Good tacticians should strive for tightly constructed plans that take into account all possible major factors and how to work around them, but a few brilliant minds will device strategies that result in their victory in every possible outcome.

Named after David Xanatos from Gargoyles, who managed to always see an advantage presenting itself even when his original plan didn't succeed the way he intended to, the Xanatos Gambit is a plan designed so that, no matter the outcome, it is certain to result in the tactician's victory one way or the other.

Examples include:

• The aforementioned David Xanatos, who named the Gambit in the first place due to always finding the silver lining to even his setbacks and taking advantage of them.
• Amon, who demanded the Republic close down stadium. If they obeyed, he would have proven his de facto authority over them. If they didn't, he could start the Bender/Non-Bender war there.
• Nightmare, who would have won if he had divided the Schmidt family, but would have also won a wager with William Afton if he failed.
• Gus Fring, who sent the Cousins after Hank and then warned him. If the Cousins killed Hank, the DEA would destroy the Salamancas and the Cartel, and if Hank killed the Cousins, Gus can use his influence to wipe out the Salamancas and the Cartel.
• Makima, who tried to ally with Pochita, aka the Chainsaw Devil by challenging him into a fight. If she wins, then she would simply subjugate Pochita due to feeling lower than her and using her Control Devil powers to erase bad things from Earth, and if he won, she would let him eat her so that control would be erased from Earth and people would learn to live with chaos for their betterment.
• Eren Yeager, who committed the Rumbling to destroy the world. If his friends didn't stop him, then he would remove the threat faced by Paradis completely by killing everyone else. If his friends fought and stopped him, he would advise Armin to take credit for his death so that the Paradisians are seen as heroes to the rest of the world.
• Titan, who had a plan to further the Moon Revolution by taking the Moon as a hostage. If the Earth did come for the moon, Titan would've been able to attack and defeat him. If the Earth didn't come, then Titan's actions and beliefs would have been further validated, allowing him to gain more support.
• Vicious, who aimed to take over the Red Dragon Syndicate by launching a coup against the Van. If his men managed to kill them, good, otherwise Vicious will use his supposed execution to lull the Van into a false sense of security and have his men kill them anyway.
• Luthen Rael, who masterminded the Aldhani heist. While it was highly beneficial for him and the Rebel Alliance that his plan succeeded and they robbed 80 million credits from the Empire, even if the heist team was killed in action, the message alone would have led to the Empire's crackdown, thus giving the Rebel Alliance both funds and recruits anyways.

NOTE:

• Having backup plans does not automatically make an MB a Xanatos Tactician. The Xanatos Gambit isn't about having a different, backup gambit if the first one fails, but moreso about incorporating the possible undoing of it into your plan in the first place and make it so even said failure can be beneficial to your strategy in the long run.
• This is only for characters who are confirmed or at least very heavily implied to have pulled off a Xanatos Gambit, characters who are just speculated to have done so do not count.
• This is also only for Magnificent Baddies whose Xanatos Gambit succeeded or came very close to succeeding.
• The Xanatos Gambit is different from the Batman Gambit since the Xanatos Gambit ensures some degree of victory for all potential possibilities while the Batman Gambit generally has a failure condition with the planner relying on their knowledge of the target themselves to avoid it. However, there are cases where an MB can make a plan that utilizes both gambits (e.g. Gus Fring, Mother Talzin, Eren Yeager, King Barlowe, Titan, Luthen Rael and Lalo Salamanca).