Eight people laughed, fought, joked, and played on Wednesday night, March 11, 2026. But before dusk, those eight people had already shared several encounters. One a week, at the WPN Store Reggio Comics 2 in Reggio Emilia. This is a place where Standard is played, played hard, and workdays are wrapped up nicely. Or at least, this is the experience of the 32 players who participated in the first League of the year. Every Wednesday, whoever wants to shake off the boredom takes their deck, opens the door, and knows where their heart wants to go.
All these encounters, which paint memories of smiles, muscles tensed for victory, growing skills, thinking brains, and shared bursts of laughter, led to the selection of eight individuals. Eight exemplary players who earned a pizza, drinks included, offered by the owner of the store. Eight human beings who earned the right to battle to the death to see who is the best of the quarter. And it is precisely now that we return to the twilight of March 11, 2026. Before knowing what happened, who, I ask you, has the right to tell this story? Well, my brothers, I asked myself that too. Why write the usual article where one person's voice speaks for all? Eight participants, eight mouths, eight versions. Here is the story written by sixteen hands about what happened in the Standard Top 8 of Reggio Comics 2 WPN.
Let it be remembered in the annals of the City that Vittorio Viti, Davide Jia, Andrea Giammartini, Francesco Guidorizzi, Matteo Corghi, Manuel Cacciani, Mattia di Nino, and Maicol di Nino competed that evening. May the historians of the metashare not forget that the weapons they brought were: 
Control, 
Midrange, Prowess, Tempo, Burn, Momo White, Combo-Control, and Control. A meta unusually without green. After all, we had all prepared for Badgermole Cub, and by a vulgar twist of fate, no one brought it.
The first round of play began, featuring the following pairings:
- Vittorio Viti (Control) vs Maicol di Nino (Control)
- Davide Jia (Midrange) vs Mattia di Nino (Combo-Control)
- Andrea Giammartini (Prowess) vs Manuel Cacciani (Momo White)
- Francesco Guidorizzi (Tempo) vs Matteo Corghi (Burn)
At table 1, a beautiful mirror of answers began. On one side, Vittorio Viti, a Jeskai Control enthusiast. He brought a version of his trusty deck designed to beat a generic Kaito.deck. On the other side, Maicol, who was undecided whether to bring Dragons or also Jeskai Control. In the end, he brought the latter, set up to win mirrors: more counters and fewer wrath effects in the main, fewer single-target removals, and Tishana's Tidebinder with Voice of Victory present from the start. Below are the decklists:
I must say that the players' reasoning proved not to be wrong. G1 Maicol won aggressively, playing his beloved Tishana's Tidebinder and Voice of Victory without Vittorio being able to remove them. G2 Vittorio played a The Unagi of Kyoshi Island and his opponent could not deal with it before being overwhelmed. G3 was a tough, close game. Maicol brought in three peculiar sphinxes post-side: two Stoic Sphinx and one Sphinx of the Final Word. The reasoning behind these threats is easily understandable: Stoic Sphinx cast at the opponent's end step would be an aggressive and evasive threat difficult to remove except with wrath effects, response cards that are drastically reduced in a control mirror. The same can be said of Sphinx of the Final Word, which also provides card advantage by making instant and sorcery spells uncounterable without going through Mistrise Village. Vittorio exploited the decisive turn of the game by deciding to cast a Jeskai Revelation, not making it uncounterable to keep four mana open and triggering his monks' prowess ability. He still had a Get Lost and a Negate in hand. Maicol managed to respond and cast a Wan Shi Tong, Librarian to stem the race and draw a solution, revealing his hand's scarcity. Vittorio resolved Wan Shi Tong, Librarian, again activating the monks' prowess and proceeding to win with pure damage.
Wan Shi Tong, Librarian
Legendary Creature — Bird Spirit
Wan Shi Tong, Librarian
Legendary Creature — Bird Spirit
Flash
Flying, vigilance
When Wan Shi Tong enters, put X +1/+1 counters on him. Then draw half X cards, rounded down.
Whenever an opponent searches their library, put a +1/+1 counter on Wan Shi Tong and draw a card.
At table 2 Davide Jia faced Mattia di Nino. Based on win rates, Davide had the advantage, but fate smiled on Mattia. Mattia brought a unique deck. A long-time player and control game enthusiast, he knows that in this meta, the Midrange version is the most performant. However, he tried to build a Combo-Control / Mill deck that could beat the format's Tier 1 decks, and he succeeded. The main tech in his deck lies in the mill package: 2 Kitsune's Technique and 2 Riverchurn Monument, plus a copy of Jidoor Aristocratic Capital as a functional card to mill half of the opponent's deck. The strategy is to reach turn six like a classic control deck, then play Kitsune's Technique during the opponent's end step, milling half their deck. On the following turn, Riverchurn Monument is played, activating its Exhaust ability to mill the remaining deck. The Decks:
In G1, Davide played a classic curve-out game: T1 Dream Beavers, T2 Floodpits Drowner, and T3 Kaito, Bane of Nightmares. The on-curve play determined the winner, and Mattia could do little without resolving Kaito. In G2 and G3, Mattia made more careful keeps, looking for Requiting Hex and Bitter Triumph to manage Davide until turn 3 or 4, in order to cast Stock Up or Marang River Regent in time to set up. Here the Mill package did its dirty work: the combo played out as scripted and closed both games on turn seven. It must be said that in G2 and G3, Davide played with mana flood, a component that significantly contributed to Mattia's victory.
At table 3 Andrea Giammartini faced Manuel Cacciani. Andrea relied on his Prowess deck, a preference motivated by meta and win rate data. Manuel, on the other hand, assumed that the most played decks would be Midrange and Prowess, and chose to bring Momo White, which has a good matchup against both. Here are the decklists:
Here Manuel got it right. A clean 2-0 win due to the nature of the match-up: a board full of creatures with lifelink supported by Abandoned Air Temple is almost unmanageable for Prowess. Two games closed by Momo White within the fifth turn due to race advantage.
Abandoned Air Temple
Land
This land enters tapped unless you control a basic land.
: Add .
, : Put a +1/+1 counter on each creature you control.
At table 4, I, good Francesco, faced Matteo Corghi. I brought a Tempo brew I made myself. I chose it because I had built it for a new player I'm teaching to play. Matteo, however, showed up with Burn precisely because it has a good matchup against decks. The lists:
Matteo made me sweat. G1 I froze at the first Boros Charm. Floodpits Drowner tapped Slickshot Show-Off and a ninjutsu'd Kaito tapped Hired Claw. Hexing Squelcher caused me more problems than expected, but I managed to win by the skin of my teeth, rationing my removals. In G2, Matteo played Case of the Crimson Pulse, which provided infinite resources. I decided to be proactive, reducing myself to 5 life, cast The End on Hexing Squelcher and used Tishana's Tidebinder to counter the combat trigger. I closed the game with luck on my side.
Thus, it turned towards the semifinals:
- Vittorio Viti Control vs Francesco Guidorizzi Tempo
- Manuel Cacciani Momo White vs Mattia di Nino Combo-Control
At table 1, Vittorio warned me: "I set up this deck to beat Kaito decks." In G1, Vittorio had to mulligan to five. G2 was a flawless game. I counted Vittorio's outs and calculated that I could only lose to a Jeskai Revelation, having already seen two burnt. Vittorio topdecked it naturally and won. In G3, I was stuck on two lands for the entire game. Vittorio played calmly and closed with North Wind Avatar tutoring The Unagi of Kyoshi Island from the sideboard for lethal.
The Unagi of Kyoshi Island
Legendary Creature — Serpent
The Unagi of Kyoshi Island
Legendary Creature — Serpent
Flash
Ward—Waterbend 
. (Whenever this creature becomes the target of a spell or ability an opponent controls, counter it unless that player pays . They can tap their artifacts and creatures to help. Each one pays for 
.)
Whenever an opponent draws their second card each turn, you draw two cards.
At table 2, Manuel faced an unexpected matchup. Momo White was not happy to face a control deck. Deadly Cover-Up is a slow wrath effect, and Manuel managed to bring Mattia to 3 life in G2 by resolving a Wan Shi Tong, Librarian with Get Lost. In his hand, he only had Starfield Shepherd with which he searched for Zack Fair, but he still lost the match 1-2. Mattia played cautiously and after G1 removed the mill package to go full control.
Finally, the final arrived:
Vittorio Viti Control vs Mattia di Nino Combo-Control
A control mirror without green. Mattia played in a textbook but "sparkling" way, testing the mill package. In both G1 and G2, he waited for Vittorio to cast Jeskai Revelation to respond with Kitsune's Technique. Milling half a deck in a control mirror makes a difference. Mattia secured resource advantage by interacting with the opponent's hand via Duress and closed by taxing with The Unagi of Kyoshi Island, Wan Shi Tong, Librarian, and Fountainport.
Thus, the first Standard League of the 2026 season crowned its champion: Mattia Di Nino. Praise and glory to our hero, who should now be prepared to buy us dinner!
“See You Space Cowboy”
Francesco
