I always liked this card and how sometimes it can be quite good for the small investment, especially when searching for cards like loam and squee, all the while still only costing one mana. What do you guys think of the card and what size would you run it at (if any)
I actually really like Gamble, but unfortunately it won't make the cut except in ridiculously large cubes.
Ausschliessi - that is exactly what happened when we tried it out a few years ago at 540. It only made a few decks, and they were usually ones that ran the Time Vault / Voltaic Key combo. Those decks loved the card, but they were few and far in between (pretty rare to get the two combo pieces AND gamble).
Squee, Goblin Nabob is bar none my favorite card in the cube so if I ever drafted a Squee deck, I would always play Gamble, but my love for Squee boarders on the absurd.
I run it in my cube which is 400 cards large and I love it. Most of the time it's either in a big red deck that likes artifacts or it's splashed into some random deck. Most of the time it's a demonic tutor for R that requires you to discard a card as part of the cost. So in a lot of ways it's like vamp tutor in that regard as it's card disadvantage but it gets you what you need generally.
Now granted, I have terrible luck with them always randomly picking the card I tutored for, but when I have a welder, or academy ruins, does it really matter if they hit my Smokestack? The same is true for Reanimator where you can search up a redundant effect and have a chance of discarding a fattie while also getting your animate spell. Flash back also makes this card better, and can make it into a straight tutor of you can pay the flashback cost and need an effect with flashback.
In short, gamble is a big skill check in terms of drafting, deck building, and playing... That makes it an all-star in my eyes.
Gamble is a very good card in the right deck but its biggest problem is that it's a red card. Would be really good in black (I'd run a couple more black tutors to be honest).
Red decks are typically the least combo in my cube but I have been thinking about throwing a Goblin Welder back in.
Why would Gamble be better in black than red? Black already has access to a plethora of better tutors.
I think red is a strength rather than a weakness because the option to go get exactly what you need is so limited in a base-red deck. A red-white deck would like an inferior tutor for a very powerful spell sometimes, even if it is risky. A black deck would just rather have a better tutor, and once you are running Demonic and another tutor, do you really need Gamble to be the third?
Why would Gamble be better in black than red? Black already has access to a plethora of better tutors.
I think red is a strength rather than a weakness because the option to go get exactly what you need is so limited in a base-red deck. A red-white deck would like an inferior tutor for a very powerful spell sometimes, even if it is risky. A black deck would just rather have a better tutor, and once you are running Demonic and another tutor, do you really need Gamble to be the third?
You have a point, black is not short of tutors in my cube (running a Seal too). I just think that the random discard is so bad in some situations you don't want to run it unless you're grabbing something that also benefits from random discard.
It seems a lot of people have been giving red a heavier combo bent in recent years, so I figured I'd give this a bump. Has this been a good enabler, or is it too unreliable?
I'm personnally just scared about how this card could break 2-card combo. If for example you're about to storm and need Yawgmoth's Will in order to do it, you will maybe end up discard either your storm spell or the Will itself. But in counterpart if you have already cast the Will, I think it would be great! For the Time Vault combo, you can always cast the Vault first and then gamble for a enabler. Seems pretty sharp! Does anybodyelse have experienced it already?
I think this is the most efficient tutor we will get. I am running it right now. It is very similar to cards like Chaos Warp and is group dependent how much of this kind of thing that your group is willing to play with.
Normally I say consistency is key in cube, but tutors are one of the biggest components in bringing consistency to a lot of comboish decks.
I have also seen it play final fortune a bunch of times. The red aggro player goes out fast but is one card away from the win (hellrider/burn/armageddon/timewalk etc.) and they have dead lands in hand anyway. They keep the tutor, they win, discard and loose.
Necro-ing this thread since I pulled a US Gamble and decided to try it in the cube! I run a 400 powered cube (with Un support), and our first draft with Gamble gave it a home in a jund reanimator/sneak style deck. it was an excellent early game play, when random discard meant a lower probability of hitting the card(s) you need. running it in a graveyard-centric deck also means multiple tools to pull your discarded cards back out later on (Regrowth, Recurring Nightmare, Animate Dead, etc.).
I know Gamble usually gets a bad beat, but I think the fact that it's a 1 mana tutor effect in red (a colour with nearly no other tutor effects, apart from Imperial Recruiter and Goblin Engineer) should not be overlooked. it's tough to compare this to existing staples such as Entomb, Vampiric Tutor, and other better tutors, but i think it's worth a second look!
We play Gamble, and it's honestly fine, but it mostly gets by because its cool and interesting, not because its really all that great. It's still a powerful card so I think it deserves a slot, but red cards tend to be pretty redundant and interchangeable, so even if it's not that great its still not too difficult to justify. Only playable in combo decks obviously, and tends to be awkward in decks that require several cards involved in the combo (ie time vault+untaper or through the breach+eldrazi titan), but works well in decks that just need a particular card in hand to swing the game and all the other cards are merely an afterthought (like artifact ramp/green ramp/reanimator/oath/etc). Its a pretty bad topdeck past turn 3 or 4, but its a unique effect that pays huge dividends when it works, which tuns out to be most of the time. It's better than it looks imo, but that's just my 2¢
I classify Gamble as one of those cards that you add into Cube for fun and interesting games. What is special about Gamble is that it is capable to being played in a higher power environment than most cards in this category. Take Ethersworn Adjudicator for example, a card that can make fun and interesting games, but isn't suitable for a higher power environment because it isn't something that scales well because of costs/effects.
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Necro-ing this thread since I pulled a US Gamble and decided to try it in the cube! I run a 400 powered cube (with Un support), and our first draft with Gamble gave it a home in a jund reanimator/sneak style deck. it was an excellent early game play, when random discard meant a lower probability of hitting the card(s) you need. running it in a graveyard-centric deck also means multiple tools to pull your discarded cards back out later on (Regrowth, Recurring Nightmare, Animate Dead, etc.).
I know Gamble usually gets a bad beat, but I think the fact that it's a 1 mana tutor effect in red (a colour with nearly no other tutor effects, apart from Imperial Recruiter and Goblin Engineer) should not be overlooked. it's tough to compare this to existing staples such as Entomb, Vampiric Tutor, and other better tutors, but i think it's worth a second look!
I would recommend it if you have Sneak/ Breach/ Oath/ Lands/ Storm in your cube - the enablers really drop off at this point and its often a necessity for people that drafted a subpar archetype deck to try to improve the deck's consistency.
I view the risk with gamble on the same level as aggro needs to accept it may never hit its 3rd land drop 10% of its games, combo may need to combo off into countermagic/ removal etc.
I wouldn't recommend this in a non-powered cube though .. there really isn't a good to take such high risks.
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I'm actively maintaining a comprehensive article to help explain to new cube players how some complex vintage level cards work in a cube environment. Vintage Cube Cards Explained
I always liked this card and how sometimes it can be quite good for the small investment, especially when searching for cards like loam and squee, all the while still only costing one mana. What do you guys think of the card and what size would you run it at (if any)
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Ausschliessi - that is exactly what happened when we tried it out a few years ago at 540. It only made a few decks, and they were usually ones that ran the Time Vault / Voltaic Key combo. Those decks loved the card, but they were few and far in between (pretty rare to get the two combo pieces AND gamble).
Squee, Goblin Nabob is bar none my favorite card in the cube so if I ever drafted a Squee deck, I would always play Gamble, but my love for Squee boarders on the absurd.
Blimpy's Aggro-Focused Cube (powered 360)
I'm always open to suggestions on how to improve my cube. Take a look and ask a question, or give a constructive critique whenever you can.
Now granted, I have terrible luck with them always randomly picking the card I tutored for, but when I have a welder, or academy ruins, does it really matter if they hit my Smokestack? The same is true for Reanimator where you can search up a redundant effect and have a chance of discarding a fattie while also getting your animate spell. Flash back also makes this card better, and can make it into a straight tutor of you can pay the flashback cost and need an effect with flashback.
In short, gamble is a big skill check in terms of drafting, deck building, and playing... That makes it an all-star in my eyes.
Red decks are typically the least combo in my cube but I have been thinking about throwing a Goblin Welder back in.
I think red is a strength rather than a weakness because the option to go get exactly what you need is so limited in a base-red deck. A red-white deck would like an inferior tutor for a very powerful spell sometimes, even if it is risky. A black deck would just rather have a better tutor, and once you are running Demonic and another tutor, do you really need Gamble to be the third?
Blimpy's Aggro-Focused Cube (powered 360)
I'm always open to suggestions on how to improve my cube. Take a look and ask a question, or give a constructive critique whenever you can.
You have a point, black is not short of tutors in my cube (running a Seal too). I just think that the random discard is so bad in some situations you don't want to run it unless you're grabbing something that also benefits from random discard.
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Normally I say consistency is key in cube, but tutors are one of the biggest components in bringing consistency to a lot of comboish decks.
I have also seen it play final fortune a bunch of times. The red aggro player goes out fast but is one card away from the win (hellrider/burn/armageddon/timewalk etc.) and they have dead lands in hand anyway. They keep the tutor, they win, discard and loose.
I know Gamble usually gets a bad beat, but I think the fact that it's a 1 mana tutor effect in red (a colour with nearly no other tutor effects, apart from Imperial Recruiter and Goblin Engineer) should not be overlooked. it's tough to compare this to existing staples such as Entomb, Vampiric Tutor, and other better tutors, but i think it's worth a second look!
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I would recommend it if you have Sneak/ Breach/ Oath/ Lands/ Storm in your cube - the enablers really drop off at this point and its often a necessity for people that drafted a subpar archetype deck to try to improve the deck's consistency.
I view the risk with gamble on the same level as aggro needs to accept it may never hit its 3rd land drop 10% of its games, combo may need to combo off into countermagic/ removal etc.
I wouldn't recommend this in a non-powered cube though .. there really isn't a good to take such high risks.
Vintage Cube Cards Explained
Here are some other articles I've written about fine tuning your cube:
1. Minimum Archetype Support
2. Improving Green Archetypes
3. Improving White Archetypes
4. Matchup Analysis
5. Cube Combos (Work in Progress)
Draft my Cube - https://cubecobra.com/cube/overview/d8i