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 ones just leave Isperia standing there as a deterrent.
Isperia, Supreme Judge punishes players for attacking and rewards you for sitting back. The deck backs her with a wide air force. Each flyer swings over ground-based defenses uncontested while Isperia's card draw turns opponents' aggression into cards in your hand. Sephara, Sky's Blade makes the squad indestructible, 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 you can cast for one white by tapping four untapped flyers you control. Other flying creatures you control gain indestructible. Once you have four or more flyers, which this deck builds toward quickly, Sephara comes down for one mana and protects the whole aerial force at once. Board wipes can't clear indestructible flyers. Sephara gives herself indestructible too, so damage almost never kills her.
Windreader Sphinx
A 3/7 flying Sphinx that draws a card whenever any flying creature attacks. Yours, your opponents', every flying attacker draws you a card. In a deck built around sixteen-plus flyers, a full-squad attack draws eight to twelve cards in one combat step. Isperia draws off each creature that attacks you and Windreader draws off each flyer you attack with, so the deck buries the table in cards just by playing the game normally.
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 is itself an artifact creature, so every Thopter that connects makes another Thopter. Once Sephara has made your flyers indestructible, the Thopter army gets through every combat and roughly doubles each swing. Five Thopters dealing damage make five more, and the air force snowballs out of hand fast.
Kangee Sky Warden
A 2/2 flying Bird with "Whenever Kangee attacks, other attacking creatures with flying get +1/+1 until end of turn." That pumps the whole attacking squad at once. When you're swinging with eight to twelve flyers, Kangee turns a board of 2/2s into a board of 3/3s. Add Empyrean Eagle's static +1/+1 for flyers and the air force routinely hits for double its printed power. Kangee's pump lands the moment you declare attackers, so opponents get no window to respond before the damage math shifts.
Gravitational Shift
Flying creatures get +2/+0. Non-flying creatures get -2/-0. A static enchantment that tilts every combat toward your air force: your flyers hit for two more, opponents' ground creatures hit for two less. On a board of twelve flyers with Kangee's pump active, creatures that started as 2/2s attack as 5/2s. Ground-heavy decks can't trade blows with you in the red zone while your flyers sail over them.
How to Play
Start building the air force on turn two, using Azorius Signet and Sky Diamond to ramp into early flyers. Isperia lands by turn four and starts drawing cards off any attack that comes at you. Keep developing flyers while holding counterspells for your key pieces. Mid-game, cast Sephara for one white with four flyers on the board and make the whole squad indestructible. Gravitational Shift takes away non-flying opponents' ability to block for value. Then attack with everything: Windreader Sphinx draws a card for each flyer that attacks and refills your hand. Kangee and Empyrean Eagle push the numbers high enough to kill a player in one or two swings. You win with a wide flying board, kept alive by Sephara and pumped by Kangee and Gravitational Shift.
