Merry

Meriadoc Brandybuck and Peregrin Took have been a half of the hobbits since the Fellowship of The Ring (the other half obviously being Frodo and Sam). Over the years Decipher made a great many of Merry cards some (Merry, Friend to Sam (1R302) ) being much better than others (Merry, Horticulturalist (2C104) ).

Fellowship Block

In Fellowship Block there were 3 Merrys (and 3 Pippins) to go round. Merry, Horticulturalist (2C104) ) was practically useless unless (for some reason) you really wanted Farmer Maggot, Chaser of Rascals (1R288) . Merry, From O'er the Brandywine (1C303) was a bit better, as with a sword he had Gandalf-level strength.

However none of these even hold a candle to Merry, Friend to Sam (1R302) . With the ability to add his base 3 strength to any companion, Friend to Sam is an incredibly flexible strength pump. When given a sword or pumped up with Boromir, Son of Denethor (1U97) or Hobbit Stealth (1C298) before using his ability, he can easily swing any skirmish from a loss to a win, or from Overwhelmed to a regular loss. Such utility means that he has a place in nearly any Fellowship Block deck.

Towers Block

In The Two Towers Merry and Pippin are taken captive by orcs and dragged into the forest of Fangorn, and to get away they must use some disappearing acts of their own to hide. Merry, Learned Guide (4C310) was the most basic form of this. Exerting the Ring-bearer to discard Merry may seem absolutely terrible at first. But combined with cards that allow you to replay him such as Knocked on the Head (4C308) or Treebeard, Earthborn (4R103) , you can strategically use the discard to cancel difficult skirmishes or effectively heal a chunk of wounds (as the wound tokens on Merry get removed when he is discarded, and he is replayed afresh).

Merry, Impatient Hobbit (6R113) also does some discarding but in the regroup phase instead. "Discard Merry to heal a Gandalf companion" isn't too bad considering there are many Ents that exert to skirmish.