I haven't used i3, so I don't know if yabai mirrors the i3 experience, but it's a very nice programmable keyboard-centric tiling wm for macOS.
i3 has the benefit of being in an OS that doesn't use a super key for everything.
For Yabai, I mapped caps as HYPER -- which is good for most combinations.
these looks good, thanks for sharing - have you tried amethyst?
The reason (at least for AwesomeWM, but DWM too) we use pre-defined layouts is because you can (and should) pass your own functions for each tag/workflow. This way you don't have to manage the layouts manually.
Once you add the custom business logic, it becomes very predictable. Plus, AwesomeWM is modular, so if you want i3 style layouts, you can just do it (https://elv13.github.io/client_tiling/dynamite.html , by me). Of course not all users want/have_the_time to optimize their workflow. Those people should probably stick with i3. AwesomeWM is all about customization/workflow_optimization, that's time consuming, but you have a good ROI.
Also, among all tiling window managers, I think its config is probably the most intuitive to mingle with. Hardly ever breaks (if ever) between upgrades, and default workflow is very intuitive and explicit. Other window managers (eg. Awesome, xmonad) have pre-defined layouts, which (for me at-least) create more confusion than value.
PS> I think I've been using i3 since 2010 something.