An example magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) system includes a sensor that detects a characteristic amplitude associated with a patient characteristic of a subject, a receiver that receive magnetic resonance data, a memory device, and a processor. The processor is programmed to determine when the characteristic amplitude of the subject reaches a first characteristic amplitude of a plurality of sequential characteristic amplitudes defined for a cycle of the patient characteristic, determine if a predetermined number of MRI images have been acquired for the first characteristic amplitude, capture magnetic resonance data with the receiver if the number of MRI images have not been acquired for the first characteristic amplitude and without regard for a location of the first characteristic amplitude in the sequence of the sequential characteristic amplitudes, and process the magnetic resonance data as an MRI image associated with the first characteristic amplitude.
