UNMATCHED DRAFTING FORMATS V1.
1
(June 8, 2025)
Written by Muddshoe
NOTES
A drafting format is still separate from the tournament format (Single Bracket, Double Bracket,
etc). Most drafting formats can mix and match with the preferred tournament format by a TO,
however some formats (such as Conscript) are hard to adjust.
TERMINOLOGIES
Audience: The target demographic of players the tournament is aiming for. It is usually tied with
the amount of agency and variance tied to a format, as formats that give more agency usually
result in more success for competitive players who can exploit agency better.
1. Casual - These people do not play Unmatched and have only played a few games at
most. This is usually the target audience when a local Unmatched scene has not yet
been established or if the tournament is merely a side event (such as in a convention).
Casual formats tend to not give a high priority to competitiveness and are more willing to
add additional rules to “spice up” the event.
2. Competitive - Players who have invested a decent to a considerable amount of time
playing the game and understanding the meta. This is usually the target audience when
a local Unmatched scene has already been established. Most formats that try to be fair
and balanced end up being competitive leaning. The amount of variance varies per
format, but usually casual players are still able to play in competitive-focused
tournaments!
Requirement: The needed amount of sets to successfully run the tournament.
1. Type 1 - The organizer will provide the fighters, and necessitates that the organizer has
at least one full set of the game. These formats usually have the lowest barrier to entry
as tournament participants can compete with no sets owned.
2. Type 2 - The players will bring their fighters, usually only being asked to bring 4 (though
this may vary). Medium-level but reasonable barrier to entry.
3. Type 3 - A designation given for online formats: multiple full sets of Unmatched are
needed for every table/match to run a fair and balanced event. This is difficult to do in
real-life events, but freely doable (and usually preferred) online.
Developer: Players/groups who are responsible for the creation of the format.
Mechanics: The general idea of how the drafting format works.
Drafting Format: Rulesets that dictate how rosters and matches are determined
FORMATS
As of March 30, 2024, there are 13 named formats in this document. Arranged alphabetically,
these are:
Name Arsenal
Audience Competitive
Requirement Type 3
Developer UMLeague (Jackguin1)
Mechanics 2 players each secretly pick 4 fighters from two identical pools, then reveal
their rosters simultaneously. Any duplicates are banned. The remaining
fighters are locked into the player's rosters, and the opponent cannot select
them later. Repeat this process until both players have 4 fighters locked into
their roster. Then players will secretly assign 1 of their fighters to each of the 2
games to be played, fighters can only be used once regardless of the game
outcome.
Notes More recent iterations of Arsenal have bumped the picks to 5 and added 1 ban
afterward. As of Spring Showdown 2025, the “entire roster Arsenal” format
may have been retired.
Resources Unmatched Arsenal Format
Name Banquest
Audience Competitive
Requirement Type 3
Developer UMLeague
Mechanics 2 players take turns banning 3 fighters each from a shared pool. Then they
snake draft from a shared pool until they have 4 fighters. Each player bans 1
opposing fighter. Each player bans 1 of their fighters. When a fighter wins a
game, it cannot be used again in that match.
Notes A highly deliberate format that rewards strong meta-understanding.
Resources 2023 Summer of Legends Rules
Name Barsenal
Audience Competitive
Requirement Type 3
Developer Russian Community
Mechanics 2 players each secretly pick 4 fighters from two identical pools, then reveal
their rosters simultaneously. Any duplicates are banned. The remaining
fighters are locked into the players' rosters, and the opponent cannot select
them later. Repeat this process until both players have 4 fighters locked into
their roster. Each player bans 1 opposing fighter. Each player bans 1 of their
fighters. When a fighter wins a game, it cannot be used again in that match.
Notes A combination of Banquest and Arsenal.
Resources N/A
Name Battalion v1
Audience Casual
Setting Type 2
Developer Filipino Community (Muddshoe & Syble)
Mechanics At the start of the tournament, players bring 4 unique fighters to play for the rest
of the tournament. In every match, the 2 players in a match simultaneously ban
2 fighters from the other player and then simultaneously choose 1 fighter from
their 2 remaining picks.
Notes Designed to be as simple as possible while also being as casual-leaning and
fair as possible. Ideally, random map & position, as well as ban Top 3. This
format has become exceedingly popular in the local PH tournament scene,
although this specific ruleset has been overtaken by Battalion v2
Resources
Name Battalion v2
Audience Casual
Setting Type 2
Developer Filipino Community (Muddshoe & Syble) / Gaming Library
Mechanics At the start of the tournament, players bring 5 unique fighters to play for the rest
of the tournament. In every match, the 2 players in a match ban in a snake draft
manner (first player bans 1, second player bans 2, first player bans 2, second
player bans 1) and then simultaneously choose 1 fighter from their 2 remaining
picks. Usually, the player who bans first gets position pick as getting to ban last
is a massive advantage.
Notes Designed to be as simple as possible while also being as casual-leaning and
fair as possible. Ideally, random map, as well as ban Top 3. This format has
become exceedingly popular in the local PH tournament scene, and is the
newer version of the old Battalion format.
Resources
Name Blitz
Audience Casual
Setting Type 2
Developer Restoration Games
Mechanics 4 players in a match snake-draft from a pool of 12 fighters. Play proceeds as
normal, but when a player’s character is defeated, that player continues play by
selecting one of their unused characters and placing it on the map. If a player
has no more characters, they are eliminated from the match. A player is
declared the winner immediately after defeating three opposing characters.
Notes In the attached format guide, the tournament is a two-stage, single-bracket
format - players who win the first game immediately play in the grand finals.
Resources RG_Blitz.pdf
Name Challenger
Audience Competitive
Requirement Type 1
Developer Russian Community
Mechanics 2 players are dealt 7 random fighters and 3 random maps. A leader is
randomly chosen. From this pool, the leader picks a map, 2 fighters, and the
position for these fighters. Afterward, the follower chooses which fighter to
play.
Notes
Resources N/A
Name Conquest
Audience Competitive
Requirement Type 3
Developer UMLeague
Mechanics 2 players alternate picking 3 fighters each from a shared pool. Each player
bans 1 opposing fighter. When a fighter wins a game, it cannot be used again
in that match.
Notes Rendered OBSOLETE by the addition of Banquest, an evolved version of this
format made in consideration of the game’s bigger roster.
Resources Unmatched "Summer of Legends" Rules
Name Conscript
Audience Casual
Requirement Type 1
Developer Restoration Games
Mechanics At the start of the tournament, all players are assigned two different random
fighters. In every match, 2 players simultaneously choose and play one of
their fighters on a random map. The winning player discards the fighter they
won with (returns to the organizers), takes all of the defeated player’s fighters,
and discards down to 3 characters.
Notes Conscript is tied to a single-bracket tournament format and requires
modifications if a different tournament format is preferred.
Resources RG_Conscript.pdf
Name Duel
Audience Competitive
Requirement Type 2
Developer UMLeague
Mechanics 2 players propose 2 different matchups using unique fighters. Each player
bans one of the opponents and randomly determines which matchup will be
played. The player who did not propose the matchup chooses their fighter.
Then, the map and position advantage will be randomly assigned.
Notes Often used as a tiebreaker format for online tournaments, while once in
consideration as a main format, it has been decided against because “we want
people to only be playing fighters they choose to play.”
Resources N/A
Name Snake Draft
Audience Competitive
Requirement Type 1 / Type 2
Developer French Community
Mechanics At the start OR before the tournament, players are split into groups of 8.
Players in each group then snake draft until each player has 4 fighters. Players
must then use these 4 fighters for the rest of the tournament.
Notes C&F adds pre-bans and ban polls before drafting starts. Additionally, there are
some tweaks with how fighters are selected every round. Moreover, a
Snakedraft can have more or less than 8 players, but YMMV. It might require
more than one full set if more than 1 group of 8 is playing.
Resources Cobble & Frogs'24 - Tournament Guide v1.pdf
Name “Seven On A Table”
Audience Competitive
Requirement Type 1
Developer Russian Community
Mechanics 2 players are dealt 7 random fighters and 3 random fighters. Players randomly
determine the leader. Afterwards, starting from the follower, players alternate
banning one fighter and then alternate picking one fighter. The leader then
chooses a map or position, with the follower deciding the other.
Notes
Resources N/A
Name Roster
Audience Competitive
Requirement Type 2
Developer Restoration Games
Mechanics At the start of the tournament, players bring 4 different fighters. In every match,
2 players are presented with two maps. They then secretly assign 2 of their
fighters to each map. Afterward, they flip a coin to determine which set of
characters are used for battle one, with the player who does not own those
fighters selecting which character to play as. The position is randomly chosen.
Notes The suggested tournament format is Swiss, and every match is recommended
to be a Best-of-2; in this case, the winner of the previous game chooses which
set of characters to use in battle two, as well as which character to play from
that set. The loser of the previous game chooses a position.
Resources RG_Roster.pdf
Name Vanquish
Audience Competitive
Requirement Type 3
Developer UMLeague (Bryden)
Mechanics 2 players simultaneously select 4 different fighters for their lineup. They may
have overlapping fighters in their lineups. One player picks ONE of the 4
fighters from their opponent’s lineup and pairs them with ANY other legal
fighter from the legal full game roster to create a unique matchup. The same
player then chooses the map and starting positions for each fighter in the
game. The other player does the same process, then they roll a die to see
which of the two matchups gets played first. The player who didn’t create the
played matchup chooses which fighter to play as.
Notes
Resources UM_Challenger.pdf
UPDATES
1.0 (March 30, 2024) - Document is made
1.1 (March 30, 2024) - Snake Draft requirement is now Type1 & Type2, developer is now
‘French Community’ instead of Cobble & Frogs
1.2 (March 30, 2024) - Type1 & Type2 are swapped to indicate increasing amount of sets
needed from participants from Type1-3 (0 to all); also fixed Challenger “fighters” to “maps”
1.3 (April 8, 2025) - General grammatical fixes throughout the document.
1.4 (June 8, 2025) - Added Battalion v2 (and made the old Battalion be ‘v1’)
