Almost a week has passed since the official launch of the Disney Lorcana expansion, Archazia’s Island. In that time there seems to be a growing debate about a particular card establishing its presence in the competitive scene.
The Accused
Belle - Apprentice Inventor was one of the last few cards to be revealed during spoiler season for Archazia’s Island. In a vacuum, she was viewed as a very powerful tool in Sapphire’s arsenal.
This seemingly demure mademoiselle boasts a very cunning play line as any deck using sapphire can easily cheat this beast of a glimmer on just the first turn. With built-in ink color fodder such as Pawpsicle or Ice Block to fuel her ink cost, there isn’t an easy answer to her robust capabilities so early in a game of Disney Lorcana.
If it so happens that the chosen partnered ink color has access to their own 1 ink cost items, then there’s even more consistency to be had; especially when there is a very generous mulligan rule on offer to the players.
The Mounting Evidence
Now with the experimentation phase for the new set officially underway, there are a fair amount of players who’ve had a very negative experience with Belle - Apprentice Inventor. This is mostly coming from an experience where Belle is used with Steel ink.
Before that, there is the inherent mechanic that players have a grievance with. Worryingly, Belle can easily be placed onto the field for the cost of a single item card. Sapphire already has the cards mentioned above to fuel Belle’s initial foray, but other ink colors aren't so lucky.
Amber, Emerald, and Amethyst have slim pickings when it comes to 1 ink cost items. Subsequently, deck combinations with Sapphire would most likely be reliant on Sapphire’s in-house hardware.
Steel has access to a good line-up of 1 ink cost cards in the form of Shield of Arendelle, Last Cannon, and Fortisphere. Ruby, meanwhile, probably has the most egregious 1 ink cost tool Belle - Apprentice Inventor could ever hope to have.
With the Unconventional Tool, it was discovered that a chain can be started where you’d use the tool to fuel Belle’s cost on turn 1 before sliding into either another Unconventional Tool or Pawpsicle to bring out a second copy of Belle - Apprentice Inventor.
Of course, there are still a lot of factors that need to be accounted for, luck being one of them. This isn’t exactly a line of play a player can easily do every single time. But the fact that this combo can even be a possibility raised the hackles of some members of the community.
All this is still with a simple package since Belle is a 3 strength, 3 willpower body hitting the ground on the first playable turn. While her stats are average for her cost, it still gives her protection against a lot of early-game removal staples like Brawl; or even mid-to-late-game removal like Sisu - Empowered Sibling.
If you were to look at all the character glimmers in Disney Lorcana, not a lot of them can easily be played on the first and sometimes second turn. This makes it incredibly difficult to physically trade with Belle, further boosting their strength.
A Song of Steel
To make Belle stronger still, Disney Lorcana lets characters fuel the ink cost of song cards as long as the character has a matching or greater ink cost. This doesn’t count the fact that an ability, Singer, also exists to help characters fuel the cost of higher-cost song cards.
That said, Belle’s 3 ink cost can allow her to sing two particular Steel songs that can be considered staples when building a deck with this ink color as a partner.
Strength of a Raging Fire and Let the Storm Rage On are both 3 cost songs Belle’s controlling player could have access to. The damage output of these cards can easily wipe out most early game board presence to the point that it’s suffocating.
Assuming that Belle’s controlling player goes first, any 1 ink cost character glimmer you put down is immediately ripe for being targeted unless it has Ward. If it doesn’t, then that character better have more than 2 willpower if there’s any hope of it surviving to the next turn.
Even 3 willpower may not be enough as Belle’s controlling player can easily add a second card to their inkwell, play two 1 ink cost characters, and use Strength of a Raging Fire to directly remove a more robust first turn playable character.
A Lesson From the Past
Belle - Apprentice Inventor is currently generating the same kind of negative optics as another card from Disney Lorcana’s past, Bucky – Squirrel Squeak Tutor.
This pint-sized Emerald glimmer was released back in the game’s second expansion, Rise of the Floodborn. This card terrorized the game for a time before Ravensburger finally released an errata that raised Bucky’s cost to 3 ink and removed his ward ability. This finally made Bucky a target for early-game removal.
So far the reactions players have had with Belle range from a mild, “Find another approach to dealing with her” to a more aggressive, “This card needs to be banned immediately”.
For these kinds of situations where a card is perceived to be causing a negative experience a lot of observation has to take place. Is it really this card (Belle) that’s causing a problem or is it another? Does this card really need to be taken out of the game entirely or can it be given an errata to reign in its inherent strength?
These are just some of the questions game designers have to ask before any actions are to take place. The best solution is to experience, experiment, and collect data from several sources.
In the meantime, Disney Lorcana is fairly early into the experimentation and exploration cycle following the release of Archazia’s Island. Unless there is an extreme and drastic pattern showcased in a lot of organized tournaments then a more patient and restrained approach will have to be plied.
There also exists a possibility that Belle - Apprentice Inventor isn’t as meta-defining as it’s being made out to be. All it takes is one bold player to crack the code to a combination of cards that may end up being the silver bullet to this early-season oppression.