Mono Red Madness kills through direct damage and Guttersnipe/Kessig Flamebreather triggers rather than combat, so graveyard hate does nothing here since Fiery Temper's madness cost is triggered from exile, not the graveyard. Weather the Storm's lifegain is your best tool to survive the damage race, and Drown in Sorrow's -2/-2 kills Voldaren Epicure and Guttersnipe (both 1/1 and 2/2 respectively) to cut off two of their damage engines, though it leaves Kessig Flamebreather's 1/3 alive. Grapple with Death and Fungal Infection are too slow or too narrow against a deck that isn't attacking with big creatures, so they make way for the life-gain package.

Dimir Control leans on Counterspell and Snuff Out to protect its board and answer your threats, so Duress taken before you commit your real payoffs (Troll of Khazad-dum, Pestilence) clears the way and can strip a card like Extract a Confession or Cast Down. The extra Nihil Spellbomb is a low-cost inclusion that can exile their graveyard to deny Deep Analysis's flashback. Cast Down is a weak swap since most of their creatures (Faerie Seer, Spellstutter Sprite, Augur of Bolas) are already small enough for your Pestilence activations to handle, so proactive disruption is more valuable than more removal.

Spy Combo ramps with mana dorks like Elves of Deep Shadow and defenders like Overgrown Battlement and Wall of Roots before dumping its hand with Lead the Stampede and Winding Way, so Duress can strip Dread Return before it reanimates a huge creature for free. Drown in Sorrow's -2/-2 is a great rate here, wiping their mana base of 0/1, 0/2, and 1/1 dorks (Elves of Deep Shadow, Gatecreeper Vine, Quirion Ranger) and setting their ramp plan back significantly. Cast Down and Fungal Infection are individually too slow against a deck that goes wide with cheap, replaceable bodies, so the sweeper and hand disruption take priority.