Shards of Infinity: Shadow of Salvation Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Contents and Set Up
  • Components
  • Example Cards
• Classic Mode
  • Errata
• Campaign Mode
  • Set Up
  • The Fate Deck
  • Campaign Rules
    • Boss Turns
    • Player Turns
    • Defeating Shadow Champions
    • Ending the Game
    • Saved Allies and Champions
• Gameplay Variants
  • Heroic Difficulty Campaign Mode
  • You Can't Save Them All!
  • Shadow Summoning Draft
  • 5 Player Alliance Mode
  • Single Boss Mode
• F.A.Q.
• Glossary

Contents and Set Up

Components

• 1 Rez Character Dial with Health and Mastery Tracker
• 100 Cards, including:
  • 36 Boss Attack Cards
  • 24 Shadow Champion Cards
  • 8 Gray-Bordered Poison Seed Cards
  • 12 Black-Bordered Center Deck Cards
  • 2 Gray-Bordered Relic Cards
  • 18 Gray-Bordered Saved Cards
• 1 Boss Health and Mastery Tracker
• 12 Hack Tokens
• 1 Battle Book

Example Cards

The rules sheet shows three sample cards:

Lesser Unstable Rift (card title bar), with the banner Moc Sai - Ongoing Attack:

When this is played, Moc Sai gains 1 Mastery.

Players may collectively spend 5 Gems to discard this.

Simulacrons (card title bar), with the name Glitch Shadow Champion. The card shows Power 2 and Health 4. Its text reads:

This deals double damage if there are any other Simulacrons in play.

Its bottom bar reads: Mastery 10, then + 2 Power.

Classic Mode

To use Shadow of Salvation in combination with the classic gameplay of Shards of Infinity, simply shuffle the 12 standard black-bordered Cards into the Center Deck. You may also use Rez as a 5th possible starting Hero, including his two unique Relics.

Errata

We've made a change to the card Cloud Oracles. If you have the Relics of the Future expansion, you'll want to replace Cloud Oracles with the new copies included in this expansion. If you don't have Relics of the Future, just add the new Cloud Oracles into the Center Deck.

For the full rules on how to play the game, refer to the Shards of Infinity's Rulebook or go to: http://shardsofinfinity.com/how-to-play/

Campaign Mode

Set Up

Set up the game as you would a normal game of Shards of Infinity, by shuffling all black-bordered cards with the standard Shards of Infinity card back to form a Center Deck. Each player should shuffle their own starting deck as normal. All players begin the game at 50 Health and 0 Mastery.

Choose a player to be Team Leader. The Team Leader has the authority to break ties in case the team can't agree on a decision. We suggest that the most experienced Shards of Infinity player is the Team Leader or that you assign Team Leader randomly if all players are familiar with the game.

Next, read through the Battle Book until you face a Boss Battle. The Battle Book will give you specific instructions on how to set up the battle, including how to build the Fate Deck.

The Fate Deck

To build the Fate Deck, find the six Attack cards that match the Boss you are fighting. Each Boss will also specify two Shadow Champion groups that they lead. These groups are Aberrant, Glitch, Necrotic and Talos. Find those two groups and shuffle them together with the Attack cards and you should have a Fate Deck of 18 cards.

Use the Boss Health and Mastery Tracker to set the Boss's starting Mastery to 0 and starting Health to whatever is indicated on their Boss page in the Battle Book.

Each Boss Battle is very different, so pay attention to any other starting conditions or special powers located on the Boss page in the Battle Book.

Campaign Rules

Gameplay in the campaign will alternate between Boss Turns and Player Turns. The Boss takes the first turn.

Novice Mode: If your group is inexperienced playing Shards of Infinity, we recommend skipping the first Boss turn in each battle to make the game a bit less challenging.

Boss Turns

To play through the Boss turn, each player, starting with the Team Leader, will draw a card from the Fate Deck. If the Fate Deck is empty and a card needs to be drawn, reshuffle the Fate discard pile to reform the Fate Deck.

When a player draws an Attack card, execute the effects of that card. If it is an Ongoing Attack, it will then remain in front of the player it was dealt to.

Boss Attack cards often cause the Boss to gain Mastery. If this causes the Boss to meet or cross one of their Mastery thresholds for the first time, trigger that ability. Ongoing Boss abilities remain active after the Boss crosses the Mastery threshold.

When a player is dealt a Shadow Champion, that player should put it into play in front of themselves. Some Champions have Ambush effects that will complete when the Champion is played. All Shadow Champions are considered to be controlled by the Boss. Players are not considered to control any Shadow Champions in front of them.

After completing any Ambush effects, a Shadow Champion will attack the player who drew it. When Shadow Champions attack, they deal damage equal to their Power. Combine the Power of all Shadow Champions in front of you and assign their damage in the following order:

• Shadow Champions will prioritize destroying your Champions, starting with the highest Health down to the lowest Health, destroying any that it has enough Power to destroy. If there is a tie, the player makes the decision.
• Shadow Champions will not attack champions that they cannot destroy.
• Finally, any remaining Power will be used to deal damage to the player.
• Boss Attack Power will only be used to deal damage to the players unless the card otherwise states.

Once damage is assigned to a player, that player may reveal cards with Shield from their hand to prevent damage. It is possible for players to be dealt damage multiple times during the Boss turn. A Shield may only be revealed once during the Boss turn, however any unused Shield can prevent damage later in the turn.

For example: If a Shadow Champion attacks you for 5 Power, and you reveal a card with 8 Shield, you will take 0 Power. Leave this card face up as a reminder that you used it. If later during the Boss turn you are dealt an additional 6 Power from another effect, your remaining Shield will only prevent 3 of the 6 Power, but you won't be able to use it for the full 8 again.

At the end of the Boss turn, players should return any revealed Shield cards to their hand. After each player has been dealt a Fate card and all Shadow Champions have attacked, it is the end of the Boss's turn. The players will take the next turn.

Player Turns

In general, players will play their turn much in the same way as they would in a classic game of Shards of Infinity. Players can use Gems to buy new Allies and Champions and use their Power to deal damage to Shadow Champions and the Boss.

However, in this game mode, players take their turn simultaneously.

This means players can choose to recruit or Fast-Play Mercenaries from the center row in any order. Because this is a cooperative game, players are encouraged to work together to build their decks. However, each player may only use their Gems to buy cards for themselves. If there is a dispute over which player should get a card (or any other team decision), the Team Leader should make a decision for the team.

Strategy Tip: When in doubt, picking cards that match the faction color of your hero and/or other cards you've already taken is a decent strategy.

Defeating Shadow Champions

Players may assign Power to Shadow Champions to defeat them. In order to defeat a Shadow Champion, players must assign Power equal to that Shadow Champion's Health. Players may spend their Power individually or combine Power together in order to defeat Shadow Champions. Once players assign Power equal to that Shadow Champion's Health, put the Shadow Champion into the Fate discard pile.

Shadow Champion Experience: Whenever a Shadow Champion in front of you is defeated, gain 2 Mastery.

After assigning damage to Shadow Champions, all remaining damage is dealt to the Boss.

One last change in Campaign Mode is that when a card would gain Health, instead of healing only to yourself, you may instead give it to yourself or any other player. Keep in mind that each batch of Health cannot be divided, but if you gain Health multiple times in a turn, you may heal a different player each time.

Example: Brian plays a card that gains 4 Health. He cannot give 2 to Devin and 2 to Arya. Instead, he can give one player 4 Health. However, if Brian plays a card that gives 3 Health later in the turn, he may assign that Health to the same or a different player.

After all players have finished playing cards, spending Gems and dealing Power, it is the Boss's turn again.

Ending the Game

When the players reduce the Boss to 0 Health, the players are victorious!

If any player is reduced to 0 Health, any surviving players have one last turn to avenge their fallen comrades. Any Champions or Attacks in front of fallen players stay in front of that player.

Players with at least 1 Health may play one additional Player turn. At the start of the next Boss turn, if the Boss is not defeated, the Players are defeated.

Keep in mind that in Shadow of Salvation, defeat is not always the end. Follow the story in the Battle Book to continue forward.

Regardless of who wins, all players reset their Health, Mastery, and starting decks at the start of each Boss encounter.

Saved Allies and Champions

At certain points in the campaign, players will be given new cards for their starting deck. These cards stay in your deck from game to game until you complete the campaign, even if they were banished or somehow another player took them in previous games. All other cards, Health, and Mastery are reset in between boss fights so that only your starting cards and Saved Allies and Champions are maintained from battle to battle.

Gameplay Variants

Heroic Difficulty Campaign Mode

In addition to the Normal and Novice Modes described above, you can increase the challenge of the campaign by playing Heroic Mode.

Heroic Mode: Whenever the Boss would gain Mastery, it gains twice that much Mastery instead.

You Can't Save Them All!

This variant is an alternate way to gain Saved cards while playing through the Shadow of Salvation Campaign that can provide more varied gameplay.

Instead of making a lineup of six Saved cards, deal out two random cards to each player. Players may only choose from the two cards that they were dealt.

Shadow Summoning Draft

This mode allows you to use Shadow Champions in the classic Shards of Infinity player vs. player game.

At the start of the game deal out five random Shadow Champions to each player face down. Each player will choose three of those five Shadow Champions. Set those champions aside face down and discard the rest.

At any time on their turn, a player may pay 3 Gems to summon one of the three Shadow Champions they've drafted. When you summon a Shadow Champion, complete any Ambush effects. During your turn you may Exhaust Shadow Champions to gain their Power. Unlike in Campaign Mode, Shadow Champions in front of you are under your control and will fulfill the requirement for any Inspire cards. When a Shadow Champion is destroyed, remove it from the game.

5 Player Alliance Mode

In this classic Shards of Infinity variant, each player will be allied with each player sitting on their right and left. The other two players are your enemies. Players win the game by defeating both of their enemies, regardless of if their allies have been defeated or not. It is possible in this mode that two players will meet this condition on the same turn. In this case, both players share an Allied Victory!

As with a normal game of Shards of Infinity, players choose who will go first randomly, then each player after that gains 1, 2, 3 and 4 Mastery accordingly.

Single Boss Mode

This Mode is for players who are looking for the cooperative experience, but without the length of a full campaign. For this Mode, players may choose any of the six Boss Battles to play against.

Before the start of the game, use the rules detailed in the Variant You Can't Save Them All! This will mean that all players begin the game with one Saved card in their Starting deck.

When setting up the Fate deck for the Boss you selected, instead of using the Shadow Champion groups listed on the Boss page, choose two Shadow Champion groups at random.

Proceed from there to play against the Boss Battle that you selected as detailed in the Battle Book.

F.A.Q.

Can I use Thorn Zealot or Ghostwillow Avenger to destroy Shadow Champions?

Yes! Assuming you Unify or have enough Mastery respectively, Shadow Champions may be destroyed like other champions in the game.

When assigning Shadow Champion damage, if there are two Champions with the same Health total, which one should be destroyed?

You decide. Any time that the rules do not specify which decision to make, the players are able to choose the outcome.

If there are three Simulacrons in play, do they do quadruple damage?

No. Simulacrons can only deal double damage, regardless if there are two or three of them in play.

If I use Health to heal other players, after I have played Entropic Talons in play, do I gain Power? If another player uses their Health on me, do I gain Power?

Only Health used on you will be turned into Power. Cards you play to heal other players will not be converted into Power.

What happens if one of my Saved cards is banished? What happens if one of my Saved cards is taken by another player?

At the end of each battle, when you reset your Health and Mastery, you'll also reset your deck to include any Saved cards that you have lost or that were given to other players.

If the Boss loses Mastery, then regains Mastery at a later point in the game, will their Mastery threshold ability trigger a second time?

No. One time Mastery thresholds will NOT be triggered a second time. Ongoing powers do not remain on if a boss is below the appropriate Mastery threshold, but will turn on again once the Boss meets the appropriate threshold.

Does each player need to pay 5 Gems to close an Unstable Rift?

No. Players will combine their Gems in order to close Unstable Rifts. This means that one player can pay 2 Gems if another player pays 3 Gems to collectively pay the 5 Gems required to close the rift.

When Dominatus is put into HAVOC Mode at 15 Mastery, does the HAVOC Mode's 14 ability trigger?

No. Dominatus' HAVOC mode abilities only trigger if he is in HAVOC mode when he hits that Mastery threshold for the first time.

When I am dealt an Attack or Shadow Champion card that refers to the enemy, does it affect me?

When playing in Campaign Mode, Shadow Champions and Boss Attack cards are always controlled by the Boss, so each player is considered the enemy. When playing in Shadow Summoning Draft, however, each other player is your enemy.

Glossary

Ambush: Shadow Champions abilities that trigger when they are played.

Saved Allies and Champions: Cards earned by players during the campaign that remain in your starting deck for the rest of the campaign.

Upgrade: Saved Allies with Upgrade will replace a card in your deck when you acquire them.

Warp: Warp allows players to Fast-Play Allies from the center without paying Gems. Warp allows you to Fast-Play Allies that normally cannot be Fast-Played. After you Fast-Play a card with Warp, it goes to the bottom of the center deck at the end of the turn.