Triumph & Agony!

This year the 7 Wonders Duel championship continued under the popular format pioneered several years ago that sees 2 heats held each consisting of 2 games, with any player winning at least 2 games out of those 4 opportunities then qualifying to attend a single-elimination bracket later in the week.

2023 7 Wonders Duel online champion Patrick Maguire took over GM duties this year. Chris Wildes, who had been the 7 Wonders Duel GM for many years, is one of the most diligent and well-regarded GM's at the convention and his help and mentorship was essential to Patrick's pulling off the GM duties successfully, especially since this event continued to see substantial increases in participants.

The previous high in participants was the initial year this game was played at WBC, with 86 players in 2016. However, this year saw an all-time record of 102 unique players, nearly double the number of attendees from just a few years ago. 7 Wonders Duel is one of the most engaging and tactically fascinating games of its length, so the surging WBC interest is well-deserved. Some of the increase in players came from the rules demonstration, which saw several interested players learning rules and tactics and later attending the Heats.

After the four heat games had all been played, 48 of the 102 players had the requisite 2 victories to qualify for the Single Elimination bracket. Patrick Maguire and Chris Burnett had 4 heat wins while another 9 players had 3 wins. Because turnout was so high, when 42 of the qualified players showed up to the Single Elimination rounds a Round of 64 was needed with some byes before proceeding to the Round of 32.

There is a statistically-significant first-player advantage to the base game when playing with experienced players, so each Heat had every player play once as first player and once as second player. For the advancement rounds, instead of bidding for first-player as had been done the previous year, a variant was used that has been tested by experts in online play and been found to nearly eliminate the statistical advantage. Under this variant minor changes are made to the initial wonder selection order that advantage the second player to offset the first player's inherent advantage, then gameplay proceeds normally after wonder selection. There were mixed reviews, with some players appreciating this variant while others were less sure about it.

After a number of closely-fought single-elimination games the players reaching the Semifinal were all skilled and experienced competitors. The first Semifinal saw 2022 online champion Mike Kaltman defeat Ray Wolff on military supremacy.

The second Semifinal was a notable example of the triumph and agony of competitive gaming. 2021 and 2024 online champion Chris Wildes had a strong, almost winning position toward the end of Age II in his game against newer WBC attendee Reid Mackey. But the match had gone later into the evening and out of tiredness Chris made an uncharacteristic mistake, failing to notice that the critical Theology token was available and thus taking a substantially inferior one from the display. It was obvious to experienced onlookers in that moment what a chance Chris had let slip through his fingers. On the next turn when his opponent took that token Chris realized his mistake as well and had to step away from the table for a moment to collect himself. Reid would go on to play a sharp Age III and win 70-57.

The final between Reid and Mike was also a tense game filled with strong play. Reid was selected randomly as the first player. During the wonder drafting phase, only two extra turn wonders flipped up, one in each draft. As the second player Mike was able to select both. Reid held the Great Library, so from the start he had in mind the idea of drawing Theology to gain up to four extra-turns. The Law token was in play, so from the start both players had their eye on the potential of a scientific supremacy win. Reid selected every wood resource he could in Age I to facilitate his early Great Library plan. The players ended Age I with two green science cards each.

Reid was the first to pick up a matching science card, collecting the Law token. He also selected an additional wood production card, setting up a nice resource monopoly in wood against Mike. Reid built his Great Library in Age II but did not have the opportunity to select Theology. Taking Strategy was a nice backup though, as that put both military and scientific supremacy victories in play for him.

With Mausoleum and Circus Maximus in hand Reid continued to pivot toward prioritizing red military cards. Mike built all of his wonders in Age II, lessening the impact of Reid's wood monopoly with his Statue of Zeus and using his extra turn wonders to stop Reid from getting the science cards he would have needed to compete for that victory condition. By the start of Age III, scientific supremacy was not possible for either side. Mike was ahead on victory points and was targeting a civilian victory while Reid was hoping to use his Strategy token to achieve military supremacy.

By taking some military cards in Age II Mike left the military pawn one space toward Reid, allowing Reid the chance to select who played first in Age III. With no extra turn wonders left, this gave Reid a reasonable chance to set himself up to get the 10 military movement steps he would need to win. Both three-shield military cards were face-up in Age III and were spaced such that Reid was able to guarantee he could select both of them. Mike had the ability to get first shot at two face-down cards early in Age III and had a chance to hang on if he found a military card there. However, the flip didn't go his way, and in the end Reid was able to secure the military supremacy. This was the only game Reid won on military in the entire tournament!

Everyone seemed to have a good time playing this great game, and we look forward to joining together for the online WBC championship this autumn and then back again next year for another edition of the in-person event at WBC!