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Sarkhan, Fireblood has a +1 loyalty ability that reads:
Add two mana in any combination of colors. Spend this mana only to cast Dragon spells.
Mirror Image is not a dragon but reads:
You may have Mirror Image enter the battlefield as a copy of any creature you control.
If you control a creature with the Dragon type, can you use Sarkhan's ability to pay for the Mirror Image?
No, you cannot pay for Mirror Image with that mana generated by Sarkhan.
The ability on Mirror Image modifies how Mirror Image enters the battlefield. You decide that at the time that the Mirror Image spell resolves. But you pay for the spell earlier, when it's just a Mirror Image, and not a dragon.
Costs are paid when a spell is cast, and Mirror Image doesn't choose what it is copying until it resolves. At the time you pay the cost the game doesn't "know" that Mirror Image will be a dragon.
