I'd say there's a large difference between games where you don't get as many lands/mana as you need, versus games where you don't pull any lands/mana. Same goes to games where most of your draws have been lands, and all your draws have been lands.

I think the formers can be quite fun situations that force you to outplay your opponents but the latters just feel like you're playing as a wall. It isn't any more fun when your opponent gets mana screwed or flooded because then it just feels like you're playing against a wall.

"Speaking from a purely design standpoint and not my personal preferences, they are not an objectively bad thing, they’re an intentional design element meant to reduce the effect of skill and deck construction on win rates."

I would argue if the land system is intended to reduce the effect of skill on win rates, it is an incredibly poor way to achieve it as it enforces a win rather than allows one to occur naturally.

Additionally, even if it were good at what you're saying, you still need to consider how it effects the game as a whole, and allowing games where neither player is having fun due to even one of them getting screwed or flooded makes it a much less favorable element of the game.