More than ten years ago, I played Syphon Soul in every black deck I owned. It was hardly a big deal—everyone did. Everyone lost 2 lousy life, and you usually gained 8 or 10 life. It was a great way to get back on level footing if you had a slow start and someone had beaten you down to single digits. No one seemed to care about 2 life, so you weren’t suddenly targeted by everyone else at the table. It was among the few old-school cards that seemed to be designed specifically for multiplayer, and it was used everywhere.

Sometime between then and now, people just stopped using the card. Maybe it is only good when you walk five miles to school uphill both ways. I still see it every once in a while, but now it just seems that the game has passed it by. Spending 3 mana and an entire card to generate that effect once just isn’t enough value. You young kids and your “value!”

Then Treasury Thrull was previewed.

They made Syphon Soul into an ability.

You can use it again and again.

You only need to pay 1 mana.

Holy.

Crap.

I was excited, but I waited. This would be far better on a cheaper creature or any low-cost permanent. You need it in play early to create multiple uses from extort. Then, they started putting extort on cheaper creatures and permanents. Now, this might be something!

People talking about extort initially loved it and then started to question it. Would you want to spend an extra mana every turn? It will slow your curve down if you do it in the early game, and in the late game, you are only going to have a couple of triggers. They saw it as something cute, but nothing special. Even the Commander players thought it was fine, but really, it is just a single damage in a game in which you start at 40 life. Again: cute, but nothing special.

Let the naysayers nay all of their says—I say. We know better. What about regular multiplayer games with 20 life starting totals? Twenty extort activations, and you win. Can this actually work? I started to look at the difficulties to see if I could solve them. Could a deck, relying almost completely on extort life-loss, win games?

Issue 1: Are There Enough Cheap Extort Cards to Make It Work?

You are going to want enough extort cards in your deck to reliably have one in your opening hand and have a second one out by turn five. With the second one out, adding 2 mana to your spells earns you 2 life from each opponent. Multiples are necessary or it will take too long to enact the kill. Relying on Treasury Thrull to make extort work wouldn’t be enough. We would need cheaper cards. The spoiler list provided three different creatures that all cost 3 mana or less. I figured ten copies total would be required to put the second one out by turn five.

Thrull Parasite is the cheapest of the bunch at just . I want it there, as it’ll be on the battlefield early. This deck doesn’t have a way to really take advantage of the ability, but considering the number of counters on cards in a usual multiplayer game, I expect it will be useful. Perhaps this will end up in a Tombstone Stairwell deck in the future.

Basilica Guards cost 3 mana, but the toughness will make it harder to destroy and discourage attacks. All of this and extort for only 3 mana? Sign me up.

I can’t decide if Syndic of Tithes is a creature that belongs in this deck. The Parasite has a better cost, and the Basilica Guards has better toughness. The extra point of power is fairly irrelevant for this deck since I’m not looking to attack. I’ve kept it in, keeping in mind that this deck isn’t even at the beta-testing level yet.

I knew going in that I wanted cheaper permanents with extort, but when I saw Crypt Ghast, I knew it had to go in. Giving me an extra whenever I tap a Swamp just means more mana for extort. The best part is that with Godless Shrines and Scrublands, I can tap a Swamp for a and make as well! One dual land will pay for Whitemane Lion, and a second dual land could provide for two extort triggers!

I am also including a copy of Treasury Thrull. While it will take time before this Thrull enters the battlefield, limiting the number of times we can use extort with it, the ability is a great way to return our other smaller creatures. For the Treasury Thrull, I see extort as a little bonus

Issue 2: Spells to Make It Work

I started searching, but I soon realized I was going about this the wrong way. I need spells I can recast again and again, not ways to draw a ton of cards. How can I recast a cheap card turn after turn? Isochron Scepter.

I use this card far too often in too many decks, but it fits so perfectly in this deck! A handful of cheap utility instants, and I’ll be able to extort at least once per round.

Isochron Scepter was a good start, but there needs to be something more. I started to think of the gating creatures from Planeshift and thought that was the way to go. That was when my search reminded me of the card I was looking for: Whitemane Lion. For 3 mana, I could—at instant speed—trigger extort. For 4 mana, I could activate it twice with two extort creatures in play. With enough mana, I could cast Whitemane Lion twice in a turn. Now we’re talking!

Issue 3: Mass Removal

We are playing multiplayer games, so mass removal, or even targeted removal, is going to throw a wrench in the works. We are going to need to be able to deal with it. I’m going to try Rootborn Defenses as a way to keep things under control. It is not a cure-all, but we’ll try it and hope for the best.

What do you get when you combine Whitemane Lion and an extort creature?

Issue 4: Surviving the Onslaught

Ghostly Prison isn’t a brand new card, but it does the job. Early in the game, most players aren’t willing to pay the 2 mana to push through, preferring to cast bigger creatures to strengthen their own defenses or to make their future attacks on us more painful. The Prison also stops the mana-screwed player in his tracks.

Souls of the Faultless is another deterrent card, this time in creature form. Any creature with a toughness of 3 or less is rendered useless in attacking you. Players would have to attack with two creatures just to break even with Souls of the Faultless in play. Not many opponents are willing to use three creatures to do the damage of one when they could attack someone else and get far more bang for their buck. Wall of Essence is another creature that does almost the same thing, but it costs 1 less to cast.

Players have a strong aversion to annihilator. No one likes losing permanents, so you’ll often see creatures with annihilator be destroyed right away. This is part of the reason I want Gatecrash’s High Priest of Penance in the deck. If a player knows that you can simply destroy a nonland permanent if he attacks you, he is going to be far less likely to attack you. This card offers a little more in multiplayer as well. It wouldn’t be difficult to have one opponent attack you with the expectation that you will take out a different player’s enchantment that is locking both of you down. This versatility is reason enough to add this card to the deck.

Cemetery Gate is a personal favorite creature. A 0/5 with protection from black is very difficult to destroy. I’m confident that you could find a better choice (I suspect a second Souls of the Faultless would be a better choice!). Consider this my nod to old-school cards.

Sun Titan is a good addition to most decks that can run it. Since this deck is weak to mass removal, the Sun Titan is another option for recurring extort creatures from the graveyard. I was reluctant to add another expensive creature to the deck—since I will want to spend most of my mana each turn casting or recasting spells to extort—but the Sun Titan is just too good to sit on the sidelines.

Finally, I added Maze of Ith. It is amazing how many people just don’t bother to attack you when you have the Maze in play. The most effective way to deal with the Maze of Ith in multiplayer is for all of your opponents to attack you. The first guy may end up with a completely ineffective attack, but now the Maze is tapped. While this is the most effective way, it rarely works, since each person is thinking about how he, individually, can do damage to you. In most games, I have turn after turn go by without having to tap it.

Another note with the Maze: The attacking creature doesn’t need to attack you. While it is less likely that you would want to stop your opponent from taking damage, there are times when a creature dealing combat damage sets off a trigger that could hurt you. Maze of Ith is more than just a land protecting you from a single big creature.

Endless Extortion

• Extort Creatures (10)
• 3 Thrull Parasite
• 1 Crypt Ghast
• 2 Syndic of Tithes
• 3 Basilica Guards
• 1 Treasury Thrull

• Help Keep Extort in Play (4)
• 4 Rootborn Defenses

• Discourage Attacks (1)
• 1 Ghostly Prison

• Creatures to Block Attacks against You (7)
• 1 High Priest of Penance
• 1 Sun Titan
• 1 Souls of the Faultless
• 1 Wall of Essence
• 1 Howling Banshee
• 1 Cemetery Gate
• 1 Angelic Wall

• Spells to Abuse Extort (14)
• 4 Whitemane Lion
• 4 Isochron Scepter
• 2 Doom Blade
• 2 Go for the Throat
• 2 Hide // Seek

• Lands (24)
• 1 Maze of Ith
• 4 Godless Shrine
• 4 Scrubland
• 4 Marsh Flats
• 6 Plains
• 5 Swamp

Buy This Deck

Is this the deck that will stop the naysayers from saying nay? Nay. While the basis of the deck is sound, the deck is going to need some work. Does it need mana ramp? Perhaps different choices for Isochron Scepter targets? The numbers on the creatures will certainly change. If you have suggestions for change or all-new directions for an extort deck, let me know in the comments.

Bruce Richard