NEW FORMAT BRINGS ATTENDANCE REBOUND

The 7 Wonders Duel tournament used a different format in 2022, modeled on the format that Lost Cities uses. However instead of four distinct heats, 7 Wonders Duel scheduled two heats during which each player would play two games. Any player that won two games across the heats would qualify for the knockout rounds. A total of 73 players participated this year, an increase from 58 in 2019. Hopefully players enjoyed the format, please reach out if you have any suggestions going forward.

Ninety total games were played over the two preliminary heats. Ray Wolff and Cary Morris finished the heats with a perfect record of four wins, while an additional four players (Chris Wildes, Steve LeWinter, Brandon Buchanan, and Curt Collins) earned three wins apiece. A total of 28 players advanced to the knockout round.

Twenty-three qualified players showed up for the knockout round, meaning five rounds would be played and nine players would receive a first round bye. Due to an unaccounted for scenario, the software written hastily by the GM on Tuesday afternoon to pair players for this round failed to do its job, leading to some impromptu by-hand calculations. Huge thanks to Brandon Buchanan for helping organize players and ensure an orderly and correct bracket.

Seven games kicked off the first round, while one second round game (Dalton Versak vs Randy Martin) was able to begin immediately as well. The winners of the seven first round games (Eric Meader, Andrew Emerick, Dominic Blais, Owen Kyrollos, Patrick Maguire, Paul Klayder, and George Kyrollos) each faced off in round two against a player who received a bye. In an odd coincidence, all seven of those round one winners advanced again to round three and were joined by Dalton.

In the quarterfinal, Eric Meader defeated Andrew Emerick 67 - 61, Owen Kyrollos won 74 - 48 over Dominic Blais, Patrick Maguire earned Scientific dominance over Paul Klayder, and George Kyrollos advanced over Dalton Versak via the Military track.

In the first semifinal, Owen picked up several brown and gray resources in Age 1, while Eric focused on yellow cards. Owen was able to pick up the Economy token early in Age 2 and used this financial advantage to take a 74 - 61 Civilian victory.

In the second semifinal, Patrick ended Age 1 with all four available science symbols. However, three of the four green cards were removed from the game in Age 3 and Patrick was not able to pivot to a sufficient backup plan. George capitalized and joined his father in the final with a 52 - 48 win.

In the final, Owen used the Architecture progress token to complete all four of his wonders, but George successfully cornered the stone market and picked up two Age 3 guilds (blue cards and completed wonders) to fuel a 62 - 55 victory. Congratulations to George Kyrollos, the 2022 7 Wonders Duel champion.

Over all rounds of the tournament, Daniel Farrow had the highest winning civilian score with 83 while Nancy Arseneault had the lowest winning score at 45. Rob Flowers had the highest non-winning score at 73.

Over the 112 games played, civilian victory decided the most games with 70 (62.5%) games ending on points. Science dominance followed, being the decider in 28 games (25%) while military dominance ended only 14 games (12.5%). The player who took the first turn of the game won 52.68% of games.

Once again congratulations to all the laurelists and thank you to everyone who attended the event.