Vengeance

A teaching tool first, a removal spell second. The "tapped" restriction does all the design work: a tapped creature is typically one that has attacked or used an ability and is now exposed, the single most legible board state a new player can read. That targeting requirement encodes a lesson about tempo, teaching that you punish a creature for committing rather than killing it on sight. With no instant-speed interaction, this is white removal calibrated to simpler combat math: a spell that asks you to wait for the right moment instead of answering anything, anytime. White has returned to the tapped-creature template repeatedly since, because it is a clean way to print conditional removal that still feels fair: the attacker who overextends pays, the defender who holds back is safe. Read against modern unconditional white removal, the constraint looks quaint, but the design logic is sound and durable. It is the difference between a spell that controls the board and a spell that rewards reading the board.