Hi, and welcome to the list. This is pure Counterspell control - you have some tap-out knockouts, some draw/go, but this is a straightforward attempt to play a very pure control list that was all-answer. Control has some struggles in this meta - the format has always been fast and aggressive, and Ragavan hasn't changed that, Tempo might compete with you in terms of running blue magic, you need answers faster and earlier than ever before. It also has trouble simultaneously addressing such a diverse meta. Having said that, with some thought I think Jeskai is a great home for a flexible Counterspell Control, addressing controls problems has never been easier than it is now, and of course the inclusion of the full four Counterspell goes a long way to increasing my confidence. Having better answers does make Control more viable, but it is in an awkward spot.
So, card choices. Mana. Mana is awkward. Initially I was on Archmage's Charm, and that mana base I could cast everything, but the Blood Moon plan kinda nixed that, and I don't miss Charm tbh. Initially I was on 26 lands, but one got cut to keep my ratio of answers where I needed it to be. Initially only 1 of these lands was a tapland, but Prismatic Ending made me decide to include a second Triome. This mana base was an excercise in making compromises, but it does work fairly well to cast spells on time, there was room for a Field of Ruin, and it is still 23 untap lands. 1 Otawara, Soaring City gets slotted in here, since in the late-game it can protect or reset your walkers, or just be a decent tempo play in and of itself, on an untapped Island. Nutty.
Kaheera is a cool commander. Going creatureless isn't a big ask of me - I maybe cut 2ish Subtlety, in a deck that can't abuse Subtlety loops usually, a deck where Subtlety is IMO a little sketchy. You lose Snapcaster Mage, which is a bigger loss what with the Bolt plan, but Snapcaster has slowly fallen off, and if there's a meta for it in the future I'd be unsuprised, but I think it isn't a card I want to run right now anyways. 1 Clique isn't a big loss. What it represents is another win-con I always have access to, it helps mitigate flooding out and get in some damage on an empty board. The card is a little weak as far as Companions go, at least in Control, but Yorion really hurts my odds of seeing Counterspell, Lurrus isn't good here, and Jegantha is more of an "eh, might as well" card than a card worth building around. Meanwhile our deck facilitates the hidden requirement on Kaheera pretty nicely.
So, counterspells. I was really looking for 2 mana tempo plays that deal with an Omnath on the stack turn 3 and 4. I also wanted to run 6 answers for things on the stack.
4x Counterspell
1x Remand
1x Aether Gust
4 Counterspell is obligatory. I want 6 of these 2 mana on-the-stack tempo plays, and Counterspell is the one that hard answers most things without falling off into the late game. Counterspell protects my stuff, but also prevents my opponent's stuff from ever hitting the board, and I really wanted to max out on Counterspell.
1 Remand got added to the list a little later. This helps "grease" out our draws while being an amazing tempo play in the early game, and continues to tax opponents while drawing us cards in the late-game. It has a weird habit of drawing Counterspell, or other perfectly relevant answers, since the deck is full of them. It does lose impact in the late-game, especially if you're flooding out, so the play pattern is play these fast and early. Play it t3-t4 while it is good, or else slam it as soon as it makes sense to draw that card.
1 Aether Gust is some maindeck red hate. Doubling as Green hate helps this stay relevant in more matchups, the meta is very red, this gets around the Can't Be Countered clause (and hits stuff on the field) and it is a better tempo play than Remand (when it is live) and stays live longer (when it is live at all). Risk/Reward for this card is good, I know my targets, there are a lot of them, it does the job I'm counting on my countermagic to do in the Omnath matchups, and I can side it out when it is dead.
I don't want to go too crazy on countermagic, especially game 1. I considered some number of Force of Negation, but I moved them to the sideboard pretty early in the process - against a lot of the meta, the restrictions around FoN actually hold it back a lot, but I wanted to have some to bring it.
4x Expressive Iteration
Expressive Iteration is one of the main, most important, payoffs for Jeskai control. The play pattern for this card makes it hard to play it profitably early, typically I'm jamming this T4 and beyond, but getting 2 cards for 2 mana of the top 3 cards of your deck is good selection, and great card advantage. It turns out what you need to do to make Divination a multi-format all-star is to make it 2 mana XD.
So, answers. Monkey was on my mind, and I'm in Jeskai.
4x Lightning Bolt
4x Prismatic Ending
I needed 1 mana answers for a t1 monkey on the draw, and I wanted 8 of them. Bolt is really good - right now it has a lot of great targets, including being our best answer for a Tourach on the board, before he grows out of control, but after his Hymn. Instant speed removal for little things is great, it can hit Planeswalkers if the downtick, and it secretly helps facilitate one of the decks win conditions, which is damage. Being a 1 mana answer for a Dashing monkey is great. Ending does this, and helps flex on most threatening permanents. A Savai Triome in the mana base facilitates Ending 4 drops, and the treasure off of Prismari Command can help facilitate hitting 4 and 5 drops, but I feel like having removal that deals with most low-to-the-ground threats is more important right now than having longer reach, particularly with the downside of Path to Exile feeling worse and worse as the years drag on. Teferi helps cast Endings at instant speed, which improves the card overall.
3x Lightning Helix
1x Timely Reinforcements
Initially I was on Unholy Heat, but I was really debating Lightning Helix as a removal spell in the main. The real deciding factor was the inclusion of 1 maindeck Rest in Peace with 4 in the side, potentially killing my Heats, but I also consider it a pretty good meta call. The lifegain from Helixes can help mitigate some of the inevitability in the burn matchup - if our plan is to get them topdecking, and their plan is to topdeck burn spells, there's probably going to be some trouble for us. I think it is also useful in the meta in general. Like Bolt, the failcase on this card is actually pretty good. You can Bolt faces. Count it, 21 damage (+2 from the Command). So the pile of Bolts and Helixes represent something of a sneaky alternate win-con, which gets even better when combined with chip damage from Kaheera, and Sharks, and outright game ending when you have a fistful of lightning and a Shark Typhoon on the table. Timely Reinforcements is a super handy tool to swing aggressive matchups, and is a sweet combat trick with Teferi, Time Raveler. It works in conjuction with Helixes to give us the time we need to win the matchup.
1x Prismari Command
1x March of Otherworldy Light
Rounding out the Artifact hate is 1 Prismari Command and 1 March of Otherworldly Light. Prismari Command is pretty much always going to be sweet, the looting effect increases consistency, the Treasure is super nice for mana consistency, it's potentially a 2 for 1, it hates artifacts, it even hits faces and low-loyalty walkers. Esper Sentinel is a beating against this deck, and while Command isn't a perfect answer to piles of Sentinels, it can help dramatically. There are so many artifact targets in the format for that mode, 2 damage is great against a slew of creatures, and the other value modes are lowkey the best thing about the card, particularly the Looting. March of Otherworldly Light answers a bunch of stuff - it'll often (technically) answer Monkey for 1 mana, tho that isn't really its prime use. More importantly, it answers Dashing Monkey for even money. It is another in our slew of answers to artifacts and enchantments, and technically reaches some of those the deck would otherwise struggle against, so it is nice and flexible. It is also our only maindeck answer to most bigger creatures, which is cool. In particular, it is the one reliable maindeck answer for Omnath on the table, and even answers him with the Draw trigger on the stack, not giving the opponent priority to play their land. It's also our primary answer for Saga, answering Saga for 1 mana, and any artifact it summons for cheap. Against Prime Time, for example, it answers Saga, Amulet, and Prime Time. The actual utility for this is so high that the fact that it is inefficient (at best) doesn't actually matter that much for me, and 3 more are in the side for the matchups where they give some reach with our removal, particularly Saga and Omnath.
1x Rest in Peace
Maindeck grave hate is good, and in this build nothing conflicts. I like wiping out graveyards completely.
Lastly, we have a couple of sweepers.
Sideboard is cards for situations.
