Nope doesnt work that way, thats why its backed up in the onedrive.
You cant just remove the card, the links to the apps are broken.
Its still windows and stil working with a registry, al those "pointers" the settings are gone.
Thats the reason why the apps are being reinstalled.
You can see or test it for your self, just shut your device down and remove the card.
Than boot the phone, you wil see that all the apps stored on the removed sd are greyed out.
How does wp knows about those apps???
Because of the settings in the registry.
Note;
Apps pulled from the store are also gone.