MB, indeed you made a remarkable comeback with Mictlan. I think it led the provinces and gem income graphs by an impressive margin towards the end.
Re. MA-Man, I'm amazed it managed to win in MP. I mean, this nation is ok for start to mid game but in end game it is just sorry. Lack of magical diversity is the main killer for Man. Specifically the lack of access to astral is crippling in end game. Add to that lot's of map move 1 troops. Old age crones and the weakness against inanimate lifeless SCs and you get an ugly endgame picture.
The impression I'll most remember from my MA-Man experience is how my mothers died by the droves while performing raiding duty.
MA-Ctis was altogether a different story and turned out to be a pleasant surprise. Careful dominion control can ensure you won't piss anyone off and it turned out the disease dominion was a deterrent, of sorts, until very late in the game. Yes, undead SCs and golems just ignored it but the mage support that could have been very helpful for them couldn't do the same.
This led to an interesting phenomena - Most of the SCs sent to raid MA-Ctis turf were exterminated. The golem SCs were sometime dispatched as easily as by a small shaman communion spamming opposition. The tartarians by skelli spam + dust to dust/charm spam among other counters.
MA-Man OtoH was freely raided and often had only its castles left.
MA-Ctis has a *sweet* lineup, both in troops, priests and mages. The sauromancers are awesome and what weaknesses they have the shamans close very effectively. Just try RoSing a mixed bunch of them, or send an SC to eliminate them
One glaring weakness I did suffer from is shock resistance. I had a hard time coming up with counters and often paid dearly for that.
All in all, this game had an epic feel to it. One of the best I had the privilege to take part in.