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Artifacts aren't creatures, so no summoning sickness and you can tap them instantly. Artifact creatures however do have summoning sickness I believe and cannot be tapped instantly.

As I understand it, if you try to tap a creature with an ability like puppet strings, the controller of that creature can tap it before you can to activate the ability of that creature before it is tapped by you as a response, so as far as I know it does stack.

So the puppet strings won't work, unless it is done in the upkeep phase for instance, after the untapping but before the start of the main phase. You can't cast creature spells, so tapping for mana at that point would cause a mana burn.

- Only creatures have summoning sickness
- activated abilities stack
- You cannot try to tap a creature, you either do or you don't. If you do the ability goes on the stack and there is no sense to reponding to it with puppet strings because the ability is already on the stack. If someone however uses puppet strings on your creature before you tap it yourself, the activated ability of puppet strings goes on the stack. you then are allowed to respond to that before it resolves. You can respond by tapping the creature yourself for it's own activated ability which is then put on the stack on top of the puppet string ability which is still just sitting there waiting to resolve.

read this article on priority and the stack

http://mtgsalvation.com/794-priority-and-the-stack.html

What zieveraar said about your opponent tapping you before your main phase is because manapools are emptied at the end of each phase. if you tap for mana during your upkeep you can only use that mana for instant speed spells and abilities.

@zieveraar: mana burn does not exist anymore as of M10

[QUOTE=Seth] If someone however uses puppet strings on your creature before you tap it yourself, the activated ability of puppet strings goes on the stack. you then are allowed to respond to that before it resolves. You can respond by tapping the creature yourself for it's own activated ability which is then put on the stack on top of the puppet string ability which is still just sitting there waiting to resolve.
[/QUOTE]

awsome, I never realized that! thnx for the heads up! Every time something like that pops up I realize how little I actually really know about the rules...

[QUOTE=Lexusthegreat]awsome, I never realized that! thnx for the heads up! Every time something like that pops up I realize how little I actually really know about the rules...[/QUOTE]

Be sure to read the article. I already knew the stuff in the article by the time I read it but I do keep reffering back to it every time someone asks me about the stack and or priority. It's just a great article and a light read that basically tells you most of what is important when playing magic. It's really a must read for everyone who does not understand the stack 100%.

[QUOTE=Seth]- Only creatures have summoning sickness
- activated abilities stack
- You cannot try to tap a creature, you either do or you don't. If you do the ability goes on the stack and there is no sense to reponding to it with puppet strings because the ability is already on the stack. If someone however uses puppet strings on your creature before you tap it yourself, the activated ability of puppet strings goes on the stack. you then are allowed to respond to that before it resolves. You can respond by tapping the creature yourself for it's own activated ability which is then put on the stack on top of the puppet string ability which is still just sitting there waiting to resolve.

read this article on priority and the stack

http://mtgsalvation.com/794-priority-and-the-stack.html

What zieveraar said about your opponent tapping you before your main phase is because manapools are emptied at the end of each phase. if you tap for mana during your upkeep you can only use that mana for instant speed spells and abilities.

@zieveraar: mana burn does not exist anymore as of M10[/QUOTE]

Aah, I didn't know that. Kind of odd to get rid of that, it at times made for interesting situations.

And thanks for that link, very enlightening article!

[QUOTE=zieveraar]Aah, I didn't know that. Kind of odd to get rid of that, it at times made for interesting situations.

And thanks for that link, very enlightening article![/QUOTE]

yeah I know a couple o fella's who weren't to happy with that rule change. I used to run Pulse of the Forge in my burn deck and take mana burn intentionally so I could take Pulse back to my hand after casting it. The change doesn't bother me much though. The only thing that bothers me is the no damage on the stack rule change. It took a lot of fun out of playing magic for me.

Great article @Seth thanks for posting, I just read it and it indeed exposed some interesting new insights for me especially the whole priority switching.

[QUOTE=Seth]yeah I know a couple o fella's who weren't to happy with that rule change. I used to run Pulse of the Forge in my burn deck and take mana burn intentionally so I could take Pulse back to my hand after casting it. The change doesn't bother me much though. The only thing that bothers me is the no damage on the stack rule change. It took a lot of fun out of playing magic for me.[/QUOTE]

So you can't block and then sacrifice a creature anymore then for a different ability? I read a reference of that damage change, not quite clear for me what the consequences of it are though.

[QUOTE=zieveraar]So you can't block and then sacrifice a creature anymore then for a different ability? I read a reference of that damage change, not quite clear for me what the consequences of it are though.[/QUOTE]

you can still block and then sac but what you can't do is put damage on the stack and then sac. Big difference.