I (Alban Lauter) can honestly tell you that I believe this kind of Confidant control is the best blue archetype in the current metagame. I used this kind of deck 3 years ago the last time playing Elephant Oath for about 2 years and Gush Storm for almost a year afterwards and it just didn't make sense to play Gush any further getting crushed by all those Flusterstorms which appeared in almost every controlish deck mainboard. Misstep is another pain in the ass against Fastbond and whatever. So it is no surprise for me there isn't a single Gush list in the Top8. Snapcasters don't play a huge role in this deck and should be seen as a nice addon. Kinda ridiculous to call it "Snapcaster Control", a name widely spread on the internet.

Well, I believe it doesn`t have any really hard matchups, performing especially well against all types of Stax and Mud after sideboarding. As long as the other player lets you a few turns without an early threat like Orchard/Mox/Oath or Tinker with FoW backup you should be fine. Some might prefer a green sideboard over red, a change I wouldn't consider however. Depending on the Metagame the Fire/Ice might be an optional slot which could be changed for something else. I will be interested in the upcoming testing and how the new cage might affect the list and the amount Snapcaster will still be used in it. We will see.

Hey, I tested different Oath builds for a longer time in several tournaments and the one posted above is the most successful so far. Before I used to play a Strip Mine in my main deck as well and it was strong, especially against dredge but also a bit random. In this build I am not able to play it anymore mainly because I really need the 3rd Underground Sea to play Thoughtseize when I need it. In fact the 2 Thoughtseize as well as the 2 Show and Tell won many games for me. As sideboardcards the wasteeffects  however worked really well. I normally board the Strip + Wasteland in against Dredge, MUD and Stax, Noble Fish and also against Oath Mirror. You'd always want those extra lands against all those and they are far more flexible than for an example Pithing Needle or Yailer. Moreover Tolarian and Library are far too strong against every Control Mirror since you want to be able to play like a regular Tezzeret many times. For the extra sideboardcards I guess you won't need more since you hardly have any matchups under 50% winning ratio (if you don't fail of course ).

Vs. Noble Fish the 2 mainboard Show and Tell or Tinker win most of the games. Balance, Massacre and Darkblast do the rest after boarding and the 2nd Terastodon increases your chance for a successful Show and Tell.

Vs. all Stax/MUD it is hard to lose if you win the diceroll of the 1st round. In my opinion you won't need something like Energy Flux. Only Chalice of the Void can be really annoying and he usually isn't able to play Chalice 1 for Nature's Claim, Chalice 2 for Oath and Chalice 3 for Tinker, so you should have an option all the time.

Vs. Dredge you are set up well with 8 cards in your sideboard. It is always a question of who draws more sideboard/anti sideboardcards. 1 Nature's Claim should be put inside after boarding because many players use the White Leyline nowadays after boarding.

Greetings. Alban