Why shroud? Deadeye navigator I'm looking at you.

I'm afraid Deadeye Navigator doesn't target, so this is eminently blinkable.

Why "X damage" rather than "1 damage"? Since this has deathtouch the difference is virtually meaningless. You gain a tiny bit more life, but that's going to be confusing anyway.

The thing is that this is meant to be a scalable Gray Merchant of Asphodel with a damnation tagged on, that's why I didn't want it to be blinkable

It doesn't get a +1/+1 counter when it ETB first, so at iteration 1 would be ping all 1, extort 1, gain x+y life

I can very much see why you don't want it to be blinkable. But I'm afraid it still is.

If you want to prevent it being blinked, one of the best ways is to have the trigger say "When ~ ETBs, if it was cast from your hand, it deals..."

Yikes! Some of this cycle have the "~ ETBs with a +1/+1 counter for each time" wording, and some of them say "When ~ ETBs, put a +1/+1 counter on it for each time". Those two phrases are horribly similar and yet one case counts the current one where the other doesn't. That's going to be way too confusing; you need to sync them all up.

the suggestion is taken

The best part about this cycle is that it counts enemy's Forces as they enter the battlefield xD