Gamble
Sorcery
Search your library for a card, put that card into your hand, discard a card at random, then shuffle.
- CMC
- 1
- Mana cost
- Color identity
- R
- Rarity
- rare
- Set
- Ultimate Masters
- Price
- $15.52
- EDHREC rank
- #235
Gamble is a one-mana red tutor — the only one in the format — and that alone justifies its inclusion in any red deck that needs a specific piece badly enough to accept the downside. The random discard stings, but in graveyard-matters builds like Rograkh, Son of Rohgahh // Silas Renn, Seeker Adept, discarding the card you just searched up is often a feature, not a bug.
Best Commanders
Commanders with the highest synergy
Rograkh, Son of Rohgahh // Silas Renn, Seeker Adept
Rograkh, Son of Rohgahh // Silas Renn, Seeker Adept is a reanimator engine where the graveyard is a resource, so Gamble tutoring a combo piece directly into the yard — Underworld Breach, Grenzo, or whatever the kill line needs — skips the middleman entirely.
Dargo, the Shipwrecker // Tymna the Weaver
Dargo, the Shipwrecker // Tymna the Weaver runs fast artifact and sacrifice lines that need specific cheap pieces, and Gamble at one mana curves cleanly into the engine on turn one or two when the discount matters most.
Malcolm, Keen-Eyed Navigator // Vial Smasher the Fierce
Malcolm, Keen-Eyed Navigator // Vial Smasher the Fierce is a combo-oriented partner pair that runs a tight list of payoffs and enablers, and Gamble is one of the few one-mana ways to fetch whichever piece is missing in the moment.
Etali, Primal Conqueror
Etali, Primal Conqueror lives and dies by getting to its attack step quickly, and Gamble tutors haste enablers or ramp pieces that let Etali land and swing a full turn earlier.
Krark, the Thumbless // Sakashima of a Thousand Faces
Krark, the Thumbless // Sakashima of a Thousand Faces is a spells-matter deck that wants Krark in play above all else, and Gamble doubling as a spell to trigger Krark's ability while also finding the missing combo piece is exactly the kind of two-for-one that deck rewards.
Format Analysis
Where it lives, where it can’t
| Format | Verdict |
|---|---|
| commander | legal |
| legacy | legal |
| modern | not legal |
| pioneer | not legal |
| standard | not legal |
| vintage | legal |
| pauper | not legal |
| oathbreaker | legal |
In Commander, Gamble is simply the best one-mana tutor red has access to, and its inclusion rate in competitive red builds reflects that — the discard is a real cost, but a 25% chance of losing the card (with a full grip) is acceptable when the alternative is not having a tutor at all. Legacy is where Gamble historically showed up in burn and combo lists looking for redundancy, and it remains legal there, though the format's access to better blue and black tutors limits its role to niche applications. Vintage allows it, but black tutors and Demonic Tutor make Gamble a distant second choice in any deck with access to them. In Oathbreaker, the same Commander logic applies — red decks with combo signatures run it for the same reasons and face the same trade-off.
Key Combos
Combo lines featuring this card
Budget Alternatives
Cheaper options that do most of the same work
There is no true budget replacement for Gamble because nothing else in red tutors directly at one mana — the closest comparison is Faithless Looting, which draws two and discards two for one mana but doesn't let you name a specific card. If the goal is simply finding combo pieces rather than a strict tutor, Goblin Engineer and Goblin Matron cover artifact and Goblin targets respectively at two to three mana, each without the discard risk, but neither covers the breadth that Gamble does.
Price Context
Current price
$15.52 mid tier
At $15.52, Gamble sits in the mid tier — expensive for a single spell slot, but it's the only one-mana red tutor in the format, and that scarcity keeps the price sticky. It's a considered purchase for competitive red builds, not a casual upgrade.
Explore
Sources
Mentioned
- Rograkh, Son of Rohgahh // Silas Renn, Seeker Adept
- Dargo, the Shipwrecker // Tymna the Weaver
- Malcolm, Keen-Eyed Navigator // Vial Smasher the Fierce
- Etali, Primal Conqueror
- Krark, the Thumbless // Sakashima of a Thousand Faces
Updated . Data from Scryfall, EDHREC, and Commander Spellbook.