Extort is a triggered ability that appears on permanents. Whenever you cast a spell (any spell), you may pay a single white or black mana. If you do, each opponent loses one life and you gain a life equal to the total life lost this way.
And…yeah. That’s it. A few small notes:
- You can only pay for the draining once per spell cast.
- You gain life equal to the amount of life lost due to the ability, so if an opponent’s life total can’t change for some reason, you don’t gain life from them.
- Extort doesn’t target, so no hexproof or shroud getting around it.
- Despite using only white or black mana, a card having Extort doesn’t affect a cards color identity.
And that last point caused a decent amount of confusion for a bit for Commander players. Extort did well enough when it debuted, but it’s a little tricky to design around, as it rewards a specific style of play. It might come back someday, but no guarantees.
If you want to start draining your opponents life with Extort and need to pick up some cards, head over to cardkingdom.com!