GAMES ARE ALWAYS NEEDED

58 players accepted the challenge to play 7 Wonders Duel in its new format. 7WD copied the San Juan format. We began with a 4-round swiss; players scoring 3 wins advanced to the knockout rounds. Three players dropped after a loss in round 1, 18 more after round 2, including 1 with 2 wins. After 3 rounds 17 more players dropped, while 7 players were 3-0 and didn’t need to play round 4: Lyman Moquin, Derek Miller, David Metzger, Maxwell Meier, Owen Kyrollos, Drew Doughan and Tina Del Carpio. Twelve players with 2-1 scores dueled for 6 more spots in the knockout rounds: Matthew Wilde defeated Lucas Heinz, Rob Schneeberger defeated Woolly Farrow V, Antony Saccenti defeated Steve Shambeda, Rachel Ladue defeated Dalton Versak, Matthew Hathrell defeated Mandy Mossman, and Curt Collins II defeated Cyril Tircuit.

Each of the thirteen qualifiers received their choice of a small trophy or Mardi Gras beads. Several were seen wearing their selected bling later in the week. The qualifiers faced off in round 5, the first knockout round, with the GM filling in as an eliminator. Seven players advanced: Rachel over Curt, Matthew Hathrell over Matthew Wilde, Lyman over the unsuccessful eliminator, Drew over Maxwell, Derek over Tina, David over Owen, and Antony over Rob.

Round 6 matches saw Matthew H beat the eliminator, Drew beat David, Derek beat Rachel, and Antony beat Lyman. Mathew H defeated Drew and Derek beat Antony to set the final. The GM kept card by card notes on the final, but lost his notebook (along with his yeti) one night in kiosk alley, so the details are lost to history.

When the wonders were laid out and drafted, the players looked at each other and both acknowledged the game would come down to final scoring, since no wonders that would support a military or scientific victory appeared. After a hard fought duel, Matthew Hathrell defeated Derek Miller for the title.