Put together, these made up 26% of the metagame. These decks were typically heavily White-based, as the name implies, but splashed either Blue for Geist of Saint Traft, Green for Gavony Township, or Black for Lingering Souls and Sorin, Lord of Innistrad. The most popular archetype was White Weenie, boosted by the release of Thalia, Guardian of Thraben. The first five rounds of the event were Standard. However, those players now also received airfare to that Pro Tour. Additionally, where before players finishing in the top 50 of a Pro Tour would receive invitations to the next Pro Tour, only the top 25 now received invitations. The minimum number of Pro Points a player would win increased from 2 to 3, and in particular, players finishing in the top 16 and in the top 25 received a lot more Pro Points than at previous events: for example, a 16th-place finish went from being worth 8 Pro Points to being worth 15. This was not the result of a significant increase in prize money awarded, however the prize money was for the most part redistributed, but the prize pool was increased from $230,795 per Pro Tour event in 2011 to $250,000 in 2012. The top 75 players receive prize money as opposed to the previous top 65, and every player winning money wins at least $1000, where previously a 65th-place finisher would win $450. Prize payout, both for Pro Points and for prize money, was altered significantly for Pro Tour Dark Ascension. However, due to Wizards honoring the initially announced system of PWP-based invitations, there was an unusually high number of qualified players for Pro Tour Dark Ascension. Instead of retiring the Pro Points system and the Pro Players Club, as initially announced, new versions of these were announced, and an 'end to the grind' was promised. This resulted in a substantial backlash for Wizards of the Coast, who had to revise a lot of their initial announcements regarding qualification, Pro Points, and the Pro Players Club.

However, it was discontinued immediately following the Pro Tour, as attempting to qualify for the Pro Tour this way turned out to be a massive grind where players couldn't afford not to go to as many events as they could, seeing as otherwise other players who played in more would overtake them. This system replaced the previous DCI rating-based invitations system. The 100 players with the most Competitive Planeswalker Points during the season leading up to the Pro Tour received invitations and airfare to the Pro Tour. Pro Tour Dark Ascension was the first PT to extend invitations based on the newly introduced Planeswalker Points system. At Pro Tour Dark Ascension, these were Sheldon Menery, Rashad Miller, Brian David-Marshall, and Rich Hagon. The event was streamed, starting with round one, on Twitch rather than on their own streaming platform, which had previously been customary, and featured a changing lineup of commentators. As such, Pro Tours were now named after the most recent set, and effects and props used during production of coverage were based around the theme of that set.Īs for coverage of the event, independent coverage producers such as GGs Live and StarCityGames had live streamed video coverage of Grand Prix events and independent circuit tournaments for a few years already, and starting with Pro Tour Dark Ascension, Wizards of the Coast expanded their Pro Tour coverage from just the top eight to the entire tournament. This changed starting with Pro Tour Dark Ascension Pro Tours were now held only a short time after the release of a set (1–2 weeks), and with the explicit purpose of marketing that set. In the past, Pro Tours were not tied to the release of any set specifically, and were simply named after whichever city they were in. In a final between two players who were already Pro Tour champions, Brian Kibler earned his second win, with Paulo Vitor Damo da Rosa finishing runner-up. The top eight featured many of the game's biggest stars, including Hall of Famers Jon Finkel, Jelger Wiegersma, and Brian Kibler, as well as Paulo Vitor Damo da Rosa in his ninth Pro Tour Sunday appearance.

The Pro Tour was the first to take place after significant changes to structure and presentation of the professional scene, initially announced in 2011. The formats were Standard and Dark Ascension/ Innistrad Booster draft, and was the first constructed premier event where Dark Ascension was legal. The event had 445 competitors, and took place on 10–12 February 2012 in Honolulu, Hawaii, United States. Pro Tour Dark Ascension was the first Pro Tour of the 2012 season.

Dark ascension