Rogue Refiner

• WWizards of the Coast2024-06-07
  Official Ruling
  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.
• WWizards of the Coast2024-06-07
  Official Ruling
  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.
• WWizards of the Coast2024-06-07
  Official Ruling
  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.
• WWizards of the Coast2024-06-07
  Official Ruling
  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.
• WWizards of the Coast2024-06-07
  Official Ruling
  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 .
• WWizards of the Coast2024-06-07
  Official Ruling
  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.
• WWizards of the Coast2024-06-07
  Official Ruling
  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.)
• WWizards of the Coast2024-06-07
  Official Ruling
  is the energy symbol. It represents one energy counter.
• WWizards of the Coast2024-06-07
  Official Ruling
  Energy counters are a kind of counter that a player may have. They're not associated with any specific permanents.

Rulings via Scryfall

• WO
  Wizards of the Coast2018-05-10

  Rogue Refiner was unbanned in brawl on May 10, 2018. Because of its singleton nature, we believe these cards will be less problematic in the Brawl environment. Part of what made these cards so powerful in Standard was the ability to play multiple copies and build highly efficient, consistent decks around them. Source: https://magic.wizards.com/en/news/news/future-brawl-2018-05-10
• WO
  Wizards of the Coast2018-01-15

  Rogue Refiner was banned in standard on January 15, 2018. Ultimately we decided on Attune with Aether and Rogue Refiner, two cards that produce incidental "free" energy alongside an effect that is almost strong enough to play on its own. Rogue Refiner is what we term a generous "rate" card, one that simply provides a lot of value for little investment. The additional card advantage and energy make it difficult for other midrange and control decks to go "over the top" of energy decks in a long game. Source: https://magic.wizards.com/en/news/news/january-15-2018-banned-and-restricted-announcement-2018-01-15