Bidding on the Edge of the Knife?

This hand happened to me recently on IntoBridge. It shows how problematic Bridge can be. Or, maybe it shows how problematic you can make Bridge.

South opening 1♥ is an easy decision. Then West looks at his hand with a void in spade and four cards in the suit of the opponents, plus a good hand below opening strength. He wants to make life more difficult for N/S who very likely have a nice spade fit, albeit with a bad trump brake. 

West's first option is to throw in a lead directive bid with 2♣. N/S has only 8 tricks, because they will not have enough phantasy to finesse to the ♠9. And even then East will get to ruff a heart with the ♠10 at best play. So it is likely that E/W drive N/S into 4♠-2 for a better score than 4♣=. In MP, this is important, but in IMP it does not matter.  

The option that LIA choose is to block with 3♣. Lia on North decided that his hand is not enough to bid 3♠. The misfit in hearts does not look promising. But Lia on East bid 4♣ on its own. The only reason for this I can imagine is to block N/S even higher. After all, East is not expecting these defense tricks from West. Now, North has a tough time. As outlined above, it is unclear if it is better to pass or to try a game. I'd pass.

I keep asking myself what could be the most reasonable way to treat this hand? East's preemptive action with a hand that looks not like that, is just putting the board on the edge of the knife. In pairs with MP scoring, nobody can judge correctly what to bid. I much prefer the more fitting description 2♣. In team, there is nothing wrong to steal even a part score from N/S with a preemptive 3♣. 

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