Nah. I just throw the staff over and over again and then draw cards until I find another one.
The one thing you need to know about playing Argent Adept(Henceforth refered to as AA): He is here to help his teammates. He's not gonna be punching through any walls or clocking villains in the face, but he makes it so his friends do their jobs better than ever.
With his multitude of songs and effects AA can do anything from letting you use a power out of turn to letting everyone look at the top card of their deck. Does your lowest hp member need a little DR to get through an especially ping-heavy villain turn next round? You just put a useful card back on top of your deck but can't wait til your next draw phase to use it? You just want a little bit of extra damage to get over a villain's armor? How about getting rid of that super-annoying ongoing that they just played? AA's got you covered. But things get really groovin' when AA get's a hold of his instruments...
When you have the right instrument and song combo is when AA truly gets rolling. Most of his songs can be used in unison with one another, but that usually requires at least 3 cards(2 songs and one instrument) to fully maximize the instrument's usage. But there are 2 instruments in particular that only require one card to be fully advantageous: the lyre and the bell.
(To be continued in another post. :) )
i see you need a setback guide
let me tell you about setback
(by the way, I say all this as an online version player, so this may not 100% work with the physical cards. if it does, oh my goodness it's worse than i thought.)
1) "Living Battery Ram"
"Silver Lining" + "Friendly Fire" + "Looking Up" -> Destroyed upon reaching 10 Tokens via any friendly fire card that destroys ongoing OR "Whoops, Sorry!", then lead into reckless abandon upon getting a healthy number with "Reckless Rush" + "High Risk Behavior". Setback will likely go down, and go down hard, but you'll end up with a huge health bust, especially if your friends have been helping. This combo IS NOT helpful when you're with Legacy, Ra, etc. - generally characters that boost damage output, as Setback only needs to be hit for two on "Friendly Fire" and doing more is a very, very bad idea, especially if you're conserving HP and you have yet to reach 20+ Tokens on Set Back... but is nessecary to get the most out of Setback for this combo.
By doing this Setback can land about 10+ damage on a target at a time, and by boosting the effect with cards like "Inspiring Prescence" + Power: Galvinize, "Imbuded Fire" (especially when dealing with Voss or another Villain that negates Melee damage, which is the only type Setback can do), and etc., while he'll knock himself out really quickly, he'll get back up and only need to build up tokens again. Pair him up with people who can heal, like Captain Cosmic, the Argent Adept, Tempest, and heal him multiple times per turn, and you've got a horrifying chaos.
So, tl;dr: "Friendly Fire" + "Looking Up" (destroyed when it's safe) + "High Risk Behavior" + "Silver Lining", pair Setback up with (at best) Legacy, Ra, Tempest, Argent Adept, Captain Cosmic, the Wraith, or Expatriette (to hit Friendly Fire multiple times per turn thanks to Unload), and then praying you shuffled that deck just right.
Remember that Setback's Max HP is 31 and that's already really high. When you're hitting around 25 Tokens on that "Silver Lining" back up, it's a good time to think about using cards like "Exceed Expectations", "Plucky Break", "Turn of Events", etc.
2) "I'm just a magnet for trouble!"
Abuse the text. AKA: get a cycle going through sheer fortune alone. That's basically what Setback's power is all about. It's really stupid, yes, but there's ways AROUND it that are just absolutely nessecary.
Pair "Uncharmed Life" with "Wrong Time and Place", but you'll need to abuse and constantly spam "Looking Up", "High Risk Behavior", "Friendly Fire", "Reckless Rush", AND "Surprising Fortune". Because the first two rely on you removing tokens, you cannot just put "Silver Lining" down and expect a high pay-off at the end and reap rewards unless, of course, Setback's fortune comes back in your favor. You'll basically be constantly balancing his checkbook of tokens and you'll actually feel like gambling.
"Cause and Effect" and "Plucky Break" give bonuses if you have 0 tokens, while "Karmic Retribution" removes exactly 1 token if you have less than 7 (otherwise, it removes 7, which is really bad for this set-up). You constantly need Tokens on him anyway, so make a note of every card written in Strat 1 because those all give +Tokens.
Remember though: Setback wouldn't be a setback if he wasn't luck based. At the very least though, you'll be redirecting damage and should it get too much, you can disarm him and take a break, and switch tactics or rely on the same team as above or The Scholar to heal you.
Additional: Dark Watch Setback
(Note: I have not had the chance to play with DW!Setback, so this is all theoretical just by judging from the power and his deck.)
DW!Setback's power is the opposite of Standard Setback, in that he removes a token, not gains one. At that cost however, Setback boosts a Hero's defense by 2. Dark Watch Setback is, as a result, more support oriented while Setback can play either/or. He's more open to playing heavier hitters and could, with proper care and power abuse through the help of the Argent Adapt, Captain Cosmic, and others who can force powers to be used out of turns like Guise, take on characters like The Chairman, La Capitan, and Akash'Bhuta with ease. Silver Lining won't balance very well, in theory, but again, he's entirely luck based - just less avidly. You'll just be doing more mental math and be required to plan ahead, as well as go "That was a setback" out loud more often.
Dark Watch Setback is better set up with someone who can draw heavy and have him pillage through his deck, allowing him to find a combo to set up to quickly farm some damage while also backing up a "Silver Lining" OR giving his team some support through HP heals, redirection, damage sponging or bonus powers. Because he can't do it by himself, he'll need someone like Super-Scientific Tachyon, Freedom Six Tachyon, again the Argent Adapt, or just pair him up with his actual team and have Nightmist use "Astral Premonition" whenever Setback just can't find the card he needs.
All in all: Setback can be broken down as either "reckless abandon" or "I brought sports drinks and towels for everyone". He's a less obvious Legacy, in my eyes - he can do both, and can do both really well, but you can also only go really one way or the other unless you want to build for a really, really long time.
I did play one game once where AA was our teams main damage dealer, dishing out 16 damage each round…
That game was the best.
I say all this as an online version player, so this may not 100% work with the physical cards.
There should be no difference in functionality between the video game and the physical card game.
There have been groups who play on Google Hangouts and over Skype so they may not be playing the video game version.
I mean, those should all be following the same rules too, right?
I was gonna ask how do you make Mr. Fixer useful, but that's like asking how do you make water wet? You don't. He just is.
So, how do you make Expat useful? Or, how do you get that WTF just happened moment with Expat, only in a good way?
Yes, but different groups have certain interpretations of some of the cards which playing online with others they could lead to unintended affects working. If this was the video game my point is moot.
LOL! 
So, how do you make Expat useful? Or, how do you get that WTF just happened moment with Expat, only in a good way?
[/quote]
I usually do it by playing her.
…
What?
Seriously, I have rarely had much of an issue with Expat, and usually it's just due to a bad deal (e.g., all Ammo, no guns), but a turn or two of drawing two cards will take care of that.
If you really want to see Expatriette be a powerhouse put her on a team with a support hero who can get her more cards… then play speed loading.
I guess more specifically I'm looking for that "Wow, that just happened" moment with her. She doesn't seem to have any unexpected combinations to discover with her. She is extremely straight forward. Put out gun. Shoot baddie with gun. Occasionally destroy an evironment card. And maybe, if you feel like it, unload all the bullets ever into the baddie.
Ah! Well, she is a complexity 1 hero, but if you want to see some entertaining stuff, combo DW Exp with folks like AA or Grandpa Legacy. Getting multiple instances of DW Exp's base power with Unload and a collection of guns & ammo is a thing of beauty, albeit not very complex.
Multiple uses of her base power and the use of hairtrigger reflexes can decimate a Forced Deployment or Prison Break! That is a WOW moment as minion after minion is played and promptly killed.
Play with Mr. Fixer.
Play Speed loading. use all your ammo.
Have Mr. Fixer play Scrap yard.
repeat.
One of my favorite ways to play Tempest involves having Electrical Storm and Cleansing Downpour out. Let the storm do passive damage, use one-shots for damage or support as appropriate, and heal everybody with your power.
Aim + Hairtrigger reflexes in any game with minions (with the exception of the Matriarch) can devastate enemies even more effectively than using her guns, as the potential of stopping a villain-turn play is often even more potent than doing damage straight.
My favorite "wow" moment with her is when you can completely shut down a Forced Deployment using hairtrigger reflexes alone. -You'll need to aim, and then either have a damage boost from another hero, or have a hero allow her an off-turn power use to aim again… but its SO worth it seeing an entire wave of gene-bound minions melt as soon as they are deployed!
Pair with both copies of Parse's "Exploit Vulnerability" for fantastical nonsense. Just gross.
The one and only way to pay Tachyon is to run fast, play a lot of cards, and eat pizza.