Punisher

Punisher is R&D slang for spells that force an opponent to decide how to punish themselves, usually giving them a choice between either two bad situations or between something bad for them and a bonus for you.

Description
Punisher is primary in red, where one of the two abilities is usually damage to the opponent making the choice; the other option is often something red doesn't normally do in the color pie. Black is secondary, but doesn't tend to have the color pie–bending aspect.

History
Punisher cards were first printed throughout the Odyssey block and were red. In the "alternative reality" themed set Planar Chaos, black got two punisher cards, while Tyrannize was printed in Shadowmoor. In Avacyn Restored, Punisher came back again this time as a 4/3 creature for that punishes for 4 damage. Some Punisher cards from the Odyssey block got a modern card frame for the first time in Tibalt's deck for Duel Decks: Sorin vs. Tibalt. Another punisher card was printed in Oath of the Gatewatch, while a vertical cycle of them were printed in Hour of Devastation. These last three allowed your opponents to choose from one of three options, all of which were detrimental to them.

Rulings

 * When a punisher spell resolves, the player whose creature, land, or spell would be affected must choose whether to take damage or allow the spell's normal effect to work.
 * Damage that the punisher spell would deal to the player may be prevented.

Examples
In the above example, your opponent must decide whether to punish themselves by taking 6 points of damage or putting the top 6 cards of their library into their graveyard.

Black
• Archfiend of Spite

• Court of Ambition

• Dash Hopes

• Forbidden Ritual

• Indulgent Tormentor

• Painful Quandary

• Professor Onyx

• Remorseless Punishment</c>

• Sword-Point Diplomacy</c>

• Temporal Extortion</c>

• Tergrid's Lantern</c>

• Torment of Hailfire</c>

• Torment of Scarabs</c>

• Torment of Venom</c>

Red
• Barbarian Bully</c>

• Blazing Salvo</c>

• Book Burning</c>

• Breaking Point</c>

• Browbeat</c>

• Combustible Gearhulk</c>

• Demanding Dragon</c>

• Dwarven Driller</c>

• Dwarven Scorcher</c>

• <c>Flaming Gambit</c>

• <c>Lava Blister</c>

• <c>Longhorn Firebeast</c>

• <c>Molten Influence</c>

• <c>Risk Factor</c>

• <c>Shivan Wumpus</c>

• <c>Sin Prodder</c>

• <c>Skullscorch</c>

• <c>Vexing Devil</c>

Green
• <c>Argothian Wurm</c>

Multicolor
• <c>Aether Rift</c>

• <c>Athreos, God of Passage</c>

• <c>Mogis, God of Slaughter</c>

• <c>Nicol Bolas, the Deceiver</c>

• <c>Prince of Thralls</c>

• <c>Tyrannize</c>