An extort deck with burn spells for that extra oomph!
Initial Note: This deck is not Modern legal due to Dark Ritual. Without Ritual the deck is not as efficient but could still work in modern using Marsh Flats as a replacement.
Idea for the Deck:
Pulled an Obzedat, Ghost Council from a booster and decided to try to throw together a black/white extort deck with Panharmonicon. Ended up dropping the Panharmonicon due to lack of ETB effects.
General Concept:
The deck is built around Extort. At first, I was disappointed with Extort because it felt incredibly slow. In playtesting I was consistently behind my mana curve since extort requires another spell to be played AND the extra 1 mana to use the ability. To help deal with this I threw in Dark Ritual to get some black mana ramp. Still, this was inconsistent. Then, of course, I found Crypt Ghast. With Crypt Ghast not only can I use extort with consistency, but I can also focus on doing what I want with this deck: using black shock cards to blow up the opponent.
Wincons:
- Extort - It certainly is not the fastest way of winning.
- Gray Merchant of Asphodel - Most/all of the permanents are black. As such, the devotion mechanic of Gray Merchant of Asphodel can absolutely demolish the opponent, especially if a Crypt Ghast is on the board and you can throw in some additional extorts as you cast the Merchant.
- Blood Artist + Killing Wave (or any other board wipe like Fumigate) - I really enjoy this combo. Since this deck is more midrange, it can usually have a decent amount of creatures on the board. It's incredible against an aggro heavy deck or a token deck. With Crypt Ghast and Dark Ritual you can make the lifeloss too substantial for your opponent to even hope to keep their creatures. Then, as they all die, Blood Artist deals a solid chunk of damage.
- Divinity of Pride - An off wincondition. If the deck is pulling in lots of health than this guy gets real big, real fast. The 5 CMC isn't much of an issue with Dark Ritual and Crypt Ghast so even if it's thrown onto the board without 25 or more life, it can still be useful (plus, did you see that sweet, sweet 5 devotion to black for Merchant? Oh girl...)
-
Bond of Agony
- This is probably the least fun wincon. As long as you have 1 more lifepoint than your opponent and a swamp, you win unless they counter it or negate it in some way.
- Exsanguinate - This is another potential wincon due to the high mana ramp offered by Crypt Ghast and Dark Ritual. However, the damage potential is generally lower than
Bond of Agony
and may be better suited for multiplayer games (hence being sideboarded for the time being).
Let's Talk Extortion:
As mentioned, Extort alone is a bit too slow to really be effective.
Thrull Parasite
, Crypt Ghast, and Blind Obedience all include the ability at various ranges of the mana curve, while the following have similar leech life effects to help smooth out the game and secure the win:
- Blood Artist - Amazing card that's useful as both a chump blocker and for the leech life component. The opponent will really want to be careful when trading or killing off our creatures.
- Obzedat, Ghost Council - Such a fun card. 5 CMC with 2 damage and 2 lifegain each time it enters the battlefield AND it gains haste AND it's a 5/5? My god...I mean I realize it's not the most amazing card but hot damn it's fun to use.
Control and Protection:
- Go for the Throat is an all-around solid removal card.
- Anguished Unmaking to deal with indestructible creatures or nonland permanents. Path to Exile might be better but mana usually isn't a huge problem. It will need some playtesting to determine which is best.
- Vampire Nighthawk - Great board protection with this guy. Flying, deathtouch, and lifelink. Amazing chump blocker for some lifegain. Also stops opponents from attacking you unless they have a way to deal with him first.
- Ghostly Prison - Brutal card for such a low cost. Stops aggro decks in their tracks and puts a serious hurting on midrange as well. Great for stalling and whittling the opponent down even further.
- Killing Wave or Fumigate for board clear. Better is Blood Artist is on the battlefield.
Utility:
-
Thrull Parasite
- Strong early game extort card that offers the ability to remove counters from other permanents which can be great for dealing with planeswalkers, Champion of the Parish, etc.
- Blind Obedience - Another card used primarily for extort but the added effect of forcing creatures to enter the battlefield tapped can be lifesaving against aggro decks.
- Dark Ritual - Mana please.
- Crypt Ghast - MOAR MANA.
- Phyrexian Arena - Additional draw each turn for one mana and an extra two devotion for Merchant shock? Sounds good to me.
- Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth - Bummed that Crypt Ghast only triggers on your swamps and not your plains? Kinda wishing you went mono-black instead? Welp, here's the answer. Each time you tap that plains with Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth on the battlefield, you're also tapping a swamp. Enjoy an extra swamp for every one of your land taps.
Final thoughts:
For suggestions, keep in mind that this deck is not a lifegain deck; It's a leech life deck. Felidar Sovereign would be great if I was gaining life in larger increments. Generally, though I'm generally floating anywhere between 15-25 if the deck is working.
The purpose of the deck is to extort and use leech life effects enough that you can blow up your opponent with one big shock through
Bond of Agony
, Blood Artist + Killing Wave / Fumigate, Gray Merchant of Asphodel, or Exsanguinate. However, I have a really hard time trimming down decks and still making them efficient. I generally dislike have multiple 2-of's in a deck, so if anyone could offer some insight as to what to trim and what to add, it would be hugely helpful.
Thanks for the help and be sure to upvote! Leave a link to your deck below and I'll check it out and offer my own suggestions.
Thanks everyone!