Age of Empires 3
While the Home City feature is beyond underbaked and completely pointless, they nailed the card system! It added a whole new strategic aspect to the game. The gameplay is pitch perfect and the civilizations feel more unique than they ever did before.
The French are the strongest civ in the game, but the other civs are still a ton of fun to play.
AoE purists would prefer that 3 never been mentioned amongst 2, but 3 is still my favorite!

You called down the thunder, now reap the whirlwind







