Well it depends what you are looking for. It depends from one's standards and measures. For me the influence is more or less apparent. Were it because of the maturation of certain circumstances in the course of time or something else it doesn't matter. If it was not M:tG the phenomena of that era, but a different game, with a different philosophy, most probably 3e's design would share from that philosophy or mindset. Wotc may have been announcing that D&D's design has nothing to do with M:tG, just to confront some of the inevitable nerd rage of D&D fans. It doesn't mean it is true though. Anyway, as I said, if I remember correctly I read that Richard Garfield has in effect advised on the design of 3e while he was working at Wotc that era.