Not sure how this one slipped through my radar, but here’s an article I wrote about this very topic. In short, Blender Render always had benefits over Cycles and vice versa. But in recent years Blender Render has faded from relevance and has officially been removed from the 2.8 update.
Speaking of 2.8, we will be re-recording all fundamental courses for 2.8 and it will be Cycles + Eevee – woot!