Someone pointed out amusing synergy with Grove of the Burnwillows...you tap it for {R}, opponent gains 1 life, spend the {R} to get punishing fire back, then proceed to dome them for 2 or kill something.
RJDroid
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(7 votes)
The art shows a man throwing the banhammer. The hammer in his other hand is for Wild Nacatl.
TherealphatMatt
★★★☆☆ (3.1/5.0)(4 votes)
This is too amusing not to share....
I was playing Duels of the Planeswalkers 2012 online the other day, against a guy using jace's deck. Now, this guy was obviously new ... his deck had about 70 cards in it and he was using Kraken's Eye. I was playing Chandra's deck, and I drew into this and Chandra's Phoenix.
Poor bastard couldn't play a spell without me getting my fire back, banged him on the head with it, then recast my Phoenix, which would then suicidally attack into his creatures, trading for them or doing damage that he couldn't afford to take. After a couple turns of this I finished him with a Lava Axe. I like to think he learned something.
Talas_Merchant
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
The art for this card resembles Sunforger.
If you've bought Political Puppets pre-con, I suggest getting rid of this card, because it doesn't do well in EDH at all, and, most important, is not synergetic with Zedruu the Greathearted. You can include some more worthwhile cards, like the aforementioned Sunforger, which can be very helpful with cards like Oblation, Chaos Warp and Wild Ricochet, all conveniently placed in your deck by WotC.
Wisdomseyes
★☆☆☆☆ (1.2/5.0)(2 votes)
"This is too amusing not to share....
I was playing Duels of the Planeswalkers 2012 online the other day, against a guy using jace's deck. Now, this guy was obviously new ... his deck had about 70 cards in it and he was using Kraken's Eye. I was playing Chandra's deck, and I drew into this and Chandra's Phoenix.
Poor bastard couldn't play a spell without me getting my fire back, banged him on the head with it, then recast my Phoenix, which would then suicidally attack into his creatures, trading for them or doing damage that he couldn't afford to take. After a couple turns of this I finished him with a Lava Axe. I like to think he learned something."
If you expect to go onto Duels of the Planeswalkers and find any players with an ounce of skill, you will be looking for a very long time. That is similar to looking for a needle in a heystack. You can find it, but not often enough for it to matter.
Onto the card. I can see its card advantage potential. Opponents gain life (which you can make them as said in a previous comment) and you get it back. This was run in the zoo pre ban. Now, i am betting that it was run more for the creature control than for the actual damage. 3 mana for 1 damage isnt all that spectacular. All this card says is that you will always be able to have it in your hand, something red mages crave. Why else would grim lavamancer be used in every red deck wins up to this day?
GoodOldUncleIstvan
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(2 votes)
Grove of the Burnwillows has already been noted as a combo piece with this card. I like to think that this punishing fire sits right alongside a deck with swords to plowshares
The above list is the cylce of color defining, relatively overpowered two drops legal in legacy. And I think punishing fire is the closest red will ever get to truly being a part of that cycle (Though Young Pyromancer isn't shabby at all).
As much as I'm not huge on TheWrathofShane, his comment points out an interesting set of similarities between this and Cursed Scroll -2 damage that is repeatable -Costs 3 to repeat -Requires a small amount of deck tailoring to use properly
The main bonuses that you get out of this, however, are: -You can't get rid of it without exile effects -You can pay for it with a payment plan -You can discard it to other cards without issue for card advantage elsewhere
The bonuses of the scroll are that: -It's colorless -Not weak to gravehate -Requires no specific synergy to work
Both are great Legacy control pieces and even find themselves at the kitchen table :)
JamesDudding
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Wizards, geez, i'll just do your job for you. FUNISHING PYRE. *Double face palm* I'm not even angry, i'm disappointed.
Comments (15)
I was playing Duels of the Planeswalkers 2012 online the other day, against a guy using jace's deck. Now, this guy was obviously new ... his deck had about 70 cards in it and he was using Kraken's Eye. I was playing Chandra's deck, and I drew into this and Chandra's Phoenix.
Poor bastard couldn't play a spell without me getting my fire back, banged him on the head with it, then recast my Phoenix, which would then suicidally attack into his creatures, trading for them or doing damage that he couldn't afford to take. After a couple turns of this I finished him with a Lava Axe. I like to think he learned something.
If you've bought Political Puppets pre-con, I suggest getting rid of this card, because it doesn't do well in EDH at all, and, most important, is not synergetic with Zedruu the Greathearted. You can include some more worthwhile cards, like the aforementioned Sunforger, which can be very helpful with cards like Oblation, Chaos Warp and Wild Ricochet, all conveniently placed in your deck by WotC.
I was playing Duels of the Planeswalkers 2012 online the other day, against a guy using jace's deck. Now, this guy was obviously new ... his deck had about 70 cards in it and he was using Kraken's Eye. I was playing Chandra's deck, and I drew into this and Chandra's Phoenix.
Poor bastard couldn't play a spell without me getting my fire back, banged him on the head with it, then recast my Phoenix, which would then suicidally attack into his creatures, trading for them or doing damage that he couldn't afford to take. After a couple turns of this I finished him with a Lava Axe. I like to think he learned something."
If you expect to go onto Duels of the Planeswalkers and find any players with an ounce of skill, you will be looking for a very long time. That is similar to looking for a needle in a heystack. You can find it, but not often enough for it to matter.
Onto the card. I can see its card advantage potential. Opponents gain life (which you can make them as said in a previous comment) and you get it back. This was run in the zoo pre ban. Now, i am betting that it was run more for the creature control than for the actual damage. 3 mana for 1 damage isnt all that spectacular. All this card says is that you will always be able to have it in your hand, something red mages crave. Why else would grim lavamancer be used in every red deck wins up to this day?
Grove of the Burnwillows is a way better idea.
The above list is the cylce of color defining, relatively overpowered two drops legal in legacy. And I think punishing fire is the closest red will ever get to truly being a part of that cycle (Though Young Pyromancer isn't shabby at all).
-2 damage that is repeatable
-Costs 3 to repeat
-Requires a small amount of deck tailoring to use properly
The main bonuses that you get out of this, however, are:
-You can't get rid of it without exile effects
-You can pay for it with a payment plan
-You can discard it to other cards without issue for card advantage elsewhere
The bonuses of the scroll are that:
-It's colorless
-Not weak to gravehate
-Requires no specific synergy to work
Both are great Legacy control pieces and even find themselves at the kitchen table :)