In a battle of magical strength – who wins? An almighty genie, capable of immense power? Or the clever stage magician Houdini with his faithful assistant at his side, and a few tricks up his sleeves? The match-up may not seem quite equal, but it is anyone’s game if you can play your cards right.

What Is It?

Action Points – Players get 2 actions per turn, which they can use to maneuver (draw a card and move), play a scheme card, and/or play an attack card on their opponent. Cards or abilities may also give players additional action points on a turn.

Area Movement – The board is broken up into spots and zones, and where you are on the map will determine whether or not you can target the other player with an attack. Players can also not move through one another, so they have to pay attention to the lines on the board so they know where they can move.

Hand Management – You only draw cards when you maneuver, or something allows you to, and your hand size is limited. You also have various card types – scheme, attack, defense – so you have to manage what is in your hand when in order to always have options available. In this box, Houdini’s deck also has some cards that can only be played by Houdini or Bess, not both, so it is important to pay attention to which cards you have, depending on who you want to activate.

Who Is It For?

  • 2 Players – It’s a head to head battle to the end!
  • Ages 10 & Up – Pretty simple rules overall / small ruleset
  • Fans of hand management and asymmetric player decks
  • Players who don’t mind a bit of luck of the draw

PROS

  • Aesthetics – I really like the art in the game, especially the Genie’s cards
  • Components – Gorgeous, nice quality minis; nice board, cards, and health dials as well
  • Rules – Well-written and easy to follow
  • Very little set up
  • Asymmetric, but it feels balanced
  • Smooth gameplay
  • Secret passages are cool and make it easier to move around the board

CONS

  • Board – It’s double sided, it’s the same on both sides, just with one side having colored outlines, and the other having filled circles. The outlined side is so much harder to discern the zones, so I would never use it. It feels a little like a wasted opportunity to have 2 slightly different maps
  • Luck of the draw – Can be over rather quickly if someone gets unlucky (i.e. can’t defend a bunch of big attacks in a row)
  • The character versus sidekick specific cards can be frustrating if your sidekick gets taken out early and you haven’t seen their cards yet. You can still use them for boosting movement, which is good, but you might miss out on using the cards more effectively
  • Not a lot of variety in replays

Final Thoughts

Unmatched is a super smooth, clean system that works really well. If you like head to head battles, hand management, and strategizing around a pre-built deck, it’s definitely worth checking out. I liked this box because I like both of these characters, I like the magic theme, and I think it all works really well together.

Overall, I like the Unmatched in general fine, but I just don’t find myself coming back to it often because plays don’t feel different enough to me that I’m itching for another play. At least, not with the same characters. If you’re a big Unmatched fan and want to add more variety to mix and match in a larger collection, this is definitely worth picking up!

Additional Information:
My Final Rating – 5/10

Designers – Sam Crane, Adil M. Geresu, Noah Cohen,
Justin D. Jacobson, Brian Neff, Rob Daviau
Artists -Peter Diamond, Brian Patterson
Publisher – Restoration Games
MSRP – $25.00
Website

*I was provided a copy of this game to do this review*

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