Harpie
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"Harpie" (ハーピィ Hāpyi) is an archetype of female Winged Beast-Type monsters. "Harpie's Brother" is not a Harpie, since his Japanese name is "Birdman" (バードマン Bādoman).
Contents
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 her Penalty Game. The three "Harpies Ladies" also appear as Duel Monster Spirits in Yu-Gi-Oh! GX, where they battle Jesse Anderson.
In the Yu-Gi-Oh! GX Tag Force series, Jasmine plays a "Harpie" Deck.
When "Harpies" were released, they were an archetype without a lot of support (however, they were also the first fleshed-out archetype). However, with the release of Rise of Destiny, "Harpies" became a more balanced and powerful archetype. Since then, Structure Deck 8: Lord of the Storm has aided the "Harpie" archetype with cards such as "Hysteric Party". Furthermore, "Harpie Queen" was released in Force of the Breaker, and "Cyber Shield" was reintroduced as a common card in Storm of Ragnarok.
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. However, some earlier printings of a few of the "Harpie" cards outside of Japan (Specifically the original "Harpie Lady" and "Harpie Girl") were printed without being censored.
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" allows the controller of the summoned Harpie or harpies to destroy one Spell or Trap Card when a "Harpie Lady" card is Summoned in any way. They are one of the very few cards that can be Summoned en masse' from the Graveyard through the effect of "Hysteric Party". Their support cards, "Harpie's Pet Baby Dragon" and "Harpie's Pet Dragon", rapidly gain in power and usefulness through effects including protecting 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 powerful effects, but they are individually not too strong, so they are vulnerable to opponents who Summon strong single Monsters early to whittle down the number of "Harpies" on the field.
WIND Monsters have good capacity to Special Summon, and as such the Deck can be fast. Although some of the Monsters are weak, cards such as "Harpie Lady 1", "Bladefly", "Hunter Owl" and "Rising Air Current" can leave you with a field full of enormous Monsters. The tendency of WIND Monsters to destroy Spell and Trap cards ("Raiza the Storm Monarch" & "Harpies' Hunting Ground", even "Icarus Attack") leaves you able to attack in relative safety.
A weakness of this deck is that most of the time your cards target all WIND Monsters, and not just your own, such as the ATK boost from cards like "Harpie Lady 1", "Bladefly", and "Rising Air Current". This makes commonly played cards like "Elemental Hero Stratos" and "Raiza the Storm Monarch" benefit from your own card effects. You may also add Monster-destroying cards such as "Fissure" & Icarus Attack". Since WIND Monsters usually have low ATK, they may not able to destroy today's commonly used Monsters. However, support from the new "Harpie" cards can be very powerful.
Many cards from various packs can be quite useful if made an addition to a "Harpie Lady" deck. Many WIND Monsters, such as "Hunter Owl", "Simorgh, Bird of Ancestry" and "Twin-Headed Behemoth", have useful effects that can help out in tough situations. In particular, "Stardust Dragon" fits perfectly into this type of deck: it is a high level WIND Monster, and its effect allows you to negate a destructive effect, such as that of "Dark Hole" each turn as long as you can keep reviving "Stardust Dragon" with its own effect, making it a great boost to the Deck's theme of destroying and negating your opponent's Spell and Trap cards. Also, it can be used as a instant Beatstick with "Starlight Road".
If a player is going to use Synchro Monsters, then they must use proper tuners. "Vortex the Whirlwind" is a level 5 Synchro Monster with a swarming effect. "Glow-Up Bulb" is easily on of the best tuners to use as you can use it twice, or use "Foolish Burial" to send it to your Graveyard. "Mist Valley Soldier" can be used with a "Harpy" to make "Stardust Dragon", and, in an emergency, can be used with "Icarus Attack". "Blackwing - Gale the Whirlwind" can be used with "Icarus Attack" and can cut in half an opponent's monster such as "Caius the Shadow Monarch", "Stardust Dragon", and even "Red-Eyes Darkness Metal Dragon". More importantly, you can splash "Blackwing Armor Master", who is immune to crippling cards such as "Shrink" and "Honest", and "Black Rose Dragon", who can clear the field. "Dragunity Darkspear" can be used as either a substitute of "Monster Reborn" or used to summon the incredibly powerful "Dragunity Knight - Trident", who can eliminate the most popular archtypes in the game, such as "Gladiator Beast" and "Blackwings".
A possible card to use in this deck is "Inferno Reckless Summon". You can first use "Elegant Egotist", "Swallow's Nest" or "Hysteric Party" to Special Summon any "Harpie Lady" whose attack is 1500 or less after applying continuous effects. Then use the effect of "Inferno Reckless Summon" to summon more "Harpies". (You cannot use "Inferno Reckless Summon" with "Harpie Lady #1" because it will gain the extra 300 ATK instantly after being summoned to the field, but, should you Special Summon a different "Harpie Lady" such as "Harpie Lady 2" you would be able to use it as the target monster for "Inferno Reckless Summon's" effect, and then Special Summon one or more "Harpie Lady 1".)
Recommended cards
There are many Winged-Beast support cards, and can be used easily in combination to overwhelm the opponent.
Monsters
- Alector, Sovereign of Birds
- Raiza the Storm Monarch
- Battlestorm
- Birdface
- Bladefly
- Card Trooper
- Cyber Harpie Lady
- Dragunity Darkspear
- Earthbound Immortal Aslla piscu
- Flying Kamakiri 1
- Garuda the Wind Spirit
- Harpie Lady
- Harpie Lady 2
- Cyber Harpie Lady
- Harpie Lady Sisters
- Harpie Queen
- Harpie's Pet Baby Dragon
- Harpie's Pet Dragon
- Hunter Owl
- Mist Valley Soldier
- Lady Ninja Yae
- Shield Wing
- Silpheed
- Simorgh, Bird of Ancestry
- Simorgh, Bird of Divinity
- Sonic Shooter
- Swift Birdman Joe
- Genex Ally Birdman
Spells
- Cyber Shield
- Elegant Egotist
- Harpie's Hunting Ground
- Phalanx Pike
- Solidarity
- Swallow's Nest
- Symbol of Heritage
- Triangle Ecstasy Spark
- United We Stand
- Rising Air Current
- Quill Pen of Gulldos
Traps
- Hysteric Party
- Icarus Attack
- Phoenix Wing Wind Blast
- Starlight Road
- Trap Stun
- Treaty on Uniform Nomenclature
Extra Deck
Black Harpies
Recommended cards
Monsters
- Battlestorm
- Blackwing - Blizzard the Far North
- Blackwing - Bora the Spear
- Blackwing - Gale the Whirlwind
- Blackwing - Sirocco the Dawn
- Harpie Lady Sisters
- Cyber Harpie Lady
- Dark Simorgh
- Harpie Queen
Spells
- Allure of Darkness
- Black Whirlwind
- Cards for Black Feathers
- Elegant Egotist
- Harpies' Hunting Ground
- Swallow's Nest
- Magic Planter
Traps
Extra Deck
Valley of Harpies
Recommended cards
Monsters
- Cyber Harpie Lady
- Dragunity Darkspear
- Genex Ally Birdman
- Harpie Lady 1
- Harpie Queen
- Mist Valley Falcon
- Mist Valley Shaman
- Mist Valley Soldier
- Reborn Tengu
Spells
Traps
Extra Deck
Harpie Lady Beatdown
Recommended cards
Monsters
- Alector, Sovereign of Birds
- Battlestorm
- Blackwing - Gale the Whirlwind
- Cyber Harpie Lady
- Dragunity Darkspear
- Harpie Lady 1
- Harpie Queen
- Hunter Owl
- Mist Valley Falcon
- Mist Valley Soldier
- Raiza the Storm Monarch
Spells
Traps
Non-canon appearances
In Yu-Gi-Oh! The Falsebound Kingdom, the Harpie Ladies are given names, each based on those of three Harpy sisters from Greek mythology.
Harpie Lady 1 - Airo (from Aello, "storm swift")
Harpie Lady 2 - Ocupete (from Ocypete, "the swift wing")
Harpie Lady 3 - Keraino (from Celaeno, "the dark")
