Can you recycle runes during the resolution of Bullet Time to pay for its power cost, or can runes only be recycled when you can use a reaction?

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You cannot arbitrarily Recycle runes during the resolution of Bullet Time to pay its power cost. You may only Recycle when a game effect or cost instructs you to do so (Recycle is a Limited Action). To get runes while paying costs for a spell like Bullet Time, you use activated abilities that Add runes; those abilities (if they have the Reaction tag and are legal to use) can be activated during the Pay Costs step to provide runes to pay the spell's costs. [357.1.a] [429.3] [416.2]

You cannot spontaneously Recycle runes during Bullet Time's resolution unless a card/effect tells you to Recycle as part of a cost or effect. If you need runes to pay Bullet Time's power cost, you may activate abilities that Add runes during the Pay Costs step (permitted by the Reaction-tag rules) so long as those abilities are legal to activate. Recycle itself is a Limited Action that only happens when instructed by effects or costs. [357.1.a] [429.3] [416.2]

Start the process of playing Bullet Time. As part of playing a card you enter the Pay Costs step. [357.1.a] [429.3] If you need runes to pay Bullet Time's power cost, look for activated abilities that Add runes (Power) and that you are allowed to activate at this timing. Reaction-tagged Add abilities may be activated in the Pay Costs step and will finalize immediately to provide the runes. [357.1.a] [429.3] [429.2] If a card/effect explicitly instructs you to Recycle runes/cards as a cost or effect, perform that Recycle when instructed. Recycle is a Limited Action and only happens when a game effect or cost tells you to do it. [416.2] [416.3] If the Recycle action itself does not state that it Adds runes to your Rune Pool, performing a Recycle will not by itself create runes you can spend to pay Bullet Time unless the effect's text also Adds runes. Adding resources and Recycle are different actions under the rules. [416.2] [429.2]

If you control a card whose ability says something like 'Recycle X from your runes: Add Y runes' (not present in the given text), whether you can use it to pay Bullet Time depends on that ability's tags and timing. If that ability is an activated Reaction that Adds runes, you could activate it during Pay Costs and the Add would finalize immediately, providing runes to pay the cost. If the ability merely Recycles but does not Add runes, it won't produce runes to pay costs unless the card text explicitly does so. Also note some card texts might forbid being used as Reactions or add their own restrictions; always follow the exact card wording in addition to the Core Rules. [429.3] [416.2] [416.3]

Recycle is a Limited Action that happens only when a game effect or cost tells you to Recycle; you can't perform arbitrary Recycle actions out of timing [416.2]. When you play Bullet Time you go through the Play steps, including the Pay Costs step. The rules explicitly permit activating activated abilities that Add resources and have the Reaction tag during the Pay Costs step to add Energy and Power to pay costs [357.1.a] [429.3]. Adding resources finalizes and resolves immediately, so those Adds can provide the runes you need to pay the power cost for Bullet Time even during the play/resolve sequence [429.2]. Therefore: you cannot just 'Recycle runes' during Bullet Time's resolution unless a card or effect tells you to Recycle as a cost or effect; if you instead use an activated ability that Adds runes (and is legal to use at that timing), you can use that to pay for Bullet Time. [357.1.a] [429.3] [416.2]