[MCD] Extort

[Phil]

After two weeks of playing with this new mechanic, what's everyone's thoughts, comments, and concerns.

So far, I think it's great. Pay one to gain 3 life? Yes please. And the damage for one does add up, especially late game.

The all star cards I've seen so far
treasurey thrull His ability is great in edh on top of the extort
crypt ghast probably the best extort card. Doubles up B mana on shocks and ABUR duals totally allowing for that extra extort mana per spell.
blind obedience I absolutely love this card. Hoses fast mana rock strategies, haste beats, and artifacts with activated abilities.

[Galspanic]

So far I love it on Blind Obedience. It's not amazing or anything but passively letting me play Mana Crypt, Fetch Lands, and Ancient Tomb without it hurting anything is sweet. I haven't paid much attention to the life loss aspect but it probably matters.

[blackkithkin20]

I haven't played with the thrull, but I slotted both of the other two in my Karador deck. So far, I haven't played ghast much or he got killed on sight. However, obediance has been an absolute beast. I'm pretty sure I won a game just because of the kismet effect on it. The extort has also definitely kept me alive, but apparently the majority of the opponents I've played against haven't gone at me just because I've been draining them a little. The whole part of obedience flying under the radar is just amazing.

[Macius]

See, I would of had to agree with you, but I honestly say Obedience is better. Ghast is great in Big Black ramp strategies, which I adore, but the obedience almost synergizes with a whole deck.

Imagine your playing a Land Denial Stax and your fellow players know, "Hey, artifact mana can get us around it." With Obedience, its not so fast buster, you have to wait.

It also slows down vomit-o-token and swing.dec.

Combined with the fact that people run more creature hate than aritfact hate, and its cheaper, I still love obedience more.

I will say still, that I love the mechanic....

[blackkithkin20]

Ya, I don't think the ghast is better than obedience either. Ghast is kill on sight, like I said in my earlier post obedience won't be a high target, more of a nuisance than anything. Thus, you get far more use out it and a lot more draining.

[darkeshrine]

I love this mechanic... in 60-card magic. This mechanic is just, how to put this, restrictive in EDH. The fact that i'm forced to play x is really sad. Blind obedience would be really awesome in monowhite and other nonblack combinations. Crypt Ghast would be really awesome in monoblack or other B/x combinations, but is forced into B/W/x only.

So far, this is the only guild mechanic that is forced into multicolor decks in EDH. I do also realize that this was the only good way to make this mechanic, but it still saddens me a bit.

[Galspanic]

Blind Obedience is legal in any White deck since it's only white. Crypt Ghast is black... and that's it.

http://mtgcommander.net/forum/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=15321

[ajprokos]

Originally Posted by Galspanic

Blind Obedience is legal in any White deck since it's only white. Crypt Ghast is black... and that's it.

yep, extort does not give or have color identity.

[darkeshrine]

Originally Posted by Galspanic

Blind Obedience is legal in any White deck since it's only white. Crypt Ghast is black... and that's it.

http://mtgcommander.net/forum/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=15321

Holy wow... I hadn't seen that yet. That's awesome.

[Phil]

Originally Posted by Macius

See, I would of had to agree with you, but I honestly say Obedience is better. Ghast is great in Big Black ramp strategies, which I adore, but the obedience almost synergizes with a whole deck.

Imagine your playing a Land Denial Stax and your fellow players know, "Hey, artifact mana can get us around it." With Obedience, its not so fast buster, you have to wait.

It also slows down vomit-o-token and swing.dec.

Combined with the fact that people run more creature hate than aritfact hate, and its cheaper, I still love obedience more.

I will say still, that I love the mechanic....

I like obedience more then ghast for sure. But my reasoning for saying ghast is probably the all star is I saw him in action. Suited up with boots and sword, extorting and doubling mana became a "the table has to deal with that right now" situation.

But I do absolutely love blind obedience.

[Dimmu Borgir]

Blind Obedience is awesome. It's the Extort card that everyone wanted and it's performed very well for me.

Treasury Thrull I play mainly for the recursion aspect but it is another Extort trigger and with two on board things can south for your opponents quickly.

Crypt Ghast I play in mono black just for the doubling effect. He is a great mana sink though for a deck that has a LOT of mana. Like Blind Obedience, he has synergy with himself: Blind Obedience slows the game down for your opponent(s) so you can milk more Extort triggers and Crypt Ghast speeds up your game allowing you to play more spells to Extort more life. The life gain is also nice in mono black where Necro, Bitterblossom, Arena, etc. are standard.

All in all, I like Extort quite a bit. It feels fair, doesn't make the table rage, is very flavorful and the cards with it (those listed above) are excellent.

[Lithl]

Blind Obedience was quite annoying for me the other day when I was trying to make use of my Sensei's Top. My Top was vulnerable for a full turn cycle every time I'd cast it, and I couldn't use it as ": Draw a card." with Future Sight as long as my opponent controlled Blind Obedience.

Situations like that are why I'm happy to have Steal Enchantment
(The Karador player destroyed the Blind Obedience the turn after I stole it, but I just didn't want one of my opponents having it, I didn't care whether I had it.)

[JWK]

The only one I've played with in EDH yet has been Blind Obedience, and it has been excellent. I am considering putting the Ghast in my newly-assembled Stax deck (a somewhat-modified list from the one I posted in the 'stax primer' thread), because Extort could be so obviously good there, but I'm not sure what else to pull, so I'll probably play it as is for a bit, then rotate the Ghast in for something else that ends up under-performing.

[crazy monkey]

I threw a crypt ghast in mono black as a mana doubler, and the extort has actually saved me from dying a couple times already. In a 4-5 player game, the life gain off of extort keeps suicide black alive after being ganged up on

[3mag5num7]

Crypt Ghast is a fragile mana doubler with an upside in a color that loves mana doubling and doesn't mind a bit of fragility. Nirkana Revenant fits those same criteria, but it's more expensive and it doesn't help keep all of black's self-damage effects from hurting so badly. It's a high profile target, but so what? All mana doublers are, that doesn't make them any less good.

I've had more experience staring down someone else's Blind Obedience than I have with any other card from Gatecrash. It's every bit as good as people are saying. Quasi-Kismet is good, draining life is good, Blind Obedience is good.

Treasury Thrull looks good on paper, but unfortunately I haven't drawn him in a game yet and neither has anyone else I've played against.

I don't think there a lot of playable Extort cards, but the ones that are playable are looking pretty great.