Discussing your favorite cool things to pull off with Setback, and which cards you tend to set yourself up for. (there really are a lot of options)
Mine:
I lean towards searching for Wrong time and place, using uncharmed when I can't get it, and keeping my tokens high enough to fuel a turn of events (I get really mad if I can't fund that card) I also use cash out a lot to burn my deck until I get wrong place and time, then everything is about tokens to fuel those awesome redirects.
1 question on Wrong Place and Time: If Legacy had Superhuman and Fortitude out and was going to get hit for 5 damage, it would be reduced to 1. Wrong Place and Time would only require 1 token to redirect the 5 damage, right? Just like how Fixer with Wrench and Mantis and Shielding winds from Tempest can use mantis to redirect a 5 damage shot.
I enjoy getting Looking Up into paly as early as possible, along High Risk Behavior. Typically I keep my Unlucky Pool below 10, until I get a Silver Lining, in which case I just playing anything that adds tokens to my pool. Then when I will probably get incapped before my next turn, I let loose a Cause And Effect. Currently my post receiving the official copy is a 27 pool, with both High Risk Behaviors in play. That's an awesome total of 45 damage, then coming right back with 27 HP, then following it up with a power that dealt an additional 5 points of damage.
Something else that I have done, but don't usually aim for it. Getting both High Risk Behaviors and Surprising Fortune. Allowing the High Risk to fuel the discarding every turn, keeping it under 3 tokens, thus no bonus damage. Getting Friendly Fire out if Setback is later in the turn order helps as well, that way he can use his One-Shots that remove tokens without taking too much damage.
My gut tells me no, because if memory serves if you don't have the tokens to redirect it hits setback instead, and he would be taking 5 damage as he has no DR. Actually, I think it is simply the total damage before DR = the cost in tokens
Well, it's pay the tokens OR redirect it to Setback. So, you determine how much damage it is to THAT target (1 in this case,) and if you don't pay it it redirects to Setback and becomes 5. If you do pay the 1 it redirects to whoever... and becomes 5.
How does you guy's strategy change with Dark Watch Setback? He trades a bit of his setting up for a pseudo-healing thing. Has anybody tried him yet?
I haven't played a lot of Setback, but when I do, It usually involves getting to Looking Up as quickly as possible and then using it to play all the unlucky-reliant cards I can. My strategy will likely change when I have more experience.
I've only played Setback twice so far, and I couldn't really get a strategy for him - mostly I'd just play a card that looked okay and then use his base power to gain a token and then put out something random. The "if you have seven or more Unlucky points, spend seven of them and hit something for that much damage" is pretty satisfying, and I think there were a few other cards I kinda liked.
What I really like, though,is pretty much all of his fluff text and a lot of the pics that go with them :).
I haven't had many opportunities to play Setback (said friend loves him and plays him often), but I did get to play DW Setback the other day. Mostly because of the deal, I was always low on point and immediately using every point I would get to do something cool. The highest I got was 5, and I immediatley played Turn of Events to use them all up.
But I was always reducing the next damage someone was taking, because even if I didn't have any token in my Unlucky pool, I could still use my base power. It was great!
I kind feel that way about him, in general. I'll play to the cards I end up with and deal with the situations that come up; I tend not to play Setback with a specific strategy. When I've played him, it's worked out pretty well.
Yeah, the thematic aspects of Setback are just awesome!
Wrong Time and Place is by far my favorite card in the game, thematically. Especially the way it was before they made the start of turn shuffle-back-into-your-deck optional, and when it redirected ALL damage to Setback, rather than the first each turn. The way it pops up unexpectedly -- coupled with the picture of the exact thing happening to Revenant and Setback -- to inconvenience you and then shuffles back into the deck to haunt you again later is pure mechanics GENIUS. Plus the flavor text... "YOU AGAIN!?" -Setback and Revenant (towards each other), and the player (towards the card itself).
Well, it usually got Setback killed, and in order to consistently use it you had to have MASSIVE stockpiles of tokens. Once per turn is much more manageable.
As for the shuffle being optional, that plays into it being less suicidal of a play; now that it's not instant death to play it, you might actually want to keep it around a bit.
So far, I've used Setback twice and I just can't seem to get him to work. I know that a lot of that is due to lack of experience; it took me several tries to come around to Nightmist and AA who are now amongst my favorites. But, as of last night, both of my games have resulted in Setback dying pretty quickly or just not being able to do much (read: unlucky).
That being said, I'm interested in reading through this thread; I hope to get some good ideas in how to play him better.
For me, the best key to winning with Setback is not having a strategy. He's too unreliable -- albeit super flexible to compensate -- for you to consistently decide on a course of action at the start of the game and stick to it the whole time. You can't be afraid to fluctuate. He's all about building up tokens and then spending them, and then building up again. Then again, here are some things I do.
1: if you're going to spend a bunch of tokens, try to leave yourself at 1 before using risk; that way, if you topdeck Plucky Break, you'll get to deal the 2 damage and draw a card, but also regain 3 hp. Always helpful.
2: If you're going for middle amounts, try to aim for H plus 1. That way you can play Turn of Events, benefit from that, and still have the 1 left over to Risk a Plucky Break.
3: Risking is fun. You should do it. You can NOT play conservatively if you are Setback. functionally, he HAS to take risks and hurt himself to be effective.
