How can Mirrodin Besieged affect the Standard format and metagame? Today, I'm continuing the search for answers to this question by taking a look at every card in MB and giving it a grade for competitive Standard play. This time, I'm taking a look at Black and Red.

Black

Black Sun's Zenith – Since the departure of Damnation from the format, control decks depending on Black for their removal haven't had good options for mass removal. That may be changing. Blue/Black control decks have starting running Black Sun's Zenith in the main deck. Not only can it be used to stop a creature swarm cold, but it shuffles your deck, which is nice with Jace in play. A−

Caustic Hound – Titans have really set the bar for 6-casting-cost creatures. Compared to any Titan, the Hound is awful. F

Flensermite – Not only is Infect not really a high-quality deck in Standard right now, but there are too many better two-drops with Infect: Ichorclaw Myr, Necropede, Plague Stinger, and Plague Myr. If they're playing Green, they should be playing Blight Mamba. D+

Flesh-Eater Imp – Four mana is a lot to pay for a 2/2 that doesn't do anything when it comes into play. If in the future there are better cards for generating token creatures with Infect, then this card might be playable. D−

Go for the Throat – This is a card already getting lots of use in Standard. It's solid both as a main-deck card and as a sideboard card. As long as Standard remains full of targets, this will be a strong card. A−

Gruesome Encore – It's impossible to justify this as a main-deck card, but it might have potential as a sideboard card. It's difficult to assume that every opponent will eventually have creatures in the graveyard that are worth your time to play this card on. I could imagine playing Vampires and, after sideboarding, playing Go for the Throat on a Titan and then using Encore on it for the win. It also could be good against Vengevines. In general, though, it's just too situational. C−

Horrifying Revelation – This card seems to have two possible uses. First, it could be decent in a Blue/Black deck with discard that's trying to deck the opponent. Second, it could be good in a deck that has cards your opponent wants in the graveyard, like some sort of reanimation deck. Neither of these archetypes is making an impact in Standard right now, and even if they do, this card just might not be powerful enough. C−

Massacre Wurm – This card is probably a little too situational as a main-deck card, but actually seems like it would be a solid sideboard card. I generally like my sideboard cards to reduce my mana curve, but if I'm swapping it into my deck in exchange for another expensive card, that's fine. Against a swarm deck, if I'm still alive to get the Wurm into play, it could be devastating. B−

Morbid Plunder – While card advantage is excellent, it's hard to spend 3 mana at sorcery speed without affecting the board or your opponent. The other problem is that it's also not useful in the early game when you've just gotten to 3 mana. In a deck built around Hedron Crab, Plunder could be some sort of super-tutor in the mid to late game, but it's slow and narrow. C+

Nested Ghoul – A 4/2 for 5 without an ETB ability is not Standard-playable. F

Phyresis – This card isn't very good in Limited, and it's even worse in Standard. If you put it on an opponent's creature, you'll still need to deal with it eventually, and in an Infect deck, all of your creatures should already have Infect. Perhaps it could be powerful in some sort of combo deck designed for a one-turn kill, but that seems like a stretch. F

Phyrexian Crusader – This card isn't seeing much use in Infect decks yet, but maybe it should. It's especially good against Boros and Red Deck Wins. Since control decks are more popular at the moment, it might be best as a sideboard card. Until Infect decks get better, though, this card will remain Tier 2. B−

Phyrexian Rager – I'm a big fan of this card. Sure, it's only a 2/2 for 2, but it replaces itself in your hand. While its ETB ability isn't as good as Seagate Oracle's, 2 power is much better than 1 power. While the Oracle may still be better in control decks with Blue, the Rager will still see play in non-Blue decks or in more aggressive decks. I especially like it in a Vengevine deck. B+

Phyrexian Vatmother – For 4 mana, this is one of the best Infect creatures. Since Infect isn't popular in Standard currently, the Vatmother's drawback is negligible. A 4/5 for 4 is big for a non-Infect creature; it's huge for a creature with Infect. Unfortunately, there are good reasons for Infect not being popular in Standard. B+

Sangromancer – This is a pretty cool Vampire, and Vampire decks are pretty good in Standard. Sadly, 4 mana is a lot to pay for a creature that dies to a frequently used 1-mana instant: Lightning Bolt. C+

Scourge Servant – Even with Infect, a 3/3 for 5 is terrible in Standard. F

Septic Rats – If you are going to play Infect in Standard, this seems like a reasonable three-drop. When it hits for 3, it's kind of like an ordinary three-drop hitting for 6. C+

Spread the Sickness – Being able to Proliferate isn't a big enough bonus to make it worth paying 5 mana at sorcery speed for a destroy-target-creature effect. D−

Virulent Wound – An excellent sideboard card for an Infect deck. C−

Red

Blisterstick Shaman – The power level of this card is mostly about the popularity of 1-toughness creatures. At the moment, small creatures aren't really popular in Standard. If you're playing with Fauna Shaman or Green Sun's Zenith, it could be a strong sideboard card. It also could be good in the board of a Goblin deck. B

Burn the Impure – While excellent in limited, it's not really good enough for Standard play. There are too many Red burn cards that are just better for constructed play. The biggest issue is the fact that it can't target players. At least with Searing Blaze, it always hits your opponent. Even Searing Blaze is probably best as a sideboard card these days. C

Concussive Bolt – Has some intriguing possibilities in a Tempered Steel deck. The key is finding a deck with both lots of creatures and lots of artifacts. As a result, it probably has to be a deck full of artifact creatures. The problem with running this in a Tempered Steel deck is that you need both double White and double Red, plus 5 mana is generally too expensive for an aggressive deck without mana-ramping It might make a decent sideboard card if you happen to be playing enough Red mana in your Tempered Steel deck. C−

Crush – It's much too narrow for a reactive main-deck card. It has the potential to be a powerful sideboard card. Unfortunately, most artifact decks currently run lots of artifact creatures, which makes Crush a little weaker option than some of your other choices. C

Galvanoth – While its ability has some intriguing possibilities for Standard, a 3/3 for 5 that doesn't do anything special for an entire turn isn't constructed-worthy. D−

Gnathosaur – Like Caustic Hound, it just sucks too much in comparison to a Titan or Wurmcoil Engine. F

Goblin Wardriver – Already seeing use in multiple Red-based swarm decks. A 2/2 Goblin for 2 mana is decent, but Battle Cry makes it a good fit for any Red deck with lots of creatures. A

Hellkite Igniter – Haste and Flying might make a seven-drop a little tempting, but you can't use its ability the turn you play it unless you have 9 mana. It might have some potential in a heavy artifact deck with lots of artifact mana-ramping; it still seems like a lot of mana to pay for something in a Standard environment where everybody seems to be main-decking Mana Leak and sideboarding Flashfreeze. D

Hero of Oxid Ridge – One of my favorite cards in MB—4 power and Haste for 4 mana is a solid start. Add Battle Cry, and it's a solid card for Standard. Add in the fact that annoying walls, Elves, tokens, and so forth can't block, and you've got a high-end card for Standard. A+

Into the Core – I can't imagine ever main-decking this in Standard. I've main-decked it in limited and occasionally had to board it out. It does have the potential to be a powerful sideboard card, however. Card advantage, instant speed, and the ability to exile, not just destroy, make it an excellent card for certain matchups. Unfortunately, the top decks in the format at the moment rarely have more than one artifact in play. C+

Koth's Courier – Despite being decent in limited, it's awful for Standard. Red decks use two-drops that are significantly better than this. D−

Kuldotha Flamefiend – While not really as good as most Titans, it can be pretty cool if you're playing with artifacts that you want to sacrifice like Ichor Wellspring or Spine of Ish Sah. B−

Kuldotha Ringleader – A quick comparison to Hero of Oxid Ridge reveals how poor this card is. Solid in limited, it does way too little for 5 mana in Standard. F

Metallic Mastery – Generally just worse than taking control of a creature for a turn, and cards like Act of Treason are already not seeing much play in Standard. If the format shifts a little more toward cards like Mindslaver, perhaps this will become an okay sideboard card. It could also be cool against Ratchet Bomb in the right situation. C−

Ogre Resister – A vanilla 4/3 for is solid in limited, but awful in Standard. For 4 mana, you should be playing a card like Vengevine or Hero of Oxid Ridge. D−

Rally the Forces – The main problem with this card is that you're paying for First Strike. First Strike rarely matters much in Standard. If you can get a big enough swarm, the global +1 can be pretty cool, but it's so much better just to have a creature with Battle Cry. That way, your deck has even more creatures, and you avoid the scenario where you have Rally in hand and one or even zero creatures in play. C+

Red Sun's Zenith – Not bad as Red spells go. The main problem is that Red spells aren't making the cut in Standard at the moment. The main reason may be because the cheap, instant burn spells in the format are so good. B−

Slagstorm – Some Valakut Ramp decks are already main-decking this card. For any sort of Red deck that uses few or at least big creatures, it seems like an excellent choice. The existence of this card in the format is a real annoyance for people trying to run swarm decks. A−

Spiraling Duelist – Yes, it can hit for 6, and with equipment, it can hit for huge amounts. However, it's a 1-toughness creature for 4 mana that doesn't do anything when it comes into play and doesn't return from the graveyard (like Vengevine does). D−