In the Hellboy mythos, Adolf Hitler initiated a series of projects toward the end of World War II that were meant to achieve abrupt Nazi victory. These projects were largely scientific in nature, but some focused more on the occult. Project Ragna Rok was one such experiment. Lead by Grigori Rasputin, Project Ragna Rok was created ostensibly to summon a demonic key that would open the gates to Armageddon. In reality, Rasputin was acting on behalf of the Ogdru Jahad, the seven ancient serpents bent on sowing the seeds of chaos and destruction on Earth. This demonic key (the arm of Hellboy) ended up in the hands of the Allies after a last-second intervention during the summoning ceremony, thus making the project a failure in Hitler’s eyes. For Grigori, the first step in bringing Armageddon to Earth had still been completed successfully.

The scope of Project Ragna Rok necessitated a novel design. For lead designer Matt Hyra, this was an opportunity to design just the kind of card around which players love to build decks: the alternate win condition. For many players, alternate win conditions immediately summon dreadful visions of long, non-interactive turns. However, there is little inherent (or at least little that is unique) to alternate win conditions that makes this true. Competitive players naturally tend to reach for cards that prevent interaction or act on axes upon which their opponents can’t, whether or not an alternate condition is involved. In some cases, alternate win conditions can promote acting on the “normal” combat axis—stunning an opponent’s characters, attacking, and defending. You know, Vs. System. It is the individual design of alternate win conditions that can push them toward non-interaction.

A brief review of the alternate win condition cards created so far reveals a healthy selection of cards across many sets. From Xavier’s Dream in Marvel Origins to Terror Incognita in Legion of Super Heroes, alternate win conditions usually appear at least once in every set. While some cards, like Rigged Elections, were best used in decks that never looked to get involved in combat, others, like The Prophecy Fulfilled and Ape, could simply end a normal game early. And others, like Mysterium, were “win more” cards. The many forms that alternate win condition cards assume are a testament to the strength of the card type; the number of ways to win a game is limited only by the imagination.

The motivation behind designing alternate win condition cards is simple: winning the game provides players with the most obvious example of a card around which they can afford to build a deck. If they are successful, the reward is victory. Alternate win condition cards are the most extreme example of a hand-hold card. Even though they tend to be complicated or require a good understanding of deckbuilding to be successful, alternate win conditions can still provide one of the earliest stepping stones in card evaluation for new players.

With Project Ragna Rok, Matt Hyra took this main design goal one step further and killed two birds with one stone. When playing with the Essential Collection alone, Ragna Rok provides a brutal KO effect turn after turn and the alternate win is just the icing. Getting three uses out of Ragna Rok is likely to seal the deal on any game. Once you break out of the Hellboy Essential Collection and start mixing cards, you’ll quickly realize that in order to get any mileage out of Ragna Rok, you need to explore unorthodox strategies (such as granting your opponent’s characters an affiliation they don’t have, or playing your own B.P.R.D. characters and KO’ing them). In this way, Ragna Rok provides the first alternate win condition that’s actually two cards in one.