TYPE
Instant

ABILITY
Punishing Fire deals 2 damage to any target. Whenever an opponent gains life, you may pay {R}. If you do, return Punishing Fire from your graveyard to your hand.

ILLUSTRATOR
Christopher Moeller

LEGALITIES
Standard Future Historic Timeless Gladiator Pioneer Explorer Modern Legacy Pauper Vintage Penny Commander Oathbreaker Standardbrawl Brawl Alchemy Paupercommander Duel Oldschool Premodern Predh

LANGUAGES
DE EN ES FR IT JP PT RU ZH-CN ZH-TW

RULINGS

• 2009-10-01 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.
• 2009-10-01 You choose whether to pay {R} as the triggered ability resolves.
• 2009-10-01 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.