select top 2 * from dbo.NFFeeds order by id desc 

;WITH MyData AS (
    SELECT TOP 2  *
    FROM dbo.NFFeeds
    ORDER BY id  DESC
)
SELECT * FROM MyData
ORDER BY id

;WITH MyData AS (
    SELECT TOP 2  *
    FROM dbo.NFFeeds
    ORDER BY id  DESC
)
SELECT * FROM MyData
ORDER BY id

SELECT * FROM (
SELECT TOP 2  *
    FROM dbo.NFFeeds
    ORDER BY id  DESC) MyData
ORDER BY id

Sergiy (3/17/2013)

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Lynn Pettis (3/17/2013)

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Really, CTEs are complex? I find them to make writing queries easier as you don't have to write derived tables.

Let's compare:

;WITH MyData AS (
    SELECT TOP 2  *
    FROM dbo.NFFeeds
    ORDER BY id  DESC
)
SELECT * FROM MyData
ORDER BY id

VS.

SELECT * FROM (
SELECT TOP 2  *
    FROM dbo.NFFeeds
    ORDER BY id  DESC) MyData
ORDER BY id

Derived table wins as it does not contain extra words ";WITH MyData AS ".

Apparently, CTE's are more complex comparing to derived tables.

create table dbo.NFFeeds (
    id int,
    datacol varchar(10));

insert into dbo.NFFeeds
values (1,'A'),(2,'B'),(3,'C');