You choose whether to pay {R} as the triggered ability resolves.
Punishing Fire
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.
Last observed on Scryfall 2 months ago at $0.25. Over the trailing 90 days the price moved between $0.19 and $0.25 across 50 observations. Cross-checked across TCGplayer, eBay sold, Cardmarket EU, and Star City.
This printing is one of 2 catalogued treatments from PLST — the lineup includes Nonfoil alongside the standard finish. Across our catalog the Rarix library tracks every variant in the same family so collectors can compare price, scarcity and demand inside a single lineage.
Card #DDG-66 of *The List*, the set that shipped alongside the August 2024 The List release.
Card type: Instant, color identity red, printed at uncommon. Uncommons fill the middle-tier slots in a standard booster configuration. Mana cost: {1}{R} (2 converted).
Legal in Legacy, Vintage, and Commander. Banned in Modern.
EDHrec ranks this card #15,933 in Commander, putting it in the fringe-play tier of the format's playable pool.
Illustrated by Greg Staples. Rarix catalogs 1,289 other cards credited to this artist.
Magic: The Gathering · ™ & © Wizards of the Coast · Illus. Greg Staples
Card data via Scryfall. Rarix is fan-made; not endorsed by the rights holders.
















