Its ability immediately doubles your creatures power and toughness during combat, so you can get a massive attack the turn Zopandrel hits the battlefield
You pay the escalate cost for each mode you choose beyond the first
The best Shift target is probably Peter Pan - Never Landing but if you want to stick to Ruby cards, it would be the Peter Pan we just looked at, Peter Pan - Never Land Hero
Amber/Emerald has plenty of other ways to befuddle your opponent While the current way you play Amber/Emerald is a pretty hard discard strategy, that doesnt mean discarding is the only thing at your disposal
This means you've spent the required ink and placed them on the table face-up - it doesn't generally refer to cards in your hand or discard pile
Oh, and of course Soultraders a zombie, in addition to having two other relevant creature types