I've been able to easily replicate this series of events:
1) Play a Ray of Light
2) Immolate it.
3) Immediately play a Phoenix
4) The Phoenix immediately dies and becomes Ash without any further clicking of anything. You don't get any more quanta. This doesn't happen if you let the Immolation graphic clear out before you play the Phoenix.
Lesson: Don't play the Phoenix until after Immolation's graphic has FULLY cleared the screen.