Bruenor BattlehammerBruenor Battlehammer | Art by Wayne Reynolds

I've covered a lot of ground in Pauper Commander decks, tapping into as many corners of the format as possible. But to my surprise, it seems like I've never built an Equipment deck. That's quite the miss, because now that I'm looking into it, an Equipment deck seems more than viable in pEDH, and there's even the perfect commander for it: Bruenor BattlehammerBruenor Battlehammer.

What Does Bruenor Battlehammer Do?

This Dwarf Warrior gives +2/+0 to our creatures for every Equipment attached to them. Even in Commander, +2/+0 is pretty significant, and that can add up fast when there's a million little Equipment that equip for one mana.

And we can pay even less to attach them, because Bruenor also lets us equip one weapon for nothing every single turn. Certain Equipment can cost six mana to use, and Bruenor bypasses that entirely! There's a strong deck here for sure.

Tools of the Trade

Unsurprisingly, the #1 thing needed for an Equipment deck is Equipment. We do have a ton of options at common rarity, but that's not to say that all of them are good options. There's a pretty severe falloff when we get to, say, Flayer HuskFlayer Husk.

Still, there's some solid picks, like Goldvein PickGoldvein Pick and Prying BladePrying Blade, which can really churn out a lot of mana and build a steady advantage.

Then, cards like Haunted CloakHaunted Cloak and Brass KnucklesBrass Knuckles give us really valuable keywords, cause if we're going big, we need trample for sure. Or maybe there's just some cards that give solid buffs, like Slagwurm ArmorSlagwurm Armor, Armory of IroasArmory of Iroas, and Greatsword of TyrGreatsword of Tyr.

Technically, every single piece of Equipment gives a buff because of Bruenor, which is why we're happy to play what would otherwise be scrap, like BonesplitterBonesplitter, Spidersilk NetSpidersilk Net, or Ceremonial KnifeCeremonial Knife. Those cards aren't good, but we absolutely need a high density of Equipment, because otherwise our deck does nothing. So even if they're just there to give +2/+0, that's enough.

Besides, they'll help out some other cards that care about Equipment, like Champion of the FlameChampion of the Flame or Sunspear ShikariSunspear Shikari. So even though the cards are mediocre on their own, in great enough numbers, they can do a lot.

The most important Equipment, however, are the evasion pieces. Those creatures have to get through, and the best way to reliably do this is with flying. Luckily, there's about a million sets of wings we can toss in here: Cobbled WingsCobbled Wings, Cliffhaven KitesailCliffhaven Kitesail, Fleetfeather SandalsFleetfeather Sandals, Cloak of the BatCloak of the Bat, there are actually a ton of great options.

Of course, the holy grail of Pauper evasion Equipment is Whispersilk CloakWhispersilk Cloak, as usual. Not much beats being completely unblockable. But be warned, once Whispersilk is equipped to your creature, you can't equip anything else because of the shroud it gives the equipped creature. So make sure you equip Whispersilk last.

Sly and Sneaky

However, we can do even better than flying if we forget about having evasion on the Equipment, and get it from the creature instead. Pauper lacks a lot of things, but one thing it has in abundance is white creatures with shadow. There are actually seven Pauper-legal creatures with shadow in our colors, plus an Aura that grants the keyword. That's spectacular, because 90% of the time, shadow means unblockable. Plus, there's GingerbruteGingerbrute as a bonus, a cookie-shaped sneak.

Things are going great so far. We've got a million Equipment and unblockable creatures - a powerhouse if I've ever seen one. Now why don't we double their power and throw them at our opponents?

Double strike is a key ability in any Equipment deck, especially ones that are built around making one or two huge creatures. Temur Battle RageTemur Battle Rage is the classic, but Uncaged FuryUncaged Fury, Double CleaveDouble Cleave, and Raking ClawsRaking Claws all do the same trick. We should have no problem creating a creature with 10 or more power, and double strike will, well, double that. So then we're up to 20 damage with one swing.

Half a life total, and almost lethal with commander damage.

But we can make it 40 by employing FlingFling and ThudThud, two cards that are probably used to end opponents more often than any other card. I mean, I almost never see FlingFling being used when the damage wouldn't be lethal. If you see that card being played, the game is about to get very dramatic.

Gotcha!

Right, so we've got a big creature that gets bigger, and then we throw it at someone's face for the win. Easy peasy, right, cause what could go wrong? Oh yeah, removal.

If we play all our cards (literally) on one creature, it's gonna be a massive target for kill spells, and those could knock us out of the game. However, we can dodge the consequences of our shaky game plan with some protection like Your Temple Is Under AttackYour Temple Is Under Attack, ShelterShelter, Gods WillingGods Willing, Emerge UnscathedEmerge Unscathed, or Benevolent BlessingBenevolent Blessing.

If our opponents are foolish enough to wait till the last second with their removal, we can hopefully catch them off guard using these cards, and secure a solid victory.

There's not much more to the deck, just a bit of card draw, ramp, and some removal of our own. For a red and white deck, I like to use discard-draw like Big ScoreBig Score, Unexpected WindfallUnexpected Windfall, and Cathartic ReunionCathartic Reunion. In this deck especially, we'll have a lot of cards that we'd like to trade out for others, and those spells make it very efficient. Removal is just some white exile like Banishing LightBanishing Light and Crib SwapCrib Swap, cards that get the job done with no nonsense.

Bruenor Battlehammer Pauper Commander Deck List

Generally, the best pEDH decks are the simplest ones. All we're doing here is putting Equipment on a creature and swinging with it. If we want to, we can cast some instants and buff our creatures, or play some fun combat tricks, but that's not totally necessary.

Heck, even our commander, Bruenor BattlehammerBruenor Battlehammer, isn't totally necessary. Yeah, he powers up our creatures a lot, but this deck is still very playable without him, and I think that's a key feature.

The deck runs smoothly even when things might not be going smooth. We can always draw some cards, play some Equipment, and swing in for just a bit more damage. Then when things are going our way, and we have some mana and our commander on the board, we can swing in with an unblockable creature, give it double strike, and Fling it at our last opponent for the win!