This is one of the best decks I have ever made. It is a hobbit deck designed to be played solo (though I have never played it in multiplayer so I can't speak to its usefulness in that regard). I especially designed it for use with The Black Riders campaign, in which it has absolutely excelled.
This is a Lore / Tactics / Leadership deck.
Heroes
-Pippin (Lore)
-Sam Gamgee (Leadership)
-Merry (Tactics)
-Frodo (Black Riders Campaign Only)
Allies
3 x Gandalf (Core)
2 x Faramir
3 x Bill the Pony
2 x Farmer Maggot
2 x Barliman Butterbur
2 x Warden of Healing
Attachments
3 x Hobbit Cloak
3 x Ring Mail
3 x Dagger of Westernesse
3 x Fast Hitch
3 x Dunedain Mark
2 x Steward of Gondor
Events
3 x Sneak Attack
3 x Hail of Stones
3 x Feint
3 x Unseen Strike
2 x Peace, and Thought
2 x Hobbit-Sense
3 x Focus Intuition (Black Riders Campaign ONLY, can only be used with Frodo)
Card Synergy -
Sneak Attack - Useful with Gandalf, as always, but also useful with Farmer Maggot who can leap in to do 2 damage to an engaged enemy.
Merry - His ability to cause an attacker to unexhaust is *huge*. Use him in synergy with a Sneak Attacking Gandalf to have Gandalf attack twice, or a buffed-up Sam Gamgee, or any other character.
Strategy
The primary strategy you will use with this deck is to evade attacks, prevent your enemy from attacking, and striking them with a very buffed up Merry.
You will want to put lots of attack increase on Merry and use him as your primary attacker as frequently as possible. I very often have him at 7+ attack within two turns, and have had him at over 11 attack during many games. Keep in mind, he has 1 attack for each Hobbit hero in play (including himself) and if you are playing with Frodo during the Black Riders Campaign, this means Merry starts with an astounding 4 attack. Use Sam Gamgee as your primary defender, with Hobbit Cloak and Ring-Mail. Sam will frequently have 4-5 defense during a game, plus he has 3 health points. Use Sam to quest, nearly every turn, and expect to engage an enemy nearly every turn.
You will engage enemies frequently, and this is to your advantage. Firstly, you will draw a card every time you engage an enemy with higher threat. Furthermore, Sam unexhausts when you engage an enemy and then gains +1 to Quest, Attack, and Defense. Because of this, you can use Sam to Quest every turn, while counting on him being ready to defend when needed. Furthermore, if an enemy engages you during Questing (by a card effect) Sam's questing goes up to 4 for that Quest phase. Engaging enemies is very beneficial to you, don't avoid doing it. Once engaged, can very often prevent the enemy from attacking or simply dump their undefended damage on Barliman Butterbur. If an attack does come at you, Sam will take the hit and Merry should be able to kill them in one shot, especially if you have Unseen Strike in hand. Merry has one-shotted the Witch King, on the turn it entered play, in two of my games, and was one-shotting Nazgul regularly. NEVER use Merry for questing unless you have Fast Hitch on him or the encounter is one with almost no enemies. This is because, while you want to engage enemies, you also want to kill them IMMEDIATELY. This deck contain withstand sustained, multiple attacks. If you are engaged with 3 enemies for 2 - 3 turns you will probably wipe. Merry *must* be killing everything that confronts you as fast as he can.
This deck is meant to quickly wipe the board of enemies, take minimal damage, and quest constantly. You must think *very* strategically every turn, thinking out your moves many steps ahead of time. One mistake will wipe your group, and one correct move will win you the game in the next turn.
Card Substitutions
When not playing the Black Rider campaign (meaning the removal of 3 x Focus Intuition) I substitute in the following cards:
2 x A Burning Brand
2 x Forest Snare
These cards give survivability to Sam while defending and they further hinder enemies by preventing them from attacking you.
If damage is not a problem, I will sometimes remove 2 x Warden of Healing and substitute in
2 x Gildor Inglorion
OR
2 x Miner of the Iron Hills
Depending on what kind of deck I am playing against.