Following the release of Archazia’s Island, the world of Disney Lorcanais abuzz with activity. The community is fully embroiled in the experimentation and we’re seeing local tournaments being held to test the limits of what creative deck builders can come up with. It hasn't taken long, but it seems like Sapphire-Steel is starting to see a widespread representation as a top-performing deck.
Archazia’s Sapphire Arsenal
In a previous article, we’ve found a debate surrounding Sapphire’s newest addition to its toybox; Belle - Apprentice Inventor.
In recent tournaments, such as the Playing Ducks Home Master series, Belle - Apprentice Inventor has become a true staple. As you can see above, Belle is appearing four a four-of in three out of the top four perfomring decks at the Playing Ducks Home Master event.
Backed up by Tamatoa - Happy as a Clam, these two new Sapphire cards have cemented themselves as an early-game tyrant and a late-game inevitability.
Belle has already gotten a lot of negative optics because of how brutal her early turn 1 presence could be. Sapphire-Steel’s turn 1 Pawpsicle or Fortisphere can immediately be used to bring online early board removal staples like Let the Storm Rage On or Strength of a Raging Fire.
Once early game presence has been established and the round shifts into the mid-game, Tamatoa will come in to continue the grind game with his item recursion and free item drop, freeing valuable ink for other lines of play.
Parts of a Whole
Tamatoa’s inclusion in the deck may be a little suspect because he only fuels the engine provided by the likes of Hiram Flaversham - Toymaker and not much else. Tamatoa does contribute a big body, and if push comes to shove, he can also sing high-costing steel songs like And Then Along Came Zeus. His two lore isn’t too shabby either.
Since Tamatoa is an inkable card, that means even if you draw into him too early, you can safely tuck a copy away in the inkwell. This allows you to maximize your other plays for the turn without too much fuss.
If taken out of the deck, Sapphire-Steel -or at least this variant of the ink combination- can still basically function without him.
Belle on the other hand is another story. Removing this particular bane from the deck list will make any opponent’s day as they have a little more breathing room against Sapphire-Steel.
Without retreading old ground too much, there is currently no singular way of getting rid of Belle - Apprentice Inventor until turns 3 to 4. At the very least, we've yet to see a card that can do so on its own.
Even in a mirror match, you’d have to play your own Belle on turn 1, spend the second turn setting up a board to enhance Strength of a Raging Fire, and then exert Belle to sing the said song to get rid of the opponent’s copy. That’s only if the opponent doesn’t do anything in the meantime.
That’s a 2 turn combo and you’d need to invest at least a total of 7 cards to get that plan going. You'd need 2 cards in the inkwell, an item to get Belle out on turn 1, Belle herself, the song, and two 1 ink cost characters to get on the board to enhance Strength of a Raging Fire.
There’s just so much that needs to be addressed with this one glimmer than her presence alone makes or breaks a lot of Sapphire-Steel decks that make use of the same formula in their construction.
Improbable doesn’t mean Impossible
The bar is set pretty high by Sapphire’s newest additions, but that doesn’t mean they’re wholly unbeatable.
In the same tournament, the winner was actually an Amber-Emerald deck that didn’t even feature cards from Archazia’s Island. This just shows that while specific cards can feel oppressive, it doesn’t make them wholly unbeatable.
That said, we’re still early in the cycle for Archazia’s Island. And while Sapphire-Steel is showing its fangs, the rest of the community who favor other ink combinations are not going down without a fight.