1. A computer-implemented method of selecting a Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) sampling strategy, the method comprising: selecting a base variable-density sampling pattern; determining a scan time associated with the base variable-density sampling pattern; creating a modified variable-density sampling pattern by modifying one or more parameters of the base variable-density sampling pattern to maximize a sampled k-space area without increasing the scan time; performing a scan on an object of interest using the modified variable-density sampling pattern to obtain a sparse MRI dataset; and applying a sparse reconstruction process to the sparse MRI dataset to yield an image of the object of interest.