It's really not as bad as everyone seems to make it out to be, it's really confusing. This is even more true because the OP used T9 as an example; T9 is one of the fights where we practically have zero MP issues whatsoever, and SMN is very strong on that fight.

Yes, we do run out of MP on fights like T10 after a while, but that doesn't mean our DPS sucks. You can manage your MP properly to make it last longer and use things like Energy Drain to maintain your pool, while pushing out optimal DPS. Just because you ran out of MP doesn't mean you just suddenly are a potato, you can do just fine, yes, even without ballad (don't ask for ballad as a Summoner). While more MP would be nice, people act like the job is just broken, and you can't down the fights with SMN because it falls apart or something, which is not true at all.

Shrug.