Pointed Discussion

This is an expensive Incinerate most of the time.

a triple costlightning bolt that sends them to exile instead... not good enough generally.

I played this a LOT in block but I'm forced to admit its still worse than Carbonize at the same cost.

You could try Carbonize instead. It's uncommon, but it prevents regenerating.

Incinerate might be better, but a creature flattened with this can't be Disentombed. Decent card.

Does this card stop a creatures from persisting?

@LunarAvenger You've probably figured it out by now, but yes. "Would" expresses that the creature is exiled as the spell resolves, so it never dies and never hits the graveyard for persist to trigger. Kamigawa burns and pings share an exile theme, which counters soulshift tricks and recurring kami/spirit threats within the block.

Bet you waited all year for that. Merry Christmas.

If Incinerate is somehow a balanced card, why not this? Or even better, this at {1R}? Or Carbonize?
So, maybe a (functional) reprint? No...?
Sadness...

3.5/5

Now strictly better than Annihilating Fire.