[Calahan]

The vast majority of non-cap Mages in the game have base research of between 3-5RP. And since (in a normal game) these are the guys or gals who are likely to be doing the main bulk of your research over the course of a game, then it makes sense to make them more efficient and more cost effective. So when you consider the difference in RP you get with Magic 0 and Magic 1 for these typical mages...

(Magic 0 -- Magic 1 = +%increase)
3RP -- 4RP = +33%
4RP -- 5RP = +25%
5RP -- 6RP = +20%

...then for just 40 design points you are substantially increasing your RP output. And IMO no other use of design points gets you anywhere near as much bang for your buck as what you get by going from Magic 0 to Magic 1. Magic wins more games than anything else does, and Magic 0 - Magic 1 is the best value for money scale purchase IMO. This really is a case of 1+1 equalling 2.

And so given that, you need to have an insanely good reason for going with Magic 0 over Magic 1, as just about anything and everything else should be sacrificed to find the 40 points needed to tip the Magic scale one nudge in the positive direction.