Alpha Clash has added a team format that changes the geometry of the game. Dominion, officially announced by Rising Empire Studios on 17 July 2026, made its event debut on Friday 2 October during Pro Tour: North America in Salt Lake City. Instead of three isolated matches, two teams of three play one shared battle across a Left, Center and Right lane.
This guide explains the published rules rather than reporting results from the weekend. The official announcement and Dominion rulebook were checked on 4 October 2026.
Three lanes, three Portals and one protected target
Each team seats one Contender in each position: Left, Center and Right. Three Portals face those lanes. The two Side Portals start open, while the Central Portal starts closed. A Contender can normally attack only through an open Portal, so each Side begins by confronting the opposing Side directly across from it.
The Center is the team’s protected anchor. Defeating an enemy Side does not win the game. A team wins only when it defeats the opposing Center Contender. While the Central Portal is closed and no flank has been breached, the Center is Guarded and cannot be targeted, damaged or affected from the other side.
Breaking a flank creates the route to victory
When a Side Contender defeats the enemy Side directly opposite, that flank becomes a breach. The surviving attacker can then reach the exposed enemy Center through that lane. The far Side on the defending team cannot cross lanes to stop it, which makes the choice between reinforcing a threatened flank and advancing your own especially important.
The Central Portal prevents the game from remaining locked indefinitely. It opens automatically at the end of the third rotation and then stays open. Once that happens, the two Centers can attack one another directly. Players cannot open or close the Central Portal by paying resources or by using card effects.
The Center supports rather than waiting
Before it has an attack route, the Center still shapes the game. Once per rotation it can obstruct an attack aimed at one of its own Side Contenders or that player’s Clash cards, using one Clash card or the Contender itself. During its Primary Phase, it can also use Support once per turn: engage one ready Clash card and give control of it to one friendly Side.
That exchange only travels from Center to Side. Side-to-Side Support is not allowed, and the Center cannot receive a card through Support. The Center is also the only position allowed to play a Clashground. These limits give each seat a distinct job instead of turning Dominion into ordinary multiplayer with a shared life total.
The Deckbuild Pact makes the three lists one project
Each player brings one Contender, a legal 50–60 card deck and an optional 0–15 card sideboard. Across all three main decks and sideboards, no two teammates may use the same Contender. A card name may appear no more than four times across the entire team, while an Unrivaled card is limited to one copy across the team.
Those restrictions reward coordination before registration. A staple assigned as a four-of to one player is unavailable to the other two lists. Team positions are also declared at registration, before opponents are known, and remain fixed for the event. Building “three good decks” is therefore not enough: the group must decide who owns scarce effects and which pilot is best placed in the Center role.
Turn order and the next official appearance
Turns remain individual and follow normal Alpha Clash phases. Teams alternate within a rotation: the Left seats act first, then the Centers, then the Right seats; the team that leads alternates on the next rotation. The player taking the first turn of the game cannot initiate a Clash that turn.
Dominion debuted alongside the Pro Tour: North America weekend running 2–4 October 2026 at the Mountain America Expo Center. Rising Empire Studios has also scheduled the format for Pro Tour: Asia in Pasig City, Philippines, on 14–15 November 2026. Players preparing for that date should use the full rulebook for portal reach, global effects, sideboarding, the recommended 75-minute limit and overtime tiebreakers.
Official sources
- Rising Empire Studios — Dominion and the Pro Tour announcement (published 17 July 2026; checked 4 October 2026)
- Alpha Clash Dominion 3v3 Team Format — official rulebook (checked 4 October 2026)
