I'm sure I've fangirled Thrawn's cleverness before, so here I'll say I love that he knows how to calmly fold.
And I love that the plots require other people to be clever in totally reasonable ways - Luke using his artifical hand as a power supply, and Wedge's piloting skills allowing him to spot something wrong with the freighter.
And the fact the victories/defeats are complicated and have knock-on effects - the Empire didn't steal the ships, but they were disabled, which is still pretty good for them. Thrawn's efforts to build himself a good fighting force to take on the New Republic with are fascinating.