Campaign: Free Peoples

Two decks for LotR Saga campaign (successful with regular or nightmare)

Theme: Heroes are drawn from the various races and regions of Middle Earth to represent the free people's struggle against Sauron: Noldor, Silvan, Dwarf, Hobbit, Gondor, Rohan.

Card Draw: card draw is the engine of a good deck and both decks have little trouble getting up and running. Deck 1 uses King under the Mountain on Balin, foe-hammer for Sam with daggers, Legolas (ally) and Bofur (ally). Deck two contributes to both decks draw power with deep knowledge, Daeron's Runes, and Elven Light.

Fast Start: Sam has immediate action advantage. Beregond can immediately equip armor and weapons, and Arwen turns a card in to a resource wherever it is needed most to get a good card out early.

Questing and willpower challenges: Sam, Arwen, and Eowyn are 10 willpower alone. Balin usually joins them for a solid 12 from just the heroes. You can always discard to Eowyn for a critical surge. Deck 2 contains many allies that will quickly add to that number. Northern Trackers and Arod help clear out locations in the staging area. Because chump blocking is rarely necessary, Fellowship of the Ring is an excellent boost!

Defense: Beregond is the wall. He gets the first available action advantage cards. Sam defends in a pinch and Haldir can often kill something without it having to be defended. Three squires are there for chumping if necessary. This deck excels at dealing with the unexpected attack--perfect for campaign play.

Shadows: Balin's role. I almost never get two horrible shadow effects in a row. The decks are constructed so that you should have leadership resources to spare.

Attack: Haldir is a beast once he is kitted out with bows, blades and marks. Sam pitches in when necessary with daggers of westernesse.

Threat: Both decks start reasonably low. Deck two cycles through cards fast enough that Elrond's council keeps deck 2's threat low. A Galadhrim's greeting or sneak attack Gandalf is there for deck 1.

Healing: Wardens of Gondor take care of the healing with some help from an occasional Lembas for Beregond.

Action Advantage: Action advantage is built into Sam, so the various cards included are put on Beregond and then Haldir. (cram, miruvor, unexpected courage, lembas, behind strong walls)

Economy: Arwen and Envoy help with resources and smoothing. Steward can be played wherever the card build-up dictates at that stage of the game.

Staging Area attack is very useful for certain saga scenarios. Haldir is golden in such instances.

Longbeard Elder and Henemarth give you a tiny bit of scrying.

Fun factor: I never include more than one copy of any unique card in my decks, so they play out slightly differently from game to game. It gives me a little thrill to draw into a unique character or item. These two decks are definitely powerful enough to not suffer from failing to draw a particular card early enough. It is also fun to sneak attack everyone from Gandalf, to Beorn, to Treebeard, to Legolas!

You should be able to play the LotR campaign without any side boarding.