propaganda chimeric idol 2012 rules

[Tower]

can you somehow pay and have chimeric idol become creature and attack when there is a propaganda in play or is it not possible because the lands tap before you are able to pay for propaganda? or will you be able to pay for the propaganda before tapping all your lands?

[Kenji]

You can tap your lands for mana before activating Chimeric Idol's ability. However, the latest you can turn the Idol into a creature and be able to attack with it is during the beginning of combat step. Mana empties from your mana pool at the end of every phase and step.

Therefore, whatever mana you add to your pool before animating the Idol is going to be gone by the time you would try to declare it as an attacker.

The very first part of the declare attackers step is to choose which creatures you would like to declare as attackers. Doing so is a turn-based action, and doesn't use the stack. No player receives priority until after that has been done, which is why you can't turn the Idol into a creature and attack with it during this step. You can turn the Idol into a creature during the declare attackers step if you want, but it's impossible to declare it as an attacker since that part of the step has already taken place.

As a reminder, these are the steps of the Combat Phase. I placed some notes next to the steps where relevant:

Beginning of Combat Step ----> The very latest you can activate Chimeric Idol's ability if you want it to be declared as an attacker.
Declare Attackers Step ----> Since you would have tapped all your lands in the step prior to this, you won't have any mana left to pay for any creatures to attack.
Declare Blockers Step
Combat Damage Step
End of Combat Step