Xander got spared by the writers at the last minute and just horribly mutilated/injured, much like Spike? I guess Spander IS the One True Pairing!

(Hey, it's better than some other shipping "logic" that is given in all sincerity.)
Being season 7, I don't think I'd care that much.
Oh I would the first time I watched it. I'd have actually been more moved than when Tara died, which is saying something. And as I had a lot more faith in it on first viewing, I'd have hated it all the more by the time it was over, though I think I'd end where I'm not anyway with a "meh" for the season that I'm sure I'll never watch again save an episode or two. (While I'm not crazy about season 6 either--not because of its so-called darkness since I watch shows way darker than that and love them and also consider other seasons of Buffy darker--it's conceivable I could watch that entire season again, unlike s7, both of which I've seen twice in their entirety.)
Though I realize now...this is a new realization...there are plenty of shows, movies, and stories where most can be killed off and I love it. And yet the killing of Tara and Anya (and I think others I'm not remembering at the moment, or maybe it's other Whedon shows and movies) just...well, like a lot of how the shipping starts (and often ends) scenes, comes off as sloppy and I feel kind of ripped out of the story. I'm not really explaining it right so I'll just say it rubs me the wrong way. I know Joss likes the undermine expectations (but he does it the same way over and over that watch enough of him and he DOES become predictable in his own way) but at least from season 6 on I just didn't care for it. Not because it hurt, but it just rubbed me the wrong way in some meta-story way. (Though that said, I did like the death scene of Wesley in Angel.)
And I know it's not because "they died" as there are plenty of shows with horrific deaths and mutilations that I love and I think they add significantly to the story (in more than just a "trigger the next scene"). I'm certain Xander's death would've been just another one to rub me the wrong way (though I suppose it would be kind of cool to have the First imitate Xander, assuming they could pull it off right which is probably expecting too much from burned out writers).