Combining the different themes is easy because it all uses the same mechanic and gives you great amounts of freedom on creating a style of deck you like
Calix comes down earlier, its true, but having more than one of this effect in your deck isnt exactly bad
Even though individual tokens tend to be weaker than regular creatures, a plethora of buff spells, anthems, and sacrifice effects more than make up for it
For example, in early card decks, queens were not always included
The alternative commander, Kilo, Apogee Mind, can make stationing Inspirit, Flagship Vessel a breeze , since every time you tap Kilo you can propagate, adding a counter to each permanent that already has one
While it was possible to die to your own Pup, it mostly just killed your opponent when backed up by Cursed Scroll and cheap burn--if they can't block your Jackal Pup, your Jackal Pup can't deal you damage