Basalt Monolith + Mesmeric Orb

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Overview

If you control Basalt Monolith and Mesmeric Orb, you can tap Basalt Monolith for and pay to activate its ": Untap this artifact." ability, which untaps the Monolith and thereby triggers Mesmeric Orb to mill a card. Repeating Tap → Pay to Untap produces a repeated untap each time and therefore a Mesmeric Orb trigger each time. Untaps that occur during the untap step still trigger Mesmeric Orb but those triggers are held until the upkeep [502.3] and then put on the stack at the beginning of upkeep [503.1].

The StackRules & CitationsDetails & Edge Cases

Step 1

Ensure Basalt Monolith is tapped (for example, you tap it using its ": Add ." ability).

Step 2

Spend the produced to pay Basalt Monolith's ": Untap this artifact." activated ability; when that ability resolves, Basalt Monolith becomes untapped.

Step 3

When Basalt Monolith becomes untapped, Mesmeric Orb sees a permanent become untapped and its triggered ability triggers; that trigger will cause the Monolith's controller to mill a card when the trigger resolves.

Step 4

Because Basalt Monolith is now untapped, you can activate its ": Add ." ability again, generating , pay to untap it again, generating another Mesmeric Orb trigger; repeat these steps as long as you can pay the untap cost.

Step 5

If the untaps occur during the untap step, Mesmeric Orb's triggers are created but held until the upkeep per [502.3]; they are then put on the stack at the beginning of upkeep along with any other beginning-of-upkeep triggers per [503.1].

Resolution

You may repeatedly tap Basalt Monolith for and pay to untap it; each time it becomes untapped Mesmeric Orb triggers and its controller mills a card. This can be repeated as long as you can pay the untap cost (Basalt Monolith's ability can be used as often as you can pay for it) — effectively allowing unbounded repeated untaps and therefore repeated Mesmeric Orb triggers that mill a card each time. If the untaps happen during the untap step, those Mesmeric Orb triggers are held until the upkeep [502.3] and are put onto the stack at the beginning of upkeep [503.1]. Ruling [2020-08-07].