I'm a lumberjack, And I'm okay, I sleep all night, And I work all day!

(He's a lumberjack, And he's okay, He sleeps all night, And he works all day.)

I cut down trees, I skip and prance, I like to press wild flowers, I attach cards to the forest, to level up my powers!

(He cuts down trees, he'll skip and prance, he likes to press wild flowers...? He'll attach cards to the forest to level up his powers! He's a lumberjack, And he's okay, He sleeps all night, And he works all day.)

I'm a lumberjack, And I'm okay, I sleep all night, And I work all day!

(He's a lumberjack, And he's okay, He sleeps all night, And he works all day.)

I cut down trees. I eat my meals. I have buttered scones for tea. I like to go exploring, And draw a card for free!

(He cuts down trees. He eats his meals. IHe has buttered scones for tea. He likes to go exploring, And draw a card for free! He's a lumberjack, And he's okay, He sleeps all night, And he works all day!)

I think this cards is underrated, especially in multiplayer games. At first glance it looks bad for multiplayer, cause only you get to search for a card, while everybody has to raise their threat. However the card you grab most likely will gave a benefit for other players, like Deep Knowledge or Legacy of Númenor. So for your teammates, it essentially gives them the effect of a doomed event for +1 threat, which is still almost always a good deal, especially with Deep Knowledge. If you ask me if i want to raise my theat by 3 to draw 2 cards in any moment of the game, I would say yes most of the time. Of course there are some decks like Hobbits or Secrecy that want low threat, but then you are probably not running doomed events anyway. But if you run Deep Knowledge in your fellowship to help with card draw (something a lot of decks do), I think this card should be considered more often. There also is the disadvantage that you might draw this after you played all your dooomed events, but if you have already drawn 6 cards from deep knowledge, one dead card in your hand probably might not change the outcome of the game.

I want to like this contract more than I do. The idea of enabling 2-hero decks -- like how Grey Wanderer enables single-hero decks -- is attractive, but in practice I rarely feel like this contract is worth it. As is often pointed out, you can almost always better accomplish what you want your deck aims to do by subbing the contract for a third hero. The contract simply does not provide sufficient benefit, in my opinion, to offset the steep cost of losing your third hero. I wish that it didn't come with the additional threat increase -- I want to run 2-hero secrecy decks, which help make up for the resource loss, but it's not possible with an additional 8 starting threat. That's a shame.

tl;dr - this is a contract that I want to love, but that doesn't love me back.

Everyone knows Eleanor's deal, there's no need to rehash it. In higher player counts and against quests with especially brutal treacheries, she's one of the best insurance cards in the game. In lower player counts or against quests with more typical treacheries, her ability is rarely useful enough to justify the heavy hit to your starting board state from bringing her. Since I mostly play true solo with a smattering of two-handed, I can appreciate her power, but I virtually never play her.

Or at least, that was true until Helm of Secrecy. The helm isn't a super popular card, and I get why. Since it's a 1-of, you can't count on seeing it until you're fairly well established-- and even if you could, you won't be able to afford to drop four resources to replace one hero with another (who, thanks to the printed threat restriction, is likely weaker than the first one) until you're in a pretty strong position. But if the first hero was good enough to get you into that position in the first place, why would you want to replace him or her?

But some heroes really front-load the value they provide. Denethor would perhaps be the most famous example-- often I'll run decks where he's the only leadership hero and Steward of Gondor is the only leadership card. Once Steward is down, he passes his one resource per round to the hero in your "main" sphere or occasionally just uses it to pay for neutrals. There are other examples-- Erestor or Galdor of the Havens in combo decks once they've gotten you to all your key pieces, say. Thurindir, Gilraen, or Widfast if you just want the setup effect.

And in decks like that, I love Helm of Secrecy as a toolsy late-game option. Once Denethor is no longer contributing much, why not chuck him and replace him with a new hero? The new hero will need to be cheap, which means you're probably not grabbing them for their stats but for their ability. And "on-demand treachery cancellation" is one of the most impactful abilities in the card pool. (Plus seven printed threat makes it an easy pivot no matter who you're tossing.) Once your board is established, about the only thing you have to fear is a terrible treachery coming along and wrecking it.

There are lots of other quality "toolsy" heroes you can pivot to. Théodred for resource acceleration, Merry or Galadriel for threat reduction, Either version of Beregond for a clutch defender, Balin for shadow cancellation, Dúnhere for picking off shy enemies, Legolas for ranged attack and progress, Frodo Baggins for the ultimate in hero insurance. But the frequency with which I find myself just automatically grabbing Eleanor even in true solo reinforces how much peace of mind her ability really provides.