[rdonj]

Well, I would say that gandalf is at least partly right, a player that understands well how to use one nation to its fullest will do well against most or all other nations by understanding how to play up its strengths and cover for its weaknesses. Whereas with a different "strong" nation that they don't understand how to use as well they may do well against some people but not do as well overall.

I think though, especially in the early to mid game before you have diversified much magically, that a significant part of the equation is the comparison between the two nation's inherent capabilities. As a completely random example, niefelheim is considered one of the strongest ea nations... one of the strongest nations period, even. But one of the nations they are worst equipped to fight, imo, is ea Yomi, considered one of the weakest nations in the game.