Arboretum

Arboretum fits the bill perfectly.

For light to medium games: Viticulture Scoville Azul two player Heaven and Ale Arboretum De Stijl

Most player multiplayer but with 2 players... Arboretum

I can recommend: - Arboretum

Arboretum - a cutthroat game about creating tree paths that net you points, except your opponent(s) are doing the same and for each tree variety only one of you will score, turning this gardening game into a vicious deathmatch (I'm not kidding it can get super cruel).

Arboretum is the deepest and meanest of the bunch without adding much if any rules overhead. I love that your discard pile is accessible by other players. I also love that this plays more than two.

I love Arboretum and Schotten Totten/Battle Line (without tactic card) a lot. However, they are very different to me. Arboretum is the best 4>3>2 because it way more tense and less random

It is in fact the mindgames of this last mechanism interaction with the table what makes this game so interesting. But, while it is indeed much more challenging than Lost Cities in the long run, it is also the hardest one to explain.