

Each of the three campaigns has eleven missions.

There are three campaigns an initial campaign, a challenge campaign, and a campaign featuring the new Archenemy mode. Players alternate turns playing land cards, casting spells, and attacking opponents with creatures until all but one player's life total is reduced from 20 to 0. Spells come in many varieties, from sorceries and instants which have one-time effects, to summoned creatures which can attack and defend from opponents.

Mana comes in five colors, and cards may require colored or generic (mana of any color) to be cast. Lands are used to generate "mana", the resource needed to cast spells. The core game follows the standard rules of the collectible card game Magic: The Gathering each player has a deck of cards consisting of lands and spells. The sequel, Magic: The Gathering – Duels of the Planeswalkers 2013, was released in 2012.

An expansion for the game, called Ascend into Darkness, was released on September 14, 2011. The game is a follow up to the highly popular Magic: The Gathering – Duels of the Planeswalkers, which was released in 2009. Magic: The Gathering – Duels of the Planeswalkers 2012 (referred to in shorthand as DotP 2012 or Magic 2012) is a video game based on the popular collectible card game of the same name, published by Wizards of the Coast.
