Mysterio' smoke and mirrors and bodyguard timing

[fenixdown87]

So I have a question regarding Mysterio's smoke and mirrors. If I attack mysterio and plan on spending the 2 and the mysterio player uses bodyguard to protect him what triggers first the bodyguard or the smoke and mirrors payment?

[Thoras]

Smoke and Mirrors is a step 2d defender trigger.

The defender can choose which they want to resolve first, meaning that yes, they can choose to force the attacker to decide whether they want to pay before choosing whether to use bodyguard.