From Mark Rosewater's article today
Dear Mark Rosewater,
Regarding your article "The Good, The Bad and the Ugly Truth":
You're getting very good at giving the same answer over and over again. We print bad cards because they make some players happy. We print bad cards at rare because it makes some players happy. Rinse, repeat.
The problem is, I think you're using that answer as a crutch for when you have no good answers. There's no reason to print, say, Mudhole. It makes no one happy. One With Nothing makes no one happy. (Or, if you prefer, the people it DOES make happy would be made equally happy by a playable card that allows for a similar effect - Say, Putrid Imp.)
Your audience asks you a question ("Why make bad rares?"). You reply by asserting the existence of a player group that actually LIKES bad rares. Of course, we have no evidence for the existence of such a group aside from your assertion. In essence, you're answering in a manner that is, to the outside observer, absurdly circular - You're right to do X because you (and only you) have evidence that X is the correct course of action.
And then you act confused when people challenge your explanation.
--David Stroud