I don't know which format you're specifically talking about, but for expanded people starting figuring out how to deal with the "rule check" cards. For a long time, you simply didn't run more than 5 companions or 3 free people's cultures unless you were running
ent horde or similar decks that threw away large fellowships.
Ulaire Enquea, Lieutenant of Morgul ,
Southron Leader,
Grima, Chief Counselor , and a bunch of other cards pretty much kept decks in check but people don't care as much anymore as new strategies were found.
For expanded, you'd see a lot of
Perspective,
Stewards' Legacy,
Gandalf, Powerful Guide ,
Shadowplay,
Madril, Defender of Osgiliath with
Ithilien Blade. At first it seemed like
Powerful Guide and Madril were the solutions but other cultures found stuff. As long as you can control the Maneuver and Archery phases you don't really care about the "rule check" cards.
While new strats were found, it did kind of wash out horn filter but decks like Gil-Galad and Dwarves have come back to light. I really love the meta. It's way more fun to play large fellowships, and a meta that moves away from twilight choke is much more enjoyable overall.
The best shadows still have the ability to nab specific cards with
Sudden Strike to face check, but fellowships are built around it. It makes deck construction super interesting.
I think it's also why I'm fond of odd shadows like Uruks and Orc Wargs, they don't bother with running the cards people are prepared for but attacks them from other angles.
As for the single card strats, cards like
Saved From the Fire,
Deagol,
Long-Stemmed Pipe with
Barliman Butterbur, PPP ,
A Wizard is Never Late,
Something Slimy, and
Momentous Gathering allow a ton of silver bullet strategies. Shadow sides have done this to a degree as well.
Also decks have kinda gone to the 100-120 card size to take advantage of drawing up to hand size every turn. Expanded is fun as #$&*@!.