Rakdos Madness Burn wants to race with cheap creatures like Voldaren Epicure and Kitchen Imp plus direct burn such as Lightning Bolt and Fiery Temper, so Curfew buys a full turn against their aggression by having each player return a creature they control to its owner's hand while your own creature count is minimal. Tormod's Crypt strips their graveyard to shut off Faithless Looting flashback and Sneaky Snacker recursion, though it does nothing against madness discards since those cards are cast from exile, not the graveyard. Blue Elemental Blast is brought in as an efficient answer to counter red burn spells like Lightning Bolt and Fiery Temper or destroy a red permanent like Voldaren Epicure. Murmuring Mystic is too slow and its 1/5 body doesn't block Kitchen Imp's flying haste, so it comes out for more proactive answers, and Spell Pierce is weak since its {2} tax is easily paid against their cheap spells. Prioritize Lightning Bolt, Skred, and Counterspell to control their board and protect your life total against a deck built to burn you out quickly.