diff --git a/ci/sections.yml b/ci/sections.yml
index bce0394b4b..4e6f26c1ea 100644
--- a/ci/sections.yml
+++ b/ci/sections.yml
@@ -1030,7 +1030,7 @@ jobs:
           python3 scripts/ci/sigma_executed.py nextest --kind "quick tree readers" --junit "$sig/quick-tree.junit.xml" --list-json "$sig/quick-tree.list.json" || rc=1
           exit "$rc"
       - name: "Quick tier: cargo check --workspace (over-the-cap integration, BSE-17 rule (i))"
-        if: steps.tier.outputs.tier == 'quick' && steps.tier.outputs.check_workspace == '1' && matrix.shard == 1
+        if: steps.tier.outputs.tier == 'quick' && steps.tier.outputs.check_workspace == '1' && matrix.shard == 2
         timeout-minutes: 20
         env:
           REASON: ${{ steps.tier.outputs.reason }}
@@ -1093,7 +1093,7 @@ jobs:
             "$IMAGE" \
             setsid --wait bash scripts/check_build_rs_paths.sh
       - name: apr-format leaf sovereignty guard (#2231)
-        if: matrix.shard == 1
+        if: matrix.shard == 2
         # Poka-Yoke: prove the extracted `apr-format` leaf pulls no ML/GPU/
         # tokenizer/framework crate (so consumers `cargo add apr-format` without
         # aprender-core + trueno/wgpu). Discriminating: PASSES on apr-format +