[marktangotango]

In fact it was a really amazing "engine out" test. The thing appeared to been shedding engines all the way to RUD. I imagine these engines were all early generation, might as well fly them, units. It's easy to imagine a calculus of "we're pretty sure X% of engines will fail, but we only need Y% for this flight, go ahead and fly them". But yeah, Musk once said there's a gigawatt of power going through these Raptor engines, that's not nothing.

[urbane_myth]

I actually feel safer about someday flying on one because it kept going even after at least one of the engines detonated during ascent.

[pnpnp]

It’s also possible the engines were damaged by flying debris off the pad.

[s1artibartfast]

Possible, but I don't think that's the full explanation. When the booster did a static test at half throttle, not all of the engines were able to light as well. SpaceX clearly chose to go ahead with a launch without waiting for a booster test with 100% ignition