Abzan Midrange (post rotation) (Standard)

This is a creature heavy midrange deck for the upcoming standard. It is an early game green deck, with some white midrange pieces. The deck plays black solely for removal functions, and only as a light splash.

Creatures:

a) Llanowar Elves-
The deck hopes to start out with a Llanowar Elves on turn 1. We are playing 10 green sources that enter untapped on turn 1. That gives us a 74-79% chance of casting LE first turn.
Elves on turn 1 really makes the deck so off, especially with Fatal Push out of the format.

b) Drover of the Mighty-
A two of and backup plan to Llanowar Elves.
fixing for any color helps smooth out our mana base for our midgame.
we are playing some Dino's so being a 3/3 is possible midgame.
Drover is terrible against Chainwhirler decks, and is sided out for Wildgrowth Walker.

c) Merfolk Branchwalker-
*a mana fixer or a 3/2. On theme, our early game is all about ramping and mana fixing.

d) Knight of Autumn-
my goodness the versatility. Removal for troublesome permanents, anti-aggro life gain, or most often a 4/3 on turn 2.
Basically the perfect card for a deck like this.

e) Thrashing Brontodon-
*another huge body for turn 2 that also destroys artifacts and enchantments.

f) Jadelight Ranger-
always gives you something positive, but not always what you exactly want.
very rarely have I played this turn 2 and not been happy with the results.

g) Vine Mare-
love that hexproof.
The more black creatures in the format, the better this gets.
side out against creature heavy decks.
side out for Ripjaw Raptor in Chainwhirler matchups.

h) Shalai, Voice of Plenty-
main deck protection for our creatures is a bonus game 1.
the anthem pump can make a big difference in the late game.

i) Lyra Dawnbringer-
Abzan is totally lacking the 5cmc creature it is hoping for. Lyra has huge stats, but she is not in any way immune to removal. A bonus is that we play so many other creature that need to be removed in the previous turns that hopefully our opponent is out by the time this beast hits the battlefield.
There is a curve where this hits turn 3, and that draws some attention.
buffs Shalai, which is a bonus.
she is a total aggro beater. When she hits the game swings back in your favor very fast.
red removal is going to have a ton of trouble with her.
as a last note, if she sticks around, she is pretty bonkers.

j) Carnage Tyrant-
there are just not a lot of ways to deal with this.
if Shalai is on the board it is a nightmare to try to deal with this.

Support Spells:

a) Flower // Flourish
Flower is a great supplement to Llanowar Elves turn 1.
Flourish is a sneaky way to finish off a game. It may take a while for people to get used to there being main deck anthem pump for midrange decks in standard. Totally messes up an opponents math in advanced planning.

b) Assassin's Trophy
2cmc, destroy anything is just nuts.
I don't want to play more than two because I want to be the one doing all the ramping. This is more of a clear the path for my attackers type card midgame, or to blow up the opponents weird card there deck is built around.

c) Cast Down
2cmc instant speed removal is important.
I'm predicting it will destroy about 75% of the creatures we will face.

d) Ixalan's Binding
a catch all is big.
great to pair with Assassin's Trophy to not only deal with anything, but also save sideboard slots.
Conclave tribunal has upside, but our smaller creatures tap for land anyway so it is basically the same thing in this deck.
it will likely still be handy to exile a threat and have the opponent not be able to cast multiples.

e) Vivien Reid
midgame gas can. Should give us an additional threat every turn.
even more removal for artifacts and enchantments.
*there are some really powerful flyers in the format that this will take care of.

Mana Base:
we are playing 23 lands due our 6 ramp creatures, and another 9 cards that can grab a land as early as turn 2.
playing 17 green (lots along side Llanowar Elves)
playing 14 white (probably a little light for Settle the Wreckage and Lyra, but we have a ton of ways to fix or draw mana).
playing 10 black (just a splash for removal in the midgame)

Sideboard:

a) Assurance // Assemble
Assurance is just a little more protection versus heavy removal.
Assemble makes this card totally versatile.

b) Plaguecrafter
A Doomfall replacement on a body is nice.
an answer for hexproof and planeswalkers is very welcomed.

c) Remorseful Cleric
*The Golgari and the surveil mechanic make sure that this card still has a role in the upcoming standard meta.

d) Ripjaw Raptor
an upgrade versus aggressive creature decks and red.
red has a horrible time dealing with 5 toughness creatures.
*it improves Drover (but not against Chainwhirler decks, Drover sided out).

e) Settle the Wreckage
With tokens looking like a thing and creatures in general looking pretty strong, this may be a very important card for the first bit of standard (even in a deck such as this).
The exile remains important, not only for cards like Rekindling Phoenix, but also for holding back undergrowth and other Golgari shenanigans.

f) Sorcerous Spyglass
a solid answer for planeswalkers.
it's uses against creatures are yet to be seen, all depends on which creature decks drive the meta.
*a peek at the opponents hand is never a bad thing.

g) Vivien Reid
replaces a Lyra against control.
getting to dig for more creatures is exactly what that matchup will need.

h) Wildgrowth Walker
so good against aggro decks. If you sequence this into Jadelight Ranger, it is hard for pure aggro decks to overcome that.
a great replacement for Drover against red.

Deck Evaluation;

Strengths-
apples a ton of pressure very early in the game.
has many creatures that are hard to remove/answer.
plays a lot of really good cards that must be answered right away before things get out of control.
when playing other creature heavy decks it is very likely that you will have the bigger creatures.
very versatile for a creature deck.
deals with artifacts and enchantments like few standard decks I've ever seen, and in the main board as well.
creatures serve more than one purpose or are incredible difficult to remove.
the sideboard is well equipped.
*stacks up well with Teferi control decks (hexproof, PW removal, answers for Azcanta and Settle the Wreckage)

Weaknesses-
Chainwhirler has multiple live targets game 1.
Missing a quality 2cmc mana dork.
could use an early game removal spell. Dead Weight my be an option, depending on meta.
could struggle against tokens decks as they can chump block until they can overwhelm you.
Lyra has fantastic stats, however it would be nice to play a 5cmc creature that either had a great ETB or removal evasion.
the deck is missing an Angel of Sanctions or Glorybringer type effect on a creature.

My overall impression:
I'm not only biased because I made the deck, but this also fits perfect with my preferred play style. I love to play oversized creatures turns in advance. The problem with these decks is they often are forced to play inferior removal, which this deck does not.
This is a great example of a standard good stuff deck. Very powerful cards in here.
*I will definitely be trying out this deck or something very similar post-rotation.