Standard has gone through a few major changes since pre-Tarkir: Dragonstorm. With the printing of Cori-Steel Cutter, the format has adapted to new Red Aggro and Izzet Prowess decks that are taking the format by, well, storm! However, Cori-Steel Cutter isn't the only new Red card making an impact on Standard. Enter: Shiko, Paragon of the Way.

Shiko, Paragon of the Way is a pretty solid Midrange/Control card for Standard. It's a solid threat, flashes back anything from a Split Up to a Stock Up, and edges your Control deck to be more Jeskai-focused with cards like Lightning Helix from a more classic Control-shell with countermagic. You play more into the board and at sorcery-speed with Shiko, and your deck is built around the cards you can "flashback" with it.

We've seen these Jeskai decks with Shiko pop up in multiple events, from Leagues to Challenges, and as the Regional Championship is less than two weeks away, it's definitely on my list of decks to play at the event.

Jeskai Control | TDM Standard | Rollo1993, Standard Challenge 64 4/21/2025/4th

• Creatures (8)
• 2 Beza, the Bounding Spring
• 2 Marang River Regent
• 4 Shiko, Paragon of the Way

• Instants (14)
• 2 Jeskai Revelation
• 2 Three Steps Ahead
• 3 Get Lost
• 3 Lightning Helix
• 4 Dispelling Exhale

• Sorceries (6)
• 2 Split Up
• 4 Stock Up

• Enchantments (6)
• 1 Rediscover the Way
• 2 Roiling Dragonstorm
• 3 Temporary Lockdown

• Lands (26)
• 2 Island
• 1 Mountain
• 3 Plains
• 1 Cori Mountain Monastery
• 1 Fabled Passage
• 2 Elegant Parlor
• 2 Thundering Falls
• 3 Riverpyre Verge
• 3 Sunbillow Verge
• 4 Floodfarm Verge
• 4 Meticulous Archive

• Sideboard (15)
• 2 Authority of the Consuls
• 2 Ghost Vacuum
• 2 Jace, the Perfected Mind
• 1 Kutzil's Flanker
• 1 Loran of the Third Path
• 2 Negate
• 1 Pyroclasm
• 2 Tishana's Tidebinder
• 2 Wilt-Leaf Liege

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However, as I played more with the deck, and its Redless counterpart, Azorius Control, it got me thinking about whether Jeskai was actually a good choice, or if I was being tricked into playing a weaker Control deck, based on its popularity.

One of the key reasons I love Magic is deck-building and card selection. Whether a certain deck is the "right choice" for an event isn't always consistent since it depends on a player's strengths and playstyle, and it's why I've done well in events where I've played a rogue or not well-known strategy. I look back fondly on two SCG 5k events I top 8'd in the summer of 2017, where I piloted Azorius Approach of the Second Sun and Bant Delirium to earn qualifications to the following SCG Invitational - both decks my opponents had never seen until that day.

While it's harder to create decks like that in this new era of social media and access to data, there is something to be said about picking a deck you have faith in and have experience predicting what matchups you'll play against. Sure, you can register Izzet Prowess for Minneapolis - but how many mirrors do you really want to play over the course of the weekend? I'd rather play zero mirror matches.

Azorius Control | TDM Standard | Roman Fusco

• Creatures (7)
• 1 Horned Loch-Whale
• 1 Marang River Regent
• 2 Overlord of the Mistmoors
• 3 Beza, the Bounding Spring

• Planeswalkers (3)
• 1 Elspeth, Storm Slayer
• 2 Jace, the Perfected Mind

• Instants (15)
• 1 Change the Equation
• 1 Elspeth's Smite
• 2 Deduce
• 2 No More Lies
• 3 Get Lost
• 3 Ride's End
• 3 Three Steps Ahead

• Sorceries (7)
• 1 Sunfall
• 3 Day of Judgment
• 3 Stock Up

• Enchantments (2)
• 2 Temporary Lockdown

• Lands (26)
• 3 Island
• 5 Plains
• 1 Blast Zone
• 1 Demolition Field
• 2 Fountainport
• 2 Meticulous Archive
• 2 Mistrise Village
• 3 Restless Anchorage
• 3 Seachrome Coast
• 4 Floodfarm Verge

• Sideboard (15)
• 1 Boon-Bringer Valkyrie
• 2 Rest in Peace
• 1 Beza, the Bounding Spring
• 1 Negate
• 2 Obstinate Baloth
• 1 Wilt-Leaf Liege
• 1 Tishana's Tidebinder
• 1 Loran of the Third Path
• 1 Devout Decree
• 1 Elspeth's Smite
• 1 Destroy Evil
• 2 Authority of the Consuls

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While I know I'm probably registering Azorius Control for Minneapolis, I want to explain to you why I want to, over just registering stock Jeskai Control. In all honesty, I think Jeskai Control is a trap. It's not bad, but I'm not convinced it's the right choice. While I think Jeskai and Azorius are similarly positioned against the metagame at large, there are a few key reasons you need to understand why it's important to choose one over the other. Let's talk about the three key reasons to play Azorius over Jeskai Control in Standard.

Reason One - The Mana

The first important distinction between Jeskai and Azorius is the mana base of each deck. With Surveil lands, "check" lands, and fast lands, Standard has access to a pretty wide array of dual lands. On average, Jeskai decks play about seven or eight Surveil lands - this is before you factor in any copies of Fabled Passage or Cori Mountain Monastery. Azorius decks, on the other hand, only need about five (3 Restless Anchorage, 2 Meticulous Archive). In a format that's so aggressive with various Heartfire Hero decks and now Izzet Cori-Steel Cutter decks, it's important to hit your land drops to be able to cast your two-mana spells. It feels unrealistic to win games of Magic in this format on the draw against Red if your first play is on turn three, even if it's a Temporary Lockdown - that seems too slow in the age of Tersa Lightshatter and Into the Flood Maw.

Reason Two - The Utility Lands

The next important distinction between the mana bases of these decks is the utility lands. Sure, Jeskai gets Cori Mountain Monastery, which I think is useful in the long games in the mirror and against Esper Pixie, but Azorius gets so much more.

Fountainport is incredible in the mirror, and one of the best cards to open early on (I'll talk about this more in my next point), and it's your way to draw extra cards, create chump blockers, or go over the top of your opponent if you have an Elspeth, Storm Slayer in play. Blast Zone is also incredibly relevant in this current metagame. In a match at my local game store last week Blast Zone was important in keeping my Izzet Prowess opponent at bay, as a bit of instant-speed insurance against Slickshot Show-Off. While I'm not sure the exact meta to expect at the upcoming Regional Championships, I'm confident Izzet Prowess and various Heartfire Hero decks will be a large portion of the metagame, which is why I want access to an instant-speed wrath effect like this that I can include at no real cost to my mana base.

While Demolition Field isn't incredible in the current meta, I think destroying your opponent's Cori Mountain Monastery in the Jeskai mirror is backbreaking, but it also has some smaller applications. I could even see playing a second Blast Zone or just more Fountainports over this card. Restless Anchorage is another threat that Jeskai doesn't get access to. I like Restless Anchorage a lot in the Pixie matchup, and in the grindier matchups in general.

Overall, while Jeskai might have access to more powerful cards like Shiko, Paragon of the Way, I like the consistency of Azorius's mana base. I do think it's cool that you can bin cards with the Surveil lands for a later Shiko, Paragon of the Ways, especially by throwing away a Temporary Lockdown. However, I worry about the draws you have where you open on all tap lands and have to mulligan a perfectly fine mix of lands and spells just so you can keep up with your aggro opponent's start.

Reason Three - The Mirror Match

If you put a stock Jeskai Control list against a stock Azorius Control list, I'd bet money on Azorius every time. It's not that Jeskai necessarily can't win, but it lacks the tools that make it a favorite in the matchup.

When Control mirrors divulge into games of "draw, go" you want ways to gain advantages on your opponent's turn. In the last Standard meta, you could put pressure on your opponent during their turn with cards like The Wandering Emperor, Memory Deluge, and most notably, Mirrex. While Mirrex is absent from current Control lists, we have the next best thing in Fountainport.

Fountainport allows you to amass a small army that your opponent will end up having to spend real cards on, like Lightning Helix or Day of Judgment. You're always happy to have them trade real cards for tokens you make off a land, but more importantly Fountainport offers versatility.

It provides a way to win the game, card draw, and mana - it helps ensure you'll hit your land drops and out-mana your opponent on big turns where you need to cast multiple spells.

Besides Fountainport, Elspeth, Storm Slayer is your next best card against the mirror. You have to wait a bit to cast this one, since you don't want to auto-lose her to a Get Lost or Dispelling Exhale, but you can play in a way where you can tax your opponent's interaction to pave the way for a lethal Elspeth. Know what removal spells your opponent has at their disposal and how many they have left at a given point in a game. You'd much rather take over the game with an Elspeth on turn fifteen than lose her on turn five to two Lightning Helixes.

Finally, while Jeskai decks employ Jace, the Perfected Mind in their sideboards for the mirror, you can get the upper hand in a few ways. First, with Fountainport you can make Treasure tokens in the long game to get around their No More Lies or Dispelling Exhales. While they have access to some number of Three Steps Ahead and Negate (most Jeskai lists are running only 2 Three Steps), you can play Mistrise Village to ensure Jace gets through - the only thing that can stop a resolved Jace is Tishana's Tidebinder. If you're careful, you can out-Jace your Jeskai opponent, no sweat.

Overall, while I respect the power of Shiko, Paragon of the Way, I think I'll be sleeving up Azorius Control for RC Minneapolis. With the decks being close in power level I'd rather have an edge in the mirror, especially with Jeskai being the more popular deck of the two. With Azorius you still retain a decent aggro matchup with better mana, and while you may lack Shiko against Esper Pixie, you still get access to Fountainport to catch up in games you need a card draw engine. Above all else, Elspeth, Storm Slayer is such a powerful card that can completely take over a game if you plan accordingly; and it synergizes so well with the preexisting Azorius cards like Beza, the Bounding Spring, Deduce, Fountainport, and Three Steps Ahead.

With Jace, the Perfected Mind and Mistrise Village, you have a pretty unbeatable plan in the mirror. If you reserve enough discard spells for the Esper Pixie matchup, your Azorius sideboard can be well-tuned to battle the Cori-Steel Cutter decks while having the tools to dismantle the mirror and Azorius Omniscience.

While I still have a ton of testing to do before the Regional Championship, I'm inching closer to my desired list. For now I'm registering Azorius, but who knows? Maybe I'll crack the code for a Jeskai list that can take down the mirror.

Thanks for reading!

-Roman Fusco