Dominion Debuts and the PvE Gauntlet Returns at Pro Tour: North America and Pro Tour: Asia
Rising Empire Studios is excited to announce the debut of Dominion, our new 3v3 team format, along with the return of the PvE Gauntlet in an all new form, at Pro Tour: North America.
Pro Tour: North America weekend takes place October 2–4, 2026 at the Mountain America Expo Center in Salt Lake City, Utah. Both formats then travel to Pro Tour: Asia in Pasig City, Philippines on November 14–15, 2026. Clashers on both sides of the world will get their chance before the year is out.
It's a full weekend of Alpha Clash, with something for competitive players, teams, and anyone who just wants to sit down and enjoy the game alongside other Clashers.
Friday: Dominion
Friday kicks off the weekend with the debut of Dominion, our new 3v3 team format and an extension of the Gambit multiplayer format.
In Dominion, two teams of three face each other across a line of Contenders in three positions: Left, Center, and Right. Three Portals sit between the lines. The two Side Portals begin the game open. The Central Portal begins closed.
Those Portals decide everything about what your team can reach. A Contender may only declare an enemy as the target of an attack across an open Portal. Your Side Contenders duel the enemy Side directly opposite them across their Side Portal. Your Center Contender is Guarded, and an enemy may only target, damage, or affect it across an open Central Portal or through a breach. Defeating the enemy Center is the only way to win a game. Defeating a Side Contender doesn't win, but it does open the path.
When your Side Contender defeats the enemy Side opposite it, that flank's Side Portal becomes a breach, a lane to the now exposed enemy Center that their surviving far Side cannot cross lanes to defend.
Your Center isn't idle while all of this is happening. It can obstruct attacks aimed at its own Side Contenders, it can pass Clash cards to a Side through Support, and it grows more resilient as your flanks fall. It's also the only Contender that may play a Clashground.
Dominion also asks teams to build together. Under the Deckbuild Pact, no two players on a team may share a Contender, and no card name may appear more than four times across all three players' decks and sideboards combined, or more than once for Unrivaled cards. Each player brings one Contender, a 50-60 card deck, and a sideboard of 0-15 cards. Positions are declared at registration, before opponents are known, and stay fixed for the entire event.
You can read the complete rules in the Dominion Rulebook.
Prize Support to be announced soon, prior to the event.
Saturday: Pro Tour Swiss
Saturday is the Pro Tour itself, with Swiss rounds running throughout the day to determine the Top Cut heading into Sunday. Day 1 will feature a mixed format of constructed and draft gameplay.
As with every Pro Tour in 2026, this is an open event. No invitation is required, so any Clasher who wants to compete at the highest level can register and play.
Event Card: Mysterious Portal
Champion Prize Card: Clarity's Ring
Top 8 Prize Card: Ultimate Power Armor
Bounties: The Absence, Voice of the Voice; Fangyin, Defender of Drak'aroth; Clarity, Ageless Defender; Machina, Savage Striker; Kheprius, the Scarab Master.
The Top 8 will earn invitations to the World Championships, joining qualified Clashers from Clashground, Progenitor's Gambit, and Online World Championship events around the world.
Prize Support:
1st Place: $1,000 & 50,000 XP, National Championship Belt, Champion Playmat, Champion Prize Card, Top 8 Playmat, Top 8 Prize Card, World Championships qualification, Event Card pack, 4 Booster Packs for Draft, the opportunity to help create a future Alpha Clash card, and an XPN Champion Achievement.
2nd Place receives $500 & 15,000 XP, Top 8 Playmat, Top 8 Prize Card, Event Card pack, World Championships qualification, 4 Booster Packs for Draft, and an XPN Achievement.
3rd–4th receive $250 & 5,000 XP, Top 8 Playmat, Top 8 Prize Card, Event Card pack, World Championships qualification, 4 Booster Packs for Draft, and an XPN Achievement.
5th–8th receive $100 & 2,500 XP, Top 8 Playmat, Top 8 Prize Card, Event Card pack, World Championships qualification, 4 Booster Packs for Draft, and an XPN Achievement.
Sunday: Top Cut and the PvE Gauntlet
Sunday brings the weekend to a close with two events running side by side.
The Top Cut plays out on the main stage, where the field narrows to a single Champion and Clarity's Ring finds a new owner.
Alongside it, the PvE Gauntlet returns. The Gauntlet made its debut at ClashCon 2025, and we've been thrilled by how much Clashers took to it.
This time, every table in the room plays its own Vault Trials Classic Encounter at the same time, and every point scored by any player at any table deals 1 damage to the Community Guardian Angel, a single boss presiding over the entire hall with one shared health total.
That gives the room two goals at once. Individually, you're playing for the highest cumulative point total and the title of PvE Gauntlet Champion. Your points are personal and carry with you from Game to Game. Collectively, everyone in the hall is working together to reduce the Community Guardian Angel's health to zero, and if the room succeeds, every participant earns a bonus reward.
The Angel doesn't go quietly. As the room deals damage to it, Thresholds activate and apply to every table for the rest of the event. Thresholds stack and never turn off once active, so Minions become harder to remove, then harder to survive, then more numerous, and eventually your Clash cards begin entering play with Doubt. The room's own progress is what shapes the event.
Entrants are randomized at the start of every Round to make new teams. Players should bring multiple decks and Contenders, since no two players at a table may use the same Contender.
You can read the complete rules in the PvE Gauntlet Rulebook.
Prize Support to be announced soon, prior to the event.
The Game Grid Open
Pro Tour: North America is part of the Game Grid Open, a convention weekend at the Mountain America Expo Center featuring booths, tournaments, and events from many different games.
Rising Empire Studios will have a booth on site all weekend long. We'll be running learn-to-plays throughout the weekend for anyone at the event who wants to try their first Clash. If you've been meaning to introduce someone to Alpha Clash, this is the perfect weekend to do it.
Registration
Pro Tour: North America Mountain America Expo Center, Salt Lake City, Utah October 3–4, 2026
Register HERE for all of the weekend’s events.
Clashgrounds in August
There's plenty of Alpha Clash to play between now and October. This August, Clashgrounds are heading to three countries:
Clashground: Retford
Leaky Teacup, United Kingdom August 1–2, 2026 Event Card: Hidden Hand | Champion: Flare, Flamebound Seeker | Top 8: Suit Up!
Clashground: Quezon City
Philippines August 15–16, 2026 Event Card: Adaptive Portal | Champion: Clarity, Harbinger of Death | Top 8: Alpha Empowerment
Clashground: Chile
City TBD August 29–30, 2026 Event Card: Hidden Hand | Champion: Flare, Flamebound Seeker | Top 8: Suit Up!
Clashgrounds are open events, and the Top 4 at each will earn World Championship invitations.
We can't wait to see what Clashers do with Dominion, and we can't wait to see the room take on the Community Guardian Angel together. Bring a team, bring a friend, and we'll see you on the Clashground.