If my recollection is correct, it isn't that midrange discs went large, it's that all other discs went small. Back in the day, twenty years ago or so, the first high powered drivers were large diameter, like today's midranges. See Millennium's large diameter disc, the Tachyon for example. The comments I recall were that they were slow and not that long. When the small diameter drivers came out, they were so fast that they literally drove the sport away from large diameter drivers.
Whether or not that slow, stately, and easily controlled midrange has advantages over a smaller diameter midrange is a good question. The Roc and Buzz have such cache in the sport that we may never know. I've not used the small diameter midrange discs, but I do use some of the putters that look more like midranges, Breaker, Colt, etc. and I like them a lot for upshots. They are not as long as the midranges out there, in my hands. One thing that is clear, those mids and the putters that are like mids have very little glide in my hands, no matter what their ratings say. To get them long, I have to go high, higher than a driver. I can throw a destroyer at six to eight feet off the ground and still get 320 to 350 feet. A large diameter mid might get me 200, and the mid-putter maybe 100. Do the small diameter mids get more distance on lower flight paths? For perspective, with a low flying driver, I get 80% of my distance, a low flying large diameter mid gives me 60% of my distance.
Of course, one must remember that a high mid or putter will stay straight and land flat, whereas a high driver will always fade at the end.
