Designers: Noah Cohen, Rob Daviau, Justin D. Jacobson, Chris Leder, Brian Neff, and Kevin Rodgers
Artist: Zoe van Dijk
- Achilles, Sun Wukong, and Yennenga were originally slated to appear in Battle of Legends Vol. 1 but were delayed for various reasons.
Justin Jacobson, Discord, April 5th, 2022
- Zoe van Dijk "inherited" Battle of Legends Vol. 2 from a different, unknown artist, who fleshed out a lot of the preliminary character design work before she started working on the set.
Zoe van Dijk, Interview, March 19th, 2024
- There are no plans for the double-attacks from Battle of Legends Vol. 2 to return in future sets.
Zoe van Dijk
Artistic Tidbits from Interviews with The Unmatched Historian
- Zoe was initially given the option to work on Battle of Legends Vol. 2 or a Marvel IP set. "I preferred the creative freedom of BoL and found the characters more interesting."
- "Other than general mood boards, there were no particular guidelines given to me [when working on this set], but I did spend some time checking the designs that were given to me against my own research and tweaking them as I went, both to make them more personal to me but also to align with cultural touchstones that were more accurate."
- "I think Bloody Mary was the most fun [character] for me [to work on] simply because I work primarily in a very commercial sphere most of the time and it's so rare that my art directors take all the guard rails off and really, truly let me loose into the fields of full blown horror gore. Her design is rather simple compared to the other characters in this set so I got to focus my time more on mood building and, well, blood. Lots of blooooood!!"
Achilles
Primary Designer: Justin D. Jacobson
Artist: Zoe van Dijk
Source Material: Iliad
Thematic Map: Hanging Gardens
Recommended Match-Ups: Bigfoot, Black Widow, Bullseye, Dr. Strange, Dracula, Houdini
History and Fun Facts
- Achilles was originally slated to appear in Battle of Legends Vol. 1 but was seen as too similar to King Arthur and was ultimately replaced by Medusa.
Justin Jacobson, Discord, April 5th, 2022
- In the art for "Test for Weakness/Relentless Assault," "Achilles' card features a chain being torn in half by his spear -- I was kind of playing around with the idea of the weakest link."
Zoe van Dijk, Interview, March 19th, 2024
- Zoe van Dijk has confirmed that the art of "Brothers in Arms" is intended as a reference to Predator II. "I watch a lot of movies and I love inside jokes. It's two ripped guys celebrating their brotherhood!! I just wanted to bring some of that iconic 'okay, who's next energy' to my Greek battle boys."
Summer of Legends 2022
Darkblade113 (Achilles)
vs.
Unmatchad (Beowulf)
Winter of Champions 2023
ETOCUD (Achilles)
vs.
littleexpressionlessanimal (Sun Wukong)
Rules Clarifications
Recommended Roster:
The Hunters and the Hunted
Achilles might be able to handle some tough opponents, but these larger-than-life beings will keep him on his toes. Each fighter packs a punch but has some clever ways of dealing damage outside of combat, both through card effects and character abilities.
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Bloody Mary
Primary Designer: Noah Cohen
Artist: Zoe van Dijk
Source Material: Ghost stories based on Mary Tudor
Thematic Map: N/A
Recommended Match-Ups: Beowulf, Bullseye, Daredevil, Ghost Rider, Invisible Man, Yennenga
History and Fun Facts
- Bloody Mary was the last character chosen for Battle of Legends Vol. 2 and the only character not previously considered for Battle of Legends Vol. 1. Rob Davieu made the initial recommendation to include her, and while Justin was hesitant to include her he ultimately agreed.
Justin Jacobson, Discord, September 21st, 2021 and April 5th, 2022
- In a discussion about character damage output, Noah Cohen pointed out that "Bigfoot can deal 95 damage across all of his cards for an average just north of 3.5. Of that, 6 is direct via Jackalope If all of Bloody Mary's cards 'go off' she can deal approximately 94 damage over fewer cards for an average just above 4. Her math is a little fuzzier because some of her direct damage and card values are conditional (Bloody Reprise, Broken Glass, Stolen Memories, Ghostly Touch, etc)."
Noah Cohen, Discord, September 14th, 2021
- When discussing the inclusion of villains in Unmatched, Brian Neff explained that "there's nuance here when it comes to the common association of what those bad guys do. Invisible Man, Dracula, and Bloody Mary have all certainly done violence and can be pretty creepy. But we wouldn't do someone like Jack the Ripper or Homelander in an Unmatched set, because there are some Content Warnings there that don't jive with what Unmatched is."
Recommended Roster:
Cancel *This*
Some characters struggle a lot against the dreaded Feint, falling over at the first sign of having a card effect canceled. This roster features strong characters that have no cancels (Yenn) or situational cancels (Little Red) and those looking to get revenge for all those years of being picked on.
Sun Wukong
Designers: Noah Cohen, Rob Daviau, Justin D. Jacobson, Chris Leder, Brian Neff, and Kevin Rodgers
Artist: Zoe van Dijk
Source Material: Journey to the West
Thematic Map: N/A
Recommended Match-Ups: Black Widow, Houdini, Little Red, Sherlock Holmes, Winter Soldier
History and Fun Facts
- Restoration Games hired Calvin Wong Tze Loon as the cultural consultant to help with the development of both Sun Wukong for Battle of Legends Vol. 2.
Suzanne Sheldon, Discord, July 7th, 2021 and Zoe van Dijk, Interview, March 19th, 2024
- "Sun Wukong is extremely present in Chinese culture and there are a multitude of contemporary iterations of his design, so part of researching his character was pulling apart what is canon and what is contemporary riffing."
Zoe van Dijk, Interview, March 19th, 2024
- "Sun Wukong's spear can change shapes and sizes -- having him large on one side and smaller on the right [of 'Ruyi Jingo Bang/Tricked You'] invites you to imagine that reality in one image."
Concept Art
Summer of Legends 2022
Darkblade113 (Luke Cage)
vs.
Unmatchad (Sun Wukong)
Winter of Champions 2023
ETOCUD (Achilles)
vs.
littleexpressionlessanimal (Sun Wukong)
Rules Clarifications
Recommended Roster:
Stalking Your Prey
With Sun Wukong's oppressive ability to spawn an army of Clones, his opponents need creative ways to engage him. Lots of smaller attacks and extra movement effects allow these characters to break through the wall of snickering monkeys.
Yennenga
Designers: Noah Cohen, Rob Daviau, Justin D. Jacobson, Chris Leder, Brian Neff, and Kevin Rodgers
Artist: Zoe van Dijk
Source Material: Princess of Burkina Faso
Thematic Map: Hanging Gardens
Recommended Match-Ups: Black Panther, Black Widow, Bruce Lee, Daredevil, Medusa, Raptors
History and Fun Facts
- One of the reasons why Yennenga was omitted from Battle of Legends Vol. 1 was due to the team's uncertainty as to whether it was the right time to start introducing real-life figures into the game.
Justin Jacobson, Discord, May 21st, 2022
- Restoration Games hired Lollita Koech as the cultural consultant to help with the development of Yennenga for Battle of Legends Vol. 2.
Suzzane Sheldon, Discord, July 7th, 2021 and Zoe van Dijk, Interview, March 19th, 2024
- When designing Yennenga, Zoe van Dijk did significant research into the real-world figure; "I was looking at a lot of sculpture, textile and jewelry collections specific to the Dagomba and Mossi people from Museums and asking myself questions like what materials were commonly used in their clothing, what was available to them for fabric dyes, was gold widely used in jewelry etc. The Metropolitan Museum and the Brooklyn Museum both have fairly robust collections available online."
Zoe van Dijk, Interview, March 19th, 2024
- As an example of trying to balance new characters against the current roster of heroes in a healthy way, Noah Cohen references Yennenga, pointing out how she's a "[v]ery strong character, no cancels, so she ends up with a notable weakness to Sinbad, who is otherwise a fairly middle of the road character."
Summer of Legends 2023
zeroskatr12 (Yennenga)
vs.
PhantomX (Black Panther)
Summer of Legends 2023
zeroskatr12 (Yennenga)
vs.
PhantomX (Houdini)
Rules Clarifications
1
Can you use Yennenga's ability to redirect exhaustion damage?
No, Yennenga cannot reassign damage in a way that would make damage disappear. This also means that if an effect would damage Yennenga and also defeat 1 or more archers, the archers that will be defeated by the effect are not valid targets for her ability.
2
Who wins the combat if Yennenga redirects all the combat damage using her ability?
The Attacker still won the combat, as combat damage was still dealt to Yennenga initially before being redistributed as she pleases. Effects that care about winning combat or damage dealt to the opposing fighter still trigger as normal regardless of where Yennenga then chooses to assign the damage.
Recommended Roster:
Poke and Prod
Yennenga is best known for her bursts of attacks, putting her opponents on the backfoot and allowing her to control the board. These characters have the defensive tools to put up with her onslaught and return the favor when the moment is right.
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