by How to Play/Playstyle
Hey guys, Harpie Queen here for another Deck Spotlight! Today we will be tackling my favorite archetype, which you might’ve guessed from my moniker, Harpies!
Oh boy… Where do I start? I’ve been playing Harpies for years, and despite them being downplayed, I’ve won several local tournaments with my personal deck and achieved Diamond and Master right here on Dueling Nexus! It’s an incredible engine that can flood the field, negate effects, and remove entire back rows. I’ve had frustrated foes who dared to play decks like Crystal Beasts, Eldlitch, and Kashtira to fall to my mighty harpies! So what’re we waiting for? Let’s get into it! As a Harpie Connoisseur, I can reassure you that I know my stuff!
Harpies are all about disruption. That’s the name of the game. According to my sources (being my 2-0’d opponents), it’s incredibly annoying because of its ability to send cards back to the hand and destroy multiple spells/traps in just one turn. The archetype has several cards that allow you to return your cards from whatever opponent you’re up against.
First Draw Pulls
Even though the deck has several awesome cards that you could pull, there are about three that you could pull to make great combos. Keynote: Unlike most archetypes in the meta nowadays, like Marincess, Floowandereeze (barely anyways), and Branded, this isn’t a combo-based deck. Yes, it can make combos, but it doesn’t rely on specific cards like the archetypes I stated above.
Harpie Channeler – Depending on your hand, you do some incredible stuff. This card allows you to discard one card and then special summon 1 “Harpie” monster from your deck in Defense except for itself. If you control a Dragon-Type monster, then the level becomes 7. Awesome right?!
For instance, if you have Harpie Harpist (a card when sent to the grave. You can add an Lvl4 winged-beast to your hand) in your first draw along with Harpie Channeler. Channeler goes on the field, pops its effect, discards Harpist, then special summon (depending on what you’re trap/spell pulls) either Harpie Perfumer or Harpie’s Pet Dragon – Fearsome Fire Blast. You can either gain an extra spell/trap using Harpie Perfumer’s effect or summon an Lvl7 XYZ to the field using Pet Dragon. Incredible right?!
Harpie Perfumer – As I stated above, great card to use as your first summon, especially if you want to bait out any monster effects or Ash Blossoms (negate adding cards to hand) on your first or second turn(s). Its effect states that it can grab any trap/spell with the word ‘Harpie Lady Sisters’ in its text. While this may seem limited, this can be an incredible way to get a Harpie’s Training Ground (bounce any trap/spell on the field when a Harpie is summoned) or Elegant Egotist (special summon 1 Harpie Lady or Harpie Lady Sisters) in your hand. This is the perfect starter for either Cyber Slash Harpie Lady (a boss card I’ll discuss later) or Number 41: Bagooska, the Terribly Tired Tapir, for your first turn to slow down your opponent.
Harpie’s Pet Dragon – Fearsome Fire Blast – This card is incredible! If you control an Lvl6 or lower Harpie monster, you can summon him to the field in defense. As I previously stated, if you have Harpie Channeler, then she becomes Lvl7 as well. Still, he becomes useful if you want to link summon monsters like Harpie Conductor or Tri-Brigade Shuraig the Ominous Omen. He also prevents any of your monsters from being attacked, so your opponent will most likely want to deal with them than any of the other cards on the field first (and this is especially helpful since most decks will want to play Harpie-specific cards that need them on the field like Harpie’s Feather Storm).
Harpie’s Feather Storm – One of the main staples of the deck and something that will make incredible first-turn card openers. This is almost like a free turn whenever you draw into this card and especially makes a great second-turn flip on your opponent, as most decks rely on their effect monsters. Most of the cards in the deck, like Channeler, Perfume, and Elegant Egotist, add or special summon monsters to the field that is easily negatable with hand traps. However, Feather Storm negates any and all monster effects your opponent activates, so hand traps and monster effects cannot be activated!
boss monsters
Ok, you have an idea of what cards you need to make some incredible plays, but what about the mid and late-game? Don’t worry. I got you covered!
Cyber Slash Harpie Lady – So check it. Even though this card is a synchro monster, you can treat 1 “Harpie” monster as a Tuner. Nevertheless, its name becomes “Harpie Lady” on the field, and when a Spell/Trap or effect is activated, you can target either one “Harpie” monster or one monster your opponent controls and send it back to the hand. This is a great disruptor that has paired with Harpie Conductor (basically, when a monster is sent to the hand, it can send a special summoned monster on the field back to the hand) and is an incredible monster to have on the field. If you have the right spells/traps set, you can become completely invincible.
Harpie’s Pet Phantasmal Dragon – An XYZ monster that requires 3 Lvl4 WIND monsters as material. It can attack opponents directly with 2000 ATK and can’t target any “Harpie” monsters with effects or attacks. This is one of your end-game cards that you’ll rarely get to play, but it is still helpful against specific archetypes. That hefty 2000 ATK can also go for game in most cases if there’s a big monster on the field and they have considerably low life points.
Harpie Conductor – Pairs well with Cyber Slash Harpie Lady. On its own, it’s okay if you have a good set-up. If a “Harpie” monster is destroyed by battle or card effect, you can destroy one spell/trap you control instead. And, of course, if a “Harpie monster returns to the hand, you can target one special summoned monster and return that to the hand. It pairs well with even Harpie Harpist for getting irritating monsters on the field. Like with Phantasmal, it’s very conditional, so I also play it at one.
other great cards
I delved into many excellent cards, but just for an overview, I’ll talk about some here. Harpie’s Hunting Ground gives all Winged Beast 200 ATK and DEF and destroys any card on the field when a “Harpie Lady” or “Harpie Lady Sisters” is summoned onto the field. I learned from my earlier years of playing that this card is extremely dangerous. If you destroy all of your opponent’s cards and decide to someone another Harpie, you could end up either destroying your field spell or a spell/trap of your own. So make sure to use it sparingly, for instance, if you were going for Cyber Slash and, for this example, your opponent has only one set card on the field. Summon both the harpies utilizing whatever cards you have, then place the Hunting Grounds down before special summoning Cyber Slash, so it only procs once. Yep… Even with Harpies, you have to use a little brain power sometimes.
Hysteric Sign allows you to add an Elegant Egotist to the field and, if destroyed, lets you pull three “Harpie cards” with different names from your deck. If you bounce it with Hunting Ground, that could be a free Phoenix Sign, Feather Storm, or Hysteric Party. It’s a very good card. And if I didn’t mention, Elegant Egotist allows you to special summon one “Harpie Lady” from your hand or deck. Take notice that most “Harpie” cards only become “Harpie Lady” once on the field, so you’ll need cards that either say “Harpie Lady” or have an effect that allows it to be named “Harpie Lady” at all times.
Main Strategy/Core Combo
The main engine of this deck is Cyber Slash Harpie Lady, Harpie’s Hunting Ground, and Harpie’s Pet Dragon – Fearsome Fire Blast (you’d trade this out with Harpie’s Pet Phantasmal Dragon if you ever get the chance). Having all three on the field and cards that allow for special summonings of Harpies can lead to devastating ripple effects that can frustrate your opponent.
If you start off using cards like Harpie Channeler and already have an Elegant Egotist or a way to get Elegant Egotist for another Lvl4 summon. You can use her to bring Harpie Harpist to the field and either XYZ or to summon Cyber Slash. Either way, once it goes to the Graveyard, you can add an Lvl4 Winged-Beast with 1500 or less ATK from your Deck to your hand. Or you can use Channeler to summon Fire Blast and go for an XYZ Lvl7 like Flare Metal Dragon for some sweet burns or Mecha Phantom Beast to pop some monsters or stay invincible on the field.
It’s important to note that even though that Harpie engine is sufficient, its ability to summon multiple Lvl7s and Lvl4s on the field shouldn’t be wasted, so try to get some great cards on the field while you can. Great XYZ Lvl4s would be Number 41: Bagooska the Terribly Tired Tapir or Abyss Dweller, both great cards, especially Dweller since most of the meta decks ran nowadays like to activate cards from the grave, so it’s just handy to have on the field.
Thanks for reading, and I hope you have a great time playing Harpies!