Rakdos Madness Burn combines the red madness burn engine with black discard payoffs like Alms of the Vein and Kitchen Imp, making it even more resilient than Mono-Red because Alms of the Vein can drain three life for a single black mana via madness. Blue Elemental Blast and Hydroblast are your cleanest answers — they can counter Fiery Temper, Lightning Bolt, and Alms of the Vein at instant speed, and hitting any of those burn spells mid-chain can break the damage pipeline. Counterspell and Spellstutter Sprite handle Kessig Flamebreather and Sneaky Snacker before they can generate value; you particularly want to counter Sneaky Snacker since it generates additional black madness enablers. Spell Pierce is cut because they will have enough black and red mana to pay one by the time they're casting their threats; Sunken City and Of One Mind are too slow in a race against a deck with direct damage that bypasses your blockers. Your life total is the primary resource — prioritize countering burn spells that target you over countering creatures.