Mythic Secrets of Strixhaven Paradigm Spell Creates Hilarious Win Combo

Last updated on April 9, 2026

Echocasting Symposium | Illustration by Fajareka Setiawan

Phage the Untouchable has long been one of Commander’s funniest “gotcha” cards thanks to the line, “When Phage enters the battlefield, if you didn’t cast it from your hand, you lose the game.” If you find a way to give a Phage to your opponent, and make her ETB under your opponent's control, they lose the game on the spot.

Now the upcoming Secrets of Strixhaven gives that old nightmare a new partner in Echocasting Symposium… and makes it into a recurring nightmare!

How the Phage the Untouchable + Echocasting Symposium Combo Works

Phage the Untouchable – Illustration by Ron Spears

This is a pretty simple two-card combo; the only quirk is paradigm, a new mechanic from Secrets of Strixhaven.

First, you resolve Echocasting Symposium. It targets a player and a creature you control, and that player creates a token copy of that creature. But here's the twist: Since Echocasting Symposium has paradigm, this effect repeats at the beginning of each of your first main phases.

Once Phage the Untouchable is on your battlefield, the copy of Echocasting Symposium that paradigm gives can target Phage the Untouchable and give that poisoned gift to one of your opponents. That opponent then gets a Phage token, and because they absolutely did not cast that token from their hand, Phage’s trigger tells them to lose the game.

And, as long as Phage the Untouchable stays around, you can repeat this trick your next turn until the whole table is dead.

The neat part is that Echocasting Symposium does not need Phage the Untouchable on the battlefield the first time you cast it (you just need some legal creature you control, because the original spell has to target something). Once that first Echocasting Symposium resolves, the paradigm ability takes over and starts offering you a free copy at the beginning of each of your first main phases.

And, of course, if you already have Phage on the field, and then cast Echocasting Symposium, you get to give the first Phage copy right away, killing one opponent right there.

At quick glance, Echocasting Symposium looks pretty close to the well-known Phage + Fractured Identity combo. Fractured Identity has an obvious advantage: it kills everyone at once. But Echocasting Symposium has a lot of positive trade-offs: It stays online turn after turn, lets you cast Phage at any point afterward, and above all it lets your commander be in Dimir, instead of pushing you all the way into Esper. And that's pretty good news for Phage: Three of her most popular commanders are Mimeoplasm, Revered One, Lazav, the Multifarious, and Lazav, Wearer of Faces: All of them can play Echocasting Symposium!

Other Fun Creatures to Copy

If you're playing with a commander like Lazav, the Multifarious and you don't have Phage the Untouchable at hand, another excellent nonsense machine is Eater of Days.

Since Echocasting Symposium can keep making more copies on future turns, your opponents will keep skipping turns and basically be out of the game that way. Arguably even more sadistic than Death by Phage!

If you want something meaner but less immediately lethal, Grid Monitor is also worth a mention. Grid Monitor simply says, “You can’t cast creature spells.” Handing that to an opponent every turn is not as flashy as Phage the Untouchable or Leveler, but it can absolutely lock certain decks.

Wrap Up

Fractured Identity (Secret Lair) – art by Justin Hernandez & Alexis Hernandez

Phage the Untouchable plus Echocasting Symposium is not the fastest combo in Commander, and it is definitely not the kind of thing high-power tables are going to lose sleep over. And, although it's a two-card combo, it doesn't win you the game on the spot, so it's arguably a combo you can play even in low-power Commander brackets.

But it is a funny combo with a nice built-in sense of inevitability once paradigm gets rolling. And it gives Dimir commanders a new way to use one of Magic’s most infamous “you lose the game” creatures without having to reach for the old Fractured Identity shell. For players who enjoy combos that feel like they were designed by a very smug villain, that is more than enough!