Ya, cutting Monstrous Carabid seems pretty terrible. It's a hybrid cycler that doesn't die to bolt or push. Not having them will almost certainly cause you to lose games where the extra +1/+1 stat would have let you run away with it. Also, you're actively playing a full set of a card you can't actually hardcast. I feel you're doing yourself a disservice by playing architects instead of bugs.
You mentioned "The cost to emerge is only UU instead of 2UU, which means you cannot sacrifice an additional Sanctum of Ugin." Am I missing something here? Sanctum says whenever you cast a colorless spell that has a cmc of 7 or greater you can sacrifice it. The cmc of Elder is still 8 regardless of if its cost was reduced with emerge.
Match-Ups:
Round 1: Josh Milliken with G/R Monsters
Game 1 - He went mana guy into Courser into Polukranos into Nissa. I kept a decent hand against an unknown deck. I believe it was lands, blight, downfall, vault, dig. Nissa is an absolute beating if it can't get ripped from their hand or countered on the way down. It is also the only thing that vault doesn't clean up completely. That unfortunately spelled the end for me.
Game 2 - He mulled to a loose 6 and his hand was very soft to a targeted discard spell. A turn 1 Thoughtseize took a mana accelerant and I was able to hit my land drops and sit back until I could find a PLA.
Game 3 - It was kind of the same scenario. He had a hand full of 5 and 8 drops. I just killed his Coursers and kept him from filtering his draws.
This matchup is very easy to win if you can stop a Nissa from hitting. It's easily the worst permanent against this deck IMO.
1-0-0
Round 2: Ben Steiner with Abzan Midrange
Game 1 - It went how most midrange matchups should go. Trading 1 for 1, possibly more until they're topdecking. Unfortunately it took a while.
Game 2 - I got him into topdeck mode. He ripped an Elspeth and I had no answer. I was low enough in life were 3 soldiers just killed me. I did board out all the blights. This was a mistake I feel, as I was thinking of that exact situation whilst boarding. But I couldn't find anything else to cut. Keeping in a singleton would have given me a silver bullet to dig for. I dug twice for a vault instead, and found none.
Game 3 - Obviously I nor my opponent could win in under 5 minutes. He asked if I would concede to him, to which I actually laughed aloud. Unintentional draw. :/
1-0-1
Round 3: RG McCaman with Jeskai Tokens (Yuuya's Worlds 75)
Game 1 - After we discussed that it sucks he got paired down we started to resolve mulligans. It was a battle indeed. A long game one left me at 1 life for turns. I got him in topdecking mode. He had an ascendancy in play though. I was able to gain is little life in increments thanks to the life lands. I exhausted all his resources, and even though he resolved 3 out of the 4 cruises he cast, I was able to take the first game.
Game 2 - I had a lot of hate for aggro based decks. This game was much easier. Between the drowns, cures, and murk lurkers, it was quite academic. I'm sure you all know that the lurkers are best friends with PLA. And gosh bless his heart, he refused to scoop even when I went over 30 life when he had no hand or board presence.
2-0-1
Round 4: Wally Wallerstein with Boros Heroic
Game 1 - He came out of the gate very fast. My fourth land came into play tapped. I felt that was the end for me. I missed my fifth land drop and played a vault. He swung me down to 8 life. I had no land in hand and needed to hit an untapped land, preferably an island seeing as I had 1 blue source in play. Untap, upkeep, draw.....an ISLAND!!!! Lucksack, I know. I pulled the trigger on his attack phase. He plays another guy. I miss yet another land drop in my 28 land deck, and pass the turn. He gets me down to 3 and passes. I draw a land, play it and pass. I kill his guy on his turn. He tries to burn me for the win, it meets a stroke. I draw a fountain and go up to 5. He plays a land and passed. I have had a PLA in hand since the opener. It's like a pseudo mull to minus 1 of the x amount of cards in hand, borderline all of the time. I have no counter magic in hand and figure I'm dead to pretty much everything, so I end step a PLA. I figured his draws were more live than mine considering how low my life is. My turn I draw another PLA.....jeez. Not what I wanted to see. He plays another land and passes. Wow. He hit a real land pocket here. I end step the second ancient. I attack for 12 and he stokes in response. I stroke it just in case he drew a strike to finish me off. He sais he just wanted to make sure I had a counter. A lightning strike was not the other card in his hand. Got game one in an odd fashion. Mulling to 6 and having a pearl in hand is not where I wanted to be. But his bad draws compared to my also seemingly horrendous/good draws put me above him that game. He also confided to me that he drew the stoke a turn after I played the fountain that put me out of range.
Game 2 - It was very much like game 2 of the last round. He has to overextend and gets punished by drowns, blights, and cures.
3-0-1
Round 5: Familiar face, unknown name with Abzan Midrange
Game 1 - I felt I kept a decent 6 on the draw knowing what my opponent was playing. The mana was wonky though. My hand was swamp, delta, fountain, dig, dissolve, downfall. I drew another downfall and played a swamp. He Thoughtseized me and takes dig. I draw a swamp, and play the delta. He does the courser thing and passed. I crack the fetch at end step for an island. I untap and draw, obviously I don't rip a land, and play my swamp. I downfall a rhino he plays on his turn. My turn....no land again. I play fountain and pass. He does more things while I continue to draw double blue spells during that time I draw two more lands. Those unfortunately, were regular old swamps. Then, around turn 11-12 I draw a land that's not a swamp! Dear Lord! Thank you! Thank you for this...this...Evolving Wilds. There is no God. The life tilt was real. Let's go to the next game.
Game 2 - My hand was okay I guess. I don't remember a lot from that game, but I do know I was Thoughseized a bunch. It was a real game at least. I was digging for answers but found none. I could have taken a different line though. I was at 2 and he had a Courser, I dug in his turn to find a kill spell. I failed to do so. I could have dug on my turn, trying to find a fountain to keep me alive another turn, barring he didn't have a charm to pump his guy. I found the fountain in the top 7, but not anything else relevant. It was sloppy play on my part.
3-1-1
Round 6: Chris Kronenberger with Jeskai Heroic Combo
Game 1 - He has a slower hand and stops on 2 mana. One of them was a scry land to which he was in that tank on for some time. He plays a couple of guys and I manage to kill them around his protection spells. He eventually plays a drum and casts an ascendancy. I counter it. He hits his third land and plays another ascendancy, I have no answer. He plays some noncreature spells and filters his draws. Somehow he gets another ascendancy and plays a raise the alarm. I can't do anything about it. He plays an outburst, then a stoke to kill me and I only had two do nothing cards in hand and a PLA out that couldn't soak up enough damage.
Game 2 - I bring in the aggro hate and things go as planned. He can't get anything to stick and his burn spells are combatted by counters.
Game 3 - It goes to time and we know drawing doesn't do either of us any good. I show him my two cards in hand of Dig and PLA and he ships me the win. Thanks bro.
4-1-1
Quarter Finals: A nice individual with Jeskai Tokens (Yuuya's Worlds 75 almost)
Game 1 - He does stuff and so do I. He gets an ascendancy out. Then next turn he taps four mana. I assume for Chandra, but nope. He plays a Bident of Thassa. *Jaw Drops* He follows it up with an outburst. I can't find a counter and have no bile blight in hand. He attacks and rips 3 off the top. Disgusting. He cruises, seems bad for me. I finally handle the tokens. He does nothing for a few turns while I'm at 1 life. I thought that there was a slight chance to pull away from this if I can't find a few counters and a PLA, but he rips a rabblemaster off the top and ends my life with a little goblin.
Game 2 - I board in negates, drowns, and 1 cure. This seems to be going poorly for me since he resolves a cruise. He had a full grip and I said I hope you have 5 lands in your hand. He said it's close. He has an ascendancy out but literally has a strike and lands in his hand. A PLA makes quick work of him. We both were astounded how bad his cruise/draws were. Variance rears its ugly head again. But that's magic.
Game 3 - We go back and fourth. Me killing his guys, him pushing a little burn through. I'm trying not to let any 4 damage spells resolve after the first. He gets the namesake enchantment out and the bident. But he is playing off the top now and can't get any traction as an ancient that resides in pearl lake is taking massive chunks out of his life total. On to the semis. He tells me later that he hated chandra in Yuuya's list so he took them out and put another jeskai charm and a bident in their place. It seemed pretty awesome against me and had been working well for him all day.
Semi Finals: Nick Cowden with Jeskai Burn
Game 1 - Ugh. I was dreading this matchup. The mainboard negate was a nod to this deck in particular. I keep a 6 card hand like usual. He was first in the Swiss so I was in the draw in every match in the top 8 as I was 5th going into it. He plays a scry land and ships it to the bottom. I play a land and pass. He plays another land and a seeker. I play a swamp and pass. He swings seeker and puts me to 18, sighs and says go. I bile blight his guy end step. I play another land and pass. He draws and passes. Same series of events happens again. He draws and passes I cast ingenuity at the end of his turn, he strokes it. I hit my land drop and pass. On his upkeep he magma jets me, I counter it but he naturally draws a land off the top. I felt at this point it was too late for him to come back. I played a PLA and got game one.
Game 2 - it was a back and forth fight. I stopped hitting land after the fourth for a few turns. It put me pretty far behind. He cast 3 digs, 2 of which relived. And I cast 3 digs and an ingenuity, none of which resolved. They were met with 3 strokes and a negate. Sad face. I was at 8 life. I managed to get an ancient out, he was at 6 from a couple of hits by that big guy. He had 2 cards in hand. He end step jets me, kept one on top and shipped the other, then he fired off a charm taking me to 2. He draws another charm to kill me.
Game 3 - This one was actually a good game. We both hit land drops and were playing spells. I'm at 8 and he's at 6. I have a PLA and he's trying to resolve a mantis rider. I play an ingenuity in response to find a counter/kill spell. He strokes it. I play a dig in response, it resolves. I find a downfall and a dissolve. I let the rider resolve and target it with a downfall. He extends his hand.
Finals: Kasey Walton with Mardu Midrange
Game 1 - He realizes while looking as his opening 7 that he didn't remove all of his sideboard cards from his original 60. He calls the judge on himself and they give him a warning. He takes them out and mulligans to 6 and keeps. I mull to 6 also. At this point I think I've kept a 7 card hand around 4 times today. He plays a couple of lands and plays a brain maggot. Yup, that's right. Brain Maggot. It was odd to me, but if it works, it works. I have a pretty good hand so I'm just sculpting at this time. I draw a despise and cast it. I see he has 3 Crackling Doom. Gross. I realize at that point this will be a very long game. And I was right, it took an hour for game one. He didn't really do much outside of getting his bloodsoaked champion, rabblemaster, butcher, and dragons killed. He packed it up after I forced the dooms from his grip.
Game 2 - This was a better game. He had a couple thoughtseizes for me. I brought in a singleton Grindclock just in case he played stain the mind or something. I got a couple of his guys with a vault including a stormbreath, but he just followed it up with another one. I murdered that one and the game was over for the most part. He hamd no more pressure in hand and didn't really draw any.
7-1-1
I thought my list was pretty good. I don't know why I had to mulligan so much but in the end it didn't matter. I played really tight, especially during the jeskai matchups. Every point of damage could spell the end a turn or two later. I obviously had a little bit of luck on my side. I also didn't think this tournament was soft like I had originally perceived. At least my opponents we very seasoned. As I know my round 1 opponent just went to the pro tour and top 8'ed the Hawaii states. Round 2 opponent recently top 8'ed an SCG standard open. Round 3 opponent has found himself in many a large local tournament across all formats. Round 4 opponent is a very skilled limited player so maybe constructed isn't his thing. He still top 16'ed the tournament though. Round 5 opponent? I don't know what he's done to be honest. Round 6 opponent just top 8'ed/4'ed 2 modern ptq (last season obviously) and won a legacy open. Quarterfinalist I've never heard of, but his play was very solid. I'm assuming he's seasoned. Semifinalist also won a legacy open. And the finalist, well, that may have been the easiest match all day. The point I'm getting at I guess is I played against some guys that know what they're doing, and with tight play, this deck came out on top. I couldn't be happier. Especially since there were guys there telling me that they were thinking about playing UB Control but thought it wasn't good enough to compete. There are some extremely powerful cards in this archetype, you just need to know how to wield them.
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I managed to take down a PPTQ this weekend with UB Control. My list was as follows:
2 Pearl Lake Ancient
Spells (30)
4 Hero's Downfall
4 Dissolve
4 Dig Through Time
4 Bile Blight
3 Jace's Ingenuity
2 Disdainful Stroke
1 Negate
1 Silence the Believers
1 AEtherspouts
2 Despise
4 Perilous Vault
4 Temple of Deceit
4 Dismal Backwater
4 Polluted Delta
4 Radiant Fountain
1 Flooded Strand
1 Evolving Wilds
1 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
5 Swamp
4 Island
4 Drown in Sorrow
2 Negate
2 Jorubai Murk Lurker
2 Pharika's Cure
3 Thoughtseize
2 Grindclock
I went 7-1-1 total.
Match-Ups:
Round 1: Josh Milliken with G/R Monsters
Game 1 - He went mana guy into Courser into Polukranos into Nissa. I kept a decent hand against an unknown deck. I believe it was lands, blight, downfall, vault, dig. Nissa is an absolute beating if it can't get ripped from their hand or countered on the way down. It is also the only thing that vault doesn't clean up completely. That unfortunately spelled the end for me.
Game 2 - He mulled to a loose 6 and his hand was very soft to a targeted discard spell. A turn 1 Thoughtseize took a mana accelerant and I was able to hit my land drops and sit back until I could find a PLA.
Game 3 - It was kind of the same scenario. He had a hand full of 5 and 8 drops. I just killed his Coursers and kept him from filtering his draws.
This matchup is very easy to win if you can stop a Nissa from hitting. It's easily the worst permanent against this deck IMO.
1-0-0
Round 2: Ben Steiner with Abzan Midrange
Game 1 - It went how most midrange matchups should go. Trading 1 for 1, possibly more until they're topdecking. Unfortunately it took a while.
Game 2 - I got him into topdeck mode. He ripped an Elspeth and I had no answer. I was low enough in life were 3 soldiers just killed me. I did board out all the blights. This was a mistake I feel, as I was thinking of that exact situation whilst boarding. But I couldn't find anything else to cut. Keeping in a singleton would have given me a silver bullet to dig for. I dug twice for a vault instead, and found none.
Game 3 - Obviously I nor my opponent could win in under 5 minutes. He asked if I would concede to him, to which I actually laughed aloud. Unintentional draw. :/
1-0-1
Round 3: RG McCaman with Jeskai Tokens (Yuuya's Worlds 75)
Game 1 - After we discussed that it sucks he got paired down we started to resolve mulligans. It was a battle indeed. A long game one left me at 1 life for turns. I got him in topdecking mode. He had an ascendancy in play though. I was able to gain is little life in increments thanks to the life lands. I exhausted all his resources, and even though he resolved 3 out of the 4 cruises he cast, I was able to take the first game.
Game 2 - I had a lot of hate for aggro based decks. This game was much easier. Between the drowns, cures, and murk lurkers, it was quite academic. I'm sure you all know that the lurkers are best friends with PLA. And gosh bless his heart, he refused to scoop even when I went over 30 life when he had no hand or board presence.
2-0-1
Round 4: Wally Wallerstein with Boros Heroic
Game 1 - He came out of the gate very fast. My fourth land came into play tapped. I felt that was the end for me. I missed my fifth land drop and played a vault. He swung me down to 8 life. I had no land in hand and needed to hit an untapped land, preferably an island seeing as I had 1 blue source in play. Untap, upkeep, draw.....an ISLAND!!!! Lucksack, I know. I pulled the trigger on his attack phase. He plays another guy. I miss yet another land drop in my 28 land deck, and pass the turn. He gets me down to 3 and passes. I draw a land, play it and pass. I kill his guy on his turn. He tries to burn me for the win, it meets a stroke. I draw a fountain and go up to 5. He plays a land and passed. I have had a PLA in hand since the opener. It's like a pseudo mull to minus 1 of the x amount of cards in hand, borderline all of the time. I have no counter magic in hand and figure I'm dead to pretty much everything, so I end step a PLA. I figured his draws were more live than mine considering how low my life is. My turn I draw another PLA.....jeez. Not what I wanted to see. He plays another land and passes. Wow. He hit a real land pocket here. I end step the second ancient. I attack for 12 and he stokes in response. I stroke it just in case he drew a strike to finish me off. He sais he just wanted to make sure I had a counter. A lightning strike was not the other card in his hand. Got game one in an odd fashion. Mulling to 6 and having a pearl in hand is not where I wanted to be. But his bad draws compared to my also seemingly horrendous/good draws put me above him that game. He also confided to me that he drew the stoke a turn after I played the fountain that put me out of range.
Game 2 - It was very much like game 2 of the last round. He has to overextend and gets punished by drowns, blights, and cures.
3-0-1
Round 5: Familiar face, unknown name with Abzan Midrange
Game 1 - I felt I kept a decent 6 on the draw knowing what my opponent was playing. The mana was wonky though. My hand was swamp, delta, fountain, dig, dissolve, downfall. I drew another downfall and played a swamp. He Thoughtseized me and takes dig. I draw a swamp, and play the delta. He does the courser thing and passed. I crack the fetch at end step for an island. I untap and draw, obviously I don't rip a land, and play my swamp. I downfall a rhino he plays on his turn. My turn....no land again. I play fountain and pass. He does more things while I continue to draw double blue spells during that time I draw two more lands. Those unfortunately, were regular old swamps. Then, around turn 11-12 I draw a land that's not a swamp! Dear Lord! Thank you! Thank you for this...this...Evolving Wilds. There is no God. The life tilt was real. Let's go to the next game.
Game 2 - My hand was okay I guess. I don't remember a lot from that game, but I do know I was Thoughseized a bunch. It was a real game at least. I was digging for answers but found none. I could have taken a different line though. I was at 2 and he had a Courser, I dug in his turn to find a kill spell. I failed to do so. I could have dug on my turn, trying to find a fountain to keep me alive another turn, barring he didn't have a charm to pump his guy. I found the fountain in the top 7, but not anything else relevant. It was sloppy play on my part.
3-1-1
Round 6: Chris Kronenberger with Jeskai Heroic Combo
Game 1 - He has a slower hand and stops on 2 mana. One of them was a scry land to which he was in that tank on for some time. He plays a couple of guys and I manage to kill them around his protection spells. He eventually plays a drum and casts an ascendancy. I counter it. He hits his third land and plays another ascendancy, I have no answer. He plays some noncreature spells and filters his draws. Somehow he gets another ascendancy and plays a raise the alarm. I can't do anything about it. He plays an outburst, then a stoke to kill me and I only had two do nothing cards in hand and a PLA out that couldn't soak up enough damage.
Game 2 - I bring in the aggro hate and things go as planned. He can't get anything to stick and his burn spells are combatted by counters.
Game 3 - It goes to time and we know drawing doesn't do either of us any good. I show him my two cards in hand of Dig and PLA and he ships me the win. Thanks bro.
4-1-1
Quarter Finals: A nice individual with Jeskai Tokens (Yuuya's Worlds 75 almost)
Game 1 - He does stuff and so do I. He gets an ascendancy out. Then next turn he taps four mana. I assume for Chandra, but nope. He plays a Bident of Thassa. *Jaw Drops* He follows it up with an outburst. I can't find a counter and have no bile blight in hand. He attacks and rips 3 off the top. Disgusting. He cruises, seems bad for me. I finally handle the tokens. He does nothing for a few turns while I'm at 1 life. I thought that there was a slight chance to pull away from this if I can't find a few counters and a PLA, but he rips a rabblemaster off the top and ends my life with a little goblin.
Game 2 - I board in negates, drowns, and 1 cure. This seems to be going poorly for me since he resolves a cruise. He had a full grip and I said I hope you have 5 lands in your hand. He said it's close. He has an ascendancy out but literally has a strike and lands in his hand. A PLA makes quick work of him. We both were astounded how bad his cruise/draws were. Variance rears its ugly head again. But that's magic.
Game 3 - We go back and fourth. Me killing his guys, him pushing a little burn through. I'm trying not to let any 4 damage spells resolve after the first. He gets the namesake enchantment out and the bident. But he is playing off the top now and can't get any traction as an ancient that resides in pearl lake is taking massive chunks out of his life total. On to the semis. He tells me later that he hated chandra in Yuuya's list so he took them out and put another jeskai charm and a bident in their place. It seemed pretty awesome against me and had been working well for him all day.
Semi Finals: Nick Cowden with Jeskai Burn
Game 1 - Ugh. I was dreading this matchup. The mainboard negate was a nod to this deck in particular. I keep a 6 card hand like usual. He was first in the Swiss so I was in the draw in every match in the top 8 as I was 5th going into it. He plays a scry land and ships it to the bottom. I play a land and pass. He plays another land and a seeker. I play a swamp and pass. He swings seeker and puts me to 18, sighs and says go. I bile blight his guy end step. I play another land and pass. He draws and passes. Same series of events happens again. He draws and passes I cast ingenuity at the end of his turn, he strokes it. I hit my land drop and pass. On his upkeep he magma jets me, I counter it but he naturally draws a land off the top. I felt at this point it was too late for him to come back. I played a PLA and got game one.
Game 2 - it was a back and forth fight. I stopped hitting land after the fourth for a few turns. It put me pretty far behind. He cast 3 digs, 2 of which relived. And I cast 3 digs and an ingenuity, none of which resolved. They were met with 3 strokes and a negate. Sad face. I was at 8 life. I managed to get an ancient out, he was at 6 from a couple of hits by that big guy. He had 2 cards in hand. He end step jets me, kept one on top and shipped the other, then he fired off a charm taking me to 2. He draws another charm to kill me.
Game 3 - This one was actually a good game. We both hit land drops and were playing spells. I'm at 8 and he's at 6. I have a PLA and he's trying to resolve a mantis rider. I play an ingenuity in response to find a counter/kill spell. He strokes it. I play a dig in response, it resolves. I find a downfall and a dissolve. I let the rider resolve and target it with a downfall. He extends his hand.
Finals: Kasey Walton with Mardu Midrange
Game 1 - He realizes while looking as his opening 7 that he didn't remove all of his sideboard cards from his original 60. He calls the judge on himself and they give him a warning. He takes them out and mulligans to 6 and keeps. I mull to 6 also. At this point I think I've kept a 7 card hand around 4 times today. He plays a couple of lands and plays a brain maggot. Yup, that's right. Brain Maggot. It was odd to me, but if it works, it works. I have a pretty good hand so I'm just sculpting at this time. I draw a despise and cast it. I see he has 3 Crackling Doom. Gross. I realize at that point this will be a very long game. And I was right, it took an hour for game one. He didn't really do much outside of getting his bloodsoaked champion, rabblemaster, butcher, and dragons killed. He packed it up after I forced the dooms from his grip.
Game 2 - This was a better game. He had a couple thoughtseizes for me. I brought in a singleton Grindclock just in case he played stain the mind or something. I got a couple of his guys with a vault including a stormbreath, but he just followed it up with another one. I murdered that one and the game was over for the most part. He hamd no more pressure in hand and didn't really draw any.
7-1-1
I thought my list was pretty good. I don't know why I had to mulligan so much but in the end it didn't matter. I played really tight, especially during the jeskai matchups. Every point of damage could spell the end a turn or two later. I obviously had a little bit of luck on my side. I also didn't think this tournament was soft like I had originally perceived. At least my opponents we very seasoned. As I know my round 1 opponent just went to the pro tour and top 8'ed the Hawaii states. Round 2 opponent recently top 8'ed an SCG standard open. Round 3 opponent has found himself in many a large local tournament across all formats. Round 4 opponent is a very skilled limited player so maybe constructed isn't his thing. He still top 16'ed the tournament though. Round 5 opponent? I don't know what he's done to be honest. Round 6 opponent just top 8'ed/4'ed 2 modern ptq (last season obviously) and won a legacy open. Quarterfinalist I've never heard of, but his play was very solid. I'm assuming he's seasoned. Semifinalist also won a legacy open. And the finalist, well, that may have been the easiest match all day. The point I'm getting at I guess is I played against some guys that know what they're doing, and with tight play, this deck came out on top. I couldn't be happier. Especially since there were guys there telling me that they were thinking about playing UB Control but thought it wasn't good enough to compete. There are some extremely powerful cards in this archetype, you just need to know how to wield them.