Know Your Enemy (Telepathy)
“If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles. If you know yourself but not the enemy, for every victory gained you will also suffer a defeat. If you know neither the enemy nor yourself, you will succumb in every battle.”
― Sun Tzu, The Art of War
Know your enemy. Know which spells to counter and which ones to ignore. There are lots of cheap cards that nobody uses which allow you to see what is in your opponent's hands and thus trigger Isperia the Inscrutable's ability to tutor for powerful flying creatures like Consecrated Sphinx. They include, but are not limited to: Telepathy, Glasses of Urza, Search Warrant, Peek, Gitaxian Probe, Wandering Eye, and Zur's Weirding. These cards form an extremely fun and underrated strategy that nobody but Isperia players would use. You may want to grab a pencil and paper to write down the cards in your opponent's hand, crossing out the cards that they play as the game pans out.
This deck is fun to build and play with, and it won't cost you multiple hundreds of dollars. With a good hand, it is easy to get your Consecrated Sphinx every game, and by the time they kill it, the damage has already been done, and you have enough cards in hand to win. (Reliquary Tower, Thought Vessel, Spellbook). If you want to compete with powerful decks, build your Isperia deck around the card Consecrated Sphinx as much as possible. (I am poor, and I cannot afford cards like Smothering Tithes, Force of Will, Hallowed Fountain or Rhystic Study. You don't need those cards to have fun playing this deck). I use cards like Diplomatic Immunity, Curator's Ward, Swiftfoot Boots, Lightning Greaves, Alexi's Cloak, or Protective Bubble to protect my Consecrated Sphinx from removal. Counter their boardwipes with one of your many counterspells. Isperia is a very underrated commander, and the deck is full of unique cards that allow you to trigger her ability (Cards that nobody uses). Use Plea for Guidance to tutor for your Dovescape and Archetype of Imagination. Those are your key combo pieces. Combo: Archetype of Imagination + Magus of the Moat
. Knowing what is in your opponent's hand is a very powerful and underrated strategy. Forcing players to play with their hands revealed changes the game a lot and you will have fun doing so. Be inscrutable. Know your enemy.
Isperia's Description (From the MTG wiki)
Isperia had a long, leonine body that was bigger than a cart, made even bulkier by broad, feathered wings. Her enormous forepaws were usually folded in front of her. Her face and head looked more human, framed by long purple hair, her features as famously inscrutable as all her kind.
Isperia's History
As a judge, Isperia had once issued a writ of mass arrest for any and all members caught bearing allegiance to the Golgari Swarm. Vraska the Unseen was amongst those apprehended, and they were taken to an Azorius detention compound, the place where all victims of the writ had been imprisoned. Unfortunately, the cells quickly filled beyond capacity and, vastly outnumbered by their prisoners, the Azorius were swept under the tide of a prison riot. These events became known as the Duskend Troubles. Nearly one hundred were killed, many while still in custody.
Isperia was the guild champion before she replaced Grand Arbiter Augustin IV. Like other sphinxes, Isperia was aloof, wise, and valued solitude. The process of convincing her to lead the guild took years.
Isperia was devoted to her guild's belief that law is the ultimate bulwark against chaos. As guildmaster she served as the supreme judge, taking advantage of her encyclopedic knowledge of Ravnica's labyrinthine legal system. If an event turned violent, Isperia refrained from using lethal force if possible, preferring to subdue a wrongdoer so that the legal system could mete out justice.
After Nicol Bolas began his manipulations, Isperia was one of his first victims. She was petrified by Bolas' minion Vraska the Unseen after the first day of the guild summit, in revenge for the wrongs that Vraska had experienced in her youth. Isperia was then replaced by Dovin Baan. (Depicted in Dovin's Veto, which should be in every Azorius commander deck)
After decorating the Senate Hall until after the War, Isperia's petrified form sank into the Undercity, where nature's forces of reclamation quickly went to work on the stone.
