A total of 93 games were completed by 46 players over 9 rounds during the 2022 7 Wonders Duel PBEM tournament. The event was played using a double elimination format with rounds continuing until only one player remained with fewer than two losses.
After six rounds, five players remained in the tournament. The lone undefeated player, 2021 PBEM champion Chris Wildes faced off against Steve LeWinter. Steve was able to pick up the Law token midway though Age 2 and used The Mausoleum to grab his sixth science symbol early in Age 3, dealing Chris his first loss. Mike Kaltman was able to apply military pressure while also denying his opponent manufactured (gray) resources and ended the game with 48 coins to win 79-59 over Haakon Monsen. Jon Senn, serving as an eliminator, used a surplus of extra turns on his wonders to narrowly defeat Michael Swinson 64-59.
In Round 8, Mike’s two Age 3 guilds and 17 coins remaining proved the difference in an otherwise close civilian battle, winning 61-52 over Steve. Chris faced eliminator Michael in one of the closest games of the tournament. The game ended tied at 58, with Chris advancing on the first tiebreaker (points from blue cards: 25-23).
The final game of the tournament featured a rematch of a Round 5 pairing between Mike and Chris. Chris heavily pursued a science victory and had three symbols early into Age 2, with access to two more and the Law token in play. Mike saw the threat of science dominance and used his wonders to aggressively push the military track and attack Chris’s money at a key moment. At the end of the age, Mike was three shields from victory with the Strategy token while Chris needed two science symbols.
The card display in Age 3 immediately gave Chris one of his needed symbols and guaranteed him access to the sixth symbol. However, this meant that one card would be flipped for Mike and a red card would seal his victory. With no red cards visible and two guilds facedown in the display, the odds were roughly 56-44 in Mike’s favor. Chris gambled and lost as the shields on the revealed card pushed Mike to military dominance and earned him the 2022 7 Wonders Duel PBEM championship.
The top six finishers were:
- Mike Kaltman
- Chris Wildes
- Steve LeWinter
- Haakon Monsen
- Michael Swinson
- DJ Borton
Chris Wildes had the highest winning civilian score at 81, while Henry Rice posted the lowest winning score at 43. Two players, John Pack and Patrick Maguire, had the highest score in a losing effort with 65.
Over the 93 games played, civilian victory decided the most games with 57 (50.54%) games ending on points. Science dominance followed close behind, being the decider in 31 games (33.33%) while military dominance ended only 15 games (16.13%). The player who took the first turn of the game won only 45.16% of games.
Looking at those same numbers excluding the first three rounds (after which half the field had been eliminated), we see that the civilian victory percentage stays roughly the same (51.72%), but military dominance drops off considerably (6.90%). There is a corresponding rise in science dominance to 41.38%. For this subset of games, the player who took the first turn of the game won a slightly improved 48.28% of games.
Once again congratulations to all of the laurelists, and thank you to everyone who participated in the event.
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