7 Wonders Architects is a lightweight sequel to the smash-hit 7 Wonders that retains the flavor of the original game while featuring quicker play, simpler rules, and fun Wonder boards. I recently picked up 7 Wonders Architects and was delighted to find that it requires an entirely different strategic approach than the original game. I have studied the habits and games of top online players, absorbed strategic tips from other players, and played dozens of games myself to test what works and what doesn’t. These tips and strategies have helped me to become a strong player and win much more often and I hope they’ll help you, too.
If you’re looking for strategy guides about 7 Wonders or 7 Wonders Duel I’ve got you covered there, too:
Draw from the middle deck when there is no risk
The question you’re constantly posed in 7 Wonders Architects is which card pile to draw from. It’s the core mechanic and decision of every turn, and it makes a huge difference in the game’s outcome. All else being equal it is generally best to draw a card from the center pile – especially early in the game.
Looking at the data from BGA, we can see that top players tend to draw more cards from the center pile than the average player. Part of of this is because they draw more cards overall (more on that later) but clearly there is a concerted effort to draw from the middle pile more than average.
| Statistic | Top Player #1 | Top Player #2 | Top Player #3 | Avg Player |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cards from left pile | 5.1 | 5.2 | 5.6 | 5.3 |
| Cards from right pile | 5.1 | 5.0 | 5.3 | 5.2 |
| Cards from center pile | 15.4 | 16.2 | 16.8 | 14.3 |
The biggest reason it’s usually best to draw from the middle is that you don’t want to risk unveiling a useful card for your opponent. Frequently, the face-up draw piles will be stuck on less-than-useful cards for many turns in a row because nobody wants to risk revealing a great card their opponent can pick up.
Drawing from the center is particularly beneficial in the beginning of the game when all cards are potentially useful. Science and Military cards are very powerful, 3-point Civilian cards are always nice, and anything else you draw has at least marginal utility. Late in the game this changes because there are plenty of cards that are likely to be completely useless (dead draws).
Above is a chart of my generalized opinion about the relative value of cards in 7 Wonders Architects as the game evolves. As you can see, Science and Military cards should be prioritized early on but fade in value towards the end of the game (I’ll go into the specifics of why later on). In the first few turns of the game, I would recommend that you draw any face-up Science or permanent (no horn) Military cards that you come across. If none are available, draw from the center pile.
Late in the game, the situation changes. You will either want to be racing to complete your Wonder or trying to hold off your opponents from completing theirs while you rack up points in other areas. Drawing from the center pile (without the benefit of the Cat Pawn) is a big risk because you might end up with a useless Military or Science card that won’t pay off before the game ends. You should instead consider taking any card that provides immediate (or very short-term) value.
Reduce dead draws to maximize efficiency
Every turn and card in 7 Wonders Architects is valuable, and if you want to win you can’t afford to waste any of them. According to the data on BGA, the average game of 7 Wonders Architects end in 22 or 23 turns. If just a a few of the cards you draw are useless (we’ll call them dead draws) that’s a significant percentage of your scoring opportunities gone to waste.
You don’t have to worry too much about dead draws in the early and middle part of the game because chances are you’ll be able to put everything to some sort of use before the game ends. One exception to this is if you have a huge lead (or are significantly behind) in Military development.
Late in the game, be much more careful and calculated with your decisions. Before drawing from the center, think about how likely it is that a card you pull will be useful to you. If you can think of 2 or more cards that you’d hate to pull then it’s probably better to just take a card from one of the face-up piles next to you (as long as they are at least marginally useful). It’s not worth risking a dead draw late in the game.
The best way to avoid these late-game dead draws is, of course, to possess the Cat Pawn. You’ll be able to see all of the cards available to you and therefore make an informed decision.
Know the distribution of cards in each deck
When I first started playing this game I assumed that every Wonder’s deck was constructed identically, but that’s not quite the case. There are small differences in the construction of each deck that can, if properly accounted for, have a drastic impact on the outcome of the game.
Let’s first look at the breakdown of the different card types. Over 1/3 of the cards in the game are gray resource cards, and about 12% are Gold cards. Science, Military, and Civilian cards are close to even at around 17% each.
BUT… the distribution of the cards changes slightly depending on which Wonders are being used! Let’s look at Alexandria, for example. In the Alexandria deck, there are one more Gold and Gear Science cards than normal, but 1 fewer Glass and 1-Horn Military cards. Similar differences can be seen for every deck. This means that if you remember the key differences in the decks you’ll have a better idea of which decks hold the cards you need!
For example, if you could really use a horned Military card then you should avoid drawing from the Gizah deck since it has 2 1-horned Military cards and 0 2-horned Military cards. Similarly, you have a better chance of drawing a Gold card from Alexandria’s deck than any other.
These trends are also important if you have the choice between Progress tokens. For example, the Jewellery token is, in general, more valuable than the Crafts and Urbanism tokens because there are more Gold+Stone cards than Glass+Papyrus or Wood+Clay.
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Let your Wonder and early draws guide your play
Most of the Wonder boards in 7 Wonders Architects play similarly, with a couple of notable exceptions. You can take pretty much the same balanced approach to the game with every Wonder except for Babylon, the Pyramids, and sometimes Rhodos because they have different effects
| Wonder | Total Victory Points | Effects |
|---|---|---|
| Rhodos | 26 | Extra Military |
| Halikarnassos | 24 | Extra cards |
| Gizah | 30 | Nothing |
| Ephesos | 22 | Extra cards |
| Olympia | 22 | Extra cards |
| Alexandria | 25 | Extra cards |
| Babylon | 20 | Extra Progress tokens |
Babylon doesn’t score as many Victory Points (VPs) as most other Wonders, making it difficult to win a quick victory by rushing to complete your Wonder. You’re better off planning to play the long game by acquiring more Progress tokens and accumulating points through Science, Military, and Civilian scoring.
Gizah is the opposite – resource cards are more valuable to you than they are to any other player because you can score a tremendous amount of points by simply completing your Wonder. It’s often best to rush your Wonder before other players can catch up.
Rhodos scores a little more than average for a Wonder, but gains a lot of strength from Military conflict. If you can score a few Military wins against your neighbors on the way to completing your Wonder you have a great shot at winning.
The cards you draw early in the game can also have a significant impact on what strategy you take. For example, even with a well-balanced Wonder like Olympia, if you draw two static Military cards in the first few rounds then you should consider pivoting to capitalize on your Military advantage. Try to force as many battles as possible to milk your superiority. If you’re playing Rhodos and you acquire some Science tokens early on, go ahead and delay Military development in order to complete the Science set and gain a quick advantage from Progress tokens.
Race to complete your Wonder when you’re winning
Completing your Wonder is a huge advantage over your opponents. Getting those final 7 points is a huge swing because it often also denies 7 points to your opponents who are likely also close to completing their Wonder.
When multiple players are trying to complete their Wonder, someone is invariably left with wasted resources. After all, you don’t get any consolation prize for accumulating 3 out of the 4 resources necessary to complete your final Wonder stage. Every card your opponents draw to unsuccessfully complete their Wonder is a wasted scoring opportunity for them.
If you ever get a big lead through Military, Science, or Civilian scoring then you should make a concerted effort to end the game before your opponents have a chance to catch up. Focus on acquiring more resources to complete your remaining Wonder phases. Your opponents will likely realize what’s going on and try to keep those gray/gold cards from you, but that just means they’re being forced into suboptimal card choices.
Know which Progress Tokens are worth it (and when)
I touched on this briefly earlier in this post, but not all Progress Tokens are created equal. Some are unquestionably more valuable than others, and their relative value changes as the game progresses.
For reference, here is a list of the Progress Tokens and their effects:
Players often forget that Progress Tokens come with an opportunity cost. Their benefits come at the cost of 2 or 3 cards/turns, so it takes time to gain that value back. In general, Progress Tokens that allow you to draw additional cards are the most powerful – especially when acquired early in the game because they have a much better chance of paying off. The data on BGA supports this. Top-rated players tend to draw about 3.6 extra cards per game, while the average player draws only 3.0 extra cards.
As previously discussed, Jewellery is better than Crafts and Urbanism because of the card distribution (see chart above). Science and Propaganda can be very powerful, depending on your overall strategy. If you’re going on a heavy Miltary strategy, Propaganda is particularly powerful when combined with Tactics and Strategy.
Economy seems to be of limited use, but if you’re close to completing your Wonder and you already have a Gold or two in your inventory then it can be very powerful. Similarly, Engineering can be extremely useful if you’re rushing to complete your Wonder. It’s a favorite of mine when playing with Gizah, for example.
If you’re just looking for some solid points at the end of the game then you can’t go wrong with Culture and Decor. These are some of the better options for late in the game when other tokens aren’t likely to pay off in time.
Only value Science early in the game
As is shown in the ‘Relative value of card types’ infographic near the beginning of this article, Science is extremely important early in the game. That’s when Progress tokens have the most time to provide value, and you are almost guaranteed to complete at least one pair/set of Science symbols throughout the game so there is no risk of a dead draw.
However, as the game progresses, Science cards become less and less desirable because there is less time for the Progress Tokens to repay their cost. Remember, each Token costs 2 or 3 cards which could have been spent in other areas. In the middle game, I would only recommend taking a Science card if it completes a pair or set that you’ve already accumulated.
In the last few turns of a game (when you or an opponent are close to completing a Wonder) you should usually avoid Science cards altogether, if possible. Unless you’re completing a pair/set and you have a very specific token in mind that will help win you the game, additional Science cards are almost always going to end up being dead draws.
Build a solid and resilient Military
When discussing Military strength in 7 Wonders Architects it’s important to distinguish between static and temporary Shields. What I call ‘static’ shields are the cards with no horns, while ‘temporary’ shields are the cards with horns that disappear after every battle. In general, static Military cards are significantly more valuable than temporary ones (although temporary cards are necessary to make use of the static ones).
Like Science cards, static Military cards are most valuable at the beginning of a game because they have more time to pay dividends in more battles. In the first few rounds of a game I will almost always draw a static Military card from a face-up pile, and be glad if I randomly draw one from the center pile.
Ideally, you’ll develop your Military to have a one or two-shield advantage on your neighbors so that you’ll be able to score 6 points for every battle. Obviously, this isn’t always possible (due to luck of the draw or your overall strategy) but keeping a solid base of Military might is almost never a bad idea. The exception to this might be if your opponents aren’t bothering with building up their Military and/or you’re just rushing to complete your Wonder with Gizah, for example.
Some general rules to follow for Military cards:
- Always play a double-horn Military card if you’ll win vs both opponents
- If you have a Military advantage and the Cat Pawn, leave a horn card in the middle for someone else to draw
- Lean into a heavy Miltary advantage by forcing battles as often as possible
- Force a battle if you’ll tie and remove your opponents’ temporary Shields
Make timely use of your Wonder’s abilities
Most of the Wonders in the game grant the ability to draw an extra card at various stages of construction. The exact mechanic varies from Wonder to Wonder, but the end result is the same: you get to draw one or more extra cards from somewhere on the board.
Try to trigger this mechanic at an opportune time. For example, with Olympia you get to draw cards the decks to the left and right of you. Try to trigger this effect when one or more of those cards is particularly beneficial to you. Similarly, with Ephesus you can be a little more strategic with its mechanic if you have the Cat Pawn, allowing you to peek at the top card of the center pile.
Control the Cat Pawn late in the game
Speaking of the Cat Pawn, it becomes more and more powerful as the game progresses (as shown in the infographic above). We’ve discussed the importance of reducing dead draws, and the Cat Pawn is the best way to avoid them as the game comes to a close.
In general, I recommend taking the Cat Pawn at every opportunity when you or your opponents have 2 or fewer Wonder stages remaining. It will give you the best chance of avoiding dead draws because you’ll be able to choose the most useful card on every turn, and it prevents your opponents from doing the same.
An underrated benefit of controlling the Cat Pawn late in the game is that, in addition to the 2 points you score for claiming it, you get 2 additional points if you have it when the game ends. 7 Wonders Architects is very often a close-scoring affair, so those 2 points can be the difference between winning and losing.
Consider your opponents when drawing a card
It’s easy to become so focused on your own situation that you forget about your opponents, but if you want to win more games of 7 Wonders Architects then you must always be aware of what your opponents are doing. What cards do they need? Are they going heavy on Science or Military? Are they rushing to complete their Wonder?
Depriving your opponents of the cards they need is absolutely essential. Some scenarios where you should heavily consider hate-drafting cards away from them include:
- Taking a Gray or Gold card that would allow them to complete a Wonder stage (especially the last stage)
- Taking a Science card for yourself that would allow your opponent to complete a set/pair and gain a Progress Token
- Taking a Military card (static or temporary) that will result in a long or short term Military advantage for you
Depriving your opponent of valuable cards is one of the biggest reasons that most players choose to pick a card from the center pile. You don’t want to risk revealing a valuable card to for your opponent, so instead you take your chances with the face-down card.
It’s worth noting that sometimes you have to make a choice about which opponent to hate-draft from. In these scenarios, you can simply choose the player who is currently better situated or ‘winning’. Alternatively, just take the card that is most beneficial to you.
Don’t finish the game unless you’ll win
My last tip seems like it should be fairly obvious but I’ve seen so many people violate this rule that I feel it must be said. If you won’t win the game by completing your Wonder, delay completing your Wonder and try to score points in other ways!
Of course, sometimes completing your Wonder is unavoidable because you unknowingly draw a resource card from the center pile. But, if given the choice, you should try to play catch up by scoring points through Military, Science, or Civilian scoring mechanisms before your opponents complete their Wonder.
There are some exceptions to this in competitive play. On BGA, for example, you gain or lose Elo based on what position you finish in. So, in a 4-player game, it’s better to finish 2nd than it is to finish 4th because you’ll lose far fewer rating points. It’s up to you if you want to play for a win or just place as high as you can – just make sure you’re doing it consciously instead of mindlessly completing your Wonder as fast as possible.
Thanks for reading, and be sure to check out my other strategy guides for the 7 Wonders game collection here:
- 7 Wonders Duel: Strategy Guide to Win More Often (11 Tips)
- 7 Wonders: Strategy Guide to Win as a Beginner (11 Tips)
- 7 Wonders: Intermediate Strategy & Gameplay Guide
- 7 Wonders: How to Win With Every Wonder (Both Sides)
Thanks for reading! If I missed something or you have your own opinions, please drop a comment below.
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