I used this deck for the eighth quest of my Saga Campaign. I am going to try and keep it as thematic as possible, stemming from the 'What If?' of 'What if Gandalf didn't escape from Orthanc in The Fellowship of the Ring?' Please note, I don't own all the cards, so am not able to make the most powerful thematic deck theoretically possible, but constrained by what I have, here is my best attempt.
At great cost, the Fellowship has escaped the darkness of Khazad-dum. The loss of Gimli son of Gloin when he gave his life trying to combat Durin’s Bane, a Balrog of Morgoth, weighs heavily on them. But, having awoken the ire of the Orcs of Moria, they have no time for rest. Being met by Celeborn of Lothlorien in the Dimrill Dale, the surviving members of the Company are denied refuge in The Golden Wood, but are given supplies and offered an escort as far as The Falls of Rauros. Grateful for any aid, The Fellowship now make their way to Amon Hen, where they shall decide what course they shall follow as they continue their quest to destroy The One Ring.
The vast majority of enemies in this quest have only 1 , so Aragorn’s ability to negate this and drag more enemies over to him will be invaluable in this quest, especially when Merry with a Fast Hitch is able to repeatably ready Aragorn. Because we need to deal with enemies as fast as possible, Faramir’s ability will not be used as much, he’ll probably be restricted to questing this game. The low defense of the enemies also partially negates the abilities of Mirkwood Runner and Marksman of Lórien, but with Celeborn’s ability boosting them they are both still excellent allies and they both have 3 hitpoints each so they will be helpful in soaking up archery damage. Secret Vigil will help with threat reduction and Foe-hammer with Legolas should mean we’ll be drawing cards at a healthy rate.
This deck represents the surviving members of the Fellowship as they journey down the Anduin to The Falls of Rauros. They are accompanied by Celeborn and an honour guard of the Galadhrim, as well as a contingent of Silvan elves from Mirkwood led by their prince, Legolas Greenleaf. The allies and events in this deck represents this escort following them from the trees and woods lining the western shore of the Great River, with ‘enters play’ abilities representing the power of their nature to strike unseen from the trees, using the element of surprise to their advantage.
The play-through using this deck can be found here: https://theroadlotr.wordpress.com/the-saga/