"When it comes to late game army compositions in Age of Empires II, players usually pair 1 Gold unit (such as a Paladin) with 1 trash unit (such as a Elite Skirmisher) as a way to preserve Gold while still covering the Gold unit's weaknesses. Here's a tournament to determine of these Gold-trash combination is the best. Maybe.

0:22 Round of 16
6:29 Quarterfinals
9:30 Semifinals
11:25 Third Place Game
12:34 Finals
13:22 Victory Celebration?

This tournament features the top 16 civilizations by win percentage in 1600+ Elo 1v1 matches for patches 75350 and 73855 on March 6, 2023. For each civilization, 1 trash unit was paired with 1 non-siege Gold unit. To determine pair numbers, resource limits were divided by the cost of a trash/Gold pair, and the resulting quotient was rounded down. Regarding resource amounts, 1 Gold = 1 Food/Wood.

There is re-seeding every round (like the NFL playoffs), where in each round, the lowest seeded civilization always plays the highest seeded civilization. This is why I don't show any tournament brackets in this video.

All the matchups in this video was between two human controlled armies in the post-Imperial Age. This is because in an AI controlled army melee units prioritize attacking ranged units, while in a human controlled army, melee units prioritize attacking the closest units. In other words, if I wanted melee units to form a meatshield for ranged units during an attack-move, both players have to be human controlled.

List of civilizations (all unique units are the elite versions):
#1 Franks: Paladins & Elite Skirmishers
#2 Hindustanis: Hand Cannoneers & Hussars
#3 Huns: Heavy Cavalry Archers & Hussars
#4 Berbers: Camel Archers & Hussars
#5 Teutons: Teutonic Knights & Halberdiers
#6 Gurjaras: Charkram Throwers & Hussars
#7 Portuguese: Arbalests & Halberdiers
#8 Celts: Woad Raiders & Halberdiers
#9 Spanish: Conquistadors & Hussars
#10 Mayans: Plumed Archers & Halberdiers
#11 Lithuanians: Leiciai & Hussars
#12 Mongols: Mangudais & Hussars
#13 Turks: Heavy Cavalry Archers & Hussars
#14 Chinese: Chu Ko Nu & Light Cavalry
#15 Vikings: Berserks & Elite Skirmishers
#16 Khmer: Ballista Elephants & Hussars

Except for Celts, Teutons and Spanish, army compositions were taken from Hera's Ideal Unit Composition video. Celts and Teutons compositions were taken from Hera's Deathball Composition video, while the Spanish composition was decided by me.

Links:
Human vs. AI attack move:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d_NQtQTUS70
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gnP8oozJ_nw

Hera's Best Deathball Composition video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=88CbKXXHyRQ

Hera's Ideal Unit Composition For Every Civilization video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3C6tQOW0MbE

Shamburger extended:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gLQULdYOYi8

Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition © Microsoft Corporation. This video was created under Microsoft's "Game Content Usage Rules" using assets from Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition, and it is not endorsed by or affiliated with Microsoft. https://www.xbox.com/en-us/developers/rules"