-A.J.
Title: Seven Wonders Duel
Game Type: Card Drafting/ Civilization Building
Number of Players: 2
Complexity of Rules: Medium-Low. Easy to learn if you’ve already familiar with 7 Wonders.
Time to Play: 30 minutes according to the box. I think we’ve been running vaguely longer.
The Concept: Players take turns drafting cards from the available (topmost) cards in the stack. (See picture, the cards on the bottom and far right are “available”. If the card at the bottom were to be drafted then the next two cards would be flipped over and become “available”.)
The cards themselves represent either economic advancement, a stronger military, scientific advancement, or Victory Points (or a combination of those things.) Like the original game you can also “burn” a drafted card for gold or to Build A Wonder. The strategic part is picking the right combination of cards that allow you to acquire the “best” civilization, represented by having the most Victory Points at the conclusion of the game. Alternately you could buy a big stompy military and beat your opponent into submission, or advance far enough in science that you win outright.
Why I Like It: It’s a fairly deep two player game with many possible ways to attempt to win. There’s some real strategy in card drafting to optimize your potential outcomes while damaging the other player’s as much as possible.
My one concern is that as we gain experience – we may find that trying to win with science is a high-risk idea. You really need to commit to science, and if the cards don’t fall right then you’re screwed. Basically any other approach is “safer”.
Overall though, it’s a very fun game.
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BoardGameGeek page here.
The CheapSeatEats 7 Wonders recommendation page here. (I had/have concerns about the “science strategy” on that one too.)
FlatbreadGarden 
The “science” strategy has always been a gamble, in my opinion, both here and in the original game. It seems riskier in Duel, since it felt like there were fewer science cards with which to work. And, there are always a few cards left unused in each of the three Ages (to add some randomness, I guess), it could be that the one card you need isn’t even in the playable tier structure, making it impossible to win with science. Definitely high-risk, and not a guaranteed win if you succeed.
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