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Punishing Fire
Instant
uncommon
Punishing Fire deals 2 damage to any target. Whenever an opponent gains life, you may pay . If you do, return this card from your graveyard to your hand.
Card Kingdom
CardmarketSemantic Tags
A spell that deals direct damage to creatures or players.
Cares about cards in the graveyard, puts cards into the graveyard, or benefits from things dying.
Returns cards from the graveyard to your hand, the battlefield, or the top of your library.
Specifically removes planeswalkers.
Answers an opponent's threat by destroying, exiling, bouncing, or otherwise removing a permanent or spell.
Format Legality
Price history
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Printings (5)
| Set | Rarity | TCGplayer | Card Kingdom | Cardmarket |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| The List#DDG-66 | uncommon | · | · | · |
| Legendary Cube Prize Pack#66 | uncommon | · | · | · |
| Commander 2011#131 | uncommon | · | · | · |
| Duel Decks: Knights vs. Dragons#66 | uncommon | · | · | · |
| Zendikar#142 | uncommon | · | · | · |
Rulings
You choose whether to pay {R} as the triggered ability resolves.
If Punishing Fire has left your graveyard by the time its triggered ability resolves, you may still pay {R}, but you won't return it to your hand. This is true even if Punishing Fire has left your graveyard and returned to it by the time its triggered ability resolves.
Punishing Fire's triggered ability triggers only if it's already in your graveyard at the time an opponent gains life. For example, you can cast it in response to a spell or ability that will cause an opponent to gain life. In that case, Punishing Fire will resolve first, so it will be in the graveyard by the time the opponent gains life. However, if you wait until an opponent actually gains life and then cast Punishing Fire, you won't be able to return it to your hand at that time.