My goal was to build a deck which the Fellowship contract and just the characters from the original fellowship. As Bill the Pony is also on the picture of that card, so I decided to add that, too.

This restriction limits the deck to be not a tier one/power deck. (In my opinion, the contract shines when you either chose your allies so that they hit the table asap or your deck has a huge amount of different allies.) But I wanted to give this theme a try.

Sadly, I am not pleased much with the outcome. The deck is on ringsdb.com, can be found here. There is also some descriptive text which explains its ups and downs.

Maybe someone of you can take a look and improve it. Right now this deck seems to be middle class only. I feel like I have overlooked something.

Thanks in advance.

If questing isn't an issue for you, why not throw in Send for Aid? Another friend of a swarm deck.

Does this deck struggle late game? I assume when the threat gets high, the hobbit bonuses wear off and while the contract stat line helps, it doesn't look like there's good synergy with the characters.

Didn't thought on that one. I'll add Send for Aid. It could help bring the missing piece on the table.

That AVGT does help a bit but searching only 5 cards when you need one or two specific ones isn't that effective.

No, it does not struggle late game. If the mission isn't that much "doomed", your thread will more or less stay constant. It's more like it struggles in the beginning - until you are set up. Or at least a few allies.. :)

I assume you are trying to stick to as many thematic elements as possible, in which case major props. I am not sure how many leadership decks I can run without steward!

Regardless, sting is also a pretty good one to toss in, opening hand. If you can dispatch the enemy quickly, (like perhaps optionally engage another enemy, defend with sam, and kill with aragorn, then pull the one guarding sting... sam should be able to at least lay on damage with the stat line boost) then that +1 across the board on Sam is huge. Once the contract flips he becomes an absolute monster.

Edit: I just realized Sting was in your side board.