Magic: The Gathering's newest expansion set is Zendikar Rising, and this third trip to the wild Zendikar features some thematic mechanics such as Kicker, Landfall and Party. Its white cards really care about that party.
Ten draft archetypes can be found in this set, and Zendikar Rising's white cards play a critical role in four of them. Besides that, this set's white cards can find a place in other formats, and in booster packs, they can easily prompt the player to make an aggro deck.
White in Zendikar Rising Limited
When a player sits down for a session of booster draft with Zendikar Rising, they will see many white cards that point in one of three directions (or a combination of them): white weenie aggro, midrange lifegain builds and maximizing the Party mechanic. Zendikar Rising's card pool makes it easy to splash the Party mechanic into any draft archetype without disrupting it, meaning anything from the red/white Warrior aggro deck to a blue/black Rogues deck to a green/white midrange build can cash in the Party mechanic.
White makes it especially easy, since it has many Warriors and Clerics in it, as well as a modest but solid presence of Wizards, often Kor. It totally lacks Rogues, but white mana can add red or black Rogues with ease, either in a color splash or in a dedicated two-color build, such as the aforementioned archetypes.
White's cheaper cards are arguably where this color shines the most, since they reward aggressive gameplay with strong synergy. "White weenie" aggro has been a part of the game for many years now, and in an Eldrazi-free Zendikar, Kor and humans are ready to recklessly charge into the unknown, augmented by white mana. To begin with, this color is second-best at Warriors, often rivaling red in that regard.Paired Tactician is a 3/2 for 2W, merely acceptable stats, but it richly rewards attacking and using many Warriors. Getting free +1/+1 counters like that in Limited can really add up fast.
Similarly, a curve-topping Warrior for aggro decks is Kabira Outrider, a 3/3 Human Warrior for 3W that has an ETB trigger. A friendly creature may get +X/+X, with X being the caster's party size. Just +1/+1 from Warriors is decent, but it's easy to add a few aggressive Clerics to this deck to make it +2/+2, and adding a Wizard is doable with a few Kor (like Farsight Adept) or the colorless artifact creature Stonework Packbeast. Kabira Outrider can give a friendly creature +3/+3. Yet another white weenie enabler is Sea Gate Banneret, a one-drop that can pay 4W to give all allied creatures, including itself, +1/+1 until end of turn. That's a good mana sink.
White has some midrange or semi-control-oriented cards too, such as Shephard of Heroes. Angels are present on Zendikar, and this one is a 3/4 flier that rewards the Party mechanic, gaining two life for each member (it can also be a curve-topper for Warriors). Makindi Ox is a 4/4 for 4W whose landfall trigger can tap an opposing creature, and Skyclave Apparaition is a white-heavy Spirit that can exile a nonland permanent with CMC 4 or lower. Overall, though, white's creatures are very attack-oriented for Limited.
White's noncreature spells are split between aggro and midrange/control builds. It rewards aggro strategies in Limited with cards like Practiced Tactics, which can wipe out an opponent's attacking or blocking creature for just W. White also has pump spells for combat, starting with Resolute Strike. For W, it gives a creature +2/+2 until end of turn, and if that creature is a Warrior, its controller may attach a friendly Equipment to it.
Dauntless Unity gives all friendly creatures +1/+1 until end of turn for 1W, and its Kicker cost (also 1W) means those creatures get +2/+2 instead. That's great for go-wide red/white Warrior aggro or a white/black Cleric aggro deck that might include Vampires and Rogues. The same is true of Allied Assault, which pumps two target creatures according to the Party. Maul of the Skyclaves, a powerful white Equipment, can easily turn a regular Warrior into a game-ending threat.
Meanwhile, white also offers solid removal for slower Limited Decks, such as Journey to Oblivion. It's Oblivion Ring for 4W, but gets cheaper according to the Party's size, making it ideal for the white/blue Party midrange deck. Sejiri Shelter can give all allied creatures protection from a chosen color until end of turn, great on defense when the opponent is going all out. Smite the Monstrous destroys large enemy creatures for 3W, and Nahiri's Binding is like Arrest for 1WW, but can hit Planeswalkers.
White in Other Formats
This set's white cards are geared toward rewarding the Party mechanic and W/X aggro decks, so most of its cards are irrelevant in other formats. However, Tazri, Beacon of Unity can serve as a casual Commander card, and it can find Warriors, Rogues, Wizards, Allies and Clerics from the library's top six cards. In Commander, Tazri can find heavy hitters like Snapcaster Mage for the Wizard, Gwafa Hazi, Profiteer for the Rogue or Leonin Arbiter for the Cleric. Modern Death & Taxes decks can try out Archon of Emeria to shut down Storm decks or slow down control, and punish shocklands. Skyclave Apparition can be used in that deck too.