Ladder Deck Building vs. Conquest Deck Building
With the first month(ish) of Conquest Mode under our belts, many players have making the consistent discovery of, "This deck works great on Ladder! Why can't I get it to work in Conquest?" So, I thought it would be fun to pull together as many opinions as possible from the #MarvelSnapCreator group of content creators on this topic. I challenged them all with the same simple question and guidelines:
- Topic: What's the difference between deck building for Ladder vs. Conquest?
- All I asked for was a minimum of two sentences. It's unbounded, but at least two sentences to articulate your opinion.
- Let me know your socials so we can share them with the community!
That's it! Pretty clean and clear, right? And the best part?... over 20 Content Creators responded! Molt, EducatedCollins, Kawatek and so many more creators of all sizes responded; and I couldn't be happier! This is the largest collective of opinions we've ever culminated for an article here on Snap.fan.
Thank you to all the amazing CC's who participated journey to helping the community build the BEST decks possible in Marvel Snap! Be sure to give them all a 'Follow' & 'Subscribe' to all their socials below!
Molt - YouTube | Twitter
My advice for Ladder building is to just have fun! Play what you are good at. My biggest piece of advice [for Conquest] is to build a deck that allows you to win in multiple different ways. Conquest gives your opponent time to learn your deck and playstyle, so you must build your deck differently than you would for the Ladder. Creating uncertainty for your opponent is very important. Whether this uncertainty is caused by playing cards like Agent Coulson or an archetype like Move, which allows you to win in many ways, is completely up to you.
EducatedCollins - Twitch | YouTube
At first glance, there is not much of a difference between building for Ladder and building for Conquest. A lot of the same lists that can be run in the Ladder can also be brought to Conquest. There is, however, a list of limitations you have to be aware of when thinking about Conquest lists. Surprise cards can lose their effect if used aggressively. If you have a unique card added to the list, make sure that when it's played, you are getting a large reward from it. Showing your opponent in Round 1 that you have an Aero or a Scarlet Witch can be pretty disastrous, as you are giving your opponent that information without a huge cube penalty. Overall, it's harder to utilize surprising factors to a great extent in Conquest. Weird or combo builds can struggle. If you have a build that has a telegraphed weakness, it is difficult to get that strategy to go off against multiple players. Players in Conquest generally gravitate towards "meta" compositions, so your build must be able to compete with those builds. Usually, the meta decks will have a higher baseline, and while you may be able to win a couple of games, winning multiple Battle Mode matches in a row may prove difficult. So, be careful with the unique builds you run, or add some tech to deal with those meta builds you may face. Ladder AND Proving Grounds are more “free” in the ideas you can run there and more receptive to surprising your opponent match after match. It can be a fun stage for trying new combos and learning the flow of a match or game. Taking your time to learn how to play Battle Mode can be a fun tool to get better at the game and learn what other players are building in the game. Most important tip is to don't try to have fun. Struggle and learn why each card is there when you net-deck.
Kawatek - Twitch | YouTube | Twitter
- Knowing when to SNAP: Snapping is an integral part of the game, but even more so when it comes to Battle Mode / Conquest. Being confident in your hand and knowing when to SNAP is what wins you those big cube games. The best advice I could offer regarding this is knowing your deck inside out and knowing the optimal hands/situations to SNAP on. Example: If you're playing a lockjaw highroll deck and you have lockjaw and wasp in your opening hand for turn 3, you should SNAP. If you're playing a Zabu deck and you have Zabu in your starting hand with one or two four-cost cards in your hand, you should SNAP. It won't always be as straightforward and simple as this, but early SNAPs like this win you games more often than you'd think.
- Knowing when to retreat: You have to be able to read your opponent to the best of your ability. If they SNAP and you are also confident in your hand, you have to remain confident and stay in the game. But if you're not confident, you can't be afraid of pressing that retreat button. The difference between losing 1 or 2 cubes in BM / Conquest means a lot more than it does on the Ladder. One tip I always offer is that on Round 4 of the game, if they SNAP and you are on an even number of cubes, you should retreat if you really don't feel confident, as this can be considered a somewhat "free" retreat in a sense.
- Knowing the meta decks: This is hugely important. Obviously, people can bring whatever cards and whatever decks they want to Conquest; however, most will bring the best decks that they find online or through creators. You should research the top decks in the game, and you should do your best to know the majority of cards that they run. That way you can say to yourself, for example, "Well, the majority of these decks don't run Shang Chi, so I should be safe to place this 9+ power card." Or simply knowing if a deck runs doom is super valuable, as you can then try to calculate a way of beating the Doctor Doom and other outcomes.
Offbeat - Twitter
I think one of the biggest differences is not being able to play around with surprise as much in Conquest. On Ladder, where you only face an opponent once, you can have a fun twist on turn 6 that your opponent couldn't possibly play around with. In Conquest, much like a good joke, the surprise doesn't land nearly as well the second, third, fourth, and fifth times you tell it. Conquest requires alternate win conditions for when your opponent has the answer to your primary big play.
Hannah - Twitch | Twitter
In Conquest Mode, it can be good to have multiple win conditions because your opponent gets to know your deck over the course of a series. If they've seen one of your win-conditions, they can play around with it. If you have two or more, you can surprise them a second time. A plausible example is Destroyer and Galactus when Nimrod is on the board.
Torikun - Twitter
The biggest philosophical shift when it comes to choosing decks for Conquest/Battle Mode versus Ladder is that I would much rather prioritize win rate over cube rate in Battle Mode. When you get to the point where both players understand how to snap and retreat properly, matches start getting longer. Therefore, what you want to maximize is your chance of winning in Round 5+, aka the High Stakes rounds. What does that mean? It means that you want to build a deck that does a strong thing very consistently, instead of having a game plan that is very easily disrupted or a surprise deck that derives its positive cube rate just from winning occasional 8 cubers.
Bootman - YouTube | Twitter
Something I've always said is that tech cards are some of the most important cards in the game, and that's even more apparent in Conquest Mode. We've always seen meta decks on the Ladder, but the decks being used for Conquest Mode are a lot more narrow, so you need to have the appropriate counters. Yes, you can opt to play the extremely popular High Evo Lockjaw deck, but it's predictable. Having the ability to surprise your opponents who play these decks with huge stats by having Luke Cage, Shang-Chi and others can catch them offguard and snag you some big wins.
FreshLobster - Twitch | YouTube | Metafy
You want your deck to be more well-rounded in Conquest. If you get hard countered on the Ladder, you'll lose a cube or even a few, but you can always just say, "GG, go next." If you get hard countered in Conquest, you'll lose the whole series and your ticket and you can't do anything about it. So, you want your deck to not be too vulnerable to any of the common meta cards or tech choices running around.
OceanMud - Twitch | Twitter
When you build a deck for Ladder, you have the peace of mind of knowing that you can retreat several times and still end on net positive cubes once you get your combo off. There is not this luxury with Conquest Mode. Every game is important, especially in later tiers, and losing one game could mean the difference between completing your infinite ticket and being sent back to the proving grounds. Conquest is about deck consistency, while Ladder allows for more freedom of experimentation.
Freddybabes - YouTube | Twitter
Conquest decks need to be strong against a wide range of decks and ideally have as few "auto-lose" conditions as possible (for example, they shouldn't be too weak to wave or killmonger) since you can't just simply retreat against a deck that counters you, like you would be able to on Ladder. On Ladder, it is more acceptable to build a deck that might be very unfavorable in certain matchups since you can simply retreat when you come across those decks and make up the cube loss by winning against the decks you are able to beat. As such, a much larger range of decks and strategies are viable on the Ladder compared to if you want to take a deck into Conquest and win from proving grounds all the way to infinity. With this in mind, since a smaller number of decks are truly "optimal" in Conquest, building your Conquest deck in such a way that it is favored against the other popular Conquest Mode decks can be a valid strategy if you are willing to risk facing opponents playing something "suboptimal."
SuperTechGod - Twitch | YouTube | Twitter
On Ladder, the deck you build is meant to surprise your opponents on the last turn to get the most cubes out of that match that you can. For example, Galactus is perfect for Ladder and not so much for Conquest Mode. As for Conquest, you’re building a deck for stamina to last rounds. Ramp and Sera decks are the most reliable. With decks that give you multiple options to win, that’s best for Conquest Mode.
ChaosPro - YouTube | Twitter | Instagram
You can build a deck to go for one crazy, cheesy play in Ladder and completely cut your opponent off guard for a win, vs. building something to take care of many situations for different win conditions for conquest.
Raven - Twitch | YouTube | Twitter
When you are building a deck for Conquest, you need to make sure you have a plan for anything your enemy may throw at you. If you are using a Bounce deck but you have nothing in there to deal with the times your opponent may run Wave, then you have done something wrong. Being flexible is the key to winning Conquest, even if that means running cards that are not popular or considered optimal on the Ladder!
Felicity - Twitch | YouTube | Twitter
I feel like I can build a variety of decks for ladder because it's a single game that I am playing against an opponent. However, if I'm building a deck for Conquest, I have to take into account that there will be multiple games involved where the same opponent will know many of the cards in my deck, so they can prepare themselves against it. This means my deck would need to be less predictable, and I would need multiple ways to counter my opponent.
Cqrbon - Twitter | Metafy
One of the biggest differences between deckbuilding for Ranked and Conquest is matchups. In Ranked, if your deck has a poor matchup against a certain deck, you can recognize that deck and be prepared to escape for a 1 or 2 cube loss. Likewise, if you have a very favorable matchup, you can snap more aggressively and potentially win more cubes because you understand that the matchup is in your favor. This aspect of strategy completely shifts in Conquest and affects both your gameplay and your deckbuilding. In Conquest, you are locked into multiple games against the same opponent with the same deck. If you happen to hit a very bad matchup in Conquest, there is a very good chance you are losing that game simply because their deck counters or beats your deck's gameplan. You can retreat for 1 or 2 cubes, but unlike ranked, your opponent's deck is not changing, and if you are playing against a good player, they will recognize your disadvantage and will actively try to leverage their strong matchup with early snaps. This is why, in Conquest, it is often better to have a well-rounded deck that can deal with many different strategies. This does not mean you need to run tons of tech cards like Cosmo or Shang Chi. Rather, this means you need to take a close look at the currently popular/strongest decks, define their win condition, figure out how your deck matches or beats their win condition, and keep this information in mind while deckbuilding. While it is impossible to prepare for every matchup, at the very least you need to prepare for and acknowledge the current metapowerhouses. If you have a solid deck that has a very bad matchup against a common meta deck, Conquest becomes less about who is the better player and more about praying you don't forfeit your run to that losing matchup.
Loopyfist - Twitch | YouTube
The main difference between making a deck in Ladder vs. Conquest is the amount of surprises you need in Conquest. If you're playing a smart individual, they typically won't snap if they think they're going to lose. This situation can only happen once in Tower, but in Conquest, you have to have a few surprises or unknown win conditions that will help you have multiple opportunities for advantages your opponent won't be ready for. With that in mind, you wouldn't necessarily want to build a one trick pony deck. Getting multiple wins out of someone can be difficult if they know exactly what you're going for next round. Or you could just play High Evo and choke cubes out of others. Take your pick.
PeraltaMG - YouTube
For me, a victory in Conquest Mode is much more valuable than a victory in traditional Ranked Mode. Decks need to be more solid and competent. It's not about winning or losing cubes; it's about games. In ranked play, if the opponent's deck is counter to yours, you just retreat and lose a few cubes. The damage is minor. You recover later. Conquest doesn't have that. There are several matches against the same opponent. Counter or not from your deck, you need to win to not waste a ticket. In Gold and Infinity Modes, mostly. So the Conquest decks need to have play options against as many decks as possible, mainly against direct counters or top metas. But it also needs balance and strategy. It's not simply putting a counter on your counter. A great example is Sera's deck, which uses Doctor Doom as an answer to its two counters, Wave and Sandman. In traditional ranked, you could not run Doom and simply retreat in adverse matches; maybe it's more worth it. Conquest Mode decks tend to have more cards than traditional Ranked Mode decks. The surprise factor is very decisive.
JeeseJames - Twitch | YouTube | Twitter
Information and consistency are king in Snap, and this is even more true in Conquest. Even if you build your Conquest deck the same way as your Ladder deck, you still play it differently. But there are some great cards to consider for Conquest that you may not consider as heavily for Ladder; Invisible Woman, Daredevil, and Howard the Duck come to mind as cards with more utilization in Conquest. This extra information (or hidden information from your opponent) enables you to make better decisions, which increases your consistency. A more consistent deck will allow you to navigate location variance during your Conquest matches, which is critical as you don't have the "infinite buy-ins" in Conquest that you do on Ladder; every cube counts. This consistency factor is why my first thought for Battle Mode didn't hold true: card generation. Originally, I thought that card generation allowed you to always keep your opponent guessing, as they could never have true information, even in the late rounds. However, the lack of consistency with card generation means you cannot predict and adjust your own play patterns, which neutralizes any advantage you'd have from keeping your opponent guessing. This consistency factor might be the largest factor in choosing your Conquest deck. It's far better to have a deck with only neutral matchups than a deck that has a bad matchup against 2 or 4 decks but excellent matches otherwise. On Ladder, a bad matchup is just a 1-cube loss; in Conquest, it's your entire run.
OrdinaryHarry - Twitch | Twitter
The difference is how you approach the match: by hiding cards to surprise your opponent, retreating, and snapping more optimally. The decks are the same because the deckbuilding rules are the same.
Boulevard - Twitch | YouTube
When it comes to Ladder, you can really make anything work, as long as it eventually nets you cubes. I think a prime example of something that's a Ladder deck but not a Conquest deck are the old-school, highroll-y Sera Negative builds. On Ladder, your goal was more or less to retreat often and consistently win 4–8 cubes when you did win, as you could win the game without playing a card until turn 4 if you high-rolled hard enough. In Conquest, something like that doesn't work, as you're almost forced to snap even if you don't have a good setup, and one called bluff can end your entire run. On top of that, if you do snap and have the combo, it's not difficult for your opponent to just accept a 2-cube loss and move on to a game where you might not have it. The main thing you're looking for in Conquest is consistency—a high WR even if it's a low number of average cubes—as the high stakes rounds will eventually grant you an advantage in that regard as well.
JHugs - YouTube | Twitter | TikTok
Building a deck for Ladder vs. Conquest may seem like a challenge at first, but it may not be as difficult as you might think. In Ladder, if you have one bad matchup, you can retreat, take a one cube loss, and move on. In Conquest, however, you're locked in that match until you or your opponent loses 10 cubes. For Conquest, I like to build decks that can adapt to several situations, like Sera Control or High Evo Midrange. These are decks that are flexible in their game plan and don't necessarily rely on a single combo to win the game. Surprise cards can also prove to be a worthy addition to any Conquest deck. Cards like Scarlet Witch shake up the game and can throw your opponent off guard. Or cards like Agent Coulson, which generate random cards, will keep your opponent guessing and can really make them question their turn-by-turn decisions. Lastly, cards that provide information are extremely valuable for Conquest. These are cards like Daredevil, which can help you determine if you should snap, retreat, or stay by turn 5. Or cards like White Queen and Spider-Ham can provide useful insight as to what cards your opponent has in their hand. I think a good Conquest deck requires these three attributes for success: flexibility, surprise value, and information. However, at the end of the day, you should be playing a deck you're comfortable with to the point where you know how the matchups go and can recognize when to snap and when to retreat.