Awesome, thanks for the response. The inclusion of 2x Underground Sea clears up my questions about the mana base.
Regarding null rod and strip effects, the Crucible helps. I can tutor it out early and survive. However, this is a major downside to a five color deck.
Going for an early Crucible definitely seems like the strongest line of play, if you don't have the tools to assemble Vault+Key or Tinker+Robot right away. You can either outpace your opponent by reusing fetches, or try to lock them out with your own Strip/Waste+Crucible. The fact that you've had success against BUG speaks to this deck being resilient enough to fight through some mana disruption.