I like Dominion. Probably more than I should, really, given that I don’t play it very often. I think the thing I like about it is more its fundamental expression of a really robust platform to build games from. You can do a lot with Dominion that Dominion doesn’t do.
Here’s one simple thing that Dominion does that I like: Dominion has a minimum turn structure built into it. Now there are other ways to do it, but in Dominion, the game ends when three piles of cards are emptied. Which is to say, if players want to end the game as quickly as possible, you have an automatic dial you can put in your game for that. Let’s say you want a game to only have one buy a turn, and you want the game to last at least twelve turns or so, with four players. Right there, you can make the game end when there are three emptied piles, and have piles start at 4 each.
Simple little design component, but you can build on it.