Unmatched
Medusa
Overview
Medusa the Gorgon, one of three sisters so hideous their appearance turns men to stone at a glance, is one of the most famous legends in Greek mythology. In the oldest tales, Medusa, like her sisters, was monstrous; however, later tales would describe her as an exceptionally beautiful woman who had many lovers until she was cursed by the goddess Athena. In Unmatched, Medusa embraces her curse to deal damage at a glance.
Medusa is included in Unmatched: Battle of Legends Vol. 1
Hero Stats
Health: 16 / Attack: Ranged / Movement: 3
Special Ability
At the start of your turn, you may deal 1 damage to an opposing fighter in Medusa’s zone.
Sidekick: Harpies
Health: 1 / Attack: Melee / x3
Strategies and Tips
Medusa is an incredibly strong hero whose goal is to keep the enemy at a distance, so mobility and positioning are essential. Her range and special ability enable her to whittle down her opponent’s health and quickly dispose of sidekicks. The optimal strategy is to use Medusa’s cards that allow her to escape in conjunction with her Harpies, using them to block your opponent’s path to her.
Primary Strengths
Strong attacks
Strong Special Ability
Forcing discards
Primary Weaknesses
Low defense options
Tip #1: Take Defensive Positioning
Medusa is more of a defensive hero so it is vital to pay close attention to her positioning. Placing her on a tile that gives her access to multiple zones will dramatically increase her range and utility. Each zone is represented by a different color on the board, so placing Medusa on a space with multiple colors will ensure full use of her range and ability.
From here, position your Harpies to block the choke points leading to her. This will force your opponent to use up attack cards to take out a Harpy before reaching Medusa. Ideally, your Harpies will be positioned to force your opponent into Medusa’s zone to engage, allowing Medusa’s special ability to take effect on your next turn.
Tip #2: The Gaze of Stone
Gaze Of Stone is an extremely powerful card but challenging to pull off. With an attack value of just 2, it is challenging to win combat to activate its ability. We recommend that you do not build your strategy around this single card.
Medusa has another attack called Second Shot, which has a during combat effect that allows you to boost the attack. Gaze Of Stone has a boost value of 4, so it is a great option to boost Second Shot. Doing this means you could miss out on dealing 9 or 10 points of damage, but this play gives you a guaranteed 7 value attack to use against your opponent.
Tip #3: The Harpies
Medusa’s Harpies are critical to her success. Each Harpy only has 1 point of health, but this should be seen as Medusa having 3 extra points of health. Keep your Harpies close to Medusa to defend her, allowing her room to escape when necessary. Rarely should you ever send one out on their own to attack.
The Harpies have two unique cards: Clutching Claws and The Hounds Of Mighty Zeus. We recommend using each of these cards to defend exclusively.
Clutching Claws is a versatile card with a value of 3 that forces your opponent to discard 1 card. This effect is great when played defensively. The value isn’t high, but with defense cards at your disposal as high as 3, that means your opponents will be forced to use higher value attacks on the Harpies rather than Medusa.
The Hounds of Mighty Zeus is a versatile card with a value of 4 that allows you to move each Harpy up to 3 spaces, keeping them on the move to defend Medusa. This card helps force your opponents to use even higher value attacks like previously mentioned.
Once a Harpy is defeated, you can use your Winged Frenzy to return a defeated Harpy to the field and move each of your fighters up to 3 spaces. This can be done twice, giving you a total of 5 Harpies to place between Medusa and your opponents.
Final Thoughts
When you combine Medusa’s range together with her movement, powerful attack cards, ability to resurrect Harpies, and card effects that force your opponent to discard cards, you get one of the best heroes in Unmatched. On top of that, Medusa is the only ranged Hero in Unmatched: Battle of Legends Vol. 1, which gives her a distinct advantage over the other heroes in that set. While the concept of “shoot from afar” may seem easy to grasp, using her Harpies to block important chokepoints and creating escape routes might be challenging for newcomers to the game. Despite that potential challenge, Medusa is a hero we recommend to players of all skill levels.
