I already answered this but yes, THIS HAS BEEN CHANGED RECENTLY... cards from the fair or heavens palace can give you the hero (recruited) if you did not previously have him. I received an Adamanti card from heavens palace 3 weeks ago and was holding on to it for when I recruited him. Someone in my guild mentioned that the change had gone into effect and I could get him from the card by selecting the "USE" option. I PERSONALLY did this and recruited Adamanti from the card (3 weeks later than I should have sadly).

So to re-emphasize....

YES YOU CAN RECRUIT A HERO FROM A CARD NOW BY USING THE "USE" OPTION ON THE CARD!

hopefully people will stop saying different.