Essentially, it's just Cruel Control. The Djinn/Sage Owl/Ponder allows for a possibility of a end of turn Cruel/Bolas. If they kill the Djinn's thats fine. That's why Sphinx of Jwar Isle is in side board. Sideboard in Sphinx of Jwar isle, and render their removal useless. But to answer your question, yes. It just uses the Sage Owls and Ponders in such a way to "stack the deck" instead of wishing a cruel at end of turn.
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I play standard, and didn't want this deck to be not-standard.