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Card Pros

Card Advantage: Gathering Throng’s unique ability to search your library for any number of cards with the same name and add them to your hand provides a considerable boost in card advantage, ensuring you have ample options during your turns.

Resource Acceleration: While not directly impacting mana resources, the ability to fill your hand with multiple copies can smooth out draws, allowing for more consistent deployment of threats or answers, indirectly speeding up your game plan.

Instant Speed: Though Gathering Throng operates at sorcery speed, the sheer number of copies it can potentially bring into your hand sets you up for successive turns of instant-speed plays, thanks to a bolstered set of options.

Card Cons

Discard Requirement: One notable challenge with Gathering Throng is its requirement for you to discard a card. This condition can be especially taxing when your hand size is dwindling, making it a potential liability in the mid to late game when resources are critical.

Specific Mana Cost: Gathering Throng is locked behind a specific mana configuration, which can pose a limitation for players who aren’t running a deck calibrated to those mana types. This specificity can lead to it being a dead draw in hands that can’t meet the mana prerequisites.

Comparatively High Mana Cost: With a mana cost that puts it on the higher end of the curve, Gathering Throng may be competing for a slot in your deck with other impactful cards that have a more immediate effect on the game state. In some cases, the mana investment might not correlate with a sufficient payoff, especially when considering the other potential plays available at this cost.

Reasons to Include Gathering Throng in Your Collection

Versatility: Gathering Throng brings adaptability to the table, seamlessy integrating into a myriad of deck archetypes. Its ability to scale in power based on the number of creatures sharing its name makes it particularly useful in decks built around creature cloning or token generation.

Combo Potential: This card can initiate an explosive chain reaction when paired with effects that duplicate creatures or bounce them back to your hand. It becomes a force multiplier in the right setup, turning a single card play into a platform for game-ending combos.

Meta-Relevance: In environments where games are won by establishing a dominant board presence, Gathering Throng can be a critical component. With its swarm strategy potential, it positions itself as a card that can tip the scales in a developing or creature-heavy meta.

How to beat

Gathering Throng is a card that has the potential to overwhelm opponents in MTG with an ever-increasing number of creatures. To effectively counter this card, it’s essential to prevent these creatures from accumulating on the battlefield. Board wipes like “Wrath of God” or “Damnation” excel in clearing multiple creatures in one swoop. Spot removals, although less efficient, can also temporarily keep the creature count low. Cards with “Graveyard hate,” such as “Rest in Peace” or “Scavenging Ooze,” hinder the ability to replay Gathering Throng from the graveyard, blocking the inherent mechanic of the card.

On the strategic front, faster aggro decks can outpace the Throng’s growth by winning before the card’s effect becomes too overwhelming. Alternatively, control decks that stifle the opponent’s actions with counterspells and permission spells, like “Counterspell” or “Thoughtseize,” can prevent Throng from hitting the field altogether. In summary, while Gathering Throng can build impressive army given time, there are diverse ways within MTG to halt its momentum and maintain control of the game.