This is the deck that I built to use in conjunction with Chad. Chad will be playing the starter deck first, so it allowed me to use a Hero line-up, I hadn't used before. Due to some changes and some new cards, this line-up is now pretty solid. Faramir facilitates card draw, because he can kill the enemies that Tom just nullified. Eowyn will be doing most of the questing, but can go on the offence if need be. A partner deck that includes Tactics can even throw a spare weapon your way, but Sting is unlocked by using two Spirit heroes, which she can also wield. Most likely, Sting will go on Faramir however, to ensure the card draw.
Then I packed a bunch of threat reduction and healing events. Also, recursion for a strong event or more threat reduction. Sterner than Steel if we need to do a quest push or some Fate Meter saving.
The allies are there to take most of the beatings that Tom does not cancel. Since in co-op mode Guard is per player and not per board, you still need to take your own defense in mind, which is a shame in my mind. Otherwise I would have been able to include some stronger allies or attachments. The other allies will help with questing as well. Wandering Took is my favourite, playing with the resource pool of the Enemy is a strong thing, I hope that gets expanded into an archetype.