Your conclusions about the "trainwreck" of Emperor are not ones I would endorse. Emperor was kicked off with Forgotten Legacy, and that sets over-the-top power level was, IMHO, a big cause of where Emperor Edition ended up. And, from what I can tell, that was a Brand decision, not a Design one.
I just would just disagree generally about whether Ivory was bland or miserable. It seems especially strange to slam CCG design for 2014 while praising everyone else, when that was the Year of No Fiction (because there was barely a story team left) and it seemed like a lot of folks were really unhappy with how the story prizes for that year went into choosing the new Emperor.
Daramere... from the player standpoint, what is the tangible difference between a bad "brand decision" and a bad "design decision" that damages the game exactly? Ultimately, I do not think the average player cares much exactly who screwed up.
For my two koku... the overall game play (design, and balance) of Emperor Edition and Ivory were total garbage. Also high on the list of problems were endless product delays, rules changes (and subsequent screwups), and a total lack of AEG understanding their deficiencies compared to the competition (LCGs, Magic, and Hearthstone in particular).
Thaddok
PS: I apologize for asking, but I feel compelled... how could you differentiate between bad brand and design? Did you have some inside info?
Oh that is super easy.
Bad Brand = Commercial Failure.
Bad Design = The fault is within how the cards were designed. Both from a story and a mechanical perspective.
In fact you can have a game with Good Branding and Bad Design. Along with the vice versa being Bad Branding and Good Design.