Harpie
| Harpie | |||
|---|---|---|---|
|
The Harpie Lady Sisters
| |||
| Japanese |
ハーピィ | ||
| Japanese (translated) |
Harpy | ||
| English |
Harpie | ||
| English (manga) |
Harpy | ||
| |||
| Appears in (sets) | |||
| Appears in (anime) | |||
| Appears in (manga) | |||
The Harpies are a special group of female monsters identified by having "Harpie" (ハーピィ) in their Japanese name. "Harpie's Brother" is not a Harpie, since his Japanese name is バードマン (Birdman).
Maximum of 3 Rule
Some Harpies have the phrase This card's name is treated as "Harpie Lady" in their text. Since their name is also treated as "Harpie Lady" while in the player's Deck, a player can only have a combination of 3 cards whose name is treated as "Hapie Lady" in their Deck. "Harpie Queen" is an exception to this rule, since her effect only has her treated as "Harpie Lady" while on the field and in the Graveyard.
However, many argue that because a monsters effect isn't activated until it is summoned, all cards are regarded by their card title. For example, "Cyber Harpie Lady's" effect states it's name is treated as "Harpie Lady". It does not mention anything about the effect being activated during the deck construction. Therefore, during deck construction, their effect isn't activated.
As a result of this conflict of rules, most proffessional tournaments only allow three cards with a "treated as Harpie Lady effect". However, during casual play without forbidden lists, The Harpie's effects aren't activated untill they hit the field. This means that during casual play, a player could have three of each Harpie Lady card, just like any other card without a limit of one or two per deck. Meaning a deck in a casual duel could have up to 18 cards treated as Harpie Lady (Harpie Lady x3, Cyber Harpie Lady x3, Harpie Lady 1,2,3 x3, Harpie Queen x3).
Media Appearances
In the anime the "Harpies" are the signature cards of Mai Valentine. She often begins with one "Harpie" card and uses support cards to accessorize and multiply it. Joey Wheeler has also used some Harpie cards as a reminder of his promise to save Mai from the Shadow Realm.
In the Yu-Gi-Oh! GX Tag Force series, Jasmine plays a Harpie Deck.
Structure Deck 8: Lord of the Storm contains an amount of "Harpie Lady" related cards.
Censoring
Most Harpies in the international release of the game, including all language prints except Japanese, and in the anime have been edited to appear to wear bodysuits while in the Japanese versions they wear much more revealing clothing. "Cyber Harpie Lady" and "Harpie Lady Sisters" have had the spikes extruding from their armor removed due to the suggestiveness.
Play Style
Harpies combine the ability to be rapidly summoned, to destroy the opponent's Spell and Trap Cards, to increase each others attack points and abilities, and to work together to protect each other. They do not have the ability to destroy spell and trap cards innately, but the Field Spell Card Harpies' Hunting Ground causes one Spell or Trap Card to be destroyed every time Harpie Lady, Harpie Lady 1, Harpie Lady 2, Harpie Lady 3, Cyber Harpie Lady, Harpie Queen, and/or Harpie Lady Sisters are Summoned in any way. They are one of the very few cards that can be Summoned en masse from the Graveyard. Their support cards, Harpie's Pet Baby Dragon and Harpie's Pet Dragon, rapidly gain in power and usefulness through effects including prrotecting other harpie cards and card destruction as the Harpies swarm the field. Properly played, Harpies can overwhelm the opponent in moments with high attack power and poweful effects, but they are individually quite weak, so they are vulnerable to opponents who Summon strong single Monsters early to whittle down the number of Harpies on the field.
