I have been messing with a high pressure black beatdown idea. Now that black has some new draw options beyond Necropotence and Dark Confident, as well as an added arsenal of  BIG fast drop creatures,  I think we can develop a deck to apply enough pressure and disruption to be effective.

I have been playing some games but not near enough to write up a top notch list. Here is a basic shell of what I have been working on. I have not done anything with the land base and I am open for suggestions on that too.

4 Phyrexian Obliterator
4 Ashenmoor Gouger
4 Gravecrawler
4 Phyrexian Negator
4 Thoughtseize/Duress
4 Dark Ritual
4 Sinkhole
4 Hymn to Tourach
4 Sign in Blood
4 Night's Whisper
1 Mox Jet
1 Black Lotus
13 Swamp
4 Wasteland
1 Strip mine

Again, it needs some work and a sideboard. As it sits now, I don't think it is going to be extremely competitive beyond a rogue deck that nobody is prepared to play. Besides trashing the whole idea, are there any suggestions you have to make this thing a better beatdown for today’s meta?

I tried Dark Confidant and it was not good, Bob is a good card but not in this deck. I tried Fulminator Mage and I think it is a possible addition or sideboard option. Moriok Rigger is good with MUD and Stax. Ogre Marauder for the other aggro decks. It may need some other creature removal. Let me know what you think of my build and what would you add/take out and why.

Thanks!

p.s. I would hyperlink the deck but I haven't figured it out yet. 

New Guy Here! This is my first post here at TMD but I have been playing since the late 1990's and I have been reading these forums for a really long time.

That aside, I have been playing Merfolk since the days when Rootwater Thief was considered a good card and I have had multiples of Extract in my sideboard ever since it was printed. If you think about Extract as a card that you are not going to throw out in game 1 but more for game 2/3 then it should change your perspective. Most decks have some kind of sideboard answer to Aggro decks (this case being Merfolk) and Extract is good to remove it and/or figure out what they sided in, thus eliminating the surprise.

Sometimes I side it in just for the "Wasteland" effect, not that it is productive but I have won games by causing some mana screw! When you are using an Aggro deck packed with counterspells it can be a nice little bonus effect.

Just as an example of what I have done to start a game: Mox, Wasteland, Extract. it is a great opening hand to disrupt many of the current decks, if you think of Extract as a way to remove workshops, bazaar, ect.

But for the record, it is not a great card and you do lose tempo if you use it. However, if you run it, have a purpose in mind that can be effective. If you know someone has just one kill method that can outrace you, this is a great way to utilize extract.