I have seen it first hand. Literally, you can gain muscle eating a diet of solid tic tacs with drugs. Hell, if you are young you can gain muscle in a calorie defecit. Just ask milos. I pmed him this question a long time ago. Is it optimal? Of course not but neither is eating unneccesary calories. You only need so much. If eating more was better explain to me why when i bulked up to 220 starting from a body weight of 150 probably being 120 shredded did i come back down to 150 looking exactly the same? I held the weight for a year. Bulking is a useless concept. Let me guess. I ran my cut wrong right? or i didn't eat enough steak.... Maybe i need more chicken in my diet?
First hand....so you've tried them? Or do you just know a guy that was completely honest with you about his diet?

Regarding your bulk....Depends on what your 220 consisted of. If it was 220 of shit that yeah it would explain why you looked the same. If you indeed added muscle, then yes you did screw up you cutting phase......badly. You should have been a MW at least, and if it was a decent 220 a small LHW.
It seems like you are stuck on your own limitations, with just two years of experience under your belt and one bad bulking experience. You make broad, generalizing statements like bulking is useless. Be careful soon, or soon you'll start thinking that you have $hitty genetics, quit and start bashing BB.
Back to the drawing board.