Honestly, when I think of Punishing Fire in the context of current Modern, it's either laughable (against Primeval Titan, control, Crashing Footfalls, 3/3 Dragon's Rage Channeler, reanimated Archon of Cruelty, etc.) or potentially even a positive, as a repeatable answer for the repeatable cheap threats from various Lurrus of the Dream-Den decks
Maybe the best path to getting people into Magic wasn't making a simpler version of Magic but creating new games
4 Phoenix Down Is an Undead Destroyer in MTG Final Fantasy Proves That the Bird Gives and the Bird Takes Away In many Final Fantasy games, spells and items that traditionally heal living creatures have the opposite effect on the undead
Requiring supplemental game pieces to track and be explained, these mechanics are almost incomprehensible to new players
Ive seen this card compared to Ragavan, Nimble Pilferer