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Welcome to the Untapped.gg Marvel SNAP Meta Report (Conquest) for the week of September 24, 2024. The Meta Report is a weekly article series where we review the best Conquest decks and strategies to help give you an edge over your opponents and secure the coveted Infinity Border for your favorite avatar.
Marvel SNAP Tier List
This week, we see a similar set of decks to the most recent Ranked Meta Report dominating both Tier A and Tier B, but a few newcomers have risen to answer the call of the meta. The Conquest Tier List shows the Zoo Archetype sitting alone on the throne of Tier A, with Tier B occupied by decks that are allowing it to go unchecked. The Hela Archetype, Arishem Archetype and even Clog Archetype just can't keep up with the consistency of Zoo. While all the decks have strong average winrates above 55%, Zoo is nearly 3% higher than the next highest winrate, sitting at 59.9% in Gold Conquest. Still, Hela represents 16.5% archetype popularity in Gold Conquest, while Zoo only represents 2.5%, which means you're still more likely to run into the Arishem Archetype (7.4%), Clog Archetype (4.7%) and even War Machine Archetype (5.0%) over Zoo.
TIER A CONQUEST DECKS
Diving a bit deeper into the data, we can see that the Zoo Archetype is refined, yet flexible, average composition featuring nine cards consistently in over 90% of decks, including Ant-Man, Marvel Boy and Ka-Zar. Zoo remains at the top of the Ranked Meta as well, as the opposing decks are less worried about tech and more worried about carrying out their individual game plans. Cards like Enchantress (7.4% popularity), Rogue (4.9% popularity) and even Shadow King (11.8% popularity) are being severely underutilized. The most popular Zoo deck sports a whopping 65.2% winrate, even better than the archetype average.
Most Popular Zoo Cards
Down in Tier B, we find the Hela, Arishem, Clog and War Machine Archetypes. Their winrates are similar, but Hela pulls ahead slightly, despite having the play rate of nearly all of the other Tier B decks combined - a testament to the consistency and power output the newly buffed Hellcow has brought to the deck. Even Clog, Hela's direct counter, is having a hard time keeping up, even with a lower 4.7% play rate.
TIER B CONQUEST DECKS
Hela is another have-it-or-don't deck, making retreating for minimal losses in Conquest easy and accessible. Deck composition varies leaning more towards Luke Cage to negate Hela's -2 stipulation on resurrections or Black Knight for a bonus Turn 4 play or discard. This means Hela is not only flexible, but unpredictable, making it very hard to play against if you can't evaluate the deck's possible lines adequately. Clog counters Hela by filling its lanes with junk to mitigate revives, whereas archetypes that have the potential to go taller, like the Negative Archetype or Tribunal Archetype can out power perfect RNG. The most popular Hela deck sports a whopping 60.5% winrate, better than the archetype average.
Right below Hela is the King of conquest, Arishem. In a format that lends itself to unpredictability and tech cards, Arishem reigns supreme. Having faltered after the Loki nerf, the archetype now plays well into all of the top decks, countering both high power with Shang-Chi and Shadow King as well as an Ongoings with Enchantress. Deck composition varies with just six cards in over 90% of decks, including Loki, Mockingbird and Blob. You're still at the mercy of the random cards and drawing your own tech, which is harder now with Arishem's increase to 15 added cards. The most popular Arishem deck sports a 57.8% winrate, slightly better than the archetype average.
Most Popular Arishem Cards
Most Popular Cards in Marvel SNAP
To have an edge in the Conquest meta, you must understand each and every tool both at your and your opponent's disposal. By studying the Conquest Card Tier List and checking the most popular cards each week, you'll have a better grasp of what to expect in any given match.
To get an idea of how Hela is skewing the meta, just take a look at the most popular cards in Gold Conquest. Every single card from the top of Tier A is from the Hela Archetype. We don't even see a tech card until Shang-Chi at the top of Tier B. Don't be fooled, Shang is still present in 23.1% of decks at Gold Conquest - more than double the next tech card, Killmonger. If your deck is particularly susceptible to Shang, you may want to adjust your game plan or even which deck to play.
This doesn’t mean its an auto-lose matchup if your deck is susceptible to Shang or Killmonger - your opponent still needs to draw the card and find the right time to play it to be impactful. It is just a best practice to be aware of its presence to elevate your performance by a significant margin.
Next week we’ll see the new Symbiote Season launch with Agent Venom being added to the game alongside Scream, Man-Thing and Mobius M. Mobius, so be prepared to face players experimenting with their new cards, as we see a spike in popularity on spotlight cache days.
Understanding Matchups
Adding a new dimension to our analysis, we can talk about Deck or Archetype matchups. As mentioned, Marvel SNAP decks have strengths and weaknesses, and understanding these can help you dominate the Meta. If you realize you are facing a deck you are favored against, snap more aggressively and increase the stakes at play, given that you are more likely to win those games. On the contrary, when in an unfavored game, you should consider retreating every time your opponent snaps if you don’t feel like you have a great hand.
This discipline will boost the average cubes you win per battle and help you defeat opponents easily since gaining cubes is more important than just winning rounds in SNAP’s Conquest mode. For those who want to explore the infinite possibilities, the Untapped.gg Marvel SNAP Premium subscription unlocks our Matchups table, with thousands of games for each archetype for you to know who is the top dog of every encounter.
For this Hela-dominated meta, decks that disrupt Hela's revives or just go taller than the deck's ceiling are able to compete, including the Clog Archetype, Negative Archetype and Zoo Archetype.
All Untapped analytics are Powered by data, not opinions, and backed up by thousands of games. Our Marvel SNAP Conquest Meta Tier List and Deck Database include a variety of lists that will allow you to find the perfect deck to play and even replacements for cards you are missing. Sync your collection to filter for only decks you can build.
For a look at the decks performing well in Ranked mode, make sure to visit our Ranked Meta Tier List page.