Spells like Nadir Kraken and The Locust God that create tokens as you draw cards are great ways to defend the crown while Psychosis Crawler and Niv-Mizzet, Parun turn the card draw into pressure to wrap the game up
A list I saw recently showed the highest Ink requirement for any card was 4 for a Hades - Lord of the Underworld and that was a one of
I was lucky that nobody else was playing a kindred deck, but I also didn't have enough of a board presence yet
In most formats, losing life can be detrimental, but in Commander it is much more easily worked around, making the drawbacks of both cards not bad
There are a few at various levels of damage that target both creatures and players, which can maximize your triggers in a burn deck
Whenever Chaos ensues, put a flying counter on up to one target creature