If I place a -1/-1 counter on an Eldrazi Scion, which is a 1/1 Colorless Eldrazi Creature token, can I sacrifice it using it's activated ability before stat based actions are checked and see that it's toughness is zero?
No. To activate the Scion's mana ability you either have to have priority, or something has to ask you for a mana payment if you don't have priority. State based actions are checked right before a player gets priority, so the Scion is dead before you can sacrifice it for mana.
No. Because mana abilities have to be activated before costs are paid. You get an opportunity to do so during the spell casting process. But the Scion will be gone by the time you start paying costs, so you'll have to put the counter on some other creature.
edit:
Costs can be paid in any order, but you have to have the resources already available when you start paying. So while you can put the counter on the creature before or after you pay the mana, you must have the nessessary mana already in your pool before you start paying any of those cost.
No, but if you target the Scion to have the -1/-1 placed on it with something like Plague Belcher you can sacrifice it in response to you targeting it.
For what it's worth, here's the Comp Rules relevant to the Lethal Sting scenario:
601.2 [...]To cast a spell, a player follows the steps listed below, in order.[...]
[...]
601.2g. If the total cost includes a mana payment, the player then has a chance to activate mana abilities (see rule 605, "Mana Abilities"). Mana abilities must be activated before costs are paid.
601.2h. The player pays the total cost in any order. Partial payments are not allowed. Unpayable costs can't be paid.
Example: You cast Altar's Reap, which costs {1}{B} and has an additional cost of sacrificing a creature. You sacrifice Thunderscape Familiar, whose effect makes your black spells cost {1} less to cast. Because a spell's total cost is "locked in" before payments are actually made, you pay {B}, not {1}{B}, even though you're sacrificing the Familiar.
So the mana abilities need to be completed before the costs are paid, meaning you'll have no Scion to put the counter on.
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If I place a -1/-1 counter on an Eldrazi Scion, which is a 1/1 Colorless Eldrazi Creature token, can I sacrifice it using it's activated ability before stat based actions are checked and see that it's toughness is zero?
(Also known as Xenphire)
Former Rules Advisor
"Everything's better with pirates." - Lodge
(The Gamers: Dorkness Rising)
"Any sufficiently analyzed magic is indistinguishable from science."
(Girl Genius - Fairy Tale Theater Break - Cinderella, end of volume 8)
edit:
Costs can be paid in any order, but you have to have the resources already available when you start paying. So while you can put the counter on the creature before or after you pay the mana, you must have the nessessary mana already in your pool before you start paying any of those cost.
Former Rules Advisor
"Everything's better with pirates." - Lodge
(The Gamers: Dorkness Rising)
"Any sufficiently analyzed magic is indistinguishable from science."
(Girl Genius - Fairy Tale Theater Break - Cinderella, end of volume 8)
601.2 [...]To cast a spell, a player follows the steps listed below, in order.[...]
[...]
601.2g. If the total cost includes a mana payment, the player then has a chance to activate mana abilities (see rule 605, "Mana Abilities"). Mana abilities must be activated before costs are paid.
601.2h. The player pays the total cost in any order. Partial payments are not allowed. Unpayable costs can't be paid.
Example: You cast Altar's Reap, which costs {1}{B} and has an additional cost of sacrificing a creature. You sacrifice Thunderscape Familiar, whose effect makes your black spells cost {1} less to cast. Because a spell's total cost is "locked in" before payments are actually made, you pay {B}, not {1}{B}, even though you're sacrificing the Familiar.
So the mana abilities need to be completed before the costs are paid, meaning you'll have no Scion to put the counter on.
--Buck v Bell, 1927. This case, regarding the compulsory sterilization of inmates at mental institutions, has -- somehow -- never been overturned. Just a wee PSA for ya.