can mess up with your opponent quite badly. Galactus want them to invest on lane where you don’t have cards in play, but Professor X will be able to secure a lane you are ahead on. As such, in Conquest, a mode where information is much more important than in the Ranked mode, messing with your opponent’s read is crucial once they know which archetype you are running.
With that in mind, although it is impossible to make a flexible archetype, diversifying its play patterns, while keeping the same cards at a high level of efficiency, is a great way to make the archetype stronger overall.
How to Play:
The first three turns with a Ramp deck usually are very simple to figure out. Nebula, Jeff the Baby Land Shark, and either Electro or Wave is the default pattern (as long as locations do not open other possibilities). The defining moment is when you play Wave or Electro and pick what your late game will look like. Typically, this deck is looking to either drop Galactus on an empty lane, or Professor X on your builded lane.
The good part about this is Electro allowing to play both in a row, meaning you can try to get Professor X to win a lane, and then Galactus if it didn’t work out. Without Professor X on five energies, you can either try something with Iron Lad, or work for priority for a follow up Galactus. In a way you can use Devil Dinosaur as a soft Professor X, you wouldn’t lock the lane, but expect the card to be enough points to not invest more on it in the future.
If you decide to go for Wave, then you could skip directly to Galactus, or have Leader copy your opponent’s card, which should keep priority, and open a decent Professor X on the next turn.
In both scenarios, Alioth can really shine, as you should have only one lane left to care about. Obviously, the card is seen as the best follow up to Galactus. Yet, Professor X creates a similar situation, where you just need to win one lane to take home the win, as you already have one secured.
One very important thing to consider in that second part of the game is priority. All of your cards are based on On Reveal abilities, and Professor X can shut some of your opponent’s too. With priority, you can remove Cosmo from the equation and destroy opposing cards before they reveal with Galactus or Alioth. You also make sure Leader and Odin aren’t tampered with if the opponent adds cards to your side of the board or changes a location. In order to seize priority, your first three turns are very important, so consider the locations and where to place your cards.
Potential Additions:
Snowguard is a nice 1-cost card to also get a turn two play for early priority.
The pure Galactus deck is also posting solid results if you like this approach better:
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Tier 3
With less of Wave, and Mobius M. Mobius to serve as protection just in case, Sera Control has managed to climb back from the grave it was slowly digging for itself. The deck isn’t ready to come back as a top tier deck just yet, as they are a lot of other hurdles to overcome, but it is worth noting it saw a surge in popularity, and several lists were shared across social media and Discord already, so there’s definitely interest around the deck. So far, the best one looks to be pretty classic, with only America Chavez striking as an unusual inclusion in the deck, instead of the typical Ongoing counter card.
Alioth probably remains a big problem for this type of decks, looking to benefit from an explosive turn six as much as possible. Indeed, giving away priority to Alioth is almost synonymous to abandoning the lane it is played on. As such, unless the deck is able to take back all three lanes on the last turn, it will usually be difficult to hope to turn the game around, as you know your cards won’t even reveal on one of those locations.
It seems like Destroy is suffering from the same problem, as Deadpool is usually destroyed until the very last turn, leading to a sort of combo oriented playstyle. I was expecting the deck to potentially rise if Mobius M. Mobius were to replace Armor, like it did in the featured Evolved DoomWave deck this week. Yet, it doesn’t feel like it was enough to get Deadpool back into a Tier 2 placement, as Shuri has kept Armor and remains a very popular archetype. In addition, other decks are simply good enough to be competitive against Destroy, even without Armor. Also, the archetype’s popularity has dropped a lot this past few weeks, which makes it difficult for the deck to see enough play to notice a big change in just a couple of days. If the trend of less of Armor continues, we might see Destroy rise later in the week, or into the new season.
Lastly, we have InSheNaut, which is far from the rising deck it was over the summer. Leech is keeping the deck competitive, but Alioth or Mobius M. Mobius are annoying for a deck looking to cheat Energy and explode on the last turn.
Sera Control
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Deadpool Destroy
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InSheNaut
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Closing Words
It is easy to look at this report and just think “well, it’s still Alioth against Loki, just with Mobius M. Mobius added to the mix”, and you would be mostly right. Yet, if the two juggernauts are still battling, and feels above the rest of the competition, the environment around these two cards have changed.
It probably will take a bit of time, but a metagame tends to function based on the domino effect. Once a deck falls, it opens the door to other synergies, which could very well have a different impact on the current situation, and slowly make either Alioth or Loki feel different than they currently do. Also, let’s not forget we have an OTA Balance Update soon, and neither decks are safe from being impacted there as well.
The Infinity Conquest league opening always creates a different feeling around the community. There is the urgency to get it done before it’s too late, as it only lasts for a week. But when meaningful changes happen during that week, we also need time to adapt, leading to the established, unimpacted decks to shine early on. Iron Patriot, Loki Collector, Move Alioth and Shuri Kitty were all comfort deck for many players already, and Shuri was seen as a big beneficiary of Mobius M. Mobius. Sure, Loki surprised us with its performance, but it kind of feels normal for that deck to be extensively tested when its popularity is so high.
With that in mind, seeing these four decks at the top of the rankings should come as a shocker, at least when looking at the first days only. Just like I fully expect at least one archetype to make it to at least Tier 2 by the end of the week, be it Sera, Thanos, Destroy, or even something we didn’t see coming.
It will probably take a bit of time for it to be apparent on a large scale, but card games are about constant change, and those able to spot them have a big edge over the rest of the player base. I hope you found some important information in this report to help on your Conquest domination. Let us see those shiny avatars or your best performing deck in the comments, or social media!
As usual, if you need 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.
