Esper Ephemerate leans on resolving and blinking value creatures like Baleful Strix and Mulldrifter with Ephemerate, so Duress strips a key piece like Counterspell or Ephemerate itself before they can lock in their value loop. Go for the Throat answers their nonartifact threats such as Archaeomancer and Mulldrifter cleanly. Lembas, Eviscerator's Insight, and Toxin Analysis are cut since they're too slow against a deck that will out-value you on card advantage if the game goes long. Keep your artifact-sacrifice engine and Cast Down to pressure their board before their blink engine stabilizes.