Welcome! i3 is fantastic, and the Endeavour defaults I think are a great starting point. If you like MATE, both it and xfce can actually mix i3 within it if you don’t like pure i3. That could be something that may peak your interest. I haven’t specifically done a lot with MATE-i3, but if you are interested in xfce-i3, this could be something for you to try out. I also almost always end up with xfce4-panel on top of my i3 setup if nothing else.