Thanks for all of the help and for breaking down your explanations for me. I have very little experience in the format and try to read as much as I can and look over deck lists and watch matches. The help is very much appreciated! I was thinking of balance as a reset button like the supreme verdict in case things get out of hand and I need to "pull the chute" so to speak. I know that sometimes having that backup can really help and having it at a lower mana cost against a shops deck seems appealing as opposed to the 4 mana spell which gets expensive with spheres in play. I'll go back to the drawing board a bit with it and try to play test some. Thanks again for all the insights! This format is so fascinating and complex from a construction point of view.

@lizardking1545 PM sent

Changed Cruise to Mana Drain, sideboard changed Dread to Spitters and cut third Leyline for another Mana Drain. Went 4-3 in P9 challenge. Losses to Dredge, Esper Mentor, and Montolio (Tks Shops). Beat Dredge, UW Standstill, Blue Moon, and UWR Mentor. Main deck feels pretty good at this point. I might want to change 1 of the colorless lands or the basic swamp to some other land (Bayou or Trop). Sideboard is very tough to figure out. You need certain cards like Cage to not auto lose to Oath but maybe Oath is so small a % it is worth skipping? They would just be more Leyline anyways though. Spitters are great against White Eldrazi and Grixis but suck against TKShops and Mentor. Idk what to do with the board from here.

Too much to respond from thoroughly at the moment, but I will say this. I tested Cruise and don't like it without playing Dack Faydens. Dig is just better. I chose top to I could smooth my draws better. I don't want more artifact fast mana because I play this as a landstill/grindy control deck first and foremost. The worst thing would be playing a Standstill and drawing moxes. My list is a direct reflection of my playstyle. If I wanted a more aggressive oath list with faster and more aggressive plays, it certainly wouldn't be a landstill variation.