The press release mentions being less confrontational than Magic, while still being a strategy card game
A mana is still pretty cheap and the ability to do it multiple times makes it a far better late game engine with things like the Carrion Feeder or Skullclamp
If you find yourself in a situation where you could count your party different ways to get different numbers, you always get the highest number
However, if a nontoken creature enters the battlefield after Gnawing Crescendo resolves and then dies while under your control later that turn, you'll create a Rat token
At least, they didn't until 2021's Modern Horizons 2
Blighted Woodland Tap to add 1 colorless Tap, pay 3 generic, pay 1 green and sacrifice it to search your library for 2 basic land cards and put them on the battlefield tapped Escape Tunnel Tap and sacrifice it to search your library for a basic land and put it on the battlefield tapped Tap and sacrifice it to make target creature with power 2 or less unblockable this turn Evolving Wilds Tap and sacrifice it to search your library for a basic land and put it on the battlefield tapped Fabled Passage Tap and sacrifice it to search your library for a basic land and put it on the battlefield tapped