After I tried out cycling (was too narrow) and "small creatures matter" (was too lose), I now settled for Equipment as my white centered archetype. And as it seems to be a theme wizards really likes (Eldraine, Z3ndikar, seemingly Kaldheim) I thought it would be cool to discuss it's possibilities here.
This archetype gets support not only in white, it ususally is a boros thing (and there might be arguments for blue), but I like it the best in white. Why? Well, white has access to a few things that the other colors haven't.
It has access to the best evasion, both flying and shadow at great rates, has lots of first strike, double strike, vigilance and lifelink. So almost all the keywords that love getting a buff. Red has trample but lacks flying, vigilance and lifelink. Blue has flying but that's it. Why is this important? Because it helps preventing the archetype from becoming too narrow/parasitic.
These cards might seem nice with a bunch of equipments but are useless elsewhere. Let's compare that to Healer's Hawk. I count that card as an equipment payoff in my list because it's cheap cost and two nice keywords make it so good with (stat boosting) equipment. And I didn't even have to make a swap, since I was already running him forAggro/Lifegain! I feel white has a bunch of cards among all power levels that might already be in your lists and can be classified as equipment "payoff".
That being said, there are some explicit payoffs that are less narrow.
Mystic and Seeker are cool, because while they get better with more equipment cards in your deck and signal the theme clearly, they are playable with just 1 (seeker) or 2 (mystic) pieces. Kor Blademaster ist just a Fencing Ace that signals the equipment theme, but might also be seen as an indicator for warrior tribal, so be careful here. Danitha is great without anything else but also works with your auras, which might include Pacifism effects! That is also the reason I mentioned Sram here. 10/12 of my white removal are auras, including the synergistic Cage of Hands and Shackles.
Of course other colors do have decent payoffs.
Even though red gets more support, I almost like blue more as a theoretical second color. That's not just because the Quartermaster seems like a decent card, it has two other reasons. First, blue has a lot of small fliers which are awesome here. And second, the whole equipment theme bleeds nicely into an artifact theme or at least some artifact payoffs work with 5+ equipment in your deck just fine.
In any case I would recommend trying out the Pilgrim, as he is easy to turn on and gets a keyword that works great with power boosting equipment too.
Now, to the equipment. You probably run quite a few, as they are cool and fun cards anyway that are useful for every creature deck. But ...
... there are a few that might be more interesting with that card type being a theme.
I also want to mention that colored or color aligned equipment might be a good tool to shows which color(s) support the archetype. Sadly, there isn't too much to chose from yet for different power levels.
Blue basically got nothing sadly.
So, what have I missed? Is anyone else trying/having an equipment theme? It seemes like Kaldheim will make it even easier to include one.
This archetype gets support not only in white, it ususally is a boros thing (and there might be arguments for blue), but I like it the best in white. Why? Well, white has access to a few things that the other colors haven't.
It has access to the best evasion, both flying and shadow at great rates, has lots of first strike, double strike, vigilance and lifelink. So almost all the keywords that love getting a buff. Red has trample but lacks flying, vigilance and lifelink. Blue has flying but that's it. Why is this important? Because it helps preventing the archetype from becoming too narrow/parasitic.
These cards might seem nice with a bunch of equipments but are useless elsewhere. Let's compare that to Healer's Hawk. I count that card as an equipment payoff in my list because it's cheap cost and two nice keywords make it so good with (stat boosting) equipment. And I didn't even have to make a swap, since I was already running him forAggro/Lifegain! I feel white has a bunch of cards among all power levels that might already be in your lists and can be classified as equipment "payoff".
That being said, there are some explicit payoffs that are less narrow.
Mystic and Seeker are cool, because while they get better with more equipment cards in your deck and signal the theme clearly, they are playable with just 1 (seeker) or 2 (mystic) pieces. Kor Blademaster ist just a Fencing Ace that signals the equipment theme, but might also be seen as an indicator for warrior tribal, so be careful here. Danitha is great without anything else but also works with your auras, which might include Pacifism effects! That is also the reason I mentioned Sram here. 10/12 of my white removal are auras, including the synergistic Cage of Hands and Shackles.
Of course other colors do have decent payoffs.
Even though red gets more support, I almost like blue more as a theoretical second color. That's not just because the Quartermaster seems like a decent card, it has two other reasons. First, blue has a lot of small fliers which are awesome here. And second, the whole equipment theme bleeds nicely into an artifact theme or at least some artifact payoffs work with 5+ equipment in your deck just fine.
In any case I would recommend trying out the Pilgrim, as he is easy to turn on and gets a keyword that works great with power boosting equipment too.
Now, to the equipment. You probably run quite a few, as they are cool and fun cards anyway that are useful for every creature deck. But ...
... there are a few that might be more interesting with that card type being a theme.
I also want to mention that colored or color aligned equipment might be a good tool to shows which color(s) support the archetype. Sadly, there isn't too much to chose from yet for different power levels.
Blue basically got nothing sadly.
So, what have I missed? Is anyone else trying/having an equipment theme? It seemes like Kaldheim will make it even easier to include one.
