NB! This is not the final decklist. Replace:
Palantir with Stone of Elostirion
Unexpected courage with Defiant Challenge
Hail of Stones with Reckless Assault
I must confess that I was more excited than most when Council of the Wise was spoiled. I love the restriction it sets, and I have been thinking long and hard about how to use it in a deck that is also efficient. This is what I have come up with, and so far I have been having a blast. I have tested it against Dungeons of Cirith Gurath and Nightmare Watcher in the Water, and it performed very well against both. It is a bit sensitive towards quests that punishes high threat (it begins at 33!) and might struggle against enemies like the good old hill troll. However, it has quite a few tricks up it's sleeve. I have had so much fun with this deck so far.
Opening hand: You get to add a side quest to your hand so if you don't get it right away, fetch Gather information. Ideally you want Saruman's staff but you might wait for Gather information to trigger before you can fetch it. Card draw is always good, as is a beefy ally like Treebeard or Firyal. But this is an EDH-like deck - you can't really rely on having anything in your opening hand!
General Strategy: You need to complete Gather Information as soon as possible. When you do, fetch Saruman's staff so you can start churning out the Doomed events. These will ready Saruman and can even be used to lower your threat with the Staff. If you run out, use the staff to fetch more Doomed events, so you can ready Saruman when needed. When you play events balance your threat while also adding the occasional resource or card. You can afford the big lore allies like Gildor or Firyal and you will likely see one or more as your card draw is decent. The deck also has some encounter deck manipulation (Firyal, Risk some light, far-sighted, Scout Ahead) and some victory display shenanigans that will fire from time to time.
And that's it. I really like this deck, though I have to do some additional testing. Hope you will enjoy it!