Because of the chosen mascots for Stormfront, the set's theme is particularly dark, and is not based on anything in particular unlike its Japanese counterpart. The set's three mascots are Dusknoir, Gyarados and Tyranitar, with Gyarados being featured in the Raging Sea theme deck and Tyranitar in the Dark Rampage theme deck.
The Japanese version of the set, Intense Fight in the Destroyed Sky, is based on the eleventh Pokémon Movie, Giratina and the Sky's Bouquet: Shaymin, including such featured Pokémon as Giratina, Dialga, Shaymin, Magnezone and Regigigas. Giratina, Dialga and Shaymin, all of which are prominent figures in the film, have been removed from the English expansion, presumably to feature in a later set.
The set includes only one new game mechanic, although does also include several new and returning features to the TCG. Firstly, Pokémon of alternate coloration (previously known as Shining Pokémon or Pokémon-star) return to the game, but do not include any special features. There are three of these in the set: Drifloon, Duskull and Voltorb, classified as SH1, SH2 and SH3 respectively. Their only difference to regular cards is that they only have a reverse holofoil effect. The set also introduces Trainer cards with a + at the end of their name. These Trainer cards have different effects depending on whether the player uses one or two of the same card at a time.
In the Japanese expansion, none of the Pokémon cards featured Pokédex entries due to several of the cards containing too much card text for one to be fit on the card. However, in Stormfront, if a card has either an attached item (such as a Magnet) or more than three items of text (such as a Pokémon Power and two attacks), the card will not include a Pokédex entry: otherwise, it will, unlike in the Japanese expansion.
There was also significant dispute amongst Pokémon players online over the translation of the Japanese set name. Some claimed that "Fierce Fighting in Broken Space" was a more accurate translation of the name and should be used in spite of the fact that "Intense Fight in the Destroyed Sky" was more commonly used; however, the latter translation was ultimately deemed to be the more accurate of the two.
Trivia
