Pro Tour Lorwyn Eclipsed kicked off the 2026 Pro Tour season in style a few weeks ago. With Lorwyn Eclipsed and its cycle of evoke Elementals making a huge impact on Standard, we saw a wildly diverse format where the expected Badgermole Cub decks failed to live up to the hype. Instead, a plethora of innovative decks flourished on the way to a Top 16 with fifteen different archetypes in it.
That includes Christoffer Larsen's Dimir Excruciator deck that won the longtime player his first Pro Tour title. The finals between Larsen and Toni Portolan was one of the most relaxed finals tables I've seen in my time on the Pro Tour, and their match lived up the hype competitively and casually as well. Two of the best Magic players in the world played for the highest stakes possible, but they did it, as Larsen described it, like they were at the kitchen table.
It was an excellent start to the season, with a longtime competitor at the highest level of Magic taking it down. While all eyes were on Larsen for finally having his big moment to celebrate, there were plenty of players further down the standings who got to celebrate their finishes. Only a single player out of more than 300 can win the tournament, but there are still plenty of goals beyond that to play for—both tangible and personal. From prize money to future Pro Tour invites, there's a lot of high-stakes Magic that takes place beyond the top tables or even the Top 8.
And when it comes to the Top 8, very few people are Kai Budde—that is to say, it's exceedingly rare for a player to win the Pro Tour in which they make their first career Top 8. The nerves of the Sunday stage are incomparable, and with even the smallest decisions not just magnified but scrutinized, memefied, and debated on social media around the entire globe. It's enough to crack anyone, and to wit most players' Pro Tour trophies come sometime after their first Top Finish. Only then, when you're looking back at the journey of the latest title winner, can you finally finish connecting the dots they started laying long ago.
That brings us to the Top 8 of Pro Tour Lorwyn Eclipsed.
In recent years, we've seen some more or less expected Top 8s: a few newcomers, but a lot of top talent from the handful of the best competitive Magic teams. While Pro Tour Lorwyn Eclipsed's Top 8 obviously had its share of veterans—with former Pro Tour champion and Player of the Year Luis Salvatto leading the way—it also represented an influx of new talent into the game's pantheon of Top Finishes.
This brings me to Guglielmo Lupi, who was an up-and-coming competitor last year and entered 2026 with a reputation that's closer to an end boss than a challenger. He entered the season coming off a breakthrough 2025 that saw him earn both his first Top Finish and first premier-level trophy when he won the Magic Online Championships Showcase Season 2 back in October. He then followed up that online success with a huge advance in tabletop play by advancing to the finals of the European Regional Championship in November, cementing himself as a player to watch at the Pro Tour and beyond.
"Last year was defining for me. I leveled up as a player in ways I'm still trying to process; something just clicked, and my understanding of the game accelerated exponentially," Lupi reflected. "Looking back, I think shifting my focus toward Standard and Limited in 2024—my second year in the game—was the catalyst. Those formats force you to master the fundamentals in a way others don't.
"Early in 2025, I found a huge burst of momentum by building Abuelo Omni, and piloting it to a 10-1 record at the Regional Championship in Bologna secured my first-ever Pro Tour invite. However, I lost two win-and-ins for the Top 8 there, which taught me a vital lesson: The job isn't finished just because you hit your initial goal. You have to stay focused and keep pushing."
Sometimes there's a particular moment where you can feel your game leveling up. Other times you don't so much notice your improvement as you notice that everyone around you seems to be making mistakes. And for someone like Lupi, who approached every setback as an opportunity to learn something new, the last nine months have been filled with a lot of opportunities.
"My first Pro Tour in Atlanta was a reality check," he admitted. "I went 3-5, running a bit cold and not playing my best. But I already had my second invite locked in via a Magic Online Championship Series (MOCS) Showcase Qualifier. Returning from Atlanta, I realized that the Pro Tour metagame is highly varied. You have to learn from the weekend but be ready to 'unlearn' it just as fast for the next meta. I then won the MOCS with an innovative Broodscale list, securing my World Championship invite.
"That was the turning point. It proved to me that I was good enough to compete with the very best. A month later, I went undefeated all the way to the finals of the Regional Championship in Antwerp."
Then came the Pro Tour, Lupi's greatest achievement to date. Not only did the Five-Color Rhythm list he brought serve him well enough to win matches for a Top 8 berth, but he also had a strong Pro Tour opening with a 3-0 draft. And when the dust settled on two days of competition, Lupi celebrated his first Pro Tour Top 8.
"With the winnings from the MOCS and Antwerp, I made the decision to go full-time in 2026," he explained. "Since then, joining Team Handshake has been a game changer. We worked incredibly hard for the Standard Spotlight Series events to prep for Pro Tour Lorwyn Eclipsed, which led to a huge result in Lyon where both Simon Nielsen and I made Top 8 of the event with our tuned Cub list. This year has started in the best way possible. It is a confirmation of the work I put in during 2025.
Good luck to @zompatanfo in the top 8 today!
— Team Handshake Moxfield (@HandshakeMTG) February 1, 2026
His last four tournaments:
- MOCS 1st
- RC Antwerp 2nd
- Spotlight Lyon t8
- PT Lorwyn t8
We are so proud to have this rising star on our team 💪 🤝 pic.twitter.com/IcjcfnO03d
"Pro Tour Lorwyn Eclipsed was my second Pro Tour, but the first one where I truly felt I had a world-class team behind me. Coming off my recent successes, I walked into the room with a different mindset. I knew I belonged there.
"I started Day One by going undefeated in my draft pod with a powerful black-green Elves deck. I applied exactly what we practiced. Pack 1, pick 1
Like in many sports, success in Magic is not just a matter of natural skill. Success is just the final product we see. The Pro Tour-winning decisions are most often found in testing houses, team Discords, or feverish pre-tournament drafts. They're borne of a commitment to mastery that Magic always rewards.
"My first instinct would be to say that my success is all about the mindset, but that's only half the truth. The foundation is a much deeper technical understanding of the game—that's the 'engine.' Combining that with a new mental approach has been the real key to my success," explained Lupi.
"I try to distance myself from everything that isn't the immediate game of Magic. I've learned to push away any intrusive thoughts that don't actively help me win—things like, 'If I lose this match, I won't make the Top 8.' Instead, I focus exclusively on the game state in front of me and what I can do with the cards in my hand. This approach also makes losing much easier to handle; when you know you've put in the work and stayed fully present, you can accept the outcome with peace of mind."
Lupi is far from the first breakthrough Magic star to highlight the mental fortitude; not to pick orders or sideboard choices but what it takes to succeed at the highest level. And like the stars that came before him, Lupi can't wait to see how far his Magic journey can take him.
"Personally, this success means everything. I wasn't in the brightest place mentally over the last few years, and Magic—both the game and the community—gave me something to look forward to and be excited about every single day. It provided a focus and a passion that truly changed my trajectory," said Lupi. "Looking ahead, I want to keep proving myself. I've fallen deeply in love with the spirit of competition. I want to challenge my limits at every Pro Tour I'm fortunate enough to play. Of course, the World Championship is the big one. Proving myself on that stage would be the cherry on top of this entire journey. Beyond the trophies, my dream now is to turn this passion into a long-term career."
Maybe it won’t be that hard…
— Zompatanfo (Guglielmo Lupi) (@zompatanfo) February 3, 2026
3rd Worlds invite locked in Richmond ✅
Do I get to break a record if I get a fourth? https://t.co/LKp5Svb29Y