Ladies and gentlemen, the best control deck you're not playing: Counterburn!
Through use of counterspells and Young Pyromancer/Guttersnipe, you'll be countering everything your opponents do while also flooding the board and Shocking for every spell you play. Purphoros is, for the most part, a red herring, but he has his uses here.
I've been playing this deck for months now with minor revisions here and there and as long as I can keep up with the complexity of the play line, it performs admirably.
I haven't played against mono-black much but here's the rest of the (basic) Standard meta breakdown:
U/W/X Control: Extremely favorable. Young Pyromancer takes over the board so quickly that you can win off of pure burn game 1. Game 2, they'll board in stuff to hurt you but that's where Ral Zarek takes over.
Mono-Blue: Somewhat favorable. As long as your hand isn't that slow or theirs isn't perfect, you'll win. Otherwise they run you over both games.
Monsters: Extremely unfavorable. I've never won a match against the G/R or mono-G Monsters decks. Their creatures aren't susceptible to burn and they can cast creatures faster than you can counter them.
Aggo: Very favorable. Monowhite, using Fiendslayer Paladin is about the only aggo match that's even remotely hard. You kill their stuff with burn and destroy them with 1/1 Elemental tokens.
Sideboarding Guide:
Turn / Burn: Monsters, Mono-Black (remove Lightning Strike)
Frostburn Weird: Aggro (remove Divination)
Searing Blood: Aggro (remove Purphoros, Keranos)
Gainsay: U/W/x Control, Mono-Blue (remove Mizzium Mortars)
Ral Zarek: U/W/x Control (remove Purphoros, Keranos is wonderful here)
Jace, Memory Adept: Only here til I can get more Cyclonic Rifts
The Maybeboard here is replacements for the 2 Jace, Memory Adept in the sideboard (for Cyclonic Rifts to help with Monsters), and the remaining 2 Purphoros (for Keranos, mainboard) as the extra reach is far better than the odd 2 bonus damage for a creature. I also plan to replace the Guildgates with Temples since untapped lands are important here.
By far, the best feeling with this deck is to cast Lightning Strike with Young Pyromancer, Guttersnipe, and Purphoros, God of the Forge out. You'll get 7 damage (3+2+2) and a 1/1 Elemental for 2 mana! Unfortunately this doesn't happen that much so Purphoros will be getting cut soon.
