I volunteered to scout out the standard metagame at Alternate Worlds tonight, before the standard tourney for Commander's Arsenal tomorrow.  There were 22 players for FNM with Jund the most represented w/ 5+ players.  G/W aggro followed with at least 4 players, two of which seemed competent (two were kids).  I didn't notice anything else with more than two players.  I was the only Naya player, but before I get into the report...

I put together U/W Flash this week, dismantling that crumby U/W Humans I played last week.  Despite talking some trash with Nick while play testing it earlier today, I really wasn't impressed.  The deck struggles to have the right answers at the right times as the counters are situational and the removal is all temporary. The games it does win are the ones it can play it's cantrips the first few turns and survive long enough to turn Restoration Angels into 4-mana Snapcaster Mages.  Augur of Bolas disappoints as well, hitting an Instant maybe 2/3's of the time, as well as frustratingly putting your Runechanter's Pikes (only 2 in the deck) on the bottom of your deck.  Combine all that with the inevitable mirror matches that will come with the hype this deck is generating AND every single deck now running at least two Cavern of Souls (including this one!).... I do not want to be playing this deck.

So, yeah, I rocked the Naya that's been performing well for me.  I swapped out a basic plains and a basic mountain for two Caverns and moved the three Pillar of Flames to the board for two main-deck Garruk, Primal Hunters and a fourth Loxodon Smiter.

Round 1 vs Tim w/ Golgari
Tim was super nice, running Corpsejack Menace with dumb scavenge dudes.  Game one I just trampled over everything with Kessig Wolf Run.  Game two he managed to get half my life by exiling sorceries with Deathrite Shaman while sitting on a 12/12 corpsejack menace on defense.  I had to over extend this game to get through damage and finished him with a non-miracled Bonfire of the Dammed.
1-0

Round 2 vs Jared w/ Reanimator
Jared certainly wasn't playing a budget deck.  I was able to bonfire away spirit tokens and Centaur Healers and used Angel of Serenity to take out his Angel of Serenity to get through for lethal.  Game two I muliganed to 6 and get 4 mana dorks and 2 lands.  At the end of turn two I had 2 Pilgrims, 2 Elves and 2 Forests in play.  I think we both played 3 Thragtusks this game, but I ultimately lost to a Reanimated Craterhoof.  Game 3 I started slow and held a Rest in Peace in hand, hoping he would Mulch/Grisly Salvage some good stuff before his turn 4.  After dropping Rest in Peace on my turn 4 he followed with Slaughter Games naming Selesnya Charm and saw my hand of Bonfire, Angel of Serenity, Thragtusk and Armada Wurm.  I curved 5, 6 and 7 drops for the win before he could get anything going.
2-0

Round 3 vs Bryan w/ U/W Flash (Delvers instead of Augurs)
I actually battled these two decks against each other by myself last night, to learn the matchup.  I found out the following:
1) Just run threats into counters.. the flash deck will run out (or have the wrong situational counter).
2) Don't side out Huntmasters, though I do side them out all the time against control and mid-range.  The flash deck really doesn't want to play anything sorcery speed and Huntmaster is either going to become 4/4 trample, or they'll have to tap some lands on THEIR turn
3) Rest in Peace hurts them hard!  Snapcaster becomes worse than Ambush Viper, Runechanter's Pike becomes worse than Sharpened Pitchfork, Thought Scour becomes worse than Peek, Think Twice becomes worse than any blue card with cycling....

Because of all this I'm super confident about the matchup.  I get to overextend game one as the flash deck doesn't maindeck Verdicts.  He counters a couple things, puts a couple dudes on top my deck and I think even gets to Sphinx for 3 but dies anyway... my deck is just too dense with threats.
I side out Bonfires, Serenity and a Borderland Ranger for Sundering Growths and Rest in Peace's and he learns first hand how bad his cards become as he didn't have the Syncopate for 1 for my turn two RIP.
3-0

Round 4 vs Eric w/ Jund.
Game 1 he mulls to 5 and stalls on 3 land... meh
Game 2 I mulligan to 4 and keep 2 land, 2 bonfire.  I don't think I missed a land drop this game as I was able to bonfire for 2, taking out 2 huntmasters then bonfire for 3 two turns later getting Garruk, Primal Hunter, a beast token and a Thragtusk... unfortunately he drew 5 with Garruk and I couldn't fight back.  Game three I had the Bonfires again and was able to draw 5 with Garruk which swung the game in my favor.
4-0

Round 5 vs Chris w/ U/W/R Control
I'd seen Chris go to time the last 3 rounds and he had a record of 3-0-1.  Game one is drawn out as he Verdicts twice (2-for-1-ing each time), but I'm able to keep one threat in play and Wolf Run it over chumpers and eat away at extra Sphinx life.  Eventually I burn him out with a non-miracled bonfire with about 12 cards left in his deck.  Dude seriously needs some Geists or Hellkites.
Game two I can't get the Huntmasters and Bonfires out of my deck fast enough, and bring in Sundering Growth, RIP and Selesnya Charm.  Around turn 3 or 4 of game two I witness Chris draw two cards of a flashed back Think Twice.  I know I saw it, but hadn't been keeping tabs on the cards in his hand and no one else was paying attention.. I go into a sort of quiet rage and become the card-in-hand Nazi, staring straight into his eyes when not staring at his library every time he draws a card.  I want him to know I caught him and that I'm going to beat him anyway.  RIP nerfs his Snapcasters and Sundering Growth takes out a Keyrune and nets me a beast.  I keep a steady stream of two threats in play and am able to Angel of Serenity his Angel of Serenity to keep the beats going.  I sit on my Angel, not allowing him to charm it and finish him off.  It felt good.
5-0

It also felt good to roll into a store I don't normally play at and take down 1st place.  Honestly, going into tomorrow's tourney at the same store, I'm more worried about facing Mike, Nick and Jimmy than anyone I battled tonight.

-Eric