Would be Strategy Game of The Year, if not for a few slips: AI build-up is too slow, and badly needed online-help.
AI is tough to defeat, unfortunately easy to out-build and out-match in economy.
The secret to winning nearly all campaigns is just to build faster, and not to get dragged into wars... at all costs.
Unit tree is very diverse, although not as complex as Master of Magic, definitely much richer than other Civilization lookalikes.
Indeed it is much better than Civilization if you thrive for turn-based combat focus.
I definitely search for updates to AI, and DLCs that may make other worlds more enticing. For now this is a definite treat for magic strategy enthusiasts but not yet a classic like Elven Legacy, or Master of Orion.
First DLC looks very tiny, but already adds a decent and more challenging opponent mage, so that you wish you could just guarantee that it is picked for your next campaign.