This is a deck designed for solo play. It consists of cards just from Mirkwood cycle and 1 core set. If you struggle to beat most of the quests and you need a premade decklist, try this one. I do not say it is the best. I've seen some power builds using 2-3 cores and abusing certain cards like beravor, courage, miner. I also do not say it can't be better (give me some ideas if you played similar build!). But I say this deck is very solid, gives a lot of fun and a lot of options. It is versatile, can handle questing, locations and enemies. I built it during Mirkwoods cycle and it is working in Khazad quests too (Without changes).

It wins most of the times against Passage, Anduin, Gollum, Carrock, Hills, Marshes, Into the Pit, Seventh Level and Flight From Moria. I don't go into details here, but generally, I have quite nice fighting power which covers Anduin and Khazad quests. I also run Spirit location killers so location heavy quests are also covered. Then, I have threat reduction that owns Carrock quest and that comes useful in all shadows quests. On the other hand, it has pretty low winning percentage against Rhosgobel and the game is painful. I have 3 radagasts and Legolas, but they won't win me game if Athelas does not show up in bigger numbers. Also, Dol Guldur is frustrating experience, the win percentage is just about 10% (and I can forfeit the game if Eowyn is taken into custody). Surprisingly, Return to Mirkwood is one of the nicest quests, it offers a lot of challenge, but I won about 30% games out of 35-40, so I can say the quest is manageable (I enjoy both losing and winning). I can't say for Osgiliath quest, it is still not available in my country.

On a general note, I've been playing this deck a lot and have good experience with it. I also know by heart most of tricks that encounter deck is capable of pulling off (this is true for Mirkwood... I am still learning Khazad). While the deck is rather easy to play, you need some time before you start having success.

Heroes (26 threat):
Eowyn - just for the questing power and low threat. Together with Theodred I generate 5/6 questing power in the first turn so I can overcome most of the potential threat and make a progress. This is important in 3 spheres deck because it will take 2-3 turns before questing allies come into play
Theodred - with so many expensive cards and so many 1 cost events, I can't not play this guy. His statistics are weak, but he is main resource engine that I have and he is reliable . I don't have to draw him like steward or radagast.
Legolas - great killer. I was using Gimli before, but I would never switch back. Legolas ability makes me progress much much faster. He can even steal a win against Return to Mirkwood (last stage needs just 2 progress)

Cards:
A lot of allies. If you take a look at the list you may think that I may have trouble paying the costs, but with Theodred this is manageable. I also use Radagast and Steward resources engines and they really help with paying for allies.

Events (12 total):
2x Test of Will
2x Hasty Stroke
2x Feint
2x Ever Vigilant
2x Sneak Attack
2x Galadrim Greetings

Attachments (2 total):
2x Steward of Gondor

Allies (36 total):
3x Wassal of the Windlord
3x Snowbourne Scout
3x Gondorian Spearman
3x Weteran Axehand
3x Riddermark Finnest
2x West Road Traveller
2x Eomund
3x Dunedain Observer
2x Descendant of Thorondor
2x Eagles of the Misty Mountains
2x Northern Tracker
2x Faramir
3x Gandalf
3x Radagast

A few words. Most of the events cost 1 and serve some useful purpose. I tend to not play expensive events, so in many cases, Theodred's ability is enough to pay their cost. Test of Will and Hasty Stroke are situational, there are quests where they are not useful, but I would not leave home without them. Feints and Ever Vigilant are not that obvious. In many cases, having 1 cost ally would be better, but having those cards in hand give you much more freedom when making decisions. You don't have to worry as much about unexpected card from the encounter deck. Additionally, Ever Vigilant has a great synergy with Gandalf and Faramir. Sneak attack on Gandalf is no brainer, but I want to mention that sometimes it can be used also on Descendant (especially nice in Khazad quests), or on Eomund (so your Rohan heros refresh and you get a nice chump blocker), or on Faramir (for a questing boost). I haven't been really using Sneak attack on Scout or Spearman, but in some very rare cases I may consider it. Attachments are easy to discuss, usually the target is Legolas , but every game is different.

Now allies: Wassals and Scouts are essential and both function as chump blockers. While in Shadows cycle that's not a big deal, in Khazad quests you really need to have someone guarding your back. Together with 4 events, there are 10 cards total (1 cost all) that can give you a blocker during the first turn. As you may know, it is tricky to have an ally in play if you have 3 spheres heroes. Sometimes, just sometimes, Wassal will feed Eagles of Misty Mountains, but I treat this as an extra bonus, not as a strategy. And of course, in many games Wassal attacks helpless victims and trades 1 card for 1 card.

Spearman and Axehand are main fighting allies. Spearman dies a lot, but if you can severely damage some enemies, you can kill them with Spearman and the guy will be still alive. Axehand has no abilities, but a solid body, and during a lot of LOTR games, I learnt that you need a lot of allies. He can survive quite a lot of enemies in Shadows cycle, but in Khazad he becomes chump blocker sometimes or just adds 2 extra attack to Legolas.

Ridermark Finnest and Norther Tracker are my main tools to fight off the locations. I've learnt that I can manage this easily, so I would not even consider having 3rd Tracker right now. To be honest, he is quite expensive and with solid willpower that I have and with Ridermark Horses/Scouts, I do not have a problem with location flood. Great thing about Tracker is a solid body (statistics). When I play Khazad quests, Tracker does not fight with locations but with enemies.

Eomund and west Road Traveller are my weak points of the deck. While Eomund's ability is sometimes useful, I play him because of 2 quest power. Road Traveller's ability is even weaker, but once again, will power is great for such a cost.

Dunedain Observer is a great card. Usually, I have some spare Leadership resources so cost is not an issue. Ability is a game saver and also gives you much more freedom when you make decisions. Even if you do not use ability, you still get a nice body. I do not consider putting 3rd Hasty Stroke in deck, it would be a dead card is some scenarios, while Observer can get the job done.

Faramir is easy to explain here, I have tons of allies and when I need to quest, I may send a lot of chump blockers and trigger Faramir's ability once or twice. Plus he has a nice body (statistics). Another great thing about Faramir is that you can wait with his ability until you see new encounter card, he can make you control the progress in some quests when you don't want to flip to another stage too soon.

Descendant and Misty Eagles are my big guns. While Misty ability does not trigger often, the card is huge in some situations. It is a great blocker which can be healed by Radagast and can turn into killer or quester when necessary. Descendant was only a little bit useful during Mirkwood cycle, but I keeped him nonetheless. In Khazad / Anduin, Descendant shines and generates card advantage.

I tend to play Radagast in second turn, if the situation allows. I have quite a lot of creatures in deck, so he acts almost like a 4th hero. And in the worst case scenario, he can block or quest.

I've been also trying the following cards:
- Landroval - good guy that can shine a lot, but is very costly. When I switched him to Misty Eagles I felt like I made a good decision
- Born Aloft - it was a dead card in many situations and I started to have resources problems because Gandalf is rather expensive
- more 2 cost allies like tuk or citadel guard or some more spirit rohan - no useful abilities, they were replaced by windlord and the deck runs smoother
- Zigil Miner - I really like the card and I am thinking currently about switching West Road Traveller to Miner. DWarf will not be as efficient as in other decks , but it is worth a try anyway. If there was no Rhosgobel quest, I would even consider dropping Radagast for him.
- Shadows of the past - versus many quests this is just an overkill or it just buys you a turn. I don't like it to be honest. When I draw this card I often do not want to use it because of resources and I wish I had another card in hand. Still, this is another card that can make Rhosgobel easier, so I may try to return to it.
- Elfhelm - nice card, but I can't afford another expensive spirit card.
- and more of course, but this is already lengthy read, so I may skip it at this point