Sapphire is a dragon and flyer, and is affected by cards that target dragons and flyers. At the beginning of combat, Sapphire can give the opposing champion a choice: discard all attached items, or the player must discard a realm from the hand. If the opposing champion does not have any items at the start of combat his player is then forced to discard a realm from the hand, and a player who cannot discard a realm from her hand must discard all attached items (artifacts and magic items). Sapphire can be a game saving champion if the opponent is forced to discard what would have been the winning realm.

Since Sapphire's power activates at the start of battle (before the order of activation), cards that steal magic items (like Drawmij [4th-276]) can't help deal with Sapphire's power. This makes Sapphire a popular champion in any deck using dragons. Sapphire is also one of the few AD&D champions able to use psionic power cards, which again makes this a popular champion in AD&D based decks that use the Highmaster Illithios [DU-c21]. Interestingly, the oft forgotten spell Protection from Lightning [3rd-368] will function as a prevention card for Sapphire's lightning breath.