Some triggered abilities that state that you "may pay" a certain amount of describe an effect that happens "If you do." In that case, no player may take actions to try to stop the ability's effect after you make your choice. If the payment is followed by the phrase "When you do," then you'll choose any targets for that reflexive triggered ability and put it on the stack before players can take actions.

The additional damage is dealt by the original source of the damage, not by Aether Revolt.

If a spell or ability with one or more targets states that you "may pay" some amount of , and each permanent that it targets has become an illegal target, the spell or ability won't resolve. You can't pay any even if you want to.

Some triggered abilities state that you "may pay" a certain amount of . You can't pay that amount multiple times to multiply the effect. You simply choose whether or not to pay that amount of as the ability resolves.

If you get multiple at once, Aether Revolt's last ability will trigger only once. When the triggered ability resolves, it will deal damage to the target equal to the amount of you gained.

Energy counters are a kind of counter that a player may have. They're not associated with any specific permanents.

is the energy symbol. It represents one energy counter.

Once a permanent you control leaves the battlefield, Aether Revolt's revolt ability will apply to noncombat damage dealt by sources you control until the turn ends or Aether Revolt leaves the battlefield, whichever happens first. It doesn't matter what happens to the card or token that left the battlefield afterward.

If an effect says you get one or more , you get that many energy counters. To pay one or more , you lose that many energy counters. You can't pay more energy counters than you have. Any effects that interact with counters a player gets, has, or loses can interact with energy counters.

If an effect instructs you to get one or more and then allows you to spend , Aether Revolt's last ability will see the amount of you got. It doesn't matter how much you spend after that.

If noncombat damage dealt by a source you control is being divided or assigned among multiple opponents and/or permanents opponents control, divide the original amount before adding 2. For example, if you cast a spell that deals 4 damage divided among any number of targets and you choose to have it deal 2 damage to a creature and 2 damage to that creature's controller, that spell will deal 4 damage to each of them instead.

Some spells and abilities that give you may require targets. If each target chosen is an illegal target as that spell or ability tries to resolve, it won't resolve. You won't get any .

Energy counters aren't mana. They don't go away as steps, phases, and turns end, and effects that add mana "of any type" can't give you energy counters.

Keep track of how many energy counters each player has. Potential ways to track this include writing theme down on paper or using dice, but any method that is clear and mutually agreeable is fine. (At higher levels of tournament play, dice may not be allowed for tracking counters that players have.)

If another effect modifies how much damage a source would deal to an opponent or a permanent they control, including preventing some of it, the player being dealt damage or the controller of the permanent being dealt damage chooses an order in which to apply those effects. If all of the damage is prevented, Aether Revolt's effect no longer applies.