He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named

by Ross Fertel, Nomenclative Writer

24th November 2016

Congratulations on solving the puzzle! At least, I'm resuming you did, these articles are written years/hours in advance. I hope you've solved it, because this article will pretty much spoil the solution.

These four cards started out as Emperor Tests. The playtest titles were called Emperor Test #1, Emperor Test #2, Emperor Test #3 and Emperor Test #4. Creative decided to go with Plot Takeover, Assume Command, Consolidate Power and Seize the Throne.

They were all ready to rest on our laurels, call it a day and work on the other sixty some cards in the set, right?

Wrong.

We get a 'suggestion' from Lead Designer Hammon to make them alphabetical. You know, just in case we want to.A few rage induced arguments later, the dust settled and we had Assert Authority, Assume Command, Consolidate Power and Seize the Throne.

So we were all set. Dan was happy that the cards were in alphabetical order and everyone was happy, and we could move on, right?

Wrong.

At this point, there was an objective that [REDACTED] and was called, well, I probably shouldn't tell you what it was called, but it began with an E, at least at one point. That meant that although we did put them in alphabetical order, we really didn't.

At this point, you could probably put together that we settled on Assert Authority, Betray Captain, Consolidate Power and Declare New Sovereign, right?

Wrong.

Well, actually, it was right in the end, as you can clearly see, but with the first one starting with an A and the third one starting with a C, we quickly saw the potential for an ABCD. There is a precedent for this, but we worked out a way to make it happen. Through the magic of wordplay, we made everyone happy. Well, at least the Lead Designer, and in the end, that's all that matters.

So that's the story and you're ready to leave, right?

Let's sneak in a bit of gameplay advice for these cards. Who do you want for your Emperor? Travis Mayweather? As a mission specialist, you can get him out quickly. Slar? He's a walking talking tricorder/phaser but without a homeworld, he can't complete the cycle. Or… ?

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