A method and system for adaptive acquisition of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) data by initially performing an analysis of a set of samples using a wide range of spin-lattice relaxation time (T1) times, and spin-spin relaxation time (T2) times of the sample under magnetic resonance imaging, and ranking the level of impact each of those T1s and T2s has on inversion times (TIs) and echo times (TEs) respectively. The method and system create a look-up table based on the data generated, and then perform another measurement using a smaller number of T1s and T2s using a small number of TIs and TEs, and compare the results to the data in the look-up table in order to select the closest point in the look-up table.