The point of a dom bank is to fund flight programs that run during a dominance push. If both flights choose not to purchase mercs, then no, buying mercs is not necessary to win. You do realize that flights had dom battles before mercs were a thing, and that flights have chosen not to use them on multiple occasions since then, right? Putting limitations on battles is not a new thing. Individuals can choose to purchase mercs if they would like. No one is forcing them to do so. Yes, dom banks should ease the personal cost for flight members during a dom push. But dom banks should not be required to cover every expense that individual players have during dominance. It's completely unfeasible and unrealistic.