I was pretty nervous as this was my very first Magic tournament ever, and it seemed extra tricky being a booster draft. Luckily, a lot of nice players helped keep me informed on what I was supposed to do for the draft, etc. When the draft started, I rememer thinking about the 'BREAD' tactic somebody mentioned in the Daily Draft Debate articles here, and I think it helped a lot.
Round 1
Up against another Simic deck but with red splash. Had some nice bloodrush moves that I couldn't prevent, but my opponent didn't get proper mana fixing to put down what he needed to keep board presence. He had me down to 8 life the first game, as I realized too late that I could not counter a bloodrush move. Luckily, I had enough removal and fast creatures to clear his board and hammer away with my own Elusive Krasis. I kept him fairly locked down after that between Psychic Strike and Hands of Binding. Second match, my opponent was color-screwed by green even more than the first time, and I kept him locked down with counterspells. Won 2 - 0 this round.
Round 2
Up against a pure Orzhov deck. I was able to remove most of his threats quickly, except for a couple Razortip Whip s that took nearly half my life both games. Got some nice card advantage with Urban Evolution that helped me draw into what I needed to dominate the board. First game I milled his Guardian of the Gateless with a lucky Psychic Strike (I was countering some other creature), He brought it back with Midnight Recovery, so I had to remove its flying by means of a Rapid Hybridization, which allowed my Cloudfin Raptor with 2 +1/+1 counters and a Realmwright to double block the next turn. He took out the raptor, but never seemed to get any other useful creatures on the table (I think I was countering them or binding them). I rebuilt by drawing into more Shambleshark and Elusive Krasis, combined with Hands of Binding. He was hitting me with razortail whip the entire time, but I was able to drop him to 0 much more quickly. Won 2 - 0 that game too.
Round 3
Played against a Dimir deck. Heavy on milling effects like Mind Grind and Paranoid Delusions . I was able to keep a single Drakewing Krasis alive from start to finish, using Simic Charm and Psychic Strike . He nearly did me in with a late game Mind Grind . Luckily, my deck is rather heavy on land for a draft, so I had 2 cards left in my library after that move. He later told me that he had assumed I was using 17 lands in my deck when planning on that Mind Grind. Second game I always had more mana and cards, so I kept his spells countered and smashed him with a 5/5 Nimbus Swimmer in the end. Won 2 - 0 this round.
I ended up undefeated and won 1st place in the draft!
