A long time ago, in our galaxy, Star Wars: Epic Duels created an engaging, card-based dueler before disappearing from store shelves forever. Unmatched, by Restoration Games, has resurrected that legacy, bringing fast-paced, smart action to your tabletop, and it’s doing so this year with the Detective himself.
Yes, friends, in this glorious year of 2024, Sherlock Holmes can fight velociraptors.
A Cunning Card Combat Conflict
As card-driven duels go, Unmatched (Rob Daviau, Justin D. Jacobson, among others) starts with a simple proposition: a board and two unique decks bringing flavor to the figures at deadly odds with one another. Like Epic Duels and similar brawlers Battlecon, Ivion, Exceed, and even Summoner Wars, Unmatched asks you to lean into your character’s unique abilities while nailing the weaknesses of your opponent. Dodging big swings while placing yourself into prime position to deal some damage sounds easy enough, right?
For Black Widow, available in the Unmatched: For King and Country set, maybe. For Dr. Jekyll, perhaps not.
See, Unmatched might have a familiar premise, but it’s the embrace of beloved settings and characters that sets it apart. Sherlock Holmes and Sinbad, King Arthur and Deadpool can all bring each other to the brink of ruin by playing attack and defense cards, many with character-specific twists. There’s rudimentary line of sight and board spaces to contend with too, making positioning more than an afterthought but not a cumbersome calculation.
Cards define play in most aspects of Unmatched. Every turn gifts you a couple of tantalizing actions, which you can spend to draw cards, dash about the battlefield, go ham on your opponent, or play those cards to trigger a special effect. Maybe, depending on your character, you’ll have some sidekicks to shift around too. It’s snappy and easy to grasp, but these are real decisions: this isn’t a case of an obvious optimal route to run time and again.
For example, deciding not to draw up might leave you vulnerable to attacks—cards are your defense, after all—but with the target in range right now, Buffy can get a critical strike with that stake before Bigfoot gets away. A glance at Bigfoot’s hand size, the cards they’ve already played, and Buffy’s own health and hand add wrinkles to what, in simpler games, might be a rote choice to attack, attack, and then attack some more until someone collapses.
Unmatched’s design is wide enough to support the wild range of characters you’ve already seen in this article. Asymmetry is high when you’re stretching from Sherlock Holmes to Merlin, but you’ll never find yourself wondering what to do or how to achieve some inscrutable victory condition.
There’s generally one way to win, and it’s easy to understand: get the enemy’s health to zero, as fast as you can.
This martial hand management dance lasts around half an hour, long enough to play out real strategy but not so long to discourage matches during an airport layover or after homework’s done. The small boxes and boards make for easy transport, with setup a slap down and shuffle from start to finish. Moreover, like rules systems in wargaming and trading card games, learning Unmatched once means you’ll be able to jump right in with new and old sets, meaning you can grab a box off any shelf anywhere and be ready to play (a neat plus for vacations, sudden flight cancellations, or if you find yourself stranded on a desert island stocked only with Unmatched sets.)
Ultimately, Unmatched respects your time, invites your laughter, and lets you play with casual slapstick or murderous skill, exactly what all duelers ought to deliver.
Small Box Set Collection, Sort Of
By now you’ve probably realized Unmatched is an ongoing game chock full of different sets. You’ll have everything from single hero boxes like the limited release Deadpool to four-hero base sets. You’ll definitely want to start with one of the larger boxes—’larger’ being relative, as again, Unmatched is a small box
game—to get all the components to play, as well as some variety in your hero choices.
So what options do you have if you’re starting out?
Well, if you’re a Marvel fan, Restoration Games has been on a kick in that direction, offering the aforementioned Black Widow, Black Panther, and Winter Soldier set. That trio’s cool and all, but I’m all about the heroes we don’t get to see in games very often, and so is Unmatched, because their other two main Marvel boxes, Redemption Row and Marvel Teen Spirit feature the likes of Moon Knight and Squirrel Girl. When you’re playing a single character, it’s way more fun if that character is iconic.
And who’s more iconic than Squirrel Girl?
Unmatched isn’t just another superhero brawler, though. I mentioned Sherlock and the raptors above and meant it. The Detective brings Baker Street to your board via the Cobble and Fog set, which includes other Victorian stars like Jekyll & Hyde and Dracula. Sherlock’s a tricky play, though, and might serve better after warming up via one of the two Battles of Legend boxes, whose heroes are friendlier for folks just finding their way into the wide, wonderful world of one-on-one card-based combat.
Regardless of what you choose, bear in mind that Unmatched continues to regularly release new sets. This stream isn’t quite as frequent (or anywhere near as expensive) as something like Magic, but you’ll often have something fresh and weird to enjoy. What’s great, too, is that Unmatched isn’t consumed with a meta: you can pick and choose what you’re interested in, enjoy it, and not feel like you have to keep up. On the other hand, limited print runs do mean sets will drop in and out of circulation, so make sure to use that Want List to get notified when your favorite characters come back in stock.
So You’re A Cooperative Gamer, Eh?
As is the way of tabletop gaming these days, if the opportunity exists for a cooperative expansion, then one shall be made. Unmatched is no different, with its 
Tales to Amaze box giving you a chance to go up against Mothman or Martian Invader. Yes, Mothman, a name that might not strike terror into your heart at first, but wait until all your wool sweaters disappear!
Anyway.
Tales to Amaze (Jason Hager, Darren Reckner) isn’t a big narrative campaign but rather two villains buttressed by a broad array of possible henchmen to change up your games. The set can serve as a starter box too, with four included heroes (Nicola Tesla! Annie Christmas!) to plunge into diabolical duels against the vile foes.
The villains keep turns fast by following a simple flow: if there’s a hero they can smack, they’ll attack, using their personal decks to force a defense. If not, their threat marker advances on a track, bringing them closer to victory (and the end of your wool sweaters). Coupled with minion machinations, this easy-to-operate system balances tactics (stay close to take hits but keep the villain from advancing their scheme, back away to buy some breathing room but get
closer to losing the game) without dragging down a fast game with muddy AI.
Those minions, from the Jersey Devil to the Blob, add just enough challenge. You don’t need to defeat them to earn a victory, but letting them spread slime pools or set up cracking hits could cost you. Choosing when and how to engage with them while also dancing with the villain keeps matches fresh.
And when Robin Hood finally takes down the Martians, you’ll feel that rush of delight only a crazy coop adventure can provide.
Tales to Amaze isn’t just the cooperative challenges either. The four characters included can be dropped into any normal Unmatched game, letting you pit early superhero The Golden Bat against Dracula in a battle of, well, bats.
What more could you want?
A Festival of Intellectual Property
Unmatched’s formula of familiar faces, depth without unnecessary complexity, and multitude of entry points make it easy to see why this game’s been hitting the hotlist for years now. The starter sets and smaller sizes make for an easy gift, one that you can crack open and play the same day, even in the pub. Unmatched mixes well with both kids (though reading is required) and adults too. It’s the every-game, provided you’re wanting to smack someone around.
And, really, that’s what board gaming’s all about.
