So THAT'S how that character can be useful!

Since I've seen quite a few posts along this topic, I thought I'd start an exhaustive list, especially because I myself don't quite understand a few (cough cough, Chrono, Nightmist, Vis, cough cough) and ask for the community's help in creating the list because I sure as hell can't word it properly. I will update to make an actual list, but until I get confirmation that editing works correctly, I'll just let the viewers scroll down. So without further adieu, I present to you "What IS the one and only way to play Nightmist? 

Characters yet to be done:

Absolute Zero     Argent Adept     Bunker     Captain Cosmic     Chrono-Ranger     Expatriette     Guise     Haka     K.N.Y.F.E.     Legacy  

Mr. Fixer     Naturalist     Onmitron-X     Parse     The Scholar     The Southwest Sentinels     Setback     Sky-Scraper     Tachyon

Tempest     Unity     The Visionary     The Wraith

Characters done:

Fanatic- Best played when you sac your own health to do big damage and then use Fanatic's tricks (such as Aegis) to keep her alive (Phantaskippy)

Nightmist- Should have a lot of cards in hand, she does well when everything else goes wrong. Your 'backup plan'  (Dandolo, Pydro, Phataskippy, Arcanist Lupus)

Ra- What don't you understand? Get some cards that will let him do more damage (Staff, Imbued, Tornado) and deal all the damage*. (LordFlashFire, Dandolo)

*Jeremy approves of this message

NightMist: break glass in case of emergency

I can't pretend even for a second that there's only one way to play NightMist or that my way is necessarily the best way. But here's how I like to use her.

If the game is going well NightMist should not really be contributing much. My favorite early game cards are Starshield Necklace and the one-shots that help me increase my hand size. If you're going against a villain who hits the highest hero often or has doesn't have much ongoing destruction don't be ashamed to hide in Mist Form for several rounds. NightMist has 2 jobs: stay alive, keep increasing your hand size.

Maybe the other heroes can win without your help, if so great! However, more often than not at least once per game at some point something really bad for the heroes will happen.... NightMist's job is to have the solution to that problem in her hand when that happens. It could be an environment card you NEED gone plus 1 or 2 more you'd like gone as well (Planar Banishment). It could be a board that was empty a moment ago is suddenly full of non-hero targets (Oblivion). It could be your team is set up for a big round, but there's one villain card that could mess everything up (Astral Premonition or Mistbound).

I guess I can't really do a NightMist write-up without mentioning the Amulet of the Elder Gods (but I'm tempted to).  This card is an excellent card to have in play but do not let it deplete you hand too much. If you can use redirection to destroy a target or the damage is 3 or more that's a good time to use it. Though, sometimes you will even want to let some 3 or 4 damage hits through. Otherwise it's good to have out.... in case of emergency.

To use a sports analogy, NightMist is a goalie. She takes the situations that would lead to a hero loss, and makes sure that that doesn't happen.

Am I oversimplifying? Absolutely. You always need to react to different situations on the table and there's a lot of other great stuff NightMist can do that I'm not mentioning. This is just my overall philosophy of the character, and the general framework I approach my games with her in them with.

I have found that NightMist has too many healing options, and if you try to get them all out, you tend to play much slower and not do much else. Yes, she will take a lot of damage, but she doesn't need to stay at max the entire time. She has a bunch of options to help her if she gets low. Take damage early, get 1 (maybe 2) damage prevention/healing cards. Otherwise, try to deal damage to the enemy when you can. Also, I am a big fan of Elder Ring, althought I know other aren't.

Amulet tends to dominate her play mechanic, because it is a very simple math game:  If you are likely to get hit for more than 2 damage by the villain, then your best course is to take 2 to draw 2 (investigation) and use those 2 to turn the villain hitting you against them.

Don't ever redirect anything less than 2, unless by doing so you will destroy a target that otherwise will be hurting your friends, and if there isn't any decent damage to redirect, try playing ring and redirect your own damage.

Outside of Amulet Nightmist can wipe multiple ongoing/environment cards and clear nasty minion buildup, and even give her card-hungry allies a boost.  Like Dandolo said, she solves problems, esp. big ones.

A big thing to remember is her relics have better than average spell numbers, so one of your best sources of cards for Starshield Necklace is Call Forth.  And if you are playing with Mr. Fixer (you should, he's great with Night Mist) he can get them back to you for free.

Also, I am a big fan of Elder Ring, althought I know other aren't.

(Me too, Pydro.)

To be clear, I wasn't talking about just Nightmist. I only got that title from a comment "Because there is only one definitive way to play Nightmist." Thanks though guys, I think I'm starting to understand her. (Or at least not be terrified of playing her.)

I find it amazing how often Astral Premonition is overlooked in Nightmist strategy guides.  Sure it costs a card in hand rather than giving you one, but Infrared Eyepiece is one of the Wraith's best powers, and Premonition can be used on any deck, not just the villain deck.  And yet I almost always use it as discard fodder.

One thing I will add for most characters is that you shouldn’t look at the drawback of a card only its positives. Most decks are built around compensating for that drawback. So don’t worry about it too much, and don’t compare it to other cards kn a different deck. I have found that when I do this, different possibilities often open up for the characters.

Also, for most cards (especially with a drawback), don’t assume that card A MUST be played before card B.

I'll be honest I've never really utilized Elder Ring in all my years playing the deck. I'm really gonna make a point to do so next time.

With all Nightmist's healing options, I generally don't fear that 1 extra damage the Elder Ring will cause her, or the group in the case of Oblivion. It may not be a priority card to get out, but I'll throw it down if I have nothing else that must be played right now.

If Elder Ring had on it, "When this comes into play, you may play a card," I'd use it more often.  The fact that you're probably going to hurt yourself right after playing it is a detractor.  I use it more on Dark Watch Nightmist.

I agree it’s the fact that I need to use my play phase to get it out that makes me rarely use it.

Personally, I don't use Astral Premonition much because I don't care too much to use deck manipulation against most villains. Citizen Dawn, Grand Warlord Voss, and The Chairman are the only ones I feel deck manipulation is majorly important, because each of them have cards that I want to avoid as much as I can. Citizen Dawn has Devastating Aurora, Citizen Tears, Citizen Truth, Blinding Blast, and Return with the Dawn. Grand Warlod Voss has both ships and Forced Deployment. The Chairman has Prison Break. This isn't something exclusive to Astral Premonition, any hero with a power to manipulate a deck isn't my end goal with them besides the previously mentioned villains. 

Plus, Nightmist lives or dies by her hand size. Infrared Eyepiece gets you an extra card, while AP makes you discard.

I've had successful games where all I got out for her was Master of Magic; there is a little risk involved in it, but you can play her as a straight damage dealer just as well as anyone, in which case the Elder Ring is fantastic (but if it's out, the Amulet is practically a prerequisite to keep from self-destructing).

The thing about Nightmist is every card is useful; some of them are always useful (Heedless Lash), some you want to hold on for the right moment (Oblivion), and others are only going to be useful on a once-in-ten-games basis (Mists of Time). But her biggest strength is you're basically guaranteed by the second or third round to have one of everything in hand, so you're ready for anything. If I don't have at least one Oblivion in hand, it's probably because I've used them all already.

So there is only 1 true way to play Fanatic.

You burn your health to burn the villain down, then use her myriad of shenanigans to stay alive.  My favorite game yet as Fanatic involved using Aegis 3 times (Yeah Mr. Fixer) and surviving to the hero turns at 1-2 hp at least 4 times in the game.

Zealous Offense, Chastise, Embolden, all fantastic cards, and you can eat that damage with the best heal in the game, Aegis.  Honestly, if you don't use Aegis at least once in the game you didn't cash in on your health-cost abilities enough.

Wrathful Retribution is nice, but honestly, it is only a bonus to a playstyle that is all about the smiting, and only a little bit about surviving.

Also Redeemer Fanatic is the worst.  The worst.  Stop healing and storing cards, hit bad guys more.  Win.

Ready and waiting for when discussions for Argent start up. :)

I think you can start it if you want.

Yeah, definitely go for it. This isn't a scheduled-type thing. Just open to all comments

The one and only way to play Ra is to deal lots of things fire damage...

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.