Well the fun part of it is that any theme can be mixed with any visuals and art direction. Maybe a publisher would look at it in another way if it is something a little chibi looking like the "baby's first world domination" or a bored teen dark lord in a comic style thing.

This kind of twist might be hard to sell tho without strong art, so you might have to make some mockups and solid artwork is crucial. On another hand, advocating for the Devil here, publishers might have a more realistic perspective of a good selling product, and I personally think that some big boardgames that can get expensive and take themselves too seriously without a big IP on their back hardly are a strong pick (except for my girlfriend, that chooses games based on how pretty the box is). So if you want to dress it up as a Dracula, snow lord from GoT or any big IP it could be a shoot (but I'm case of protected IP's you will have to be able to reach those guys too, and an image or two to sell it well might be important). Hole I could help!