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90: Elegant Choreography
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😯 Conquest opponents hate this one weird trick! 🤪🤭
For our esteemed listeners’ consideration:
- 🫰 Weeks in Snap!! 🫰
- Secret Homework 🤫: All things Conquest 🏆
Rie's Game
- Rue Mer Trailer (give it all the love!)
- Rue Mer on Google Play
Follow us on Twitter/Bluesky:
Check out the other great shows in the Snap Judgments Network:
- Snap Decisions
- Snap Judgments
Join us on Discord! 👾
- Join the server
- Head into the channel "welcome-rules-and-tickets"
- Find the "SJPN Podcast Fans" message, and press the button for Snap On This!!
Featured decks:
- Lauren - Flameo Again, Hotman!!
- Lauren - Flameo v41
- Rie's Grand Arena Deck
- Ben - Homework Surfer
- Bullseye Qwerty - Surf Mama
- Rie's Latest Arishem
- Ben - Goofy Noir
Credits:
- Cover art by Lauren
- Snap On This!! Theme by Ben
- YouTube thumbnail by Lauren’s kid, Reggi
- Thumbnail portraits by Adam Star
Timestamps:
- 0:00:00 Our Week in Snap
- 0:30:02 Secret Homework: Talking Conquest
- 1:08:09 Next Week's Secret Homework
- 1:08:57 Housekeeping / Closing Remarks
Recommended
Transcript
Weekend Snap and Gaming Anecdotes
00:00:01
Speaker
We got 90 of these these babies. This is this is number 90.
00:00:07
Speaker
Weekend Snap. Ben, how was your weekend snap? Keep it snappy. Well, endeavoring to keep it snappy, as I so often do, who, baby? I'm not even going to use the five-minute timer because I'm going to keep it so much under five minutes. It's all the stuff you know. I've been playing some Marvel Snap. We played a lot of Conquest for Secret Homework, or a medium amount of Conquest for Secret Homework.
00:00:29
Speaker
I didn't play a whole ton of Snap last month, so I didn't have as many tickets as I thought I would. So, you know, like there there was a lot of grinding up to, you know, I'm i'm spoiling the Secret Homework content now, and that's that's no good. So what else happened in my week in Snap and gaming? I don't know, you know, still doing Montabi playtesting stuff. There's not...
00:00:47
Speaker
an active playtest running right now, but like there will be another one in the future, so you should probably sign up for that. I'm still typing stuff up. Typing up findings. Things about units and team compositions and cards and whether I think they're too strong or too weak or what what's going on. I don't know.
00:01:06
Speaker
I'll never tell. I would never disclose such a thing. um Other stuff. I went back into the kitten minds as I threatened to do last week. Wow, you know what? ah Sometimes when you turn up the I'm i'm doing post-game added difficulty crap in Mugenics, and like sometimes you turn it up to a level where it like kicks your ass a little bit, and then you know the you you don't have as much good cat blood back at the house so you're the next team you throw at the the problem will be uh it's not literal cat blood but i mean like if four of your cats die on an adventure those are four cats that are not in the breeding pool with their beautiful perfect genes that you thought were worthy of sending out to you know when your big adventure like you know it's it's a whole thing so it sort of starts snowballing yeah one failure leads to another you're throwing You're throwing good cats after bad, all that kind of thing.
00:01:59
Speaker
ah Anywho, those runs take kind of a long time. And I've been like thinking like, hey, should everything always take so long? I know I've mentioned that complaint about that game on this podcast before, but like I was also thinking about my bus ride yesterday and I'm like,
00:02:13
Speaker
Is there enough time for me to play snap while I'm riding the bus? Am I going to miss my stop if I'm, you know, plugged into a conquest game and like really applying myself? I don't know. I don't know. So these are just some, some questions been kicking around in my head. Looks like it's been about two, maybe three minutes, maybe going on three. I don't know. Could this be the quickest week in snap ever? Who can say it's certainly a quick one. Cause it's all done now.
00:02:39
Speaker
Well, that was snappy. Great.
New Card Excitement and Frustrations
00:02:42
Speaker
Our other co-host, how was your weekend snap in Keeba Snappy?
00:02:49
Speaker
Mine was supposed to be a fun weekend and snap because i got the virus, which is not something someone should ever say in that tone, to be honest. Oh, there's a new one I was just hearing about today. I was i was like, wow, Rhee is right on the forefront.
00:03:05
Speaker
good I'm glad to hear that it's the techno-organic sort. So, ah yeah, I did finally roll it, but ah then ah then a dark turn was taken. um It was, it snuck in. I, hate this was a week of blowing my ah tokens and everything. I was like, let me go again for the virus. It's like the only card I've had like a kind of interest in him and for a while. And I rolled Polaris of Pistolente.
00:03:34
Speaker
And i was like, yeah, okay and then um And then I rolled again, and I rolled Gambit, a Horseman of Death. And I'm pausing and saying that heavily so that you will know that it will come back later in the story.
00:03:49
Speaker
um Not in a positive way. and then I was like, yeah, you're so meta. Like, just, okay, whatever. and then and and And then I was sad.
00:03:59
Speaker
And then, but hiding behind him. yes I got a two for run in that pack. So, oh no yeah. And then later I tried to go for Karen and spent all the rest of my tokens and got everything in seasonal. But Karen, while you still have like 10, regular series five cards, I don't have But, okay, so, like, I had been working on that, you know, I'd been playing around with it, like, Conquest and Premium Grounds. I'd been noodling on a Virus deck. And I was so excited. I was, like, earlier today, because I was still nailing down the last few cards. I'd made several big changes, and I really wanted to have version I felt more confident in to bring to the podcast. And I was waiting for Location to end, because I didn't have time for Conquest.
00:04:49
Speaker
And um so it's exciting when that was over and I get and like, I didn't have my sauce, but like Surfer, right? Everyone's playing Surfer. Cause it's like, Surfer's never not been good, but like it's real good again for a number of reasons.
00:05:10
Speaker
And Mother Scani being one you know, Maverick obviously having with, other things taken out. So, um, and then I was just like, oh yeah, ladder, because I, I've been climbing pretty fast.
00:05:27
Speaker
And I'm like, it'll also be a fun story if I hit infinite. So like,
Gambit, Horseman of Death: A Meta-Defining Card?
00:05:32
Speaker
remember, I'm like, okay, I see what everyone's doing with their surfers, but I can pull out my marvelous stack, which features shadow King. And I'll win one lane with that. And the other was like,
00:05:43
Speaker
you know, regular, honest-style winnings, um, or men or whatever. So I get excited to pull that out, and I come, and I have it, like, all, ah set up, and I'm like, ooh, yay, you know, against the deck I'm up against, which is not Surfer. is, what is Gambit Horseman of Death, of course. which they, like, you know, play out to, um, that they've buffed and copied, and there's, like, prodigies. You know what i mean? They get this out, and, um...
00:06:17
Speaker
And yeah, it pulls out, obviously, my my super cool... they just And they throw it down whatever. What did they get from their Victoria hand? Doesn't matter, right? What did they get from, like, age in 13?
00:06:31
Speaker
Doesn't matter. They just need to put that power on the board with a bunch of gambits, right? They didn't need to play cleverly. What's on their side of the board? Doesn't matter. Whatever they drew, whatever it fit...
00:06:44
Speaker
You know what i mean? My side. This elegant choreo... It's like, okay, analogy, old movies, right? When when they did fight choreography, when these people learned sword play and like you know martial arts and like ah you know and like the camera and you're like watching one long shot and you're like...
00:07:08
Speaker
Right. And now it's just like, cut, cut. What's happening? You don't know. It's cutting too fast. You know, like you don't have to have good choreography if you just like have some intense lighting and you jump cut fast enough, you know.
00:07:22
Speaker
and it's like, that's what they're doing. I have I have a choreography of Miss Marvel side up. right elegant, all set up from Baku to slide right in the end that I put a lot of work into, right? Like handcrafted and like here they are just slopping things around, you know, because there's enough ways for them to copy Gambit Horsemen of Death. There's enough easy ways for them to draw cards, to get copy Victoria Hand to do whatever. it's just slosh the bucket out and like,
00:07:54
Speaker
and just rain on my parade. And like, it
Deck-Building Strategies and Challenges
00:07:58
Speaker
just...
00:08:01
Speaker
And I was like, this is, you know, and I'm looking at this and that's what I'm angry about, right? Because if I'm teching against a deck, right?
00:08:13
Speaker
What am I to tech against this? Put an armor, can protect one lane. Put in Kyara, can protect ones. You know what i mean? They didn't care that I was playing an ongoing deck versus an end of turn deck.
00:08:26
Speaker
They didn't care. They just knew they had to copy their gambit enough times to take out enough pieces that unless their luck went bad, you know what I mean? They were going to just do enough damage. Right?
00:08:38
Speaker
ah Just, like, just throwing bombs everywhere, you know? ah so like, then... um ah Nice.
00:08:50
Speaker
Okay, but like, and then I think about like, what is the best thing then to do? if Which I've been facing a lot of Gambit, Horsemen of Death, now that the hot location is over, and I'm not just facing Wilson Fisk mirrors anymore. um which is very Which is what we're playing yesterday was like... um ah Yeah, it's just a lot of of of Gambit Horsemen of Death. So it's like, what do I play in this meta? I mean, you can try and Surfer and have enough juice out there that they can't, like, you know, that you're just that overpowered. I think that's and one reason Surfer is doing well. But it's like, your other option is to what? Just not play.
00:09:31
Speaker
Just not play the little cards. Just not having it. Just sit. Sit. And then what? Play Star-Lord. And then just like, you know, do some do a Zola Panther whatever. and then like And then you're protected in a big combo. the The style of play that everyone hated, that they just took the Nerf Hammer to Once again, allowing Gambit just with no plan, just planning to take out whatever whatever the other plan is. Well, everyone usually has to like tech specifically for a deck and And this is why i this is i've already done it. This is my case that presented in my Phoenix Ray Ace Attorney ah dreams that I would like to live you know to passionately without true regard for the law. It's in a case that I believe Second Dinner...
00:10:19
Speaker
is a party of they are developed they are all trolls and they hate me specifically and since this narrative i am the every person proxy for the listener and they also and you know i think the listeners feel the same because right it doesn't match so like any mid of any mid card deck you know anything any any synergy buildup or parts of a plan that you're trying to play. This is a meta. This is against the deck builders, right? This is a very play the strongest high cards combo or play the slop slash thing that can do it. There's no, there's no room for my fun virus deck that like, you know, can like really, it can pop, you know, but it's like, what chance does it have except for playing, you know, I'm, I'm like squeaking by, i' like, oh I'm squeaking through like conquest with this a virus deck. And it's like, I know it's just, you know, my gumption, you know, it's like in soccer, um my team, the quality of my high school soccer team was such that our spirit motto was it's not how good you are, it's how bad you want it.
00:11:36
Speaker
You know, that's like me. That's my deck. It's like my my sheer drive and gumption and like, you know, habit tricks and playing around locations is getting there. Not these decks because this is not a deck builder's meta, you know?
00:11:52
Speaker
exist You know, and if I wanted to point to to any other obvious, like, exhibit to prove that that second dinner, like, are they they're trolls and they think the only way you can enjoy a game is to play your own solitaire on your side of the board that ruins the game for the other person, you know, is just like, look at look at the emotes.
00:12:17
Speaker
Look at the emotes. Look at the ways they give players to interact with each other. i forgot to mute someone earlier today, which hadn't happened in a while. you know, I just hadn't played for a minute. So I was like out of the out of practice. I mean, I'd played, but I Whatever. So, and then, you know, and they're playing their meta deck, and I'm playing shenanigans, and they, like, you know, emoted me, and it's just like, you know, why do you want me to hate... Why do you want your game to enrage people? I've got a question for you. I'm so sorry.
00:12:56
Speaker
think... so i think I'm a big fan of like ah giving titles and superlatives and whatever to to cards lately. You know how ah Morgan Le Fay is a cool card to watch in 2026. I feel like last year, the three drop villain of Marvel Snap was Bullseye.
00:13:16
Speaker
Would you feel comfortable saying that Gambit Horseman of Death is the 2026 three drop villain of Snap, at least the reigning one?
00:13:27
Speaker
Yes, and Bullseye was a comparison directly i was going to make. I hate it in the same way i hate Bullseye. it's I was like wondering which one
Evolving Game Tactics and Meta
00:13:35
Speaker
you hated more. That's how I got here. This one, and because i can't. At worst, with Bullseye, you can throw in... one card at least right a loot cage i and what and you you have to give up a whole slot maybe it really hurts what you're trying to do but at least you can do that how how can you how do you protect yourself you know in one card against gambit horseman of death with your like
00:14:04
Speaker
Anyway, yeah, if you guys have thoughts about the meta, I would love to hear them. That's my week. and That's what I have to say and think about it. and I think we we said last time when we saw three of the Meta Titans get hit, we're like, notably, Victoria Hand and Horse Gambit did not get hit. And sure enough, that has proved out in the meta. They're everywhere.
00:14:28
Speaker
I would... is The joke answer to your question, how do you deal with horse gambit, is Cobra. The real answer might be Mobius or Gorgon, especially you're running... I've been playing Mobius!
00:14:42
Speaker
Yeah. Okay. I have an answer myself, and that is to play more absorbing man broods. That's what I've been doing against ah horse gambits is like, well...
00:14:56
Speaker
I just want to make sure that there are a bunch of three cost bodies on the board and I probably don't even have any one cost bodies. So like each gambit is good for one of my cards and hopefully i can still win at the end. But you know, like if they've got like four horse gambits, ah you know, it might, might be bad news, you know?
00:15:14
Speaker
but i think you're, I think you're right. That's, that's part of why surfer is taking over the meta is because they can flood the board with so many targets that it's okay. If horse gambit kills a few of them. but it really does help to have absorbing man. um Absorbing man really helps out in a lot of matchups and not everybody's playing absorbing man all the time. I didn't when I played surfer this week. wow That's, that's your prerogative. Do you have, do you have any, any villains you'd like to nominate Lauren or Reed? Do you have any other villains? I know you didn't like think you were nominating a villain for 2026, but it seemed important and I'm,
00:15:53
Speaker
I don't know. I had i had a quick weekend snaps that I could ask stupid questions. I'm pretty focused on my singular hatred right now for Gambit, Horseman of Death. yeah i' thinking I think he's the only like big sandcastle ruiner of this year so far, right? like I could point to other cards that are ruining my fun, but they're not 2026 cards. don't think so.
00:16:22
Speaker
um think so And once again, it was sort of a problem, but yeah, FOOM was a problem, but it seems to be no longer a problem. Oh, that was a rough nerve.
00:16:35
Speaker
I would like to emphasize that the cards are the villains and also the people who aren't our listeners who play the cards are the villains, but our listeners can play whatever cards they want and we love them no matter what.
00:16:48
Speaker
Yeah. Hate the game, not the player. Um, for the record i do also think star lord and show were problems but i meant i meant that foom specifically was a card that just like like ruined a lot of game plans you know you would invest so heavily into a into a lane and and foom was just like nah you don't you don't win that lane it doesn't matter how big it is
00:17:15
Speaker
So he's the only one who feels kind of kind of techy. It's like tech adjacent, right? Like counters counter certain strategies being having big cards in your front row. um Yeah.
00:17:28
Speaker
I actually, i've I've seen a couple people coming around on Foom right now because there's a lot of people playing big cards, right? With like Wilson Fisk and Daredevil. Like there's enough big cards around. It's okay that Foom only hits one of them. that's I haven't tried it, but interesting. Interesting.
00:17:44
Speaker
I've also seen an interesting habit where I see people preemptively playing against Cosmic Ghost Rider lot. Like making sure they put like their hands, their gambit, whatever it they want, like in the second row. Like filler cards up front.
00:18:01
Speaker
Totally. I think that's like that's a real value of a card, like a Squirrel Girl or something, right? like Just add bodies so you can protect your cards in the back row. ah Between
Marvel Snap Experiences and Adaptations
00:18:10
Speaker
Cosmic Ghost Rider and Negasonic, i'm I'm slowly getting better at like sequencing my cards that i'm like I'm really thinking about which one's coming out second.
00:18:19
Speaker
You know who's really resilient to the the front row hatred? cards here your fooms and your cosmic ghost riders new storm she just shows up she's real tiny she does her thing you can wipe her text box after that i don't give a shit you know like uh away but uh wow just a just a strong card in in a variety of ways just like uh lots of good for lots of reasons It's like D&D, though. It's like skipping your turn is the least fun thing you can do in any game. It's just to, like, do your turn. That's how I feel anyway.
00:18:58
Speaker
ah you're right. Anything else? I was going to play with her, and I looked at and I was like, two whole turns? I can't play anything. Two whole turns. You could play things that...
00:19:09
Speaker
don't take all your energy. Like, you can a one cost on turn two. I play a one cost on turn two in the deck that I'm going to talk about. You just have to have unspent energy? Mm-hmm. I would skip it all. I miss Red Her, I guess. You have to float energy two turns in a row. I mean, lot of people are skipping.
00:19:23
Speaker
Like, that's that's how a lot of people are playing her. Yep. Yeah. Yeah, I've been surprised how much surfer there is that has no one or two costs in it. Like, that is unusual, but I've seen tons Make room America. What are we doing, people? She's so good. Play America. good Just easier to give yourself energy and then play better cards later on, you know?
00:19:49
Speaker
Okay. ah You're done? Yeah. I know last week I already talked about how much I was loving Grand Arena, so I'm going to try to take a slightly different angle on that this time.
00:20:00
Speaker
I miss Grand Arena. I had so much fun with it. And I want to talk about some of the reasons why. mean, first of all, like there's three new cards to play with, and they're not they're not super interesting to me anyway. But even if they were...
00:20:15
Speaker
I spent all of Tuesday playing Grand Arena. i didn't I didn't touch ranked, so I'm very behind on my ranked climb for me. I normally try to knock that out fast. It just helps me kind of chill for the rest of the season. But I'm like rank 77 or something right now.
00:20:27
Speaker
um And you start at 75 if you made it to infinite ah the previous season. But... I think this Grand Arena might be my favorite event in the history of the game.
00:20:40
Speaker
Wow. I would still say overall, Sanctum Showdown is my is my favorite game mode. But... But this Grand Arena was my favorite like specific event. I just had so much fun with it. And and i I want to point to the main thing that I think was fun with it is I found a deck that I vibed with. I built it myself, which made me feel really invested. And I was like actively iterating on it.
00:21:05
Speaker
um The final version I played 257 games with was version of the deck. And we're talking just tiny little card swaps, right? So, like, lots of variations on different cards. But there were some big steps along the way. Like, I built Strife into the original deck, and I kept him there for a really long time. But then I tried Toxie Doxie, inspired by Rhi's deck, and I kind of liked her. and but But then I didn't like her as soon as she and Strife were interacting. Like, I'd top deck her on five, and Strife was on my board ready to go. And it's like, well, I either play her or Strife's going to. Yeah.
00:21:39
Speaker
So then i had a cut so I had to cut one of them. I ended up cutting Strife. But, ah you know, that was that was like that was a hard decision. um I think if there were one more card that could buff cards in hand, it might be like Toxies out, put that card in, get Strife back in. But it's just like, there isn't that. There there aren't a lot of options for buffing cards already in your hand. And I tried...
00:22:03
Speaker
all of them um anyway i don't i don't want to like go through what the entire deck is because grand arena is over but um i'll still have it in the show notes if you want to check it out with some of the decisions i made to compare it to last week's episode uh maybe i'll have them both in there so you can see like an early version and the final version But I i played something like 200-ish games with the previous 40 versions combined, had a 64% win rate, and my final version had a 71% win rate. So like slow iteration, I was making improvements that were meaningful. Yeah.
00:22:41
Speaker
And some of that process was just by feel, like what feels good, what what cards are fun, which ones are are setting up the combo that I'm like going for, which is basically make a giant, gigantic torch and then proc flame on as many times as possible. So I have one big torch and one big something else. Ideally, Mother Ascani's in there too because it's great to have many big torches, but i you know you can get away with just two big cards. That'll win you two lanes. Yeah.
00:23:10
Speaker
Echo, I actually ended up running a tech card because ah the ongoing decks were are are tend to be pretty strong. And then also, like, Gnoll was just my biggest enemy, period. And so I was trying to snipe them, and it was very hard to do. But, like, you know that destroy decks have maximum Carnage, and so they're going to move Carnage off of a lane to make that clear for Gnoll. And so, like, always trying to, like, ruin their day. Or at least make it so that they have to gamble on the Zola, right?
00:23:39
Speaker
yeah mine And mine I put in a scroll because I felt like not only was it just great against the tactics, but like, yeah, the destroyer because everyone was playing Carnage. And it's like, okay, if you get a gnoll, you know they're going to bank on winning that and you just have to beat gnoll plus whatever was originally in there. and um And Mother Ascani copying your gnoll was just like, you know.
00:24:06
Speaker
Having your scroll, yeah, that sounds like... Sorry, having your scroll, either when you were playing against Mr. Fantastic or Death. Although sometimes, you know, they didn't drop the null in the last turn. And ah and and you're super... Understandable if they see the super scrolls. No, no, they don't! always think to the end! they're not on the board yet?
00:24:28
Speaker
great benefit of playing your own deck right people don't know as long and there's such a benefit then to holding cards back to play last turn you know i'm sure we're going to talk about that in the conquest segment yeah so there is like yeah there's that component where it's like you know the deck better than anybody else you know what the game plan is if it's off meta then people don't know what to expect then there's also just like And i I know I've expressed this in past episodes when I ah veer away from deck building and then find my way back to it. It's so fun to have a deck that's yours.
00:25:03
Speaker
And it really is possible to do. I know you hear people say things like, oh there's only 12 cards. You know, everybody converges. You can't make anything truly new. and Maybe that's kind of true, depending on what you mean by something new. But like you can take something and make it yours.
00:25:18
Speaker
you can therere There are enough cards in the game and few enough players that you can you can make an original set of 12. It may be extremely similar to another set of 12, but you can make it yours. And that, like, i don't know, that extra, like, sense of ownership and, like, building it, just, it's fun.
00:25:37
Speaker
Anyway, now i I feel lost because i don't I don't have any ranked mode deck that I love right now. End of turn was one of my fallbacks and they hit Invisible Woman really hard. So I don't i don't know if going figure out how to make that work. or I don't know.
00:25:53
Speaker
Maybe I'll try Karen or something. I've played some Shadowlands, Daredevil, and Wilson Fisk. I'm not super impressed with them. They're not bad. They're just like... It's not my style ah of card. Yeah. It just doesn't feel fun it's been my issue for some reason. don't know.
00:26:09
Speaker
I played a decent amount of it as well. Yeah. Yeah. I don't know. yeah Backtracking just a second. I totally agreed with you on Grand Arena. I had more fun with that mode than I'd had in the game in quite a while. And we both built Human Torch decks with a lot of hand buffs and we still built different decks. Like, you know, they're really still did different things. Yeah. And we still both won bunch. i i You know, i cleared house. I got everything I wanted to. i even picked up the emote because none of the variants that rotated through were like
00:26:46
Speaker
and so i still have like i still have like a thousand glory that's like okay there's a few more rotations it's either going to be a variant or it's going to go to ah blue fire borders or something like i don't know um Oh, I was talking about ah iterating based on feels, but I was also iterating based on data, which I know Ben's talked about before using SnapFan, like watching like how much each card is contributing to the deck.
00:27:11
Speaker
I'd never really done that before, and SnapComplete made it pretty easy to do. This is going to sound like a plug for SnapComplete, and it only is in the sense that I like it. ah And I have comped premium so ah because...
00:27:24
Speaker
the dev and I just swapped premium. Like I gave him premium fourth location. He gave me premium snap complete. um And so anybody can track your deck stats for free on snap complete. This is my understanding, but with premium, you can see the per card stats. And so that was also really interesting to like, okay, I've got to, I've got to put in enough plays to like have a sample size but now i can look and see like oh zabu's not pulling his weight or or whatever and and like adjust accordingly or if i this is where it feels come in if i really feel like no zabu's right why is he not pulling his weight maybe he needs more synergy um anyway that that was a cool experience and i i suggested i think a snap fan free to do your uh you know unfortunately
00:28:11
Speaker
I think something changed because now I can't see ah my own card stats. I go to like the same, like my browser remembers the URL and everything. I go there and I can only see everybody's card stats. So I think something changed at snap.
00:28:29
Speaker
And like, I keep hoping it will change back and I'll be able to see my own card stats from like the past week. Or, you know, you used to be able to like check like, past month, past day, past week, yeah like that kind of thing. But like, I don't know why that information is no longer available there, but it makes me sad because I did use that tool a lot.
00:28:48
Speaker
At least when I felt like testing on the PC where it where it would track.
00:28:54
Speaker
And it's something that I like about snap complete. Although I think snap fan and snap vault also do this for free. As far as I know is you can just, you can track, like you don't have to have a tracker open. You can be on mobile, you can be on iOS, uh, and, and it'll track everyone in your games. Like they've, they've, they've figured out better tracking.
00:29:16
Speaker
You don't, you know, untapped is not the only way to do it anymore. Nothing against untapped untapped is still great. It might have the biggest data set. I'm not sure. Um, They're definitely hampered by the fact that they are now paid and to use the product when there are several free options.
00:29:33
Speaker
Anyway.
00:29:36
Speaker
ah The only other thing I wanted to mention was I started Mixtape, which is a super cute...
Conquest Mode: Strategies and Insights
00:29:41
Speaker
ah I've played like literally 40 minutes of this game, but a heavily story-based game of three best friends in the 90s, graduating high school, heavily focused on music, and some of the early minigames were um controlling two tongues making out and escaping from the police on a shopping cart.
00:29:58
Speaker
So pretty interesting and really cool art style.
00:30:04
Speaker
On to our secret homework.
00:30:06
Speaker
ah It was assigned by me a couple weeks ago. It was to play Conquest and have a discussion about it. um Specifically Infinity Conquest, but also like, it's fine if you didn't play Infinity Conquest. um I'll say up front that I used to be a Conquest main. It used to be my main way to play. And I think part of it was like, well, I also get medals along the way, which I can spend on boosters. So this is just a more efficient way for me to use my time. um But since the bonus booster shop ah now makes it easy to get boosters, I don't feel that pressure at all. And I play very little Conquest because I think it is way too long. i think it's an interesting game mode, but it's just too long. um
00:30:49
Speaker
And then it's just like, this is our only other permanent game mode. And where I'm like, Grand Arena was so fun. And like, I wish that I had a second game mode to turn to when I'm just like, I'm not feeling ranked. There isn't a isn't a deck that's vibing with me. I wish there was a second mode to turn to, but Conquest is like so similar to ranked that...
00:31:08
Speaker
While there's a little bit of different strategy in like what kind of decks work well, that's mostly just the fact that you have to take your deck and beat a random opponent many times.
00:31:23
Speaker
So you have to be able to have you know surprise cards or tech or flexibility or whatever. yeah ah Either of you two want to talk about just like your broad experience with Conquest?
00:31:34
Speaker
We'll go in order, Ben. ah Yeah. Go ahead, Ben. Yeah, I like Conquest for the most part. I do think sometimes it takes a little while, but I usually know that going in, usually. Sometimes I make a mistake and I start a Conquest when I shouldn't.
00:31:52
Speaker
But um yeah, I enjoy Conquest. I like that, you know... it's It's not rational, but I would prefer to to win most times when I'm playing a game of Snap.
00:32:07
Speaker
And the thing about ladder is, like you can't just win every game every time against opponents, like like random opponents. but like And it's not not to say that I can do that in conquest either, but like I'm much more likely to win a conquest match than I am to win an individual match.
00:32:27
Speaker
ladder match at least it seems that way to me like there's there's more time to more time for me to learn what my opponent is playing and like i can stabilize and like very often like yesterday i lost eight cubes and i was like well that's all right i think i think i know what's going on and it was all right i didn't know what was going on you figured it out yeah i i you know And Laurie I have talked about that phenomenon too. We often, like, i feel like i also, it's like, you lose the most up front usually, right? Because then once you see their deck enough, right, then you, like, learn to play around it. And presumably your skills or knowledge can help you. like of that Speaking of that, I guess, like...
00:33:13
Speaker
there it I'm not sure when we start talking about like conquest advice or whatever, but like, uh, in that example that I just mentioned, like I wanted to, you have to figure out which of your cards you need to see or like which car, like, I don't know.
00:33:34
Speaker
Uh, some of this stuff is hard to articulate, but like you'll, you'll recognize like which cards will be key to like beating, the opponent like sometimes you'll recognize like oh i just have to make sure that i'm going really tall because i don't have any like i can't i can't you know i don't have any hate cards there's there's no tech that'll like save me here so i have to make sure that i'm retreating from every game that i'm not going to go ridiculously tall and
00:34:07
Speaker
And then I have to make sure I can get my opponent on the hook for four or eight or six cubes or however many cubes you can. Like, wait, wait until yeah you can't be shy about the big numbers of cubes, especially like in those situations where like it's desperate and it's like it's just about making the bigger numbers because you can't solve the problems like you.
00:34:32
Speaker
Yeah. You just have to gauge when it's important and like when you can't, when you can't retreat and like, I don't know, at the same time, yeah know when you can retreat and do that. Don't, don't be shy about retreating either. Like just ah do the right thing every time and do it with, the you know, the, the, the, the strong convictions that I don't know. Just, yeah. I don't know. Does anyone have any better advice? Yeah.
00:35:01
Speaker
I have more pieces of advice. I want to get to i over that one so hard. Oh, you're good. I want to get to Reese conquest experience, but I wanted to like agree with, I think it's interesting that all three of us are feel like we get stronger over the course of a conquest match. And you would think surely that's everybody's case. Right. But like, I don't know if we feel like we can come back from like being two cubes or four cubes against the opponent leading us, then clearly we're,
00:35:28
Speaker
adapting better than our opponent is so they may have started out stronger but they're not adapting as fast uh so maybe i don't know if it's more about which deck you're playing or more about what your play style is but maybe both yeah in that vein i'll say you know transitioning and that's for me part of the draw of conquest um is is that like it's how you it's the mode that's like the versus, as Ben was saying. that's It takes longer, which makes it less fun, and i like I enjoy it less. I enjoy doing it less because I like moving from game to game, but it's what makes you know you're a good player, right? When you do well there. And a lot of it, like, who among us does not get satisfaction of just, you know, being the very best like no one ever was
00:36:21
Speaker
So like, ah right. Yeah. so that's part that's part of um the draw for me. Whereas ladder, i feel like there's a, like part of the way you can just get ahead of ladder. i remember when I was being lazy, but I wanted to climb fast is is like among like equalish players, among people who play enough and are good enough at the game, if you know the the great deck builders, you know what i mean? And you get the hot decks before they spread out everywhere,
00:36:53
Speaker
boom that's You can climb a ladder real, real fast by just being, you know, a good player, right? That's not like, it's not, you can do that on ladder. And I remember that's how, you know...
00:37:04
Speaker
You used to do it. You just find the hot decks that, like, are really good into the meta before the next person and just be good enough at playing them. But Conquest, right? And then what? You take your own deck, your own deck into Conquest? Especially the the slightly more meme-ier it gets. And then you beat people, you beat meta. It's just like, aww, like, right? That's the ultimate, like, yeah. But that's work, right? You know?
00:37:32
Speaker
That's hard. So like there is that draw. I like to play and know I'm good at the game. But honestly, I wouldn't do it so much if it weren't for the rewards in Conquest. I usually get the variant that's the Conquest reward. I like to get the mystery variants, you know, that are in the rewards. um So that's a lot of draw for me. So I end up playing a lot of Conquest much because I don't even play Snap.
00:37:59
Speaker
as much So I know, boom, as soon as like I've hit Infinite, or even before, if I'm even caring about getting to Infinite that month, I gotta spend time in Conquest getting medals so I can get the variants. So I've just spent enough time there to do it.
00:38:15
Speaker
And then, especially with all the limited time modes, I did play Grand Arena most the week as opposed to anything... You know, I'll put in some Conquest. So it's just like, i spend a lot of time there just out of like, you know, mentally managing my snap time and to try and get the most of stuff out of it.
00:38:38
Speaker
but um but yeah. Yeah. um Transitioning in looking about, talking about, like, what decks we bring into Conquest. ill I'll start, but I'm interested in hearing how you guys look at it. um For me, it sounds so obvious, but, like, number one, you gotta love the deck you're taking. You gotta really enjoy it. You gotta find it fun. It can't just be meta deck. I played some Gambit, Horace, and Deathhash, where got it out obligation. And I was winning, but I was like angry.
00:39:10
Speaker
i just realized I'm like, I just don't enjoy, like, this just isn't fun for me to play this. Like, I'm just not having fun, you know? And it's the same thing. Okay. Like, and it sounds so obvious, but like, but this is, you're, the angrier and the more tilted you get, which like Snap loves to try and push your little buttons, the worse you're going to play, right? And it's like driving a car, right? And if there's like a model of car that's been your dream car, you know, and you've always loved it and wanted it, even if there's a couple flaws, right? Your love and yet the feeling you get just from being on it, like kind of makes up for that. Whereas if you got some car because it was the most practical thing or whatever reason, anything that goes wrong with it is infuriating. You know what i mean? It's that difference mentally. So it's really important to not just, like, you know, obviously know the deck you're playing. Try and know it inside and out. If you can go a couple, even if you're bringing a meta deck, if you can, like, swap out a card or two, you know, to, like, throw an enemy off kilter. Maybe that's good, but enjoy playing it. And then another thing for me is I do look, i i think about the meta. I think about what decks I'm likely to see.
00:40:31
Speaker
And I don't bring anything that's an instant loss against any of them. i really try not to, that I don't have a shot against. I really do think that. and sometimes that means I don't have something I really want to take in.
00:40:45
Speaker
um You know, but I, or I think about just i swapping in a like a loot cage or something that's going to cover me or, you know, a deck that I have that has that card and, you know, those sort of things I do think about. um That's enough for me. I want to hear, I want to hear you guys think about what decks you're bringing in when you want to win.
00:41:11
Speaker
I've got some advices. ah Reese's advice is good. I might, It might sound like some of my advice is a little contradictory, but like some of it is definitely fully in agreement. My first tip, I don't know. I i wrote these or when when we first got the the question in our like YouTube comments like months ago, but they're still as true today as they ever were.
00:41:36
Speaker
The tip number one is use any good deck that you understand. And very often that means one that you built because like, sure, maybe you're hearing that something is the best deck, but like, if you don't understand it, like, I i understand all my decks because I put all 12 cards there and I know why they're there and like what they're doing for and with each other and like all that. But like, you know, there I've played other people's decks and, you know, once I understand them, I feel a lot better about bringing them into conquest. But like, you really need to know why all the pieces are there. Like, don't, don't, wear hand-me-down clothes that don't fit yet.
00:42:17
Speaker
you Wait until you've grown into them. You know what I mean? think Even if you're net decking a conquest deck, I'm with you. i do that i do that more than I should. ah just Just take a new deck right into gold or infinity conquest. Right into gold. Yeah, take it to proving grounds. Sometimes I don't have time for proving grounds, but then, of course, it costs me a ticket quickly. It's like, what did I expect? like You really need to understand your deck's snap conditions. like you know that There's a deck that I'll be talking about in a second, but like sometimes for previous Conquest decks I've used, like the snap condition is as simple as, did I get Merlin or Surge onto?
00:42:57
Speaker
I should probably snap about it. And like if you don't know your deck, you don't know. You can do it like that. need understand... you like you really need to understand which cards you're looking for, which cards you should be worried if you don't see.
00:43:12
Speaker
And like that, that sort of thing. um So that, that was my, my big number one tip tip is just to use a good deck that you understand. And like, it should be good and it should be kind of generically good. I
Gameplay Strategies for Winning
00:43:26
Speaker
really like decks that can potentially put up like really high numbers, like surfer or whatever. But like, I also kind of like scream because that's a,
00:43:36
Speaker
a deck that can usually interfere with the opponent's game plan, even though it can't like always go like a bajillion points tall, like in, in whatever lane it can pretty reliably screw up a lot of different decks that you might run into.
00:43:54
Speaker
So like I've enjoyed playing scream in conquest. Um, those Those are two of my favorite archetypes to play, but specifically in Conquest. I also like Apocalypse Discard just because it's very consistent and you can wait for games that you're clearly going to win and snap on those and just, you know, don't snap and but perhaps retreat in games that it's not obvious you're going to win. Because like Apocalypse Discard has like very clear ah snap conditions and everything. you you can tell when you're winning and when you're losing with that kind of deck.
00:44:29
Speaker
um but I guess that was still part of the first tip. The second tip I have, this is the one that might seem contradictory, is don't just play a bunch of tech cards that don't make sense. Like, if you're worried about all the different matchups you might encounter, you don't know. People are bringing all kinds of goofy shit into Conquest. Like, you cannot account for all of it with, like, specific hate cards. So I'm, I like, I like interacting with the opponent, and I think that's where you can get ahead in Conquest, but, like,
00:44:58
Speaker
Yeah, I don't know. the The kinds of tech cards that I'm interested, or that that I recommend playing in Conquest, I guess I should say, is maybe I should talk about this deck list here, just just for example. um Yeah, the the deck that I brought is called Homework Surfer because I built it for homework, and it's been working really well for me.
00:45:18
Speaker
It's America Chavez, Storm, Horseman of Famine, Brood, Captain Carter, Maverick, Silver Surfer, Cosmo, Jack Flag, the Superior Spider-Man, Mother Ascani, Absorbing Man, and Juggernaut. So we got a couple tech cards there, Cosmo and Juggernaut.
00:45:32
Speaker
They are best friends. you i mean, they're great to play together. They're really great in conquest. They can, like, in a lot of matchups, you're, like, really hoping to see one or both of those cards just because you know there's some play that your opponent can do that, like, you will not be able to contend with.
00:45:52
Speaker
And, like, you just have to, like,
00:45:55
Speaker
you got to preempt it, you know? So like you'll, you'll make a play for priority maybe in a situation when you wouldn't be so aggressively chasing priority, but you'll just be doing that so that you can put down the Cosmo when it counts or the juggernaut before to push the cards before they reveal possibly into a Cosmo lane. That's why they're so good together. You know, it's a, and also Cosmo narrows down the, the places where they might play the things. So then you can like It's like ah like forks and pins in in chess like where where you can sort of dictate your opponent's options and stuff. and
00:46:36
Speaker
Anywho, yeah. So Cosmo and Juggernaut are great tech cards for conquest. like That's the kind of thing I like. I also like ah the the aforementioned enemy movement cards that I would play in a Scream deck like ah Polaris or Stagron or Juggernaut again or oh so often a lot of my recent conquest has been with the cannonball surfer decks and a lot of it is just uh banking on getting cannonball sometimes with mercury sometimes without mercury because wow cannonball will screw some things up for opponents so yeah those are the kinds of tech cards that i super duper recommend but like don't go it's it's never cobra season unless you're wombat combat wombat combat it's it's always cobra season but like you know
00:47:22
Speaker
even Even stuff like Cage or Mobius, like play it if your deck has a reason to be playing those cards is my philosophy. um Stardust is like kind of right on the line where like I guess you can maybe throw Stardust into... I don't know. Stardust screws with a lot of things, and like versatility really is like the name of the game in Conquest. You you want to have a fighting chance...
00:47:47
Speaker
in all kinds of matchups. So yeah, don't don't bring a deck that like hard loses to stuff. that's that's I think we mentioned that already and I would like to second that wholeheartedly because you will eventually run into bad matchups.
00:48:05
Speaker
Can I throw in there, it depends on which conquest you're playing, right? If you're playing Proving Grounds, it doesn't matter. it's the same as Ranked. You have a single matchup. like If it's a bad one, you just concede. But then like Silver, it's like you have to win two matchups. like By the time you're up to infinity, you have to hey you have to have you know if you're playing a deck that is really fragile, you know something like...
00:48:28
Speaker
affliction against Luke Cage and Luke Cage has a sizable portion of the meta you have to win five times that you run into an opponent not running Luke Cage that's that's tough I guess that's one way to look at it I mean they're each don't know each individual matchup is just like an individual thing and if you're like well I should I should carry Luke Cage because in one of these five matches I might run into ah an opponent that's doing an affliction thing I mean, that's sort of true, but that's also five opportunities to run into opponents who are not playing Affliction things. I meant it the opposite. If you're the one playing Affliction, you have five ah chance like five opportunities where you have to hope somebody's not running Luke Cage. Oh, I see. I see what you mean.
00:49:15
Speaker
So the whole, like, don't play something fragile, yeah i think yeah that effect is stronger when you're playing the higher levels of Conquest. like Yeah, yeah, I suppose that...
00:49:28
Speaker
like I'm curious what you think about Mobius, because i know he's a moderately niche and tech card, but also from my understanding and experience, there's a lot of negative in Conquest. And that's one of the best cards to shut down Mr. Negative.
00:49:42
Speaker
It is, but you can also shut down Mr. Negative with like Juggernaut, that sort of thing. That's okay. like If your deck has a reason to be playing Mobius, like I think definitely definitely be playing Mobius. um i don't i don't like These are all just... They're there're things that work for me, and I'm sure that other people play it differently and things work for them too. i was looking for your personal experience because like i know you play a lot of threes i know how you feel about tech cards and i was just wondering where mobius fit in that because yeah he does seem like one that is not proactive with your game plan but like he is good on a lot of locations and that that gets pretty far in my book is being good on common locations because like common locations are like part of the they're like
00:50:37
Speaker
you know, they're, they're part of the furniture. They're, they're like, they're in here, you know, like you can't ignore them. Don't, don't walk around the room and not see the table. Like a lot of rooms have tables in them. Um, I don't know. Uh, I guess another like tip that I think is really important is do not be afraid to snap aggressively or, you know, also retreat with, uh, be comfortable about that.
00:51:02
Speaker
Um, i In my experience, I think the person who is more... Yeah, if you are less precious... I don't know. just ah it sounds so It sounds so goofy, but like ah you really have to be like willing to like blow the whole thing up. Be like, it's fine. i can I can lose as many cubes as I lose. I'm going to make the right plays.
00:51:31
Speaker
every time and you have to like have faith that that will work out even and like try not to get flustered and like that's that's like maybe even the most important tip I have maybe more than use a good deck that you understand and only play tech cards that make sense and like all that. But like only play when you are in a good productive mood and like only play when you have the the mindset of a true fucking champion.
Challenges and Tips for Conquest Mode
00:52:03
Speaker
um i don't know. Okay, I do like make make sure Make sure that you are not feeling like a loser and you are feeling like a winner.
00:52:14
Speaker
And also maybe do it while you're out for a walk, get the endorphins pumping that that keeps your mood stable and stuff. I don't know. i that's, that's just something I like to do.
00:52:24
Speaker
as I mentioned earlier, maybe don't do it on the bus cause you might miss your bus stop and there'll be distractions and things, but like, uh, just find an environment where you can, I don't know, like be exactly as in it as you need to be. And also,
00:52:43
Speaker
maintain like a ah dissociated distance from it at the same time I don't know I'm like I'm telling people to do the impossible but just like you know make good choices and feel right about it is is my feeling I don't know I got i got terrible advice
00:53:01
Speaker
did you say you had more tips Rie? yeah okay So I wanted to give some more general so ah stuff, hopefully, that hasn't been as much touched on. One, i do I am too lazy to hide ah my my collection level and stuff.
00:53:25
Speaker
Because I haven't bothered to figure out how to do that. But I would if I was playing serious ah Infinite Conquest. Because it is true that people both, generally speaking, it's not going to be true of everyone, do not snap enough and do not retreat enough. And specifically, do not snap early enough, right?
00:53:46
Speaker
That hesitancy, especially the first game, because you haven't seen what they are. but that's your best chance to get cubes out of them because they also haven't seen what you are. And I look, because if I tap on someone's thing and I can see that they're at a collection. Because here's the thing about Infinite Conquest. Usually on ladder, you're playing people much closer to your collection level, much closer, you know, too I mean, you know, it ping pongs around. So, know, you know, and you know hey if you're facing me, I'm not always playing my best, you know, sometimes it's just, ah we're playing while doing chores or late at night or whatever. But if I'm playing, you know, but when you are like playing serious, but here's the thing, right?
00:54:30
Speaker
Infinite Conquest, they pulled away, like a lot of that like stuff that usually match makes you so i will unlike normal like i'll click and i'll see people with low collection levels and i'm in infinite conquest maybe i'll be nicer somewhere else but no if i'm trying to win up about it i know i can get them for cubes early much much easier because they have no idea they don't even play they're not playing at my level. You know what I mean? No, for real. They don't know the power that I'm going to bring later in the game. Especially me, who's not only playing with a lot of like cards. you know I've got a bigger collection level, but I'm playing i'm not even playing the meta deck. I'm playing my odd decks.
00:55:15
Speaker
Boom. I can usually push them into staying in a snap or getting eight cubes out of them. right away because they don't know how powerful they get. and I know, right? Like I see what they're doing and they think they think they've got it and they're so strong. And it's like, you don't, you don't pay people like me on the regular.
00:55:34
Speaker
You know, and if you're trying to win, the kind of thing you got to think about, right? And if you're playing, especially if they're playing a meta deck, especially if you have surprise cards, you got Legion, you got a Scarlet Witch, you got anything, right? That's not expected necessarily in your deck. You need to get those cubes out of them early, or You'll be like bleeding cubes waiting for your opportune moment to come again being like why didn't I snap so hard that very first game when I had a really great setup but but I was just too busy like watching what they were doing on the board.
00:56:11
Speaker
um So you know what i mean? and and And that's where knowing your deck comes in, because you got to know your deck well enough when you're not confident on theirs to know a general advantage and then also not be afraid if things flip.
00:56:28
Speaker
You know, it's the poker lesson. Don't keep putting in you know, like no one to fold them. ah So I think those are my biggest things. Like, going for a while. What about you, Lauren? Yeah. Just a couple things that you guys haven't brought up or to expand on things that you did bring up. um i I am too aggressive at snapping on the first game.
00:56:53
Speaker
ah Sometimes that costs me. But um I will snap early if I feel like I'm in a strong position. ah And they don't know what my deck is yet. but And so that kind of goes, I think, to what Ben was saying, where like, do the right plays. Trust your deck. I think that's like, you need to be snapping and playing it out when your deck is doing its strongest thing. Because if you can't win that game, what games are you going to win?
00:57:20
Speaker
um You know, and of course. Maybe your deck is doing its thing, but your opponent's deck is also doing its thing. So like, that's not a perfect rule, but, um, something to be, to be aware of. If you're, if you're not snapping when your deck is doing what it's supposed to be doing, you're not snapping enough.
00:57:38
Speaker
Um,
00:57:40
Speaker
And then surprise cards, if you are running them, I tend not to run surprise cards in Conquest. And I think that's part of the reason why I actually have grown to like ranked more than Conquest because I think surprise decks are fun.
00:57:53
Speaker
But in Conquest, if you are going to be doing surprise cards, you have to make sure you're getting cubes for them when they're a surprise. Don't earn two cubes on your surprise card and ruin your surprise. That's not worth it. It's better it's literally better to boom or snap and have them leave.
00:58:09
Speaker
and keep that surprise for later when you can actually get cubes for it. Um, I have a really quick example about that, uh, in the deck list that I read off a minute ago, ah there's Cosmo.
00:58:21
Speaker
I don't play Cosmo as an on curve thing to play ever, ever. I mean, for one thing, there are a bajillion three costs in that deck. There's always another three costs you can be playing if you just want a warm body on the board. But like, No, I'm not advertising the presence of Cosmo. My opponent will find out that Cosmo is in the deck when they lose a game.
00:58:39
Speaker
That's when they find out that Cosmo is there. Yeah. And i'm like generally a surprise like that, like I'm going to, I'm going to keep them sweating until the very end. Did I draw it or not? Once they know about it, um you know, in the following games, but, but I am most concerned about that the first time they see it. And I'm really trying to pay attention. Like, okay, my, like my three cards that are unique, the the ways that I made this deck different than the meta, I need to make sure I'm capitalizing on those when they do their thing.
00:59:09
Speaker
Otherwise, what's the point of them being surprising? Yeah. Um, the other thing, and I am good about this, despite how aggressive I am in the first game is to be totally like, be stay frosty, be totally fine retreating three or four times in a row. If that's what it takes, people will emote you when you retreat three or four times in a row for one cube, but then you end up winning.
00:59:30
Speaker
They are advertising that they are bad at the game. They are letting you know that you are correct. You are doing the right thing and you will win in the end. Maybe locations were in their favor or they played their strong card early or you're just not drawing well. Whatever the situation is, snap or retreat based on what the situation is, not based on what you did in the last two or three games.
00:59:49
Speaker
Sometimes it is absolutely the correct thing to retreat multiple times in a row. I had it happen on the run that I did for con for for homework. I retreated four times in a row and ended up turning the match around. And yes, they were emoting me. What just happened? But... You know, what just happened is I won because I preserved my cubes.
01:00:10
Speaker
Cubes are HP. You only have 10 of them. You can't be as reckless as you can in ranked because you don't bounce back the same way. If you get below 10, you have no chance to catch up.
Reflections and Wishes for Gaming Modes
01:00:21
Speaker
um also just like if you can get to the point where you this is like more advanced cube management stuff but like you can put on a lot more pressure when you have more cubes than your opponent because because like you can afford to retreat a few times they can't right or like you can snap but they you know ah if if they snap they're that's it that's their last game
01:00:44
Speaker
So you should be putting pressure on in those situations. if if it's If it's eight to two, you bet your ass I am snapping on them unless I drew really bad. um
01:00:56
Speaker
uh those those are the main things uh the only other things i want to talk about uh i don't like that conquest locks you out from playing other conquests right like if you're in the middle of an infinity i can't play proving grounds anymore i don't like that there's one reason why unranked needs to exist or they just need to fix that like that you can have a conquest of each tier going at a time me yeah let me do a silver and a gold at the same time Yeah, I think that that would actually really help with like how long Infinity takes is if it didn't hold up your conquest mode while you were doing it. um
01:01:30
Speaker
Then the only other thing I have is my own superstition, which is the avatar that I am going to upgrade to an Infinity Border. It is coming with me to all five games.
01:01:42
Speaker
that's my own personal superstition i know it's not real but but i just feel like i need to let that avatar know that like you know we went on a journey together this avatar was with me for all five games i did in fact take bullseye qwerty's surfer deck which only has five cards in common with ben's surfer deck um and And I won a gold and an infinity with it and got Pride Valkyrie with the ah memorialized immortalized with the infinity border. It's my first one in months because I just don't play that much.
01:02:21
Speaker
Well, that's awesome. Yeah, felt good. I remembered one more tiny piece of advice. Don't don't don't quit the match while you still have cubes unless you're like really busy or something. Like, I don't know if your family needs you. Sure.
01:02:37
Speaker
Quit the match. But like some people retreat after they lose four cubes or six cubes or something. They're like, I see the writing on the wall, but like they might win, you know, they should stick her. They should like, don't, don't defeat yourself. Make your opponent do it is my, my thing. But also at the same time,
01:03:00
Speaker
try to try to sense how your opponent is feeling. And maybe, I don't know, if if they just took a big four cube loss in the first round, give them a second to think about it. Don't rush right into the next round. Like, let them let them feel the weight of their defeat for a moment.
01:03:21
Speaker
that's That's just me. The strategy of starting the next round. I mean, like, I'm a very slow player in general, but I especially, like, i don't you know, like, im and I'm not, like, doing it to be a jerk. Like, I really do want to, like, catch my breath and think about it. Also make sure that I'm feeling more emotionally cool than my opponent is.
01:03:41
Speaker
Okay, I won't, even if I'm playing Infinity Conquest, I have to be like also reading or something. I cannot, it's just like waiting for them to take their turns. I can't handle it, even though I know I'd play better if I didn't like.
01:03:55
Speaker
That's why i like the walking. It's like just the right level of multitasking where I'm still like very present with the game. Whereas like sometimes I do conquest while I'm cooking and like, you know, sometimes I win, but yeah.
01:04:09
Speaker
Right, yeah, if you if your real drive is to get an Infinity Avatar, you know what I mean? Yeah, never give up. I've definitely played against, like, decks that seem like that were crushing me, but, like, held out, you know, those, and came back against eight cube losses, but at the same time... like i Sometimes if someone retreats after they lose four cubes and I've clearly got a deck that's like you know like ah geared to do better than their deck, like I kind of understand if someone's just running out their medals like do it and they're just like, I don't know, just want to play like you know a slow losing game against a deck that's far stronger than mine.
01:04:52
Speaker
like It's all about what you want from the experience, you know? Like, it's your time. yeah there's no wrong way to do it. I'll concede early if it's clearly a bad matchup, but it has to be pretty bad.
01:05:05
Speaker
um there' There's nothing that feels better than coming back from 2 to 10. Oh, also, they have to have been a really good sport if I'm going to concede because of an early loss. Because if they're a bad sport and they beat me early, I'm sticking the fuck around and making them... I'm not that heavy. I'm going to feed their 10 cubes back to them. That's when you start roping. I'm just kidding. Don't do that. No, don't do that. I mean, I rope, but not on purpose. It's because I'm thinking really hard. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Because was reading.
01:05:37
Speaker
90% of the time I rope is because I'm doing laundry or something like that. yeah um sorry I try to remember that when i when someone's roping me. They're not necessarily making a statement.
01:05:50
Speaker
yeah you know until they do it for like every single turn for like four turns of conquest after you beat them then it's like okay maybe they're an asshole even though tell me what their what their intent is you know i think slow silence is probably like a person who's busy with other things but if they're being slow and they're you know spamming thumbs-ups after they win. Oh, I definitely need Conquest. Then I'm like, oh, you're you're like that, huh? it's
01:06:26
Speaker
There's a lot to like about Conquest. ah i just I just wish we had a permanent mode that was more different from Ranked and Conquest. um Preferably something fast. Like Ryu was saying, like can't wait for the opponents. like I would kill for a game mode that had 15-second turn timers.
01:06:43
Speaker
If that's what high voltage was, I would freaking love it. Give me speed snap. Give me bullet snap. um If you don't have the experience of sticking around when you're behind in Conquest, you should even at lower, like even in Silver and Gold, you should stick around because it's good practice with your deck to to be playing to your outs, which is a gamer term for... for Like you're behind and so you're desperately going for the things that give you any chance to win instead of, you know, playing your deck optimally and strategically like you might be if you were ahead, you know, more, more careful, you might take bigger risks that are your only chance at winning. Like you, you know, uh, that's, that's, it's a slightly different skillset and it's really satisfying to win when you play to your outs.
01:07:31
Speaker
Oh yeah. Okay.
01:07:33
Speaker
Those are our thoughts on Conquest. Reed, did you have a a deck to share? yeah. Yeah. You don't have to share it out loud. You can just put it in the show notes. I just wanted to know if we were going to get see one.
01:07:46
Speaker
did I'm trying to remember what I took. I did play Conquest. And Infinity Conquest. I'm like what decks did I take? i'll pick out I can pick out something to share. It really depends on the season two and what's in lake meta. i was running Galactus First Steps for a long time, but it doesn't feel its't feel great anymore. i have something i'm super on top of right now.
01:08:09
Speaker
um And also, yes, I am assigning... ah New homework. It was going to be Snap related, but due to Snap's own fault for trolling me ah this week and everything, um instead i have decided...
01:08:26
Speaker
I want to hear another another game. I wanted to expand it in case you hadn't been playing other games, but I want to hear another um game or media or thing or activity or something that you are really hype about right now.
01:08:44
Speaker
um That is that that iss the one rule. You have to be excited when you hear you. not liking it that you are into right now. Game or broader than that?
01:08:56
Speaker
Sounds good. All right. A listener. If you liked what you heard and haven't already, please like comment, subscribe, feed it us, feed the algorithm, all those, all those good things. If you're an audio only listener, we still adore you, but like come subscribe to the YouTube just to be nice. Um,
01:09:14
Speaker
If you want to, if you want to come hang out with us, you can do so in the speakeasy. It's our little corner of discord. The instructions to get there are in the show notes or video description. We're probably part of the snap judgments network where you can listen to other great shows like snap decisions by Joe on Mondays.
01:09:29
Speaker
I heard Joe just got a new job at GameStop. So that might be giving him like a whole new angle, uh, managing a GameStop. I might give him a whole new angle. I bet he's going to be playing a lot more games now.
01:09:40
Speaker
Uh, Check it out. ah Anyway, tune in next week. I believe... i don't know. I don't have it in front of me. I don't was going to say I think it's a patch, but now I'm like second-guessing myself. I have no idea if it's a patch or not. If it is, we'll be doing data mines. If not, we'll be doing secret homework.
01:09:58
Speaker
Same snap time! Same snap! I did not give myself but enough of a breath! Channel! Yay! That's okay.
01:10:09
Speaker
That was a delight. Thanks, YouTube. is the first one we've done in a long time without intermission. Not to complain about intermission. Intermission's great. We, yeah, we did it. We did.
01:10:19
Speaker
We did it. Lightly shorter. We're getting there. Anything, anything? You know, I didn't mention it, but I played a bunch of Spider-Man noir before I i arrived at this deck that I shared. oh The Secret Homework. Yeah, that's what I was really trying for. Like most of the conquest times I was like, I'm going to figure out because like, you know, Storm, she's over there with that one power. Right. Just a perfect Spider-Man noir hit. And I was like, you know, i was I was doing like two one costs. And then I was like, so you go one a three.
01:10:59
Speaker
a three You know, you play the one on two so that Storm's happy, and then you play a ah three, and then you play, like, Mother Ascani, and then Spider-Man Noir and Prophet. I mean, like, I don't know. It seemed like there should have been something there, but there... Doesn't Spider-Man himself count as the four as four of the cost?
01:11:19
Speaker
No. oh Does he say other cards? Yes. You know what you can do? You can do Spider-Man Noir into Absorbing Man on the next turn after you've drawn. Tasty. You don't want to do it on the same turn because like if you set the top card of your deck to eight and then you summon the the top card of your deck and make it eight, you know it's ah it's a whole thing. because like Sometimes locations will give you a bunch of extra energy. And you're like, I've got enough energy that I can play Absorbing Man and Spider-Man Noir.
01:11:55
Speaker
But like... no
01:12:00
Speaker
Sweet. or you have Yeah. re what were you saying i no i just like i have i have spider-man where i've not yet ever played him in a deck but i got him in rshm but that's what i forgot i was taking it to conquest rshm and i got a spider-man war i'm like you know instead of like like this is why i don't want to do the card because like instead of then like you know thinking about the game like oh do have Oh, look, I can make it happen.
01:12:27
Speaker
And I totally just, instead of, like, actually trying to win the game, I was just trying to make it fight a bit more. That is very risk. It does happen sometimes. But it's our ship, so... Yeah, it wasn't even my deck was set up for it, but it became a more fun minigame to me. You know, like, when they have the, like, okay, winning is the objective, but what if there's the side mission you were also complete?
01:12:52
Speaker
Uh, anyway... Yeah. Don't like seeing him in Arishem, to be honest.