Linear decks may be the current rage in Modern, but control mages are gathering to make their stand. Wizards cited the lack of blue-based diversity as a contributor to their controversial January 18 ban update, and if the Twin refugees have anything to say, Snapcaster and friends will capitalize on the banning to make their Modern coup. The announcement's immediate aftermath offered more than a few testaments to this control revolution. Although Affinity, Burn, Tron, and Infect occupy a comfortable (or stifling) segment of Modern's current top-tier, it's not just turn three Karns and turn two Glisteners all the way down! A few enterprising souls have disregarded the skeptical masses to Bolt, Helix, and Command their way to big finishes on one of Modern's oldest reactive platforms: Jeskai Control.

Whether you're jamming last-minute testing for StarCityGames' Regionals, refining a Pro Tour choice, or just curious about where Modern is heading, you'll need to respect Jeskai options in our Twinless world. To be clear, none of the current Snapcaster Mage offerings come close to metagame shares enjoyed by their Deceiver Exarch predecessors. Thankfully for those with their Modern stocks tied up in URx money, Jeskai builds have scraped their way through the linear sea to a series of respectable finishes. We'll be examining a few of those builds today. In doing so, we'll highlight three Jeskai strategies you'll want to consider for this weekend, and upend the narrative that Jeskai can't succeed in the new Modern.

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Jeskai's Metagame Context

At first glance, Jeskai Control's Modern prospects look about as optimistic as Hillary Clinton's New Hampshire odds. Looking at preliminary numbers (which will be finalized before tomorrow's article), we're seeing Jeskai Control at only 1.4% of the aggregated paper metagame and 2% of MTGO. Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker variants lag behind at 1% for both metagame subsets, with Midrange occupying 1% of paper and a flat 0% on MTGO. Compare this with the Tier 1 frontrunners, about 35% of which are decidedly linear. This is not a flattering picture of reactive control, and although it's based on limited data collection, the pre-trend is likely to hold at least through this weekend.

A closer look at available metagame statistics complicates this assessment. Taken as a whole, the various Jeskai contenders make up 3% and 3.2% of the MTGO and paper metagames respectively. Shares like this are a far cry from Affinity's 11.3% paper prevalence, or 10.4% for Burn, but they compare favorably with Naya Company (2.5% paper, 2.3% MTGO), Abzan (2.3% paper, 1% MTGO), and Abzan Company (3.6% paper, 2% MTGO). Even the mighty Bx Eldrazi can only boast a 3.6% paper slice, which is mere decimals away from the Jeskai upstarts (admittedly, Blight Herder and pals have ingested a more impressive 8% of the MTGO metagame). These numbers show Jeskai players, although far from Tier 1, are making a respectable bid for Tier 2. In an early, but by no means decisive, fulfillment of Wizards' banlist logic, they are even exceeding the 1%-2% shares they were collectively posting from October through December of 2015.

Extending our analysis outside of Top 8s and Top 16s, we see players aren't just winning with Jeskai decks, they are also bringing them to tournaments in the first place. Averaging Round 0 metagame shares from three different events (at 44, 51, and 80 players each), we find Jeskai Control representing 4.4% of all decks. Only Affinity, RG Tron, Burn, Infect, and Eldrazi occupied a higher share, with even Jund, Merfolk, and others trailing. This suggests a high degree of optimism among control mages. Astute statisticians will observe a performance gap between the Round 0 numbers and the eventual Top 8 finishes. Perhaps more pertinently, it's important to disclaim zero of those Jeskai decks reached their respective Top 8s. This points to the uphill battle Jeskai pilots still face, even if the overall metagame is more hospitable to their strategy than these three events suggest. Besides, it doesn't take a stretch to see how well-positioned Electrolyze and others are in such a field.

Overall, Jeskai's prognosis is neither as fatal as the detractors would have us believe, nor as promising as Wizards probably hoped. I'm still optimistic about the numbers, which point to greater viability than many assumed, as well as more post-Twin interest than I would have expected. List refinements will go a long way towards living the Jeskai dream, which is our next goal as we pick apart three frontrunning builds.

Jeskai Kiki Control

We're all on the prowl for an heir to Twin's throne, and all those combo roads look to lead straight to Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker. Moderners from two years back will remember Shaun McLaren's 4th place run at Grand Prix Minneapolis, which he revisted in an article immediately following the banlist announcement. Wizards also gave an explicit shout-out to Kiki-Jiki in their update. Ex-Twinners are naturally going to gravitate to Mr. Mirror Breaker and his leading lady Restoration Angel, so the pair is a fitting starting point to our Jeskai tour.

Doing McLaren proud, Nikolin Lasku battled his way to the Top 8 of a January 24th Italian Magic League tournament hosted by Magic Planet. Although Laskin didn't break his way into the semi-finals, his performance at the 116-player event bodes well for the possible Twin successor.

We saw other Jeskai Kiki Control strategies over the past ten days (e.g. Vivek Soi's 5th place bid at SCG Garden City), but Lasku's performed the best relative to tournament size. Despite this victory, I think the IML list has significant room to improve. On the plus side, Serum Visions is easily one of the best cards in Modern, even if it plays second fiddle to its banned little brother Preordain, and I'm please to see Visions' inclusion in a deck that typically forgoes cantrips. I'm also loving Spell Snare. McLaren's hypothetical Kiki Control list ditched the Snares in favor of a lone Spell Pierce and more Mana Leaks, an uncomfortable trade in a field heavy with Burn, Affinity, Merfolk, and Jund. You'll need to adjust those ratios depending on how much Tron and Eldrazi you expect.

One of the bigger question marks in Lasku's list surrounds Deceiver Exarch. Specifically, do you want three Exarchs or the full Wall of Omens playset? I believe Lasku took his cue from Alex Bianchi, who ran only a singleton Wall in his Grand Prix Pittsburgh-winning Jeskai Twin, but we also need to question if those assumptions hold in an post-banning metagame. On the one hand, Wall is an awesome two-drop against Burn and Zoo, not to mention extending your grind-game with Angel and Kiki-Jiki synergies. If you're finding yourself buried in the Burn to Zoo spectrum, Wall of Omens is where you want to be.

On the other hand, if you're finding yourself in a more open field (or, I would argue, a more average field), I'm actually liking old-timer Exarch. Although the Phyrexian Cleric has lost its closest ally, Deceiver offers more favorable interactions in more matchups. It taps down Affinity and Infect beatsticks and jams up Tron and Eldrazi lands. Wall sits there looking stupid in both those matchups. Like Wall, Exarch even clogs up the Burn and Zoo ground-game, but also threatens a real kill instead of just card-draw. Moreover, Deceiver is fittingly unexpected in a field that assumes its absence. Turn three Exarch into turn four Angel (blinking Exarch) into turn five Kiki-Jiki either wins the game outright or puts you far ahead on tempo if your Shaman eats a Bolt. This is the kind of flexibility and intimidation I want, and Exarch plays that role better than Wall.

If you're looking to sleeve up Lasku's 75, the biggest area for improvement is the manabase. I find his lack of manlands disturbing and you should too. Celestial Colonnade is easily the best non-aggro manland in the format with Wandering Fumarole a strong understudy. I'd even be willing to trim or cut the cantrips to accommodate the enters-the-battlefield restrictions. An argument can be made that manlands lose relevance in an overly aggressive field, but I think Lasku's list already tackles that with decent removal and a redundant combo package. Adding a method of prevailing in grindfests (Jund at 5%-6% is still waiting) will serve you well in events.

We'll need more data to confirm if Kiki-Jiki is where Jeskai wants to be, but I'm loving the Twin parallels and see a lot of potential for those who would see the Million Exarch March live again.

Traditional Jeskai Control

Shaun McLaren might receive plenty of credit for his Kiki Control list at Minnesota, but it was his victory at Pro Tour Born of the Gods that really put him on the Jeskai radar. His deck of choice back in February 2014? A no-frills Jeskai Control packing a tight five creatures alongside a reactive bonanza of removal, countermagic, and the deliciously grindy Sphinx's Revelation. In the years following 2014, this more historic take on reactive Magic took a backseat to fancier (and, for the most part, more powerful) Twin strategies. January 18th means it's time to unpack those Revelations, dust off the Tectonic Edges, and show those Grixis mages what they are missing by ditching Cryptic Command.

The low-creature count, highly conventional Jeskai Control lists have posted the most performances of any Jeskai competitor since the ban's effect. I'll show two exemplars today. It doesn't get much more traditional than Sean Gillis's Jeskai Control, which racked up a Top 8 showing at a Grand Prix Vancouver Modern side event. UW Control actually triumphed in the 80-contender field, further pointing to a metagame where can control can excel, but our focus is on the red-based list which has seen wider metagame success beyond Vancouver.

Note: the Wizards website lists an Engineered Plague in Gillis' sideboard, and although I'd love me a Modern Plague reprint as much as the next fellow, I'm assuming this is an Engineered Explosives instead.

Don't think I've forgotten about MTGO offerings! Magic League competitor AKTilted piloted a conservative Jeskai Control build to top honors at a League match on January 22. The ban update, which didn't take hold on normal MTGO until the 27th, took immediate effect on the League field, which makes AKTilted's performance an early indicator of Jeskai's potential.

In an age where everyone quibbles over archetype definitions, even the most ardent Millstone-control fogies will struggle to deny how deeply controlling these lists are. Both players ran 12+ counterspells, a sorcery-speed sweeper, no more than five creatures, and more than enough burn to zap aggro pests early and go wide with Snapcaster late. It doesn't get much more reactive than this. If blue-based control is to return to its Serra Angel roots, there's a good chance it will be in overwhelmingly reactive shells like these.

As with Lasku's Kiki Control strategy from earlier, both builds have a number of core strengths but also areas we can enhance. Strengths first: I absolutely love the Ghost Quarters in a field with so much ramp, and want nothing more than to cast AKTilted's Crucible of Worlds in Games 2-3. Tectonic Edge is a passable supplement to Quarters in the right deck, but if I only have room for one and need to shore up an otherwise miserable matchup, maindecking Quarters is where I want to be. Similarly, both Electrolyze and Lightning Helix are very exciting right now in our current Modern metagame. The former is a beating against aggro frontrunner Affinity, while the latter puts in work against Burn, Zoo, and Merfolk. Path and countermagic ensure smooth sailing against the creature-heavy linear strategies, and with much of Tier 1 occupied by these bloodthirsty hordes, this is certainly an area where Jeskai has considerable appeal.

We also see a number of Jeskai's strengths in these sideboards, which tote a staggering toolbox of outs against most decks in Modern. This includes Stony Silence for Affinity, Timely Reinforcements for Burn and Zoo, and Elspeth, Sun's Champion to do a Keranos, God of Storms imitation against BGx decks ill-equipped to tussle with haymakers (Gillis even brings the God to the fray!). The Jeskai boards also heavily commit to fixing bad matchups, with Crumble to Dust allying with the Quarters to regain lost Games 2-3 ground against ramp.

Despite their shared strengths, both lists have separate areas of improvement. Let's get it out of the way first: AKTilted's decision to exclude Lightning Bolt is a bad one (Editor's Note: I had to check to make sure it wasn't an omission). It doesn't make sense in a metagame where Bolt excels, nor does it make sense when you've already committed to a Snapcaster Mage playset. I believe this points to metagame differences in Magic League games more than anything, which could be relevant if you see your own field shift away from low-toughness targets to decks that brush off the Bolt. Even so, there's still really no reason to leave the Bolts at home: -4 Think Twice, +4 Bolt, and move on.

A less overtly questionable inclusion, but one we still want to challenge, is Cryptic Command. Don't get me wrong! Command remains an excellent card, and I wouldn't leave home as a Jeskai mage without 1-2. But 3-4? Not in this field. There are too many decks either trying to get under the Command early or beating it in the mid-game. Cryptic flood is very real in these kinds of metagames, and I want to minimize those chances with a more compact ratio. By a similar token, I'm nervous about those four Remands. With the exception of Jund, every frontrunning Tier 1 deck is either an aggro deck where Remand does nothing more than cycle, or a ramp deck where I don't want to double Hordeling Outburst or quadruple Vindicate myself by countering on-cast Eldrazi. Remand is significantly better against Tron than Eldrazi, but overall the downsides still outweigh the benefits. Kiki decks can at least Remand their way into a turn five win. We're playing a longer game, and Remand doesn't fit our need for decisive, early answers that allow us to commence Colonnade beatdown.

Outside of these considerations, traditional Jeskai Control brings a lot to the table. Take a leaf from Gillis' and AKTilted's books by supplementing your inherently strong anti-aggro plan with a committed ramp-busting strategy. After that, make sure your maindeck inclusions fit the current metagame context, not the past many control players wish we could return to. Although that doesn't necessarily mean cramming in something as offensively proactive as Gurmag Angler (although the next section will do just that), it does mean making smart reactive choices in an undeniably linear field. Succeed at this and we might see Sphinx's Revelation return to the top tables soon.

The Jeskai Midrange Spectrum

While on the subject of the control and midrange, proactive and reactive spectrums, we'll end our Jeskai safari with two options straddling those fences. Many URx converts and veterans will struggle to place themselves in the traditional Jeskai Control and more Twin-like Kiki Control camps. Sphinx's Revelation and Cryptic Command can feel too durdly in a format where Affinity vomits out six cards on turn one, or where Goryo's Vengeance roars online before you get a second draw step. That said, Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker's two toughness is a far cry from Exarch's four, and a slower, more fragile Twin imitation can feel like a pale mockery of the pre-ban favorite. For those facing these questions, the more proactive Jeskai Midrange strategies give you another niche to fill while still playing your Snapcaster playset.

First up is Stefan Krall's Jeskai Geist, snagging 10th at the January 24th MKM Trial in Bottrop, Germany. The 100-player field saw a ton of Abzan Company in the Top 16, along with a scattering of the usual linear suspects. I know Jordan, an avowed Geist hater, is going to have something to say about this list in the comments, but we can't talk Jeskai Midrange without bringing old Saint-Traft to the table.

Justin Rike gives us our next Jeskai Midrange entry, coming in at 14th on the recent SCG Classic in Columbus. Featuring nine rounds and 260 players, the January 31st tournament, the Classic showcased a Top 16 infested with linear options. This made Rike's Snapcasters a beacon of hope in an overwhelmingly aggressive field. Rike doesn't have Krall's Geists, upping his Angel and Pia and Kiran Nalaar counts to make up the deficit and filling in the rest with the Helix-man himself, Ajani Vengeant.

I know someone is already scrolling down the page to leave a comment field essay about midrange versus control classifications, but one of the reason I show these decks is specifically to show how complicated that relationship has become. Krall's list has three Cryptics and a Revelation, often hallmarks of something more on Jeskai's control side. Resisting easy categorizing, it then adds six solidly midrange beatdown creatures on top of a potent burn and Snapcaster suite. Seizing a Top 16 at the Classic a week later, Rike makes similar deckbuilding decisions, focusing on creatures that do bridge the gap between control and midrange (depending on their context) before cleaning up the spell selection to exclude the traditional staples we saw with Krall. All of this shows how fluid the distinction has become.

Let's table the archetype wars for another time and think about the cards themselves. Strengths-wise, I'm as giddy about pairing Restoration Angel with the Nalaars today as I was in my Shape Anew technology spotlight yesterday. Thopters clog up the skies against Affinity and Infect while also chumping ground-pounders all day long. They can sail across to chip away at life totals or hit the graveyard as Shock fuel. This makes for a synergy as relevant in aggressive matchups as in grindier ones. Similarly, I'm happy we're still on manlands and Ghost Quarters, the former of which gives us late-game outs if our damage output gets stalled, and the latter of which provides an edge against an otherwise nasty ramp contest. Wandering Fumarole finally meanders into the manabase, and I really like the Elemental's contributions to our faster clock. Finally, in case Tiago needed more endorsements, here's yet another pair of decks rocking four of the Mages along with a bevvy of burn. No matter what Jeskai configuration you prefer, don't be stingy on those ratios.

That gets us to the big questions surrounding Geist of Saint Traft and Ajani Vengeant. To Wizards' credit, these were two cards that were largely unplayable with Twin in the format, and Twin's presence itself was a contributor to that irrelevance. More to the point, however, we must ask how much this has really changed with the deck's departure. For Ajani, I think circumstances really do favor the ThunderCats fanboy. Vengeant stabilizes boards against both landlocked Burn/Zoo and airborne Infect/Affinity. Repeated frost effects are relevant in most matchups, including against ramp, and even ticking Ajani down to 1 for a Helix often buys the three-for-one exchange you need to swing most aggro contests. This combination of metagame context and individual utility give Ajani Vengeant relatively high marks in my post-Twin rankings.

Then there's Geist of Saint Traft. On paper, Geist still presents the most consistently-fast, single-card clock of any Modern creature costing less than four. Only the most monstrous Tarmogoyfs can compare on a one-for-one basis, with everything else requiring at least another card (or significant setup) to punch as hard as Geist and his guardian Angel. This kind of speedy clock screams "proactivity" to me, which is often where you want to be in Modern (particularly open Modern) metagames. On that topic of metagame context, we're seeing plenty of aggro decks vulnerable to redundant Jeskai burn effects. In theory, this lets Geist sail across for six damage a turn for a swift close. Unfortunately, this context is also where Geist gets into trouble. Defying naysayers, Jund has survived the Twin ban in the short-term, and nothing makes Geist sadder than staring down the lone, Bolt-proof Tarmogoyf. Nothing, that is, except for Eldrazi's tokens courtesy of Lingering Souls and Blight Herder, which demotes the proud Innistrad Cleric from all-star slugger to a blue Taoist Hermit. Abzan Company and Death and Taxes will also cause Geist to roll in his grave, and that's if he's lucky enough to avoid Kitchen Finks (which Jund and UW Control are both packing).

Once we figure in the inevitable increase in sweepers (Supreme Verdict from today, Pyroclasm in Tron, Flaying Tendrils in Eldrazi, Anger of the Gods in Jund, etc.), and you can call me a doubting Thomas for Saint Traft's chances in this current metagame. Strategically, Jeskai Midrange remains a viable option, especially if you leverage mama and papa Chandra alongside Restoration Angel. Just be careful in straying too far from metagame context clues and back to old Jeskai habits that might no longer be applicable.

Taking Jeskai to the Top

I won't be going to a Regionals event this weekend, but if I did, some Jeskai style would be in my final contention for deck-of-choice. No matter what build you look at, it's hard to beat the Snapcaster Mage playset, the burn arsenal, the flexible sideboards, and the powerful, stalemate-cracking manlands. I'd probably lean towards Kiki-Jiki because I'm a combo player at heart, but the savvier choice is probably more on the midrange to control spectrum, like a hybrid between Rike's and Gillis' lists from earlier. Hopefully we'll see more players packing their Steam Vents and Hallowed Fountains all weekend, whether at a Regionals near you or the big Pro Tour stage. Or just add Shape Anew to the Jeskai puzzle to really take it the next level!

Although this article focused exclusively on Jeskai Control, this is by no means the only direction we could see Ux(x) or even URx strategies go in Modern. Like David, I can't deny some of Esper's obvious advantages, whether the catchall Inquisition of Kozilek or the grind-standard itself, Lingering Souls. Blood Moon also remains a pet favorite, so both Blue Moon and Temur Moon options pique my interest. I bet we see a number of these strategies over the weekend, and although decks like those we saw today are sure to be big players throughout these tournaments, control won't start and stop with Jeskai.

Drop by tomorrow as we unpack more metagame numbers and make some final format observations before the big weekend. Until then, let me know in the comments what you thought of our trek through Jeskai territory, the different decks and cards discussed today, and any other control innovations you have in your workshop. See you all soon!