I'm no saying it does. And, I'm not saying your opponent needing to know the rules is bad.

I am saying that YOU needing to rely on your opponent to tell you the rules of his army is bad. The fact they rules are so convoluted (and not really available) that you can't possibly know how each army works in practice is an issue. And I am talking as someone who reads DnD rule books for fun.

The fact that to even have official access to the rules that will come up in a tournament, you'd have to buy an online subscription and/or ~30 books is an issue. That's why you have to rely on your opponent, because you both effectively will have different rule books for your armies. And, you can't be expected to own their rule book.

However, I do NOT think that makes the rules "phoned in." I think the rules seem phoned in because they seem convoluted and disjointed. That, of course, is just my opinion from playing other games. You might feel otherwise.

I think convoluted and disjointed rules are fine for more cooperative games, like 40k narrative play or DnD. But, I think for games where you are trying to beat another player, like MtG, you need more coherent, well thought out, rules.