The card duel mode of the game attempts to simulate the experience of playing with actual Magic: The Gathering cards. MicroProse signed a contract with Simutronics to provide online support for the game. The single-player campaign however required the player to participate in a large-scale quest, during which he or she would endeavor to gather cards and thus be able to construct more powerful playing decks, hopefully powerful enough to defeat the campaign's chief antagonists. In Duel and Multiplayer modes, the game allowed a player to construct his or her own deck (using a specialized Deck Editor), or to play with a randomly generated deck (simulating a 'fresh pack of cards' as was the custom in various tournaments at the time). All share the same dueling interface, which is based on the mechanics of the real-life Magic: The Gathering card game. A ManaLink upgrade added a multiplayer feature enabling players to interact via Internet, modem, serial connection, or LAN. The game has several modes: a single-player campaign, and a duel or tournament against computer-controlled opponents. Duels of the Planeswalkers was an improved version of the main game that did not require the original to be installed. Two related products were released, the expansion pack Spells of the Ancients and Duels of the Planeswalkers. An oversized version of Aswan Jaguar was included in the game box. Adventure and role-playing elements are present, including inventory, gold, towns, dungeons, random battles, and character progression in the form of new abilities and a higher life point total. The player must prevent one color from gaining too much power, and defeat the planeswalker Arzakon, who has a deck of all five colors. The player must travel the land and fight random enemies to gain cards, and defeat five wizards representing the five colors.

It is often referred to as Shandalar after the plane of Shandalar, where the game takes place. Magic: The Gathering is a video game published by MicroProse in April 1997 based on the collectible card game Magic: The Gathering.

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