Practice is key here, if you know the D00-DL, Caricaturist is in your deck, have an idea of how youre going to draw that critter, especially those menacing eyes
Its drawback may look like its very punishing and can allow the opponent to surprise you via a mid-combat spell, but I never really saw that scenario play out since its damage prevention ability is a a conditional static ability so as long as its on when damage is dealt, it wont be prevented. (Thank you, @fenaris!) It usually plays out somewhat like a colorless Ashenmoor Gouger / Chimeric Idol where you typically dont bother trying to block with it (why am I blocking with my aggro guys anyway?) and, if need be, you cast a spell pre-combat to activate it (typically I used a large coin, like a quarter, to denote whether it was on or off)
Many of the Elemental abilities could already target other creatures so sharing them didn't have a lot of impact
Neyali, Suns' Vanguard If you want to get some more card advantage in your token decks, Neyali, Suns' Vanguard happily paves the way for you
The alternate Commander, Kianne, just sounds like way too much work in practice
Many have relevant abilities to help them survive a bit
