I'm glad you're continuing the set, and I hope to make contributions to it.
The cancellation of Higaro was kind of sudden. I voted for eliminating it because I felt that the set really needed some specific breakthrough to happen for it to work as a Magic set. I felt that just having ships and oceans was not enough. Also, I feel that traditional Pirates aren't cool enough on their own in the context of a Magic set. Special work need to be taken to make them cool enough in this world (like Innistrad Werewolves vs. campy Lon Cheney Werewolves). Or, to make a special setting so that things like treasure-hunting, naval combat, or defying authority is important in this world, and to make the game play that way. As for the other judges, many of the judges commented that the mechanics didn't really feel that they were about the sea.
However, it was being cancelled for reasons we didn't necessarily point out in round 1. I wanted there to be another round to give people the chance to prove that the sets being eliminated could work, but looking at our schedule it seemed that we didn't have time.
I think it's great that you're continuing to work on this, and it's definitely what I will do if some of my favorite set concepts get eliminated. I really want to find out how they play, so I'll probably keep working on them.