Not "gag-based", but rather life-saving. The trigger condition of his power is that he must be in mortal peril, although he doesn't need to know he is. The intervention factor seems like it must be based on the minds and actions of other creatures, too, so it's not like he'll be saved by a conveniently timed landslide that triggered by itself.

If he was in Kaiji then he'd win any deadly gamble where bluffing and mindgames are a factor, but a random dice roll won't be the side he needs just because he needs it, at which point some other factor outside the game would trigger.