Have a hand basket?
The Vs. System is going to Hell! Characters from Mike Mignola’s Hellboy comic will be making their Vs. System debut in UDE’s upcoming Essential Collection product line. Right about now, your brain is probably twisting itself in knots trying to imagine what the Right Hand of Doom is going to do in the game. But for those souls who are unfamiliar with this amazing comic, check out some additional background information in the recent press release.
What’s the Vs. System Essential Collection, you ask? It’s a brand new product featuring two pre-constructed decks of sixty cards each. Hellboy and the heroic agents of the B.P.R.D. (Bureau for Paranormal Research and Defense) will face off against Grigori Rasputin and the occult forces of the Thule Society.
The Hellboy Essential Collection will also feature two endurance counters and a Hellboy original art lithograph by creator Mike Mignola. Not only will Mr. Mignola be contributing original artwork for this collection, but he will also be autographing a limited number of lithographs that will appear at random in the decks.
If that weren’t enough, the decks will also come with five random foil cards from a parallel foil set and will be packaged in two new UDEck carrying cases. Last, but not least, Essential Collection products will come with a comprehensive rulebook. This rulebook will contain a full glossary that includes all mechanics, keywords, and rules updates that have been introduced to the game since its release.
As to be expected, the Hellboy decks will have the standard Vs. System card back, and they’ll be completely compatible with all other Vs. System releases. However, the cards from this Essential Collection release will feature a Hellboy universe icon in the upper right-hand corner instead of the Marvel or DC icon from our previous releases.
Neither a starter nor a full booster set, the Essential Collection decks will fall somewhere in the middle. Like a starter, Essential Collection products will feature one or more copies of each card in the full collection in every box. Like a booster set, the card mechanics are designed for tournament-level play. Does that mean you can take a single Essential Collection deck to a $10K and win? Probably not. However, by combining cards from the Essential Collection decks with cards from previously released sets, a skilled deckbuilder has a shot at walking away from a Pro Circuit with $40,000.
As you might have guessed, the Essential Collection line will feature recurring releases from different comic universes and titles. The Essential Collection products won’t be limited just to independent comics—expect to see Essential Collection decks featuring Marvel and DC properties that fall a little outside of their normal four-color comic universes.
Be sure to check back here in the upcoming weeks for more information about this amazing product and future Essential Collection releases.