Do Gather The Townsfolk's (or cards like it) tokens go on the stack separately?

Question

A friend of mine was playing a deck that uses Cathars' Crusade and Gather the Townsfolk (and cards like it) to pump his creatures.

Another guy was watching and said that all the tokens went on the stack separately so each subsequent token was smaller than the last.

This leads to my question: Is this correct? And, if it is, what happens if, in response to the first or second token going on the stack, someone played a split second spell so nothing else could enter the stack (like the rest of the tokens)?

Answer 1

Tokens don't go on the stack, only spells and abilities. Gather the Townsfolk creates both tokens simultaneously.

1. You cast Gather the Townsfolk.
2. Gather the Townsfolk resolves:
   1. Put two 1/1 white Human creature tokens onto the battlefield. Cathars' Crusade's triggers twice.
3. Cathars' Crusade's ability is placed on the stack twice.
4. The second instance of Cathars' Crusade's ability resolves:
   1. Put a +1/+1 counter on each creature you control.
5. The first instance of Cathars' Crusade's ability resolves:
   1. Put a +1/+1 counter on each creature you control.

Both tokens (and any other creatures you might have had) got two +1/+1 counters.

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As for your second question, someone casting a split second spell would not change anything.

A split second spell between steps 1 and 2 would resolve before step 2, then you continue with step 2. Same goes for one cast between steps 3 and 4, or between steps 4 and 5.

Split second merely stop you from casting a spell or activating an ability in response to the split second spell.

Answer 2

NO, only the spell is put on the stack.

This Bog Post from magicjudges.org talks about that exact situation.

Once Gather the Townsfolk resolves both tokens enter the battlefield simultaneously and then the Cathars' Crusade triggers go on the stack. When the Cathars' Crusade triggers resolve both tokens get a +1/+1 counters for each trigger, and therefore both creatures are 3/3.

EDIT: For a similar situation see this question's answers

Answer 3

Gather The Townsfolk is one spell on the stack that generates multiple tokens. Each token entering the battlefield triggers a separate Cathars' Crusade "enters the battlefield" ability. (This is probably what that guy was talking about.)

However, all the tokens enter the battlefield simultaneously. The "enters the battlefield" abilities on the stack each resolve in turn, and all the tokens are already on the battlefield, so all the tokens will get a +1/+1 counter from the effect of each ability. This is clarified with the Cathars' Crusade ruling on gatherer:

The creature that entered the battlefield and caused the ability to trigger will also get a +1/+1 counter, provided it's still on the battlefield when the ability resolves.

The second part of your question.

And, if it is, what happens if, in response to the first or second token going on the stack, someone played a split second spell so nothing else could enter the stack (like the rest of the tokens)?

We've established that tokens aren't going on the stack, only the spell that creates them. They all enter the battlefield simultaneously, so there's nothing Split Second can do to prevent a token from being created. Split Second also doesn't prevent triggered abilities from going on the stack, so there's nothing it can do to prevent the tokens from receiving all the +1/+1 counters.