commander · Isperia, Supreme Judge
First Flight (SCD).
An Azorius flying tribal deck from the 2022 Starter Commander Decks, led by Isperia, Supreme Judge — draw cards whenever opponents attack you, build a sky-dominating board of flyers, and close with mass pump and board-wide vigilance.
The Commander
First Flight is the white-blue Starter Commander Deck built around aerial combat. Isperia, Supreme Judge is a 6/4 flying Sphinx for two white and two blue. Whenever a creature attacks you or a planeswalker you control, you may draw a card. Every creature an opponent sends at you replaces itself in your hand — aggressive opponents fund your card draw, and passive opponents leave Isperia sitting in play generating a passive deterrent.
Isperia, Supreme Judge punishes players for attacking and rewards defensive postures. The deck pairs this with a wide air force of flyers — each flyer swings uncontested over ground-based defenses while Isperia's card draw converts opponents' aggression into hand advantage. Sephara, Sky's Blade provides indestructibility to the squad, and Windreader Sphinx draws a card for every flyer that connects.
Key Cards
Sephara, Sky's Blade
A 7/7 with flying and lifelink that can be cast for one white by tapping four untapped flyers you control. Other flying creatures you control gain indestructible. With a board of four or more flyers — which this deck assembles rapidly — Sephara arrives for one mana and immediately protects the entire aerial force. Board wipes fail to clear flying creatures with indestructible in play. Sephara herself gains indestructible from her own ability, making her nearly impossible to remove through damage.
Windreader Sphinx
A 3/7 flying Sphinx that draws a card whenever any flying creature attacks. Your flyers, opponents' flyers — every flying attacker draws a card. In a deck built around sixteen-plus flyers, each combat step draws eight to twelve cards if the full squad attacks. With Isperia drawing cards off each creature that attacks you and Windreader drawing cards off each flyer you attack with, the deck generates impossible-to-match card advantage through normal game play.
Sharding Sphinx
A 4/4 flying artifact creature. Whenever an artifact creature deals combat damage to a player, create a 1/1 blue Thopter artifact creature token with flying. Each Thopter token created is itself an artifact creature — every Thopter that connects creates another Thopter. With Sephara granting indestructibility to flyers, Sharding Sphinx's Thopter army connects consistently every combat, doubling the count of flying tokens each swing. Five Thopters dealing damage creates five more, producing an exponentially growing air force.
Kangee Sky Warden
A 2/2 flying Bird with "Whenever Kangee attacks, other attacking creatures with flying get +1/+1 until end of turn." Pumps every flyer in the attacking squad simultaneously. In a deck attacking with eight to twelve flyers per combat, Kangee converts a board of 2/2s into a board of 3/3s. Paired with Empyrean Eagle giving all flyers +1/+1 passively, the air force consistently swings for double its base power values. Kangee's pump is immediate on attack declaration — opponents have no window to respond before the damage math changes.
Gravitational Shift
Flying creatures get +2/+0. Non-flying creatures get -2/-0. A static enchantment that shifts all combat math in the air force's favor — every flyer permanently swings for two more power, every ground creature permanently hits for two less. In a board with twelve flyers and Kangee's pump active, creatures that started as 2/2s become effective 5/2s. Opponents' ground-heavy decks lose their ability to match combat damage in the red zone while the deck's flyers swing freely over them.
How to Play
Build the air force starting from turn two — Azorius Signet and Sky Diamond accelerate into early flyers. Isperia lands by turn four and immediately starts drawing cards off any opponent attacks. Develop the board with flyers while holding counterspells to protect key pieces. Mid-game, deploy Sephara with four flyers on the battlefield for one white mana, making the entire aerial squad indestructible. Gravitational Shift shuts down non-flying opponents' ability to block profitably. Attack with the full squad — Windreader Sphinx draws a card for each flyer that attacks, refilling the hand entirely. Kangee and Empyrean Eagle push the power values high enough to kill a player in one or two swings. Win through a wide flying board protected by Sephara's indestructibility, pumped by Kangee and Gravitational Shift.