Duel Track: Progress Tokens and the Science Pairs

This is the Duel track lesson for Level 2. The lesson before it covered coins and trading in 7 Wonders.

In Duel, science does two jobs. Six different symbols win the game outright. And every matching pair of symbols lets you take one Progress token from the board at once. The tokens are some of the strongest effects in the game, and only five of the ten are on the board in any game.

Every effect below comes from the 7 Wonders Duel rulebook.

How you earn a token

The game has 7 science symbols. They appear on green cards, and one appears on a Progress token. Each time you collect a pair of identical symbols, you choose one Progress token from the board and keep it for the rest of the game.

With only five tokens on the board, the first pairs get the widest choice. The last pair of the game may find only weak tokens left, or none.

The ten tokens

Sorted by when they pay.

Pay now and later

• Agriculture: 6 coins at once, and 4 points at the end.
• Urbanism: 6 coins at once, and 4 coins each time you build a card for free through a chain.

Change your future builds

• Architecture: each Wonder you build from now on costs 2 fewer resources, your choice which.
• Masonry: each blue card you build from now on costs 2 fewer resources, your choice which.
• Theology: every Wonder you build from now on gets the play-again effect. Wonders that already have it do not get a second one.
• Strategy: each red card you build from now on gives 1 extra shield. It does not apply to Wonders or to red cards built before it.
• Economy: whenever your opponent pays the bank for resources, you receive those coins. Only trading coins count, not coin costs printed on cards.

Points and science

• Philosophy: 7 points.
• Mathematics: 3 points at the end for each Progress token you hold, itself included.
• Law: counts as a science symbol. It can help toward six different symbols, though it is not on any green card.

Choosing: three rules of thumb

1. Early tokens should keep paying. A token taken in Age I has two more Ages to work. Strategy adds a shield to every red card you build after it. Theology turns each remaining Wonder into a second turn. Masonry and Architecture save resources on the biggest cards of the game. These grow with time, so they are best early.

2. Late tokens should be counted. In Age III, there is little future left for an effect to act on. Count instead. Philosophy is 7 points. Mathematics with three tokens in hand is 9. Agriculture is 4 points and 6 coins, which is 2 more points if they end as part of your treasury.

3. Fit your Wonders and your city. Architecture with three unbuilt Wonders is a large discount. Architecture with one is small. Theology with two unbuilt Wonders that lack play-again is two extra turns. Economy is strongest against an opponent who must buy a lot, often the player with few brown and grey cards.

Denial: the token they want

When you take a token, you also take it away from your opponent. In the midgame, look at their city as you choose:

• An opponent with a long row of red cards and the pawn leaning toward you would love Strategy.
• An opponent with several unbuilt Wonders would love Theology or Architecture.
• An opponent close to six science symbols would love Law. One more symbol could end the game.

Sometimes the right pick is the token that would hurt you most in their hands, even if a different one is slightly better for you.

The Great Library

The Great Library Wonder lets you draw 3 of the five tokens set aside at setup, keep one, and return the others. It is a Progress token without a science pair, drawn from a pool your opponent cannot reach. If the five tokens on the board are weak for you, the Library is a second chance.

Pairs as a race

Each pair is a decision your opponent can block. When a green card that matches one of your symbols becomes accessible, your opponent can take it, sell it, or tuck it under a Wonder to stop the pair. So can you, against them. The Level 3 supremacy lesson counts that race to six in detail. For now, keep a simple habit: before each turn, check which green cards are accessible, and whose pair each one would make.