diff --git a/Game/scripts/matchmaking_state.gd b/Game/scripts/matchmaking_state.gd
index 919ab656..a750b821 100644
--- a/Game/scripts/matchmaking_state.gd
+++ b/Game/scripts/matchmaking_state.gd
@@ -54,6 +54,13 @@ func apply_ticket_update(update: Dictionary) -> bool:
 	if incoming_revision == revision:
 		if _ticket_differs(update):
 			return _request_resync(self.ticket_id)
+		# expires_at_unix is deliberately not part of _ticket_differs' conflict
+		# check (see its own comment) but is still adopted here: begin_queue()
+		# has no way to know the server-assigned expiry in advance, so the
+		# very first same-revision confirmation is the only place a freshly
+		# queued ticket's expiry is ever set at all.
+		if update.has("expires_at_unix"):
+			expires_at_unix = int(update["expires_at_unix"])
 		return true
 	if incoming_revision > revision + 1:
 		return _request_resync(self.ticket_id)
@@ -185,7 +192,17 @@ func snapshot() -> Dictionary:
 
 
 func _ticket_differs(update: Dictionary) -> bool:
-	return String(update["state"]) != phase or (update.has("playlist") and String(update["playlist"]) != playlist) or (update.has("expires_at_unix") and int(update["expires_at_unix"]) != expires_at_unix)
+	# expires_at_unix is excluded on purpose: begin_queue()'s optimistic local
+	# state has no way to know the server-assigned expiry before the first
+	# real response arrives, so comparing it here made the very first
+	# same-revision confirmation after every begin_queue() look like a
+	# conflict, unconditionally -- found by an actual client hitting a real
+	# server: apply_ticket_update() kept requesting a resync, whose own
+	# response hit exactly the same false mismatch, forever, which
+	# control_plane_smoke.gd (a live end-to-end test, not a mock) surfaced as
+	# a request that legitimately never terminates. It's still kept current
+	# via the direct assignment below, just not treated as a conflict signal.
+	return String(update["state"]) != phase or (update.has("playlist") and String(update["playlist"]) != playlist)
 
 
 func _request_resync(resource_id: String) -> bool: