Splendor Duel, a two-player adaptation of the popular board game Splendor, offers a dynamic and strategic experience where players compete to become the most influential merchant of the Renaissance. I recently picked this game up and found that there weren’t many good resources around to learn about the strategy of the game so I thought I’d share my learnings here. These Splendor Duel strategies are sure to make you a competitive and dangerous player.
The best Splendor Duel strategies are to quickly build your engine with Tier 1 cards, let your early cards determine your Victory Condition path, and force your opponent to replenish the board. Take Gold to reserve essential cards and use Privilege Scrolls to help buy cards as often as possible.
Splendor Duel requires tactical foresight, resource management, and adaptability. Every game plays out differently, but by applying the tips and strategies I outline below you’ll quickly become a formidable opponent. I’ll dive deeper into these tips so that you’ll understand how to implement them in your own games and win more often.
Build your engine early with Tier 1 cards
Splendor Duel is, at its core, an engine-building game. The more Jewel Cards you have at your disposal the faster you’ll be able to acquire more, so rapidly building up a base of Jewel Cards is essential to winning the game.
Tier 1 cards are cheap and they form the foundation of any strategy. In general, you should try to rapidly acquire at least one Tier 1 card of each color to have a lot of flexibility and buying power as the game progresses. I usually make it a goal to have two cards of every color before deciding on a Victory Condition to target. I don’t always meet that goal, but I usually get close.
It can be tempting to save up and go for Tier 2 or 3 cards early in the game if you somehow manage to acquire the right resources for them but, in general, it’s best to build a base of cheap Tier 1 cards first. These cheap cards will provide a lot more value over time because the earlier you acquire them the more opportunities you’ll have to use them and create a snowball effect.
Start broad and then build narrow
In the early phase of the game, you should focus on rapidly acquiring Tier 1 cards in a variety of colors. Some of these cards will inevitably also be worth points or have crowns, and you’ll probably end up with more of some colors than others. Let these first 8 to 10 cards you’ve acquired dictate the Victory Path you choose to build toward.
CHECK IT OUT: If you haven’t tried the original Splendor yet, you’re missing out! The original Splendor (link to Amazon) can be played with up to 4 people and shares a lot of similarities with Splendor: Duel offers a unique experience of its own.
If you end up with 2 or 3 early Crowns and you notice that there are quite a few Crowns available in the Tier 2 and 3 cards then it probably makes sense to try to win by acquiring 10 Crowns. Similarly, if you have 2 or 3 points built up in one color and you see several more cards with points in that color (or in gray) available, target those cards and go for a one-color strategy.
Never go into a game of Splendor Duel with a predetermined strategy around a single Victory Condition. Let the cards you acquire guide your path forward and then commit to that path 100%.
Prioritize Points over Crowns, but stay flexible
That being said, not all Victory Conditions are created the same. According to the latest statistics on boardgamearena.com, players win with 20 points almost 70% of the time. The percentages break down like this:
| Victory Condition | % of Total Wins |
|---|---|
| 20 Total Points | 68% |
| 10 Crowns | 14% |
| 10 Points in a single color | 23% |
This data tells us that wins with Crowns are far less likely than wins with points. In most games, you’ll probably end up trying to reach a total of 20 points to win unless you’ve acquired an unusual concentration of points in a single color or an unusual amount of crowns. You should still remain flexible and open to all Victory Conditions but know that they won’t all occur at the same rate.
Gather colors that will become important
Some colors of gems will invariably become more important than others as the game goes on. Tier 1 cards are usually bought fairly quickly, but keep an eye on the Tier 2 and Tier 3 cards as they come out.
Very often there will be a disproportionate number of cards that need one color of gem, so cards and gems in that color will become more important in the next few turns. This effect can be compounded if the higher-tiered cards are important to either or both players’ strategies.
Try to get a leg up on your opponent by purchasing relevant Tier 1 cards and/or drawing gems of that color from the board. For example, if several important Tier 2 cards require many blue gems, you should buy up any Tier 1 blue Jewel Cards and draw as many blue gems from the board as posible.
Force your opponent to replenish the board
One of the most well-known and powerful strategies in Splendor Duel is to avoid replenishing the board and instead force your opponent to do so. Your opponent gets a Privilege Scroll every time you replenish the board and, while that may seem like a small thing, it can quickly add up and snowball into a large advantage.
CHECK IT OUT: You’ll also enjoy my Complete Strategy Guide to Splendor, the original game that can be played with up to 4 players.
There are some exceptions to this rule, however. If you’re well in the lead and you know that a replenishment of the board will quickly result in a win then go ahead and do so.
Some players (mostly ones who are new to the game) see replenishing the board as an advantage because they get to draw Gems from the board first. However, it’s usually more powerful to have the Privilege Scroll and be able to take a specific Gem when needed and still buy a card on the same turn.
Use your Privilege Scrolls liberally
In general, you should use Privilege Scrolls whenever they will lead to an immediate advantage. Splendor Duel is a game of momentum and compounding effects, so the faster you can acquire more resources (Cards) the better.
Privilege Scrolls are powerful because they let you acquire a token that you need to purchase a card, and then buy that card on the same turn. Utilizing that mechanic as soon as possible is almost always preferable to saving the scroll because the card you purchase adds to your snowball that much faster.
That being said, you should save your Privilege Scrolls if using them won’t allow you to immediately purchase a card. You’re much better off just drawing the tiles you need and purchasing the card on the next turn.
Acquire a relevant card on every turn you can
Every turn in Splendor Duel is important, and if you want to win then you need to maximize their value. In general, your goal on every turn should be to acquire a card that is relevant to your overall strategy. Sometimes this simply won’t be possible, but it should almost always be your first priority.
Early in the game, your strategy is still very flexible (or at least it should be) so any card you can pick up is worth taking. As the game evolves, some cards won’t directly contribute to your strategy but they are likely still worth picking up to feed your engine. This is especially true with lower-tiered cards which you can pick up for free.
Take Gold & reserve important Level 2 & 3 cards
Taking Gold is maybe the most overlooked and undervalued action in Splendor Duel, especially with new players. There is a tendency to think that you’re getting less value because you’re only taking 1 token from the board instead of 3, but this is hardly the case.
Gold is powerful because it acts as a wild card that can replace any Gem or even a Pearl. If your opponent is hoarding Pearls then you can usually circumvent this by simply drawing a Gold piece or two. The best part about that is that Gold can’t be stolen, but Pearls can.
The real power of Gold, however, lies in the fact that you can reserve important cards. There is nothing more frustrating than buying/saving for a crucial Tier 2 or 3 card, only to have your opponent buy or reserve it themselves.
You should use Gold proactively and reserve those important Tier 2 or 3 cards. This way, you can build towards purchasing them without fear of having them stolen while also purchasing relevant cards as they come onto the board.
Have a Level 3 card in mind to finish the game
Most games of Splendor Duel tend to end with a Tier 3 card being drawn. Sometimes that card alone is enough to put a playing over the top, but very often they are used as part of a larger combination of cards to score a lot of points/crowns very quickly.
Once you choose your Victory Condition strategy you should have at least 1 Tier 3 card in mind to build towards. Always have that card in mind as you purchase lower-tiered cards to give you the best shot at acquiring it before your opponent buys one themselves. Ideally, you’ll have a great Tier 3 reserved but also have a second option still on the board.
Prioritize cards that grant an extra turn
We’ve already discussed how important every turn is in Splendor Duel, so it should come as no surprise that cards that grant an extra turn are especially powerful. Top-tier players make these cards a priority and often go so far as to reserve them as soon as possible. Following their lead, I have started reserving Tier 1 and 2 cards that grant extra turns and it has quickly resulted in more wins.
This strategy is particularly important because Splendor Duel is a two-player game. If you don’t claim that extra turn then your opponent very likely will. The end result is a two-turn swing, so you absolutely want that swing to be in your favor.
Throttle your opponent by taking gems they need
There is very little hidden information in Splendor Duel. In fact, if you remember what cards your opponent has reserved then there is 0 hidden information. You can usually tell what cards your opponent is targeting based on the Gems and Cards they acquire.
Take special note when a player is gathering a lot of a single color. Unless they already have a lot of cards in that color this usually means they’ll start to hoard that color of Gems. Take just enough of those Gems so that your opponent is unable to buy the card they want.
For example, if your opponent has 2 green Jewel Cards and picks up 2 green Gems, you might notice that there is a Tier 2 card that requires 6 green Gems and a Pearl. If you can pick up enough green Gems to prevent your opponent from reaching 6 then they’ll be unable to accomplish their goal until later in the game.
Block your opponent by reserving important cards
It’s usually best to reserve cards that help your strategy, but sometimes you have to worry more about your opponent than yourself. If your opponent is about to win and clearly has all of the resources needed to buy the last card they need then you should reserve that card yourself to hold them off as long as possible.
This strategy is more effective in Splendor Duel than it is in the original Splendor (played with more people) because you only have one opponent to worry about. I would only recommend this strategy as a last resort to prevent an opponent from winning, however earlier in the game if there is a card that both players covet you should definitely reserve it for yourself as soon as possible.