Mystical Tutor: Suiting up with Equipment | Learn Magic: The Gathering

So, you’ve played a few games of Magic: The Gathering, and you’ve noticed some of your opponent’s creatures are suddenly dressed to the nines. They’re swinging in with big-ass hammers, armor made of nightmares, and boots that make them untouchable. What gives?

Welcome to the world of Equipment! These cards let you dress your creatures like they’re going into battle at a Renaissance fair... with extremely deadly accessories. So let's learn some more Magic: The Gathering and break down equipment, what they do, and how they can give you an edge.

What Is Equipment in Magic?

Equipment is a subtype of Artifact that, when played, doesn’t do anything on its own (most of the time). You have to “equip” it to a creature, which is Magic's way of saying, “Congratulations! Your Goblin now has a sword it realistically could never carry.”

Each Equipment card has two key parts:

• What it does (buffs, abilities, or keywords it gives the creature)

• Its equip cost (the cost to attach it to a creature)

  
  

Think of Equipment as magical loot drops for your army. Pay the cost, and it falls from the sky at their feet, but it just sits there until you can pay for them to pick it up.

Why Use Equipment?

You might be thinking, “Why not just use Auras?” Fair question! While Auras are great, they come with one major downside: if the creature dies, so does the Aura.

With Equipment, the gear sticks around. When an equipment-wielding creature dies, the equipment simply falls off, waiting for you to pay to put it on the next poor soul destined for the graveyard. Equipment is Magic’s version of “reduce, reuse, recycle.”

5 Pretty Popular Equipment

Let’s look at some classics that have left opponents crying into their mana bases:

1. Swords of Something and Something else

Fire and Ice, Feast and Famine, Wealth and Power, and many more the swords are extremely powerful (and expensive). The swords give your creature a buff and protection from 2 colors and are followed by devastating effects, generally in the form of damaging your opponent or their creatures and giving you perks like life gain, token creation, or card draw.

2. Skullclamp

You slap this on a 1/1, it dies immediately... and then you draw two cards. In some decks, this is the equivalent of harvesting card draw like a cereal farmer at dawn. It’s so good, it’s banned in several formats. You know it’s spicy.

3. Swiftfoot Boots

Every creature deserves a good pair of kicks. These boots give hexproof and haste, so not only does your creature sprint onto the battlefield like it had a double espresso, it also becomes annoyingly hard to kill.

4. Basilisk Collar

You can look at the dog, but please don't pet it. For a low, low price of 3 mana, you can play Basilisk Collar and equip it, giving your creature both deathtouch (kills creatures on contact) and lifeline (you gain life equal to the damage it deals). A dual-threat combo just begging for removal.

5. Umezawa’s Jitte

A card so absurdly powerful it’s banned in Modern. This tiny dagger collects charge counters like Pokémon and can buff or debuff while you gain life on command. It’s like giving your creature a Swiss Army knife and a vendetta.

How to Equip Like a Pro

1. Play the Equipment. It enters the battlefield and politely waits to be used.

2. Pay the equip cost. This attaches it to a creature you control.

3. Go nuts. Swing, trigger effects, and

4. watch as your newly armed creature becomes an absolute menace.

   
   

Pro tip: Many Equipment decks include cards that auto-equip or lower equip costs, like Puresteel Paladin or Sigarda’s Aid, because manually paying to equip things is soooo 2010.

Decks That Love Equipment

Not all commanders are into fashion-forward artifacts, but a few absolutely live for it:

• Sram, Senior Edificer – Draws cards every time you cast an Equipment (he’s basically the guy at the gym who won’t stop talking about his gear).

• Wyleth, Soul of Steel – Draws a million cards while smashing face.

• Nahiri, Forged in Fury – Make your equipment free! Like a blacksmith with anger issues.

• Captain America, First Avenger – Personifying the word "yeet", Captain America picks up and chucks whatever is lying around, dealing massive damage.

  
  

Final Thoughts: Equip It and Rip It

Equipment in Magic is a beautiful blend of strategy, flavor, and raw power. Whether you're giving a squirrel a sword or suiting up an angel with a vacuum, Equipment adds spice, permanence, and tactical depth to your deck.

So next time someone tells you Magic is just about spells and mana, kindly show them a 1/1 Elf with Loxodon Warhammer and a bad attitude.