Desperate Gambit

Desperate Gambit card image

Desperate Gambit: Instant, Weatherlight. Choose a source you control and flip a coin. Printings, market prices, rulings, and format legality on Mana Grove.

Mana cost
{R}
Mana value
1
Type
Instant
Colour identity
Red (R)
Rarity
Uncommon
Set
Weatherlight (WTH)
Released
1997-06-09
Collector number
96
Artist
Pete Venters
Commander rank
12,049 (by how often it appears in Commander decks)
Keywords
Double

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About Desperate Gambit

Desperate Gambit is a Magic: The Gathering card, an uncommon red instant from Weatherlight (WTH), an expansion set released in June 1997. It is collector number 96 in that set, with art by Pete Venters. It costs {R} (one red mana) to cast, for a mana value of 1. Its colour identity is red. It is legal in Legacy, Vintage, Premodern, Commander, Duel Commander, Oathbreaker and PreDH. Weatherlight is its only printing so far. The latest aggregated market price for this printing is $0.54 (normal finish, as of 2026-11-11).

Card text

Choose a source you control and flip a coin. If you win the flip, the next time that source would deal damage this turn, it deals double that damage instead. If you lose the flip, the next time it would deal damage this turn, prevent that damage.

Market price

Latest aggregated market price for the normal finish of this printing: $0.54 (as of 2026-11-11).

The figure covers this printing only; other printings carry their own price on their own page.

Format legality

Legality of Desperate Gambit by format. Formats in which it is not legal are not listed.

LegacyLegal
VintageLegal
PremodernLegal
CommanderLegal
Duel CommanderLegal
OathbreakerLegal
PreDHLegal

Official rulings

Two official rulings apply to Desperate Gambit, newest first.

  • The chosen source may be a permanent, a spell on the stack, or anything referred to by something on the stack (such as a Prodigal Pyromancer that’s left the battlefield while its ability is still on the stack)
  • The coin is flipped during resolution of this spell, so you know in advance what will happen when the source deals damage the next time.

Similar cards

Other instant cards with a red colour identity, ranked by how often they appear in Commander decks.

In these card lists

These card lists include Desperate Gambit.

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