Dimir Excruciator wants to assemble Doomsday Excruciator and control the game with Duress, Deceit, and sweepers like Day of Black Sun and Deadly Cover-Up, so proactive hand disruption is key. Duress strips their own Duress, a sweeper, or a key piece before it lands, and Cruelclaw's Heist can steal their best remaining threat while denying it to them. Emptiness's -1/-1 counters do little against their 4/4-and-up creatures like Superior Spider-Man or Doomsday Excruciator, and Voice of Victory's small tokens fold to their removal, so both make way for disruption that fights their game plan directly.