Mirrodin Besieged White Rares.

Let's take a look at the rares from the Mirrodin Besieged set. Starting with White we have the White Sun's Zenith, which is one of five Zenith cards. The three base casting cost, WWW won't be much of a problem for people playing this card as this will see play in mono white decks more than anywhere. I think that this is a card that will see lots of play in token abuse decks and mono white EDH decks. The card is certainly powerful, but it lacks the practicality to see competitive play. The added benefit that is most overlooked for these Zenith cards is their ability to shuffle the library. Overall this card has very limited uses, and compared to some of its Zenith brethren it lacks the necessary oomph a great card possesses.
Artwork=awesome.



This angel card has a built in mechanic that pairs with the Mirron Besieged set mechanic: battlecry. This card not only gives attacking creatures flying, but also lifelink. Luckily it has a nice hefty casting cost of 3WWW, which will limit its appearance in most competitive play. It will be a popular casual card, but still in limit use. Compared to other angels of recent sets, this angel is lacking in its own fire power, where Baneslayer and Deathless angel attack for more this scales back to 4 power which is more like the angels of yesteryear. Overall this is a powerful card, but the power given for the mana spent can be too much to make it appear in most decks playing white. Some people are going to add this into battlecry decks, and in Limited this card is sure to be played by anyone who has gotten ahold of one.
Artwork=Drab (I mean seriously, it looks like the angel got TP stuck to its ass when leaving the john.)
This is the mythic rare for White. It is no slouch, and once in play if not dealt with it can wreck an opponent. It has a toughness big enough to stay away from many devastating spells like lightning bolt. The battlecry ability only strengthens it further and makes the demand for this card even higher. Overall this is one of the more powerful cards in the set, and is surely going to be played in aggro decks in competitive standard play regularly.
Artwork=awesome (but that horse thing kind of freaks me out)

This card is a very nice card. It is a little expensive with 4WW for its cmc, but that is a small downside for yet another white board sweeping card. The 2 extra mana paid above the Day of Judgment board sweep is surely justified by the token receive in the form of X power and toughness for each creature killed. Still, I do not think it will see as much competitive play due to the cost of casting the card, and the spell itself will not be a game winner. This will be prevalent in casual decks and especially in EDH decks, which love to grab up any and all board sweeps that they can.
Artwork=badass
The Mirran Crusader is a solid card, and will surely see a hefty dose of play. The protection for black and green is surely a nice benefit for a card like this, but the double strike and 1WW casting cost are what make it so powerful in battle. It will get out early and wreck people. Having a card like this with pro-black/green is useful but it will still take specific deck archetypes to find consistent use for this card. Those limited uses hold this card back, but do not limit it entirely. Overall I am impressed with the card, but not blown away because of the narrow scope it fits into.
Artwork=cool, but cheesey.


Next we can look at the Blue Rares.