Took this deck to a 1st place finish (4-0-1) at Gerard's One Stop Gaming Shop on 12-14-13. Went as fallows:
Rd 1: 2-0 vs Monoblack control (not devotion: Liliana and Nightmare)
Rd 2: 0-1 TIE vs Esper Control (Jace, AoT, Elspeth, etc. Tier 1)
Rd 3: 2-1 vs White Weenie (heroic)
PLAYOFFS
Rd 1: 2-1 vs Esper Control (same player)
Rd 2: 2-0 vs Golgari (Lotleth Troll, DR Shamen, Reaper of the Wilds)
I had been using an U/Wx deck with Tamiyo, Venser and Gideon, Champion of Justice. The point was to stall, making Gideon huge, then use Venser to make Gideon unblockable and attack wtih his '0' ability (becomes an indestructible human soldier). Other than that the deck was basically standard cards (Sphinx's Revelation, Verdicts, Azorius Charm).
I wanted to play Gideon in a tournament, as I find it to be a cool card. And (at the time) I own no copies of Jace, Architect of Thought or Elspeth, Sun's Champion. So I took what planeswalkers I did have and threw in Heliod, a difficult-to-remove permanent, to see what would happen.
***Changes since tourney***
MAIN:
-1 Spear of Heliod
-1 Ætherling (to SB)
+1 Elspeth, Sun's Champion
+1 Cyclonic Rift
SIDE:
-4 Yoked Ox
+3 Essence Scatter
+1 Ætherling
Basically stall like you would with any U/Wx deck. However, this deck is slightly more aggressive than other traditional control decks, being able to attack with Gideon or, if the field is open, even Omenspeker. The most obvious win condition is to drop Ajani, Caller of the Pride with Heliod or Gideon already on the field, giving one of the two flying and double-strike for 10-12 points of damage (at the least). Often when I did this, a resolved Ajani turned Heliod into a creature for the first time, with Gideon or a couple D-spheres already in play. Heliod becomes a creature once your devotion count equals five among your permanents, which Detention Sphere obviously is.
The deck has so many offensive weapons a traditional control deck does not have access to. Seeing as you don't have to tap Heliod to make his tokens (just use four mana), I could sometimes create two 2/1 clerics at my opponent's end step. I clinched my first round win with a flying double-strike cleric, dealing just enough damage to end the match. Daxos was also useful and fun to play. I don't do anything to protect him, and he's always a target. All that means is the opponent has one less removal spell for my planeswalkers or Heliod. Daxos gets in early every once in a while against creature decks, but was best in the Esper matchup, exiling a couple D-spheres and gaining some life (obviously usuful when that player was gaining his own life with Revelations).
Lastly, I cannot emphasize how good the two copies of Rogue's Passage were. This is definitely an underused card. Sure, it cost five mana to activate, but in a long, drawn-out control game, that's not even an issue. I used it any time I had nothing else to play, slipping in damage from Gideon, Heliod or especially Daxos (his ability activates only if he deals damage). In my final game, the clincher against the B/G player, I had sided in Fiendslayer Paladin for his psuedo-pro-black ability. Being a creature deck, the player had a few blockers on the board (including Agent of the Fates with deathtouch), but Rogue's Passage allowed me to create a 4-point life swing every time he attacked.
NOTES ON SIDEBOARD:
I never got to use Celestial Flare, but it's an obvious answer for Aetherling or Blood Baron of Vizkopa. Fiendslayer was money in the black matchups, while Glare of Heresy was great against white; against Esper, I got something back by exiling an opposing D-sphere and also took out an Elspeth, the single card that gave me the most trouble that night. Regarding Jace, Memory Adept, I really put that card in simply because I had seen other Tier 1 control decks put in one for the sideboard. I used him against Esper in a stalled control match, and the card advantage he afforded me every turn was definitely welcome.
The only card that was not particularly useful was Yoked Ox, and that may have been due to the fact that I did not face RDW or Boros Aggro that night. Against the white heroic, the opponent's enchantments and and combat tracks nullified the Ox's four power. I have replaced them with one Cyclonic Rift and three copies of Essence Scatter and will try that next time.
Any comments welcome. I look forward to trying this type of control deck in the future, to see if it can handle some of the more popular decks in the standard format.