OK, here's my Sealed pool from a Sealed PTQ Sunday at GP ATL
Just curious to see if anyone would build different than I did

White:
2 x Sheltering Light
2 x Vampire's Zeal
2 x Paladin of the Bloodstained
1 x Encampment Keeper
1 x Legion's Judgment
1 x Legion Conquistador
1 x Looming Altisaur
1 x Inspiring Cleric
1 x Axis of Morality
1 x Wakening Sun's Avatar


Blue:
2 x Shore Keeper
2 x Siren Lookout
2 x Siren's Ruse
2 x Run Aground
1 x Siren Stormtamer
1 x Opt
1 x Depths of Desire
1 x One With the Wind
1 x Deadeye Quartermaster
1 x Headwater Sentries


Black:
2 x Costly Plunder
2 x Annointed Deacon
1 x Queen's Bay Soldier
1 x Desperate Castaways
1 x Blight Keeper
1 x Skittering Heartstopper
1 x Skymarch Bloodletter
1 x March of the Damned
1 x Dire Fleet Hoarder
1 x Vanquish the Weak
1 x Deathless Ancient
1 x Deadeye Tormentor
1 x Dire Fleet Interloper
1 x Spreading Rot


Red:2 x Firecannon Blast
2 x Fire Shrine Keeper
1 x Charging Monstrosaur
1 x Sunbird's Invocation
1 x Demolish
1 x Lightning Strike
1 x Nest Robber
1 x Trove of Temptation
1 x Wily Goblin
1 x Sure Strike
1 x Vance's Blasting Cannons
1 x Brazen Buccaneers
1 x Storm Fleet Pyromancer
1 x Fathom Fleet Firebrand


Green:
2 x Crash the Ramparts
2 x River Hearald's Boon
2 x Blinding Fog
1 x Verdant Rebirth
1 x Thundering Spineback
1 x Ixalli's Keeper
1 x Deeproot Warrior
1 x Ravenous Daggertooth
1 x Vineshaper Mystic
1 x Atzocan Archer
1 x Savage Stomp
1 x Waker of the Wilds
1 x Emperor's Vangaurd
1 x Blossom Dryad


Multicolor and Colorless:
2 x Pirate's Cutlass
2 x Hierophant's Chalice
1 x Unknown Shores
1 x Belligerent Brontodon
1 x Marauding Looter
1 x Shapers of Nature


I'll be honest, I was not too excited about my pool, but I might just be wrong. Ended up losing to bad draws (Drawing 14 of 17 lands game one, crushed game 2, game three didn't draw one of my 6 out spells over 3 turns)

Hmmmm. A real challenge.

Blue is quite bad, and the first color I dismissed. White has good tricks and creatures, but no two drops. Black is fine, and I built a BW deck, but it fell short of the RG one. Even the RG is a few cards short, so there are a few hard decisions to make. I decided to splash blue for the two gold cards, but then I'm greedy. Without the splash, you're left with playing a Nest Robber and Blossom Dryad to make up the creature count, and that's just bad.

1 x Ixalli's Keeper
1 x Deeproot Warrior
1 x Fathom Fleet Firebrand
1 x Ravenous Daggertooth
1 x Vineshaper Mystic
1 x Emperor's Vanguard
1 x Waker of the Wilds
1 x Brazen Buccaneers
1 x Charging Monstrosaur
1 x Storm Fleet Pyromancer
1 x Atzocan Archer
1 x Thundering Spineback
1 x Lightning Strike
2 x Firecannon Blast
2 x River Heralds' Boon
2 x Pirate's Cutlass
1 x Marauding Looter
1 x Shapers of Nature
1 x Savage Stomp
1 x Crash the Ramparts


This brings the most power to the table, and certainly has the potential to win matches. It has a good long game, with Looter, Shapers, and Waker.

Things I don't like about it are the splash (it adds a lot of power, but there is no fixing excepting the single copy of Unknown Shores, which you'd have to play), the curve is a bit on the high side and I'd prefer a creature or two more as the combat tricks can be dead cards if your creatures are dealt with. Also, only the raided Blasts to deal with big things, and even six damage sometimes won't get the job done.

Things I'm not sure about are: a Sure Strike and the second Crash the Ramparts instead of two Pirate's Cutlass? I think the best would be a Cutlass and the Strike, but I don't know, Cutlass is just such a great card. In a league, I'd try out the Sunbirds's Invocation and Vance's Blasting Cannons, and I'd board them in here against slow decks.

The BW deck would need to splash for Lightning Strike and Gorix, its early drops are unimpressive, and its late game (two Deacons) is weak. Its removal is situational, and it's not aggressive enough to make full use of the Vampire's Zeal

UB flyers and cutlasses splashing for the mostruosaur with trasures is terrible,right?

I ended up going blue/green splash red for removal (Or Red/Green splash blue for cheap things with only U in their cost?)

In that game I draw 14 lands, I had T3 Siren Lookout, and cast Siren's Ruse on it twice. Literally EVERY explore I did was a land. I even cast the second one too. So I had like 5 or 6 explore triggers game one and they all hit lands.

I wouldn't be so salty about losing this round if the guy I had played against didn't know how counterspells work or how to read his cards.

I'm glad somebody else noticed how unbalanced Explore is. Some of the cards are just bad when you hit the land, and you almost always want to hit a spell. In fact, what you wrote above is why I dismissed blue: Siren Lookout is just not a card I'm excited to play.

IDK, it feels like a win-win.

My issue was that all the other cards I drew were lands too. The 4 or 5 explore triggers I had were lands, which was just free cards. The issue was my other cards I drew ended up being lands too.

A 3 mana 1/2 flier cantrip is playable. It having the Pirate type helps too when you have 2x Cutlass. Obviously the issue that game was I needed 2/3's instead of 1/2's.

Another example is the 0/3 green two-mana dork. If you hit land, it's just a blank piece of cardboard that might chump once. If you hit a spell, it's a very relevant creature. Same for the 2/2 haste menace Pirate. Irrelevant, or very good. And the Siren. A 1/2 flier for three just won't cut it in this set. A 2/3 is a real thing.

IDK, maybe I should just play less lands in an explore deck?

That 0/3 has actually been really good against me a lot.

Then again, I tend to draft every goblin piker or grizzly bear that I can.

I think explore is great. If scry 1 is 1/2 a card and +1/+1 counter sorcery speed is 1/2 a card than this is essentially "Draw a Card". Maybe it's like 0.8-1.2 x draw a card, depending.

Elvish Visionary is almost always a solid play and most of the explore cards are straight up better.

It's a function of this silly tempo format that you almost always want to hit a spell. If explore was in say, Iconic Masters, you would be super happy to hit lands.

Elvish Visionary always replaces itself. Explore cards do not do that. And half the time, when you draw the card, it's land number six that you don't really need. And if it's a spell, you don't get it in hand.

I was where you are about explore. But something is wrong with the execution in this set. The deck has no payoffs, and the cards individually are not great. So it's not so much about the speed of the format, though that is a factor, as about the low power level of the cards.

I assumed you cared about the lookout because it's a flyer that can easily carry the cutlas and the power boost was mostly a bonus.

Yes. But that means the card is usable in spite of having explore