Top Five Unmatched Characters

5. Little Red Riding Hood

Little Red Riding Hood, found in the Little Red Riding Hood vs Beowulf’ Box, is based on The 17th-century European fairy tale about a little girl and a wolf in stories by Charles Perrault and The brothers Grimm. In Unmatched, Little Red is a vicious fighter who thinks three steps ahead and sets up card combos. She swaps her basket of fruit and bread for a basket of hard-hitting card effect. Little Red’s discard pile becomes her basket, and she can match up symbols on her cards to those at the top of her basket to give her unique combat, defence, drawing and healing abilities. She is a melee fighter, but she has the Hunstman by her side, who is a ranged sidekick, providing her protection with his attack values up to 6. Little Red Riding Hood forces the other player to be very cautious, keeping an eye on her discard pile and playing feint cards wisely, as Little Red has many significant effects. Hence, placing it on the right one is challenging, and some of Little Red’s block cards, if matched to the symbols, allow Little Red to deal severe damage.

Strengths:

Versatility - Little Red’s card effects can adapt quite well to different opposing fighters. The effects offer both offensive and defensive opportunities, as well as the chance to escape and heal.

Dealing damage when defending - Little Red has multiple defence cards that do damage, making your opponent have to be aware of your discard pile and the constant threat of Little Red’s reactive damage from defence cards. An opponent should be cautious about attacking Little Red on low health.

Card Draw - Little Red’s ability to draw cards gives her various options when playing her cards. Due to the number of cards in her hand, she rarely can't block an attack, so it’s rare to find yourself starved for cards.

Weaknesses:

Little Red’s card effects are vital to her attacks and defences - if they get cancelled, she can be pretty weak. Her cards have low values that are made better by her effects. Her cards that do damage by blocking have a low value, so if she is hit with a high attack, she can receive a lot of damage herself.

Little Red Riding Hood’s health value - Her HP value is only 14. Little Red has to avoid getting hit with significant attacks, which can make some of her cards harder to play, and the risk of counterattacks is a more substantial threat. Little Red wants to avoid getting into a stand-and-brawl and, if lured into one, can find herself getting knocked out quickly.

Little Red can quickly become exhausted - Because of her drawing abilities. She can find herself on the brink of exhaustion in most games, having to be very strategic when drawing cards, discarding cards, and boosting manoeuvres. If faced with an opponent with card effects that cause Little Red to discard cards, it makes Little Red get through her deck too quickly, having to draw more cards to match the new symbol in her basket.

4. Yennenga

Yennenga is found in Battle of Legends Volume Two, alongside Achilles, Sun Wukong and Bloody Mary. Yennenga Lived over 900 years ago; a legendary Princess considered a Mother of the Mossi People of Burkini Faso. A famous warrior, Yennenga in Unmatched, is a strong, ranged character with the special ability of two archers, both set to two health who can take damage for Yennenga. This ability allows Yennenga to be less threatened by big attacks, knowing if she was faced with an attack of 7 and only had a three block, she could place any amount of the four damage taken on to her archers, choosing how much to take herself.

Yennenga and her archers are both Ranged fighters, allowing her to block herself in with her archers and shoot at anyone in her zone. She has excellent healing cards for her archers and can bring them back from the dead in her attacks, and her defence can force attackers to discard cards; if they don't, Yennenga will bring back one of her archers in her zone.

Strengths:

The Archers - Yennenga’s Archers provide her with great strength, allowing her to deflect damage she is dealt by attacks onto the Archers. They have many opportunities to heal and resurrect from the dead, meaning Yennenga’s ability can be used throughout the game, depending on the order of her deck. The archers, like many characters with multiple sidekicks, also provide blocks by stopping Melee fighters from getting to Yennenga, which makes the opponents have to use their attack cards on the archers in their limited turns to even reach Yennenga.

Ranged abilities - Yennenga and her sidekicks are ranged, which allows her to stay away from her opponent, making them travel to her, Wasting turns and forcing them to discard cards to boost just to get adjacent to her. Yennenga can sit comfortably in a space with multiple zones, placing the archers around her and shooting from a distance, waiting for the opponent to travel to her, leading them to exhaustion quicker.

Strong attacks and defences - Yennenga has powerful and versatile cards, with lots of ANY cards that either her or her sidekicks can play. She has double attacks, which can deal a lot of damage if she notices her opponent only has a few cards left in their hand, forcing them to either defend twice to block or take up to 6 damage. Her versatile ‘Jaws of the Beast card’ allows for each zone the opposing fighter is in to increase the card by 1, which means Yennenga can tactically position herself, waiting for her opponent to attack to have a solid block card or wait until her opponent is in position to attack.

Weaknesses:

Special ability conditions - Yennenga’s special ability only works if she is in the same Zone as her archers, meaning she is left vulnerable if separated. If she is hit with a big attack, she has no one to delegate her damage to.

No cancel effects cards - Yennenga has no way to cancel effects, meaning if faced with a character like Little Red Riding Hood, she must be very careful about knowing which block to use. The opponent understands that, unlike other fighters, all of the effects on their cards can be played, so it takes away the risk of ‘feinting’, making opponents reliant on effects a lot stronger.

The death of the archers - If Yennenga gets all of her revive the Archer's cards early on in the game, it can leave her more vulnerable near the game's end. If she draws them early and her archers have not yet been killed, she will either have to use them and the effect be wasted or draw more cards, which could lead to quicker exhaustion. Once the Archers can no longer be revived, Yennenga will have to rely on her blocking cards and face all attacks and damage by herself.

3. Sinbad

Sinbad can be found in ‘Battle of Legends: Volume One’ fighting against Alice (in Wonderland), King Authur and Medusa. Sinbad is Based on the Mythology of ‘Sinbad the Sailor’, traced back to the 18th century independent cycle of the Middle Eastern folk tales of ‘One Thousand and One Nights’ in which Sinbad the Wealthy Sailor tells the Porter of the same name, though opposite riches, how he found his riches by going on seven voyages of “fortune and fate”. In Unmatched, Sinbad is a slippery, movement-heavy fighter who gets stronger as the match progresses. Sinbad’s special ability allows him to add +1 movement in his manoeuvres for every voyage in his discard pile. These voyages are attack cards, all with after-combat special abilities. His voyage cards have a value of two, but all have the effect of being increased by one for every voyage in his discard pile. Sinbad is a melee fighter alongside his melee sidekick, The Porter, who allows Sinbad to draw multiple cards with his attacks.

Strengths:

The Voyages - Sinbad’s ability for increased movement means he can run to and away very easily, meaning that as the game progresses, Sinbad gets stronger and stronger. The added attack value and after-combat effects on the voyages mean Sinbad is a very strong attacker. Sinbad has a voyage card that allows him to bring all his voyage cards back to hand, providing him with more attack cards and dealing more damage to his opponent.

Moving away - Sinbad has many versatile cards that allow him to move away from his opponent after attacking, forcing the opposing fighter to use one of their moves to get him. This is especially useful in the early game, allowing you to buy yourself time to discard voyages.

Card draw - The Porter allows Sinbad to draw many cards, allowing him to access the voyage cards early on in the games and helping him make the most of his special ability.

Weaknesses:

Early gameplay: Sinbad must be cautious in the early game because he has only two movement and weaker attacks without his voyage cards in his discard pile.

Reliant on Sidekick - The porter only has six health; if the porter dies, the card draws that Sinbad has significantly decreased, and the drawing card comes only from manoeuvres and two scheme cards.

No dedicated block - Sinbad has to be careful when playing versatile cards to attack because he has no dedicated block cards. It’s easy to fall into the trap of being too aggressive only to find yourself without any versatile cards in your hand and very susceptible to attacks.

2. Medusa

Medusa is with Sinabad in ‘Battle of Legends: Volume One’. The Greek Mythology of Medusa tells the tale of a woman with snakes in her hair, and if anyone looked upon her, they would be turned to stone. In Unmatched, Medusa uses her gaze of stone to confuse, terrify and entrap fighters. Her special ability means that Medusa can deal one damage to an opposing fighter in her zone at the start of her turn, slowly chipping away her opponents, scaring them away from her, and giving her time to prepare for her cold and callous attacks. She is a ranged fighter with three melee sidekicks with one health: The Harpies. Medusa can use the Harpies to block herself in, and The Harpies have attacks and defences that allow them all to move together and force opponents to discard cards.

Strengths:

Strong Attack and Defence effects - Medusa has cards that allow her to do up to 10 combat if she wins combat. She also has cards that will enable her to boost her attacks and change the value of her cards. Her and her Harpy versatile card values allow her to attack and defend. Medusa’s block cards force opponents to discard cards, which makes them think twice before attacking with few cards.

Damage in her Zone - In addition to her special ability, Medusa can scheme to deal two damage to fighters in her zone, so she can deal guaranteed damage per turn without the need to attack. The Harpies- The Harpies protect Medusa. Medusa's Ranged ability means she can stay away and have all three Harpies block her. She has cards to bring back Harpies to protect her from her attackers.

Weaknesses:

Predictability - If the opposing fighter guesses Medusa’s attack cards, they can play a feint card that cancels all effects. This means the cards that allow her to do more damage after the combat are void, and the opposing fighter might not take any damage at all this turn. The opponents can also ensure they stay out of their zones by the end of the turn to avoid taking damage.

The fall of the sidekicks - Like many fighters, Medusa relies on her sidekicks to provide her block while she builds her hand. If they die for good, many great attack cards can no longer be played, causing Medusa to rely on her own attacks to take down her opponent.

The attack and defence values - Medusa’s values of the cards are not the strongest, meaning more likely than not, if she is hit by an attack value of 7, she will take 3-6 damage depending on what card she uses. She has 16 health, but she has to work out when to use her good blocks. If her opponent tricks her into playing a high block for a low attack card, it makes her more vulnerable to the subsequent attacks.

1. Sherlock Holmes

Sherlock is found in ‘Cobble and Fog’, which I recommend for your first set, playing against Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, The Invisible Man and Count Dracula. Sherlock Holmes is a fictional detective created by author Conan Doyle. Sherlock puts other detectives to shame with his
brilliant forensic science, deduction and logical skills that help him solve various cases. In Unmatched, Sherlock, a melee fighter, is all about his ability to guess; his schemes allow him to do damage equal to the boost value if the value is guessed correctly, and his blocks cancel all effects and value if Sherlock can guess the value in which his opposing fighter attacks with. Sherlock’s special ability means his and his Ranged sidekick Dr Watson's named cards cannot be cancelled. This effect does not apply to ANY cards.

Strengths:

Damage - Sherlock has many ways to do harm and prevent damage. His cards allow him to look at his opponent's hand, which means he can see his opponent's card values before using his scheme ability of ‘guessing’ the value to do damage. Sherlock has counterpunches, which means if a fighter is adjacent to him, he can do two damage to them; your opponent cannot cancel this effect.

Special ability - The special ability makes the opponent reluctant to use feints, often confusing them into using them at the wrong time, as they are still determining whether this will be an ANY card or a Sherlock or Watson card.

Sidekick - Watson has a start health of 8, which is a fair number for a sidekick. By scheming to heal, Watson gives Sherlock a chance to recover and can deal five damage with his revolver. If a player plays a feint against Watson, they risk taking a hit of 3 damage.

Weaknesses:

Guessing Game - Sherlock relies on knowing what cards are in his opponent's hand. If he hasn't had the chance to look and has his guessing cards in his hand and has to use them, he can end up having to take a lot of damage or miss out on giving his opponent a fair chunk of damage.

Healing - Sherlock has a reasonable start health of 16. However, he does not have many opportunities to heal. If Watson is killed, Sherlock loses his scheme ability to swap places with Holmes, healing one health, which leaves him in a far more vulnerable spot.

Values - Sherlock's card values are not the highest, meaning he has to rely on his unique deduction skills to prevent or do damage. Sherlock has to understand how to play his cards strategically and when to look at his opponent's hand to understand which card value and effect to choose.

Ultimately, you’ll have fun with any Unmatched character you play, and even a “weaker” character can beat a stronger one if given to a crafty player. Every character plays so differently despite having the same three actions, and with all the possibilities of matchups, I can’t stop myself from coming back to try different characters every game.