Duel Track: The Twelve Wonders and How to Draft Them

This is the Duel track lesson for Level 1. The previous lesson covered Wonder boards in 7 Wonders.

In 7 Wonders you are dealt one board. In Duel you draft four Wonders from twelve, and only seven of the eight in play will ever be built. The openings lesson introduced the draft. This lesson gives you the whole set, sorted so you can see at a glance what each Wonder is for.

Every effect below comes from the symbols page of the 7 Wonders Duel rulebook. Costs are printed on each Wonder; check them at the table.

The families

Play again. Five Wonders let you take a second turn at once: The Appian Way, The Hanging Gardens, Piraeus, The Sphinx, and The Temple of Artemis. Each also gives something else:

• The Appian Way: you take 3 coins, your opponent loses 3, and it is worth 3 points.
• The Hanging Gardens: 6 coins and 3 points.
• Piraeus: produces a glass or a papyrus each turn, and 2 points.
• The Sphinx: 6 points.
• The Temple of Artemis: 12 coins at once.

Military. Three Wonders carry shields, and shields on a Wonder move the Conflict pawn the moment you build it:

• The Colossus: 2 shields and 3 points.
• Circus Maximus: 1 shield, 3 points, and you discard one grey card your opponent built.
• The Statue of Zeus: 1 shield, 3 points, and you discard one brown card your opponent built.

Production. The Great Lighthouse makes a stone, clay, or wood each turn and is worth 4 points. Piraeus, above, does the same for glass and papyrus. Neither one raises your opponent’s prices at the bank, because only brown and grey cards do that.

Points. The Pyramids are worth 9 points and do nothing else. The Sphinx, at 6 points plus a second turn, belongs here too.

Tricks. Two Wonders reach outside the layout:

• The Mausoleum: take every card discarded since the start of the game and build one for free. Cards removed at setup do not count. It is worth 2 points.
• The Great Library: draw 3 of the Progress tokens set aside at setup, keep one, and return the others. It is worth 4 points.

What makes a Wonder strong

Three questions sort most choices.

1. Does it give a second turn? A second turn is two cards in a row. You can take a card that uncovers something good and then take that card too, before your opponent can. The midgame lesson shows how this shifts who opens each row.

2. Does it hurt your opponent? The Appian Way’s lost coins, and the cards that Circus Maximus and the Statue of Zeus send to the discard, are damage as well as gain. A discarded brown or grey card also lowers your price for that resource at the bank, since prices count your opponent’s brown and grey symbols.

3. Does it fit what you will build? A shield Wonder fits a military plan. Coins fit a player who expects to buy a lot. The Great Library fits a player chasing Progress tokens. A set of four that points one way is easier to play than four strong Wonders with nothing in common.

The draft, pick by pick

The draft runs twice. Four Wonders are dealt face up: one player takes 1, the other takes 2, the first takes the last. Then four more, and the order flips.

• Taking 1 from 4. Take the Wonder you want most. You will get one of the last two back as well, so think about which pair your opponent will leave you.
• Taking 2 from 3. This is the strongest seat in each round. You choose your two, and in doing so you choose your opponent’s one. Leave them the Wonder that fits their set the least.
• Taking the last one. No choice, but no surprise either. Plan for it while your opponent picks.

In the second round, look at the four Wonders your opponent already holds before you pick. If they have two shield Wonders, the Colossus is worth more to deny.

The seventh Wonder rule

Only seven Wonders can be built. When the seventh goes up, the last unbuilt Wonder returns to the box. That turns the end of the game into a small race: if both of you have unbuilt Wonders late in Age III, building yours first can wipe out your opponent’s. Build the Wonders that matter most to you before the race starts.

Your first drafts

Start with these habits:

1. Take at least one play-again Wonder in each round when you can.
2. Do not leave your opponent two play-again Wonders and The Temple of Artemis if you can help it. That is a lot of tempo and coins in one set.
3. Before Age I begins, decide which of your four Wonders you most want built, and watch for cards that pay for it.

Our list of two-player games for date night has more games in this duel shape when you want to rotate.