They're pretty well balanced, just overall, not for each possible matchup. The difference is that there is more map variation than in SC2, so a civ which is go

They're pretty well balanced, just overall, not for each possible matchup. The difference is that there is more map variation than in SC2, so a civ which is good on water maps is probably going to be below average on land maps. Also team games are a thing at the highest level, so some civs fare better in that context than 1 Vs 1.