I enjoyed putting together a fellowship using all the Black Serpent cards, but my first effort was an unplayable mess. So I'd like to try again, but this time get feedback *before* publishing a deck. I randomly rolled a hero from Flame of the West, so here's what has to be in the fellowship:

Heroes: TaEowyn, SpBeregond

Leadership: Halbarad, Roheyrn

Lore: Ghan-buri-Ghan

Spirit: Prince Imrahil, Desperate Defense, Livery of the Tower

Tactics: Grimbold, Sterner than Steel, Golden Shield.

Imrahil wants a Caldara deck, so that's SpBeregond/Caldara/discarder. Since SpEowyn isn't an option that leaves Cirdan and Arwen -- Arwen will be better because Roheryn wants Aragorn anyway.

So the lineup becomes Aragorn/TaEowyn/X -- and we'll need a sideboard replacement hero for Aragorn if it's actually to *play* against Flame of the West. LoAragorn's ability doesn't seem that useful when starting with low threat TaEowyn and having SpBeregond around -- on the other hand, Sword That Was Broken gives leadership while you need the much less compelling Ring of Barahir to give Aragorn lore. Halbarad wants to be in a Dunedain deck, and TaEowyn can provide a second rock-solid defender if she has Golden Shield and Snowmane. Perhaps Damrod with LeAragorn, to make Entangling Nets and Forest Snare more affordable for powering up Dunedain? Amarthiul might be a good replacement for Aragorn when he's required for the saga.

I like the cut of your jib on this one. LeAragorn / TaEowyn / Damrod would make a pretty serviceable Dunedain deck, given the constraints. You could alternatively swap Damrod for LoPippin, whom I especially like in Dunedain decks.

I have an unpublished fellowship here using all the cards:

http://ringsdb.com/fellowship/view/3539

I'm a little iffy on the tri-sphere deck, though. I only have the traps that work with an enemy hanging around (Forest Snare and Entangling Maps), and I think I may have too little attack available.

Seems like a good start, but I see what you mean on the tri-sphere deck.

Maybe it's just my love of Dunedain decks, but I'd double-down on the Dunedain archetype. Andrath Guardsman and Guardian of Arnor in particular seem missing, and I'd personally go 3-of with Heir of Valandil (because it's just so darn fun).

What's interesting about this style of deckbuilding is that you end up getting pulled in so many different directions at once.

I did some revision to add more attack potential (Gondorian Fire is a natural mix for Arwen/Roheryn support of Aragorn, especially since he's the intended Steward of Gondor recipient). But I really would like more Heir and more Dunedain. I'm lukewarm on Guardian of Arnor because there's so much hero defensive support already, but I do like Andrath Guardsman. Maybe Dunedain Lookout for the sideboard, and I'd love to include Eldahir. It's tough to fully develop a type with competing cards needing to be present, especially when needing a Caldara deck forces tri-sphere.

Maybe the answer is a bigger deck with more cycling. I just did another rev, bumping the count to 60 cards and including 3x Dunedain Pipe. Aragorn can get one right away and I can stick two others on Dunedain, and that should allow getting through the deck pretty quick. With Andrath Guardsman I can relegate Feint to the sideboard.

So the itch continues and I've got some tentative fellowships for other packs. Next randomly selected was Conflict at the Carrock. Frodo is the hero, but the problematic cards are Beorning Beekeeper, one of the game's more worthless cards, and Nor Am I A Stranger. While the latter gives you access to various global Rohan buffs, the problem is that those buffs tend to be temporary, hardly worth deck space for an attachment to let some hero partake in them. I did identify one useful attachment -- Steed of the Mark is Gondor/Rohan but not restricted, so could go on hero Treebeard and let him ready. (I'll grant combining Elf-friend and Light of Valinor would be even better on him.) . However, I decided the real answer was to put Tactics Imrahil in a Rohan deck -- with Nor Am I Stranger he can chump out Rohan characters, and since they are loaded with cool discard effects that should work pretty well. So SpTheoden/Frodo/TaImrahil was one of the decks.

For Beorning Beekeeper, the only use I could think of was in a deck that damages enemies while they're still in staging -- so Argalad and Thalin formed two of the heroes. That let me move some tactics non-allies (and the Beekeeper) out of the Rohan deck. For leadership I took LeDenethor, to justify the presence of Born Aloft in the deck (return Gandalf and Galadriel allies to your deck instead of discarding them, because I'll be able to play them again.)

http://ringsdb.com/fellowship/view/3554

Next was On the Doorstep. This dictates six of the heroes (Bombur, Oin, Bard, Balin), though at least the player cards all fit with the heroes, except for Desperate Alliance. I associate that card with LoAragorn, so he was the 5th hero, and since Oin's 5-dwarf ability is rather lame, I went with Thorin for the sixth hero since he has a fantastic ability. Oin's ability let Thorin/Bombur/Oin be a four-color dwarf deck, and Desperate Alliance has to be in the Aragorn deck, so I have 2x Celebrian's Stone and 2x Song of Travel to make it a four-color deck as well (very little spirit -- Desperate Alliance, Arwen, and Test of Will).

http://ringsdb.com/fellowship/view/3555

Next was Dead Marshes, which brought up something that hadn't occurred to me before -- since cycles support the same types, this sort of fellowship for packs in the same cycle may end being uncomfortably similar. Dead Marshes has We Do Not Sleep, a worthless card outside of a Rohan deck, so SpTheoden returned for a SpTheoden/SpMerry/TaBoromir Rohan deck (TaBoromir is the hero from that pack, and SpMerry was necessary for Fast Hitch). For the other deck I needed to justify Silvan Tracker, so I broke out a Celeborn/LoDenethor/Galadriel Silvan deck (with Elf-friend for Boromir, so the Silvan Tracker can work on him). LoDenethor is just for his relatively low threat and to give a backup target for those Gondorian Shields. His ability isn't as useful two-handed, but it still can come in handy.

http://ringsdb.com/fellowship/view/3559

Next was Wastes of Eriador, featuring SpMerry. It also comes with a side quest that puts a card in the victory display, and a 3-cost lore ally who quests better against side quests, so that dictates Thurindir and Rossiel for lore. SpMerry/Thurindir/Rossiel comes in at 22 threat, a bit too high for Out of the Wild's secrecy discount, unfortunately.

Raven-winged helm meant I needed a sentinel defender, and Ingold is a Gondor ally buffed by resources on all the heroes. Sounds like a recipe for a Gondor deck, so LeBoromir/LeTheoden/TaBeregond formed the other deck.

http://ringsdb.com/fellowship/view/3560

And then the next quest I randomly rolled up was Road to Rivendell. Elladan (required) suggests Elrohir, while Lure of Moria demands dwarves. The End Comes is connected with dwarves -- but even in a dwarven swarm, it's no earthly good I can think of outside a sideboard (Cursed Dead!). And Out of the Wild without Rossiel or secrecy isn't very compelling. And then there's Dunedain Wanderer, another secrecy card which isn't that compelling IMO *with* the secrecy discount. So I'm a bit stumped. Maybe Dain/Elladan/Elrohir on one side, and Rossiel/Ori Strider deck on the other side? That should keep the Rossiel deck in secrecy, keeping the enemies flowing to the Dain deck where the brothers can handle them. Or is there a better option I'm missing?