Shadows of Mirkwood Cycle: Aragorn the Grey Wanderer 2.0

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"The trail was long cold when I took it up again, after Bilbo left here. And my search would have been in vain, but for the help that I had from a friend: Aragorn, the greatest traveller and huntsman of this age of the world. Together we sought for Gollum down the whole length of Wilderland, without hope, and without success. But at last, when I had given up the chase and turned to other paths, Gollum was found. My friend returned out of great perils bringing the miserable creature with him."

I used this deck for the entire Shadows of Mirkwood Cycle, including the Core Set game. It needed only a few sideboarded cards for A Journey to Rhosgobel (for healing and ranged attackers) and it was an insta-fail in Dol Guldur without an additional hero (in this case, I've included Haldir of Lórien).

General theme: Aragorn searches for Gollum, but takes the One Ring with him.

Lore-Aragorn trivialises the main drawback of The One Ring via his core ability, and is a strong choice for The Grey Wanderer for the same reason. Secrecy and Doom cards can be played comfortably, and you can return to secrecy in the mid or late game at will. Grey Wanderer trades action economy for low starting threat, but having cards like Timely Aid and Resourceful in your opening hand can give you the fast start that you might otherwise miss with only one hero.

Opening choices: During set-up, you can choose from three options of Master cards to attach to The One Ring. Generally, I'll attach Power of Command for the Willpower bonus, but for Conflict at the Carrock and Journey down the Anduin I'll use Strength and Courage. The Grey Wanderer allows you to choose a one cost attachment, and this is almost always Strider, and very occasionally is Song of Kings.

There are two unique Leadership attachments that are critical to the deck which can't be played without Song of Kings - Steward of Gondor and Sword that was Broken - and several unique allies that can be cheated in with Timely Aid but otherwise need Song of Kings as early as possible.

Restricted cards: There were two restricted cards - The One Ring and Gondorian Shield - in this deck, but A Burning Brand is also restricted due to the errata, so this becomes a more complicated choice, especially given that both the Shield and the Brand serve to improve Aragorn's defensive capacity. The Shield can be complicated to play at times (it needs you to have Steward of Gondor attached), so generally I play whichever one arrives in my hand first.

Quest specific challenges: Oddly, the greatest threat to this deck is Hummerhorns (in Return to Mirkwood especially) - if it ever engages you it is an instant game-over. This can be mitigated by keeping threat below 40, but there are occasional forced effects that bring down from the staging area that will instantly ruin your day. You can use Firyal or you could use Henamarth Riversong/Ithilien Lookout to prevent it from getting into the staging area in the first place, but these are only semi-reliable. Sword-thain is included in the sideboard, which is another possible work around.

Power of Orthanc is included to prevent 'Sacked!' in Conflict at the Carrock and can be traded out for Sneak Attack in other quests.

Shadow of the Past can be useful for retrieving clues (in Hunt for Gollum) and finding Gollum if he's discarded as a shadow card (in Dead Marshes).

Ally Haldir of Lórien, Dúnedain Wanderer, Rivendell Bow and Lore of Imladris are all included for A Journey to Rhosgobel, which is a pretty significant change from the regular deck, but I'm not sure you can do it without them.