Shadowfist Critical Shift Expansion

Home > Sets > Critical Shift
[posted 10 Dec 2004; updated 2 Mar 2008]

What's in the set? - rarity, distribution by faction, and obligatory statistics
Nitpicker's Guide - errors big, small, and ludicrously small
Storyline summary - the story behind this set, summarized in a couple of paragraphs
Card list - opens in new window
Etc - whatever's left, random thoughts and comments, sometimes my opinions on this set or cards in it, and/or the State of Shadowfist at the time of this expansion

What's in Critical Shift?

Critical Shift is a booster-only expansion set released by Shadowfist Games at GenCon in August 2007. It's a 128 card set that contains 125 new cards, with rarities divided into Common, Uncommon, and Rare. Two cards are errata of Daealus cards (Bull Market and Shadowy Mentor), and one is a reprint of Lateral Reincarnation (with rules text). All cards are black bordered with a red, yellow and black 'morphing person' badge in the upper right corner.This is the first use of a multicolor set badge. The other portion of the badge is still coded to indicate rarity: white for rare, grey for uncommon, and black for common. Still not foil.

The set as originally announced by Z-Man Games in 2004 was to be a new core set, including starters and boosters, but that approach was canceled when Z-Man gave up control of Shadowfist. The new publishing team, Shadowfist Games, announced in Oct.2006 that the set instead would be a typical 128 card booster-only expansion set.

Booster packs contain 10 randomly assorted cards; each display box contains 24 boosters. The wrappers use the same waxy paper as the recent sets, and are in full color like Red Wedding's wrappers. Two boxes will give you enough rares to finish the set (after a couple of trades) unless you are very unlucky with duplicates.

This set introduces The Syndicate's signature ability, Influence. It also adds yet another alternate victory condition card: Project Apocalypse. And you might imagine that the set would focus on building up The Syndicate card pool, but all factions get about equal number of cards in this set.

The secret booster wrapper message appears on the outside under the sealing flap:
This is where the shift hits the fan... We're really in deep shift now... Holy Shift... I got a million of 'em! Good Night everybody, try the veal and don't forget to tip your waiter!

There was no secret box message. Instead, the bottom of the box contains a mini-FAQ, introducing the rules for Influence and answering questions about a few cards - the largest portion of the mini-FAQ is devoted to questions about the new version of Zheng Yi Quan. Click the image to the right to see a larger (readable :) version in a new window.

Here's the breakdown by faction and by card type. The table on the left shows the overall breakdown (for new players), the table on the right shows the breakdown of the new cards only (for not new players). Apologies for the formatting of the table, but it's much smaller to plop an image in than write a table in HTML. Eventually I'll try out the CSS thing and redo all my tables...

Looking at this graphically may or may not help you, but I like it. Click either graph to see a larger version in a new window. These plots include errata and reprints.

previous set summary (Shurikens & Six Guns ) | back to top | next set summary (Empire of Evil)

The Nitpicker's Guide: Critical Shift

• Designators in rules text are in italics, but they should be in bold italics. (Burning Man, Feral Regression, Gathering the Fire, Habbakuk, Harbinger, Haunted, Howling for Blood, New Recruits, Rogue Shaper, Shadowy Mentor)

previous Nitpicker's Guide (Shurikens & Six Guns) | back to top | next Nitpicker's Guide (Empire of Evil)

Storyline Summary: Critical Shift

In 2005, David Eber let me know that the Critical Shift story isn't going to be one continuous plot, but rather a series of vignettes to give everyone a good idea what the future is like, after the Dragons caused a Critical Shift in the Pulp juncture (the Two-Fisted Tales set). But I don't know if the final story will have anything to do with this, since it doesn't appear that David is working with the new publishing company, Shadowfist Games. The best printed summary I have found is from the back of the booster packs:

The Dragons are mired in a seemingly unwinnable war with Johann Bonengel. The Jammers loyal to the Battlechimp face off against Silverback and those who believe the fight is finished. The Syndicate are desperately trying to get a hold on the Secret War as Boatman's abominations run amok, the Reascended are claiming ground, and the Fire King has his eye on the secrets of the new future. As if that weren't enough, the Lodge - broken, battered and cast out of the modern juncture - has lost the power to keep the Netherworld from spilling out into the streets. The Secret War is spinning out of control, and the fate of the world hangs in the balance.

previous story summary (Shurikens & Six Guns) | back to top | next story summary (Empire of Evil)

Etc: Critical Shift

Critical Shift took a lot of twists and turns over several years to finally get to print. The Syndicate got a couple of good cards, but not enough volume yet to be really interesting on their own.

The set is intended to be "draft friendly" because it has roughly equal numbers of cards from all factions, and includes foundation characters. I think it would be even friendlier if there were less factions to split amongst, but that CAT got out of the bag a long time ago with the Purists. The irony of this approach to set design is that draft play is a real sales driver in local shops, but very few local shops actually carry Shadowfist.

Zheng Yi Quan is the new winner in the category for most complicated card effect that sounds like it should be simple but isn't really. Was it really necessary to print him like this, knowing far enough in advance that he would confuse people so much that he was given more than 1/2 the box area for his pre-rulings? Yes, he is central to the as-yet unwritten fiction, but couldn't he have just stayed in the story and not materialized as a card?

previous Etc (Shurikens & Six Guns) | back to top | next Etc (Empire of Evil)

Legal Stuff | Terms of Use | Privacy Policy | About Me | Contact Me