Jeskai Control. Pretty standard list for a non-Opus gameplan, with Niv-Mizzet, Parun as excellent top-end, and a mana-base built to support Archmage's Charm, our new addition to Historic.
Card Choices:
So the deck is basically split into 4 parts. You have 1) Card advantage engines, 2) Removal, 3) Counterspells, and 4) Sweepers. The deck does have a couple of win conditions, but mostly the plan is to win games through card advantage and forcing concessions.
Card Advantage
Expressive Iteration is one of the best cards in the deck. In the early game it helps set up your mana while drawing you another card, while in the mid - late game it represents a solid "draw 2" spell for only 2 mana. The play pattern is simple, any time after turn 3 you play it before you play a land, and then profit. It's easy to keep your hand full with quality card draw like this spell, and even though Lightning Helix made the deck a thing I think it is an even more important reason to go Jeskai over Azorius. You never want to play it on turn 2, and I often hold off until turn 4 or later to keep interaction held up as long as possible. Still, it is a slam dunk 4 of in the list.
Teferi, Hero of Dominaria is one of the best planeswalkers ever printed, with its only liability being the high cost of 5 mana. The "untap 2 lands" function on its card draw is the main appeal, but the tuck is incredibly powerful removal that also combines with Memory Lapse, Commit / Memory, and Aether Gust to help you really stall out opponents by controlling their top deck, and IMO people tend to undervalue the tuck. The Ultimate is back-breaking when it does go off, but often this card forces concessions before you'll ever get there. Also, neat application of his tuck ability, Teferi can go tuck himself to keep you from decking out, which is occasionally a win condition in long games, especially when you've used his ultimate already.
Narset, Parter of Veils is a great card in control mirrors, denying an opponent their card draw. It also just so happens to dig through your deck for the cards you need, and is a great source of card advantage in most matchups, at worst filtering through your deck for a card while drawing removal or attackers (effectively gaining you life or wasting a card).
Commit / Memory combos with Narset to draw a whole new hand whilst your opponent draws a single card, and is also stapled to a flexible card that works as spot removal or a psuedo counterspell with the upside of not countering, and is also really good in combination with Shark Typhoon out of the sideboard and Niv-Mizzet, Parun in the main. You keep it in alongside Grave Hate more often than not, because you may not draw the grave hate, and because the front end is both powerful and flexible. I highly value Commit when dealing with larger, more dangerous threats. If you use this effect after you tuck, your opponent's card Teferi tucked ends up fourth in their deck. Memory Lapse (and Aether Gust) will help keep them from that card afterward. This is included here because you only really run it for how Memory works with Shark Typhoon, Niv, and Narset, it just Commit ends up making the cut anyways given the 75.
Search for Azcanta
is a good card. It fixes your draws while also eventually ramping you, and the land effect can easily take a close game and help you pull out way ahead. Never leave home without at least 1 of these in my opinion, a good card vs control but I've had it be relevant in a lot of matchups outside of that.
Lastly, the granddaddy of card advantage, we're running 2 copies of Niv-Mizzet, Parun. This card is back-breaking, it is uncounterable in control mirrors, draws you cards for playing cards, usually draws you a card even if removed, and is a major source of damage and the deck's main way of closing out games. Very good with Prismari Command, Archmage's Charm, and Commit / Memory, but also just a great evasive beater that clears away fields and pings faces. This is one of your best cards in nearly any matchup, but the hefty mana cost keeps us from slamming too many of them, especially since you often can't afford to slam him right away and not hold up removal. Very good with Expressive Iteration as well, turning that card into a 2 mana Draw 3. Just an insane card, honestly, I'd try him out if you haven't already, and the only reason not to play him in Jeskai Control is that maybe you are on Opus instead. Pinging creatures by playing spells is also pretty insane before you get to the hand full of cards. Especially good in: Control Mirrors, Angels, Rogues, Phoenix/Izzet tempo, and Nine Lives Prison (it's your win-con for the turn you tuck Solemnity. Actually greatly improves the matchup singlehandedly.). Mediocre against the fastest of fast decks, since you'll never make it to 6 and untap with it to stabilize. But it's been the all-star of the deck.
Removal
Lightning Helix is one of the reasons this deck is a deck. 3 damage sometimes falls short, admittedly. However, in the aggro matchups where your removal is good in general, Helix really is all that and a bag of potato chips. There have been so many games where I've stabilized at 1 life after casting multiple Helixes only to win in the end, it is truly an awesome option vs aggro. It is also a huge swing against Burn-style tempo decks, where gaining life is one of your best ways to win out games.
Prismari Command is pretty weak as removal, but in this case, flexibility trumps power. The card is busted with Niv-Mizzet, Parun, since you can deal a total of 5 damage with it while fixing your hand in a hand-neutral way (that's 6 from five sources already if you untapped with Niv). It is also busted with Narset, Parter of Veils, since you can force your opponent to discard 2 cards while gaining some value, essentially a 3 for 1 a lot of the time. The treasure token ramps you to early Teferis, the card filtering is decent in its own right, and the card is almost never dead. It also picks off artifacts in the main deck, and can easily be a 2 for 1 in a lot of situations. A very good card overall, but its limited reach as removal and mana value of 3 is enough to convince me to only run 2.
Lastly, we have 2 Baffling End. I tried Justice Strike, and it was okay, but I kept running into situations where Baffling End was just better. In the Auras matchup you really want Baffling End to hit Kor Spiritdancer. In Angels you have a lot of fat-bottomed lads and lasses that Justice Strike can't touch. And in most aggro matchups the cards are basically comparable. There are more synergies with Justice Strike so if you're playing in an event (where Angels rarely show up, unlike the ladder) and think you can dodge Abzan Auras, Justice Strike might just be better, but honestly I got sick of Justice Strike costing me games in those matchups where it did matter when it rarely hit anything Baffling End couldn't. Auras and Angels in particular are real rough without this card, and much better with it.
Counterspells
I honestly can't believe people ever doubted Memory Lapse, and I'm still skeptical of control lists that run any fewer than the full playset of them. The tempo you can gain off of this card is huge, it has a ton of applications given it hits everything and controls your opponent's top decks, it just feels like pure value. The big downside is that it doesn't get rid of the card forever, so you'll want some real counters to go with it, but IMO maxing out with 4 of these is still the way to go. Especially great for being a 2 mana "unconditional" counterspell for Teferi, Hero of Dominaria.
Dovin's Veto is just Negate with extra steps 90% of the time, but it is a 2 mana counterspell for the purposes of Teferi, and the uncounterable clause makes it a slam dunk card for answering threats in control mirrors. Not a whole lot to say, it's just a really good negate.
Archmage's Charm is another highly flexible card. The "gain control of a 1 drop" effect doesn't come up a ton, but damn it sure doesn't hurt to be even more flexible. The card sees play back to Modern (and occasionally shows up in Legacy) because even though Cancel never shows up, and Divination never shows up, a card that is never dead and flexes as Cancel and instant speed Divination is so flexible that it makes up for being a little weak power-wise. Digging for the answer you specifically need will win you games, and when that card is also often the answer you specifically need as well that's just a solid all-around card.
Sweepers
Pretty simple, we're running 4 sweepers in the main deck to help against the plethora of aggressive decks in the format. Anger of the Gods is sometimes essential, partially for the exiling clause, but mostly for being a sweeper you can draw and play turn 3, since turn 4 is sometimes just that wee bit too late. However, Wrath of God is our only good answer to a lot of problematic creatures that dodge our admittedly narrow removal, and I just can't bring myself to leave home without it. The reason for the 1/1 split of Wrath of God and Day of Judgment is simple, it's a tiny edge out of respect for Meddling Mage and occasionally Silverquill Silencer. If you don't have enough wildcards to craft both 2 of either is fine, since this will almost never come up, and half the time they'll name the right sweeper anyways, but this has come up for me in an occasional game and it felt pretty sweet to have prepared for it.
Mana Base
I won't go into too much detail about the mana, other than to cover the basics. Utility lands are mostly eschewed in favour of a mana base that can reasonably cast Archmage's Charm, Wrath of God, Anger of the Gods, and Niv-Mizzet, Parun. The entire mana base is blue in order to always be able to cast Archmages Charm with 3 mana (in tuning I added a single Clifftop Retreat which improves the mana immensely and hasn't come up when trying to cast YFTVL for UUU (test test). We've also slotted in Mystic Sanctuary. Mystic Sanctuary has been really good for me, the downside of it occasionally being a tapland is well mitigated by the huge advantage of looping sweepers, Expressive Iteration, Memory Lapse, Lightning Helix, etc. I have played it as just a tap land on occasion, but it seems like way more often it is winning me games by increasing the density of whatever particular type of spell is good in any given matchup. I love slamming it turn 5, looping Memory Lapse, dropping Teferi, and guaranteed drawing Memory Lapse, and I've especially loved looping sweepers in matchups where they are good. If you want to run more utility lands over Mystic Sanctuary, Castle Vantress is a good source of topdeck fixing, Castle Ardenvale is a mirror breaker (though it hurts with Archmage's Charm and Niv), Hall of Storm Giants is usually a tapland in the deck but is also a solid manland that DOES help cast Niv and Archmage's Charm, and Field of Ruin is a good way to deal with problematic utility lands out of opponents decks, and I've played all of them in versions of Jeskai control to moderate success (I mean I'm not an MLG pro-player, but when I'm winning more than I lose I feel happy).
Sideboard guide
Control - Control matchups can be frustrating. In true mirrors it will often boil down to whether they are playing Niv, and then becomes a question of who resolves and sticks a Niv first. Dimir tends to be tailored to beat Jeskai (since that is its edge over Jeskai) and Opus has this weird feel where it is half a midrange engine deck and half a solid control shell, though of the relevant control mirrors Jeskai Opus is my favourite to play.
Jeskai Control
Out: Baffling End (x2), Anger of the Gods (x2), Wrath of God (x1), Day of Judgement (x1)
In: Shark Typhoon (x2), Mystical Dispute (x3), Dovin's Veto (x1)
Depending on how you've tuned your respective decks you could be slightly favoured or slightly unfavoured. You'll rarely be better than 50/50 in the mirror, as is the nature of mirrors, but you have quite a few good cards to bring in. Notably, if they're also on Niv, you could sub out a couple of cards for Aether Gust or keep in the Wraths, but really you're just hoping to outplay them and draw well, as well as slamming 3 Dovin's Veto to keep them from resolving their haymakers. I think you're usually ever so slightly favoured if they aren't also on Niv games 2-3.
Jeskai Opus
Out: Baffling End (x2), Anger of the Gods (x2), Lightning Helix (x3)
In: Rest in Peace (x1), Grafdigger's Cage/Weathered Runestone (x1), Shark Typhoon (x2), Mystical Dispute (x3)
Slightly different plan against the (currently) more popular Opus lists, you're keeping in the Wraths for Gearhulk mopping up, and trying to stick a piece of Grave Hate to neuter their best plays. I actually really like playing against this deck. One thing to note - instead of Memory Lapsing the Gearhulk and just letting them cast it the next turn, it is often better to Memory Lapse the Opus and just remove the Gearhulk at your leisure. Also, if you Memory Lapse a card copied by Mizzix's Mastery you've just turned Memory Lapse into Counterspell, which feels really good. However, make sure you've checked whether they've overloaded it before you try this play - it can be quite embarrassing to face a whole stack of spells you could have delayed for a turn, and instead you lose the game on the spot usually.
Dimir Control
Out: Baffling End (x2), Anger of the Gods (x2), Wrath of God (x2)
In: Shark Typhoon (x2), Mystical Dispute (x3), Dovin's Veto (x1)
Same basic plan as the mirror, just cycling out Sharks and countering spells. Usually, this is the toughest of the control mirrors, but with Expressive Iteration, Teferi, Hero of Dominaria, and Niv Mizzet, you have a few edges against Dimir control. If you play well and hold up interaction the matchup is definitely winnable, but they'll often be tuned specifically to gun for you, so don't get too discouraged if you struggle a little.
Azorius is fundamentally the same plan overall, and besides, you're basically just better Azorius in the mirror, so even though Azorius is respectable I'm not going to cover it extensively.
Aggro - Bring it on! With a full playset of Lightning Helix, 8 removal spells overall, 4 sweepers game 1 and 6 game 2 (plus Mystic Sanctuary), you're pretty well set for the aggro matchups. We're tuned more the "beat the field" rather than honing in on one specific type of deck, and sometimes a good aggro deck will just get in well under you and lock things up, but I feel pretty confident in most aggro matchups
Gruul Aggro
Out: Niv Mizzet, Parun (x1), Dovin's Veto (x2), Narset, Parter of Veils (x2), Commit / Memory (x1), Search for Azcanta (x1)
In: Deafening Clarion (x2), Aether Gust (x3), Timely Reinforcements (x2)
One of the most consistent, well-tuned aggro decks in the format, Gruul Aggro can be tough. There are a few different ways to build it, and all of them have a chance to race you. However, you have some good tools to fight back in the matchup. Gone are the control mirror oriented cards, though a single Niv makes it as your main win con, and we become sweeper central, lifegain city, and tempo kings. Clarion brings you up to 6 sweepers (with Mystic Sanctuary) so that even those daisy-chains of Burning-Tree Emissary don't feel so bad. Aether Gust is just better Memory Lapse in the matchup, and doubles up with Memory Lapse to steal your opponent's tempo until you stabilize. And Timely Reinforcements gives you some essential blockers and a little bit of life to help you make it to the point in the game where you stabilize. They'll still race you to death in a fair percentage of games, but overall I feel pretty confident about the matchup game 1, and I think it actually does get better games 2-3.
Mono-Black Aggro
Out: Narset, Parter of Veils (x2), Commit / Memory (x1), Search for Azcanta (x1), Dovin's Veto (x2)
In: Deafening Clarion (x2), Rest in Peace (x1), Weathered Runestone (x1), Timely Reinforcements (x2)
Thoughtseize can be annoying in this matchup, and with the amount of recursion in the deck sweepers short of Anger of the Gods can fall flat, and I think things get a lot worse game 2-3. Having said that, you're playing a well-tuned powerful deck that can grind games to a halt and take advantage of that time to outvalue opponents for the win. You want your sweepers, and you don't need anti-control cards. Grave hate helps a lot, especially Rest in Peace, though Grafdigger's Cage and Weathered Runestone does just enough to merit bringing it in in the matchup. It's the recursion that will get you with this deck a lot of the time, and the grave hate helps with that a lot. Fast and aggressive? Sure. But you'll outvalue them if they let the game go long.
Mono-Green Elves (Snow)
Out: Dovin's Veto (x2), Narset, Parter of Veils (x2), Search for Azcanta (x1)
In: Deafening Clarion (x2), Aether Gust (x3)
There are problems in this matchup on occasion, as they are incredibly fast, and with the new Freyalise they aren't quite as dead on arrival vs sweepers. However, sweepers are still gonna hurt them a lot, so in come the Clarions. Aether Gust hits all their cards for a good tempo swing, and gets around the "uncounterable" clause that Allosaurus Shepherd brings to the table. This matchup is pretty breezy game 1 and only gets better when the sweepers and gusts come in.
GW CoCo
Out: Narset, Parter of Veils (x1), Prismari Command (only on the draw) (x1)
In: Timely Reinforcements (x1), Deafening Clarion (only on the draw) (x1)
This matchup can be annoying, this is essentially Death and Taxes with Coco and beaters. They can run you over on the play, so in comes a Clarion when you are on the draw. Otherwise some lifegain helps improve the matchup a lot. The plan is pretty simple, they're a value-based creature deck, so just focus on outvaluing them and keeping the field under control, and don't be afraid to hold up countermagic for those CoCos.
Tempo decks
Boros Burn/Wizard
Out: Narset, Parter of Veils (x2), Search for Azcanta (x1), Commit / Memory (x1), Niv Mizzet Parun (x2)
In: Timely Reinforcements (x2), Aether Gust (x3), Deafening Clarion (x2)
I hate this matchup. Fast burn-based red decks can really leave you relying on Lightning Helix, and makes Memory Lapse feel really bad. You want sweepers and lifegain for this matchup, and you also bring in Aether Gust to try and delay those bolts for as long as possible. Not an unwinnable matchup, and it gets a little better after siding, but I struggle vs burn a lot. Control cards are especially bad in this matchup, just cut em.
Merfolk
Out: Dovin's Veto (x2), Narset, Parter of Veils (x2), Search for Azcanta (x1)
In: Mystical Dispute (x3), Deafening Clarion (x2)
So, their creatures may be unblockable, they have plenty of lords, they have some good mana fixing coming, and they have Svyelun of Sea and Sky as a hard-to-handle threat that also protects their stuff and draws them cards. On the other hand, they die to sweepers pretty heavily, and Mystical Disputes hit all of their important cards, and your deck just produces was more value over time, It's basically just a race, can you sweep them and stabilize before they race you to death? I'm guessing they'll stay on Coco, so keep that in mind with your assorted countermagic.
Rogues
Bad Cards: Teferi, Hero of Dominaria (x2), Narset, Parter of Veils (x1), Prismari Command (x1), Wrath of God (x1)
Good Cards: Shark Typhoon (x2), Mystical Dispute (x2), Rest in Peace (x1)
Teferi is pretty bad in this matchup, then we're just trimming on space to fit in more important cards. Rest in Peace if there primarily to drain your own GY, but also helps to turn off Lurrus, Sharks get around their countermagic, though Drown in the Loch and Fatal Push are both pretty good against shark tokens. Still, a flying blocker is a flying blocker. After that we're running the classic Mystical Dispute war of blue decks.
Midrange Decks
Auras
Run it back. You have tools to help in the matchup, it basically boils down to a question of how many enchantresses they manage to draw, how good you are at clearing them, and whether they get the mana they need. I win this matchup more often than I lose it, so even though it's a little frustrating not having anything to side I'm pretty okay with this matchup. Sythis, Harvest's Hand will make their deck much more consistent and harder to answer, but it also forces them into a wedge/shard without giving them a lot of payoffs for their green mana, so you might be able to capitalize on the inherent inconsistency that creates for them.
BR Arcanist
Out: Narset, Parter of Veils (x1), Search for Azcanta (x1)
In: Rest in Peace (x1), Grafdigger's Cage/Weathered Runestone (x1)
Easy matchup, outvalue them and hope to turn off all of their engines with grave hate.
Jund Food / Company
Out: Niv Mizzet, Parun (x2)
In: Rest in Peace (x1), Grafdigger's Cage/Weathered Runestone (x1)
They'll sometimes outvalue you, but your grave hate helps improve things and you'll often outvalue them. These midrange decks struggle to kill you early, and don't go as big in the late game as you do. You can consider Aether Gust if they're on lots of Korvold.
Combo Decks
Jeskai Ultimatum/Dragonstorm
Out: Lightning Helix (x4), Baffling End (x2), Wrath of God (x2), Anger of the Gods (x2)
In: Mystical Dispute (x3), Dovin's Veto (x1), Aether Gust (x3), Rest in Peace (x1), Grafdigger's Cage/Weathered Runestone (x1)
Easy matchup, you're favoured game 1, and highly favoured game 2 on. Sometimes they run just Dragonstorm, sometimes just Emergent Ultimatum. Either way you have lots of spells to delay their combo and ultimately counter it, and they're just going to struggle against that. Aether Gust might seem weird, but it does hit both Ultimatum and Dragonstorm, particularly useful against copies made by Mizzix's Mastery (assuming storm count 1. At 2 you can check for Bladewing if you have a wrath, otherwise Gust the Mastery. At 3 just Gust the Mastery.). Memory Lapse is also really good against Unburial Rites when they're flashing it back, since the flashback rules results in it being exiled, and usually these decks don't play black to hardcast it (and surprisingly often they're very dedicated to casting it from the GY even when they do run black haha).
Goblins
Out: Dovin's Veto (x2), Search for Azcanta (x1), Niv Mizzet, Parun (x2), Prismari Command (x2), Baffling End (x2)
In: Grafdigger's Cage/Weathered Runestone (x1), Aether Gust (x3), Mystical Dispute (x3), Deafening Clarion (x2)
In a well-built Goblins deck Muxus, Goblin Grandee is basically a 1 card combo that wins the game. A well-built Goblins deck will also have a viable midrange backup plan. The ultimate goal is to sweep the goblins they play early, then delay the Muxus until you can counter it for good. Niv is too high mana value to make the cut games 2 and 3, so we're leaving in Narset, which helps dig for those all-important counterspells. Grafdigger's Cage or Weathered Runestone are particularly notable for shutting down Muxus' ability. This matchup is hard but winnable game 1 but easy post board. Open decklists help the deck a lot in this matchup.
This only covers a small portion of the decks you're liable to face in the historic metagame, but I'm confident in the tools this 75 provides in pretty much any situation, even when you're struggling to improve things game 2.
