Duress strips key lifegain payoffs like Lunar Convocation or Case of the Uneaten Feast before they can start draining you or casting creatures from their graveyard, which is crucial since this deck grinds through incremental life-loss triggers. Voice of Victory stops them from disrupting your plans on your turn and provides mobilized attackers to race their lifegain. Dawn's Truce protects your board from Requiting Hex and sweeper-adjacent effects while you try to close the game before they stabilize. Bloodghast is weak since it can't block against their creature-heavy board, and Carnage, Crimson Chaos and Practiced Offense are too slow against a deck that generates steady incremental value.