Whenever Emperor's Vanguard deals combat damage to a player, it explores
Seven life is a ton, at least a turn of damage and more likely two and a three-land boost flows pretty nicely into Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger
You can bounce a spell if you prefer, in lieu of just a creature, and thats really flexible
It doesn't matter if those spells resolved, didn't resolve, were countered, or are still on the stack
You get to Proliferate your opponents rad counters to force them to lose more life and mill more cards, while also Proliferating the +1/+1 counters on your squad
Spells like Opt and Behold the Multiverse are popular for scrying and immediate card draw at instant speed