There are a lot of little tricks and shortcuts to modeling that are easier to learn with a program like MED.
Having more options that you may never use increases the learning curve.
Once you have the basic techniques conquered you can always take that knowledge to a more advanced program.

I have had and used more powerful programs for years for video but for lo poly game modeling MED is all I ever use. I don't like the skinning system in the latest version, so I keep an older version for skinning.

MED has always had many detractors on this forum, primarily because there isn't good documentation or tutorials. But, IMO, it's excellent otherwise.