Buy Lost Cities first if this is an early purchase or there is a skill gap between you; it teaches in five minutes and the draw gives the weaker player real wins. Buy 7 Wonders Duel if you both want depth and are ready for a symbol language. Both are two-player-only at 30 minutes.
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Both of these are two-player-only, both run 30 minutes, and both are card games. Beyond that they have almost nothing in common, which is why people who own one keep asking about the other.
The differences that matter for a buyer are teach time and how much the deck is allowed to decide.
Teach time
Lost Cities explains in about five minutes: play a card to an expedition or discard it, draw a card, and every expedition starts at minus twenty. You can start playing during the explanation.
7 Wonders Duel does not have a five-minute explanation. Its cards use a symbol language for resources, chains, science and military, and until you can read it fluently you are looking things up. Game one runs well past 30 minutes with the rulebook on the table.
If the person you are playing with is doing this to spend time with you rather than because they want a hobby, that first game is the whole decision.
03How much the deck decides
Lost Cities is the high-variance end of this site. Commit to an expedition and the cards for it may never arrive, and no skill rescues that hand. Across three rounds the better player usually wins, but any single round can go either way.
7 Wonders Duel has a draw, but the shared pyramid is mostly visible and the game rewards reading it. Skill compounds across a game and the stronger player wins consistently.
This points opposite ways depending on your household. A skill gap? Lost Cities, so the weaker player gets genuine wins. Evenly matched and want your decisions to be what decides it? 7 Wonders Duel.
