Anyone who knows me will tell you that I am a person who likes to believe the best in people. Sure . . . this is an admirable quality for the most part. But it does occasionally lead to trouble for me, as less scrupulous individuals will take advantage of my good nature.

One good example of this happened recently at a Super Bowl party that my boss held. According to him, this was going to be a great extravaganza with some of the biggest names in the Dallas business world. He said that he would really appreciate it if I would come to his shindig. He was so emphatic about me attending the party that he went so far as to rent a tuxedo for me to wear to his high-class affair.

I must say that the party was a great success. And the tuxedo did look good on me—it went perfectly with the serving tray that I used to carry around drinks to my boss’s guests for the duration of the evening.

Yeah . . . I got suckered.

“I’d like you to meet my pal, Mr. Ogdru Jahad.”

Given my propensity to be easily misled by those I trust, I suppose that I shouldn’t have been surprised to receive the following email from Metagame.com managing editor Toby Wachter:

Hellboy . . . um . . . I mean Michael; the time has come to summon forth the ultimate doom—the Ogdru Jahad. In order to bring the Apocalypse to this plain of existence, I need you to use the key—the Right Hand of Doom—to fulfill the aim of Project Ragna Rok. Once we have brought forth the Dragon of Revelation, we shall live as gods among men! BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

Also, I think it would be a great deck for casual play.

–Grigori Rasputin . . . er . . . Toby

Okay, so I have the distinct impression that I’m once again being used to achieve another person’s nefarious aims. But as long as Toby Rasputin (or is it Grigori Wachter?) is calling the shots, I’m going to do what he says.

I hope you’ve all got your copies of the Hellboy Essential Collection, because we’re about to undertake our own Project Ragna Rok. We’ll team-up the B.P.R.D. and Thule Society to fulfill one of the newest alternate win conditions in Vs. System. With any luck, we won’t cause the destruction of the universe in the process.

The Build

Four copies of Project Ragna Rok serve as the foundation for our deck. Of course, unless we’re fortunate enough to face another B.P.R.D. deck, we’re going to have to KO our own characters to fuel Project Ragna Rok. Bearing this in mind, we’ll probably need to develop a strategy that allows us to work with limited characters in play. Fortunately, though, the B.P.R.D. boasts a “single visible character” theme that supports our strategy perfectly.

Our character curve kicks off at 2 with Leopold Kurtz. Kurtz has a couple of traits that support the deck nicely. First, he is a decently sized 2-drop at 3 ATK / 3 DEF. In addition, he has an effect that not only supports the single visible character theme, but also allows for an incidental benefit. By KO’ing Kurtz, we can boost the stats of one of our other characters. Also at 2, we’re going to play four copies of Sidney Leach. Equipment cards will not be a focus of our build, but there is one equipment card that we will certainly want to include; this B.P.R.D. 2-drop can give us easy access to that equipment card.

For 3-drops, we have several different characters to look at. Our first and primary play is Herman von Klempt. You may be wondering why we would even consider playing a 3 ATK / 3 DEF 3-drop (considerably below average for his drop, stat-wise). The first reason is that Mr. Head in a Jar has concealed. Since we’re working with a deck theme that thrives on concealed characters, we want to keep all drops other than our primary plays hidden from sight. Of course, Herman von Klempt’s activated power is what really makes him stand out. Consider the potency of cards like Army of One and Knightmare Scenario. Herman von Klempt is effectively a reusable +2 ATK / +2 DEF pump. Such an amazing power is certainly worth the 3 resource point investment.

Our second 3-drop is Ilsa Haupstein. While not nearly as powerful as Herman von Klempt, Ilsa Haupstein is impressive in her own right. She boasts decent stats, but her real charm lies in her activated power. With a quick discard, Ilsa Haupstein can fetch from our deck a copy of her mentor, Grigori Rasputin, or she can search out an ongoing plot twist! Yes! Our win condition is an ongoing plot twist, so we could certainly use a character that can fetch ongoing plot twists.

Our other 3-drop is a sole copy of Professor Bruttenholm. The good professor is not nearly as dazzling as our other 3-drops, but he does have concealed. More importantly, he can search up our 4-drop of choice: Hellboy, Anung Un Rama. Now tell me, what’s not to love about Hellboy? Not only is he huge, but he gets bigger. With his payment power, we can virtually ensure that our opponent must attack into Hellboy. And, unless our opponents have some rather impressive tricks up their sleeves, they will usually take an ugly stun back whenever they attack into big red.

Since we have Ilsa Haupstein at 3, we’ll play a security copy of Grigori Rasputin, True Father at 4. He may not be the dominating board presence that Hellboy is, but he’s still a force to be reckoned with. Our opponents will have to make sure that they stun Rasputin when they attack him, or else they’ll lose their characters to Rasputin’s all-too-potent KO effect.

If we haven’t hit a Thule Society character by turn 4, we’ve got a copy of Hecate to aid us on turn 5. Hecate has average stats and concealed, so she’s not a bad choice for our single visible character theme. She also has a power that can aid us in countering opposing concealed characters that might create problems for us. Against decks that play an excessive number of concealed characters, Hecate will bring opposing characters into the light, so to speak. Despite this, the goddess is not our primary 5-drop. That honor lies with our resident merman, Abe Sapien, icthyo sapien. He has concealed, he’s above average stat-wise, and he has an effect that supports our theme perfectly! Abe Sapien turns ordinary power-ups for our central character, Hellboy, into +2 ATK / +2 DEF pumps. Considering how big Hellboy can become on his own, adding that extra power makes him almost unstoppable. With Abe lending Hellboy a hand, our opponent is going to have to put a lot of effort into breaking through our defenses.

Turn 6 brings us another helper in the form of Johann Krauss, Free Spirit. Just like the majority of our characters, Johann Kraus has concealed, which lets him fit nicely into our deck theme. In addition, he has a recovery effect that we will find occasionally useful. This is, of course, assuming that we manage to keep our board intact. Should we need to add some size to our side of the board, then we’ll want to play Conqueror Worm. This behemoth boasts an effect similar to our 4-drop Hellboy. In a pinch, the Worm can reestablish any momentum we might lose if our 4-drop bites the dust.

At the end of the curve, we have Hellboy, The Right Hand of Doom. Even if we fail to put a single counter on Project Ragna Rok, Hellboy could potentially fulfill our win condition by himself. When he comes into play, we can use his effect to stun one of our opponent’s largest characters. After that, any characters that The Right Hand of Doom takes down will give us additional counters.

Moving on to our equipment cards, we are going to play four copies of B.P.R.D. Signal Device. While the B.P.R.D has a very nice equipment support theme, we aren’t really focusing on that aspect of the team. The lone exception is this equipment card—easily one of the best in the game. With a single visible character, we want to try to prevent opposing effects from targeting our central character. One way to do this is to keep him equipped with B.P.R.D. Signal Device. In addition to a respectable defensive boost, B.P.R.D. Signal Device has a payment power that will keep our key character safe and secure from opposing effects that would target him.

Our locations are also relatively straightforward. First and foremost, we want to play four copies of Cavendish Hall. We are playing a B.P.R.D. / Thule Society team-up deck, so it makes perfect sense for us to play the B.P.R.D. / Thule Society Team-Up. One benefit of this card is that we don’t actually have to have a B.P.R.D. character in play to enable the Team-Up. Considering how many Thule Society characters we have in our early turns, this should bode well for our odds of hitting an early Team-Up. Finally, this location has a very nice activated power that gives one of our characters +1 DEF. In a deck like ours, extra DEF is never bad.

Our other location is a fairly apparent choice: B.P.R.D. HQ. Working in a way similar to past favorites like Mountain Stronghold and Brother I Satellite, B.P.R.D. HQ is a character search card in location form. With at least one B.P.R.D. character at each point in the curve, we should be able to use B.P.R.D. HQ to hit our curve. In addition, B.P.R.D. HQ has a secondary effect that can be invaluable for guarding our hidden characters from opposing sneak attacks.

Lastly, let’s look at our all-important plot twists. Consider this: we are playing Thule Society characters, and we are going to be recruiting Hellboy at least a couple times each game. If you put two and two together, then you’ll realize that something is coming. And that something is . . . Something Is Coming. The number of cards in Vs. System that can search for any card in your deck can be counted on two hands. To be completely frank, Something Is Coming may be the best in the game. It fits perfectly with our theme and allows us to find any pieces of our “puzzle” that we might be missing.

One issue that we might have with our single visible character strategy is the consequence of letting our only visible character become stunned. Without an adequate barrier between our opponent’s attackers and our endurance, we could lose the game before we ever have the chance to get a counter on Project Ragna Rok. We’ll need to have some extra insurance to protect our main man. Fortunately, Hellboy will get up even from being stunned to enjoy a big plate of Pancakes. Recovery effects are usually at a premium in any deck, and this one is no exception. Probably the best feature of this card is the fact that the cost associated with playing Pancakes is minimal. Instead of having to exhaust characters or pay endurance, we merely have to discard a card to bring Hellboy back to the breakfast table.

Finally, we have a plot twist that may very well be the best card in the Hellboy Essential Collection. As I have said on countless occasions, readying effects are among some of the best in the game. Break off the Horns is no exception to this standard. The only restriction to playing Break off the Horns is that Hellboy is our only visible character. Considering that this is the entire goal of our deck, we should have little trouble meeting the conditions to ready our big red demon. Even though Hellboy cannot cause breakthrough in subsequent attacks, we can continue to ready him for each copy of Break off the Horns that we have.

That does it. It’s time for us to unleash hell upon Earth.

“It’s the End of the World as We Know It . . .” (60 cards)

Characters (32)

4 Leopold Kurtz, Loyal Assistant

4 Sidney Leach, Human Metal Detector

4 Herman von Klempt, Head in a Jar

2 Ilsa Haupstein, Great Heart

1 Professor Bruttenholm, Father

1 Grigori Rasputin, True Father

4 Hellboy, Anung Un Rama

3 Abe Sapien, icthyo sapien

1 Hecate, Major Mythological Figure

3 Johann Krauss, Free Spirit

1 Conqueror Worm, Ultimate Destroyer

4 Hellboy, The Right Hand of Doom

Plot Twists (16)

4 Break Off the Horns

4 Pancakes

4 Project Ragna Rok

4 Something Is Coming

Locations (8)

4 B.P.R.D. HQ

4 Cavendish Hall, Team-Up

Equipment (4)

4 B.P.R.D. Signal Device

Odd initiatives are probably the preferred choice with this deck, as it gives you the opportunity to attack first on turn 7. With a couple copies of Break off the Horns, Hellboy, The Right Hand of Doom could put four counters on Project Ragna Rok all by himself.

Cavendish Hall is an amazing Team-Up for the B.P.R.D. / Thule Society team-up deck, but it has to have a Thule Society character in play to work. So, the mulligan condition for the deck will usually be for a 2- or 3-drop Thule Society character. Even without the early Team-Up, it is still possible to get a late game Team-Up with Hecate or Conqueror Worm. Keep in mind that the later in the game you wait to team-up, the more difficult it becomes to get counters on Project Ragna Rok.

Well, we’ve successfully developed a framework for summoning Ogdru Jahad, so my work here is done. Thanks for reading, and I’ll see you back here next week for a new Breaking Ground.

Michael Barnes (a.k.a. BigSpooky) is an avid Vs. System player and founding member of Team Alternate Win Condition (TAWC). When he isn’t concocting crazy deck ideas that no sane person would think of, he occupies his spare time working as an accountant in Dallas, TX. Any questions, comments, suggestions, or plans for the Apocalypse that you might have for Michael can be sent to him at BigSpooky1@hotmail.com.