How can we make mono-black even better? While also packing enough heat to destroy mono-black midrange?

Splash white and green.

According to WotC, the core colors of each wedge have officially changed to match their Ikoria counterparts. Abzan's core is now black, making the oppressive Mono-Black Midrange deck a perfect candidate for building off of.

This build focuses on the addition of The Wandering Emperor and Wrenn and Seven. In addition to their own utility, both of these planeswalkers provide extra synergy to two core cards from the infamous mono-black midrange deck: Sheoldred and Liliana.

The Emperor can remove many of the X/2s in the format with its Samurai tokens, allowing you to remove 2 creatures by flashing in, creating a token, blocking, and then exiling another tapped creature on your next turn. Her +1 turns Sheoldred into an even more dangerous threat as it pumps the phyrexian while turning it into a first strike deathtoucher for the turn; one of the nastiest keyword combinations in the game.

Wrenn can wall off almost every creature with her treefolk and provide 'junk' cards to discard to your Liliana for maximum value, while further protecting your hand from opposing Lilianas. If these two planeswalkers are not answered quickly, your opponent will be on a fast track to losing half of their permanents.

Plaza of Heroes is a fantastic card as it makes your mana supremely flexible. There are 18 legendary permanents in the deck. That's over half of your nonland cards. You will be more consistent with casting spells than prior to the rotation. Think of them like untapped triomes. Untapped triomes that also provide hexproof and indestructible to your Sheoldreds. Like first strike, indestructibility when paired with deathtouch is powerful. And hexproof blanks your opponent's removal. Don't sleep on this card! Mono-black midrange should be running Plaza for this utility alone.

Next, we add Soul Transfer to shut down recurring creatures such as Underdogs, as well as take care of threatening planeswalkers. All while allowing us to recur our planeswalkers and creatures. The combination of Bankbuster and Meathook mean you often get the bonus online fairly early and often.

Finally, since we're running white and green, we can also make room for Eiganjo and Boseiju to push our removal count even further.

So far, I have taken this deck 8-0 in Platinum. This has what Abzan has really been dreaming of for a long time: Loads of card draw and several overlapping synergies, plus enough recursion to overwhelm your opponent with must-answer threats. Off the top, one can list nine different card synergies:

Sheoldred + Emperor
Sheoldred + Bankbuster
Sheoldred + Invoke Despair
Sheoldred + Plaza
Liliana + Sorin
Liliana + Wrenn
Liliana + Bankbuster
Liliana + Invoke Despair (Card draw)
Soul Transfer + Bankbuster + Meathook

Not including cards that allow you to swing in with Bankbuster.

Give the deck a go. If you'd like to make any suggestions to improve the deck, feel free to leave a comment here.

Happy gaming!