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The reason core sets didn't sell well was partly because it was a lot of trash and partly because it was all reprints. The more experienced you were, the less you actually needed to buy Core Sets. And since they weren't really designed around drafting, nobody really bothered drafting them. So with experienced players not interested in buying them for cards or drafting, sales suffered quite a bit. Admittedly, as mentioned this was mainly true for the last 4 core sets (7th - 10th), although 5th featured this mentality pretty heavily as well.

Flipping through JUST 8th edition rares (There were somewhere around 110. Gatherer lists 116, but at least one was a rare elsewhere and uncommon in 8th) we see such highly regarded staples as Beast of Burden and Serra Angel . (Still a rare during 8th)

There were a handful of actually good rares like Blood Moon and Bribery , but since most of the staples of the time such as Wrath of God , Birds of Paradise , and City of Brass had been reprinted over and over again, most experienced players didn't care.

Plus, you talk about bad rares in the current core set? Magic 2013 may have quite a few cards that are pretty heavily outclassed by others, but there are very few rares that both new and experienced players just find uninteresting. Of the seven red rares in Magic 2013, the worst is Hamletback Goliath , a card that at bare minimum is a bomb in limited and a fun finisher in multiplayer games. Compare to the excitement that is Rukh Egg or Okk .

Dec 23, 2012 -- 1:51AM, tehbeast wrote:

Slumbering Dragon : Better than Hamletback Goliath .

Slumbering Dragon is at least an amusing Johnny card. I've had multiple friends have a good time at least trying to break it, even if they haven't quite succeeded. I've seen more people try the Dragon than I have the Goliath, if only because of the mana cost and because as everybody knows, Dragons are cooler than Giants.

Dec 23, 2012 -- 6:54AM, Dragon_Nut wrote:

Dec 23, 2012 -- 1:51AM, tehbeast wrote:

Slumbering Dragon : Better than Hamletback Goliath .

Slumbering Dragon is at least an amusing Johnny card. I've had multiple friends have a good time at least trying to break it, even if they haven't quite succeeded. I've seen more people try the Dragon than I have the Goliath, if only because of the mana cost and because as everybody knows, Dragons are cooler than Giants.

Well, turn 3 Dragon (and equip Swiftfoot Boots ), turn 4 Increasing Savagery might work.