While these are pretty attractive in the starter decks, I would definitely look to replace them once you upgrade your own deck, and Nani is a great option if you like the powerhouse bodyguard route
Typically you'll dredge over many cards at once, hitting some combination of Narcomoebas and Prized Amalgams, then your Illusions will trigger and get put onto the battlefield, triggering your amalgams in the graveyard to come back later
GamesHub managing editor Steph Panecasio managed to boost our health pool by about 15 points thanks to a card effect, and also managed to hit our Archenemy for a handful of points in the same turn
As for the Red Elemental Blast versus Pyroblast question well, it wasnt always as easy as it is today (where the default of split them is the most common solution, thanks to cards like Cabal Therapy and Meddling Mage)
Some Energy cards were so powerful that several were banned before the formats much-needed rotation
In a creature heavy ramp list this is hitting the vast majority of your cards