Harpie

"Harpie" (ハーピィ Hāpyi) is an archetype composed of female Winged Beast-Type monsters and their Dragon pets.

Maximum of 3 Rule
Harpie Ladies usually have the phrase This card's name is treated as "Harpie Lady" in their effect text. 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 "Harpie Lady" in their Deck. "Harpie Queen", "Harpie Channeler" and "Harpie Dancer" are the exception to this rule, since their effects only has their names treated as "Harpie Lady" while they're on the field and in the Graveyard. However this also mean that they are the only "Harpie Lady" that can't be searched by "Birdface" or "Elegant Egotist", although they still can be searched by "Harpie Channeler".

"Harpie Ladies" "1", "2", and "3", in addition to "Cyber Harpie Lady", are treated as if their name is "Harpie Lady" at all times for all rules of the game, including in the Deck, hand and Side Deck.

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 also used some "Harpie" cards as a reminder of his promise to save Mai from her Penalty Game.

A "Harpie Lady" also appears as a Duel Monster Spirit in Yu-Gi-Oh! GX. She battles Jesse Anderson and his "Crystal Beast Sapphire Pegasus". That same "Harpie Lady" later uses the effect of "Elegant Egotist" to multiply into 3, but they were defeated by "Sapphire Pegasus" and "Topaz Tiger".

In Yu-Gi-Oh! 3D Bonds Beyond Time, at the site of Maximillion Pegasus's tournament, one of the spectators cosplays as a "Harpie Lady".

In the Yu-Gi-Oh! 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.

In Lord of the Tachyon Galaxy, "Harpies" gain new members and support, including the release of the first Harpie Xyz Monster, "Harpie's Pet Phantasmal Dragon", which is capable of attacking directly as well as protecting your "Harpie" monsters from attacks and targeting effects, as long as it has Xyz Material. Also introduced is "Harpie Channeler", which can Special Summon "Harpie" monsters straight from your Deck by discarding 1 "Harpie" card from your hand, as well as open up Rank 7 plays through it's level-changing effect. Additionally, a new Spell Card is introduced called "Hysteric Sign", which can search for "Elegant Egotist" and, upon destruction, add 3 "Harpie" monsters with different names from your Deck straight to your hand. Also "Harpie Dancer", A new Harpie monster in the OCG, can give wind monsters extra normal summon capabilities.

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. 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" (Traditional Format) 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".) You can use "Harpie Channeler" however to activate "Inferno Reckless Summon" since she has only 1400 Atk and is treated as "Harpie Lady" while on the field. Since many "Harpie" monsters are treated as "Harpie Lady," you can also use "Three of a Kind" to significantly clear the Field.

With Xyz monsters out and the release of new Harpie support cards in Lord of the Tachyon Galaxy, This archetype can have the ability to Xyz summon rank 4 monsters quick with "Harpie Channeler", "Elegant Egotist", and "Hysteric Party". Harpie Channeler can act like a "Summoner Monk" for Harpies with the cost of 1 Harpie card in your hand, setting up the graveyard for "Hysteric Party". You can also Summon Harpie Channeler through Summoner Monk. Harpie Channeler can also summon out "Harpie's Pet Dragon" straight from your deck making it more easier to summon instead of tributing 2 monsters to summon it, also you can use "Harpie Channeler" and "Harpie's Pet Dragon" for an Xyz summon of a rank 7 monster like "Number 11: Big Eye" and also "Mecha Phantom Beast Dracossack" (OCG), you can even Xyz summon "Number 7: Lucky Straight", a very difficult monster to summon due to requiring 3 level 7 monsters, which in a Harpie deck you just need 2 Harpie Channelers and 1 "Harpie's Pet Dragon" (which can be summoned through Harpie Channeler) and deal a powerful impact to your opponent with its effect. "Hysteric Sign" can help gain hand advantage by getting an "Elegant Egotist" from your hand or graveyard also can give you any 3 Harpie cards with a different name from your deck upon being sent from your hand or side of the field to the Graveyard during the End Phase giving a +3 (You can only use 1 Hysteric Sign effect per turn so if you choose one, you cannot use the other effect til the next turn).

You can use Harpies' Hunting Ground to destroy your "Hysteric Sign", or discard it to use Summoner Monk's Effect to help get your combos out faster. "Harpie's Pet Phantasmal Dragon" is a new powerful Xyz monster for Winds that can be easily summoned with "Harpie Channeler", "Elegant Egotist", "Hysteric Party", and even "Rescue Rabbit" if you are using "Harpie Lady". "Harpie's Pet Phantasmal Dragon" while it has Xyz materials can attack directly also can protect your Harpie monsters from being targeted for attacks and by card effects, but you lose an Xyz material from this card during the end phase. Another powerful Xyz monster that can be easily summoned in a Harpie deck is "Lightning Chidori". Although not strong in ATK, "Lightning Chidori" Has a powerful effect of putting cards they control to their decks ruining their strategies and taking out their strongest monsters, also can give then a dead draw, also you can Xyz summon "Diamond Dire Wolf" which can destroy any card on the field with a cost of one of your Harpie monsters which can easily be re-summoned with "Hysteric Party". Harpie monsters can have a capability of summoning rank 4 monsters that require 3 level 4 monsters with ease like "Number 16: Shock Master", "Number 32: Shark Drake", and even "Evilswarm Ouroboros", and also can summon popular rank 4 monsters like "Number 39: Utopia", "Gagaga Cowboy", "Maestroke the Symphony Djinn" and Number 50: Blackship of Corn.

"Harpies' Hunting Ground" can be a powerful card by destroying Spell/Trap cards on the field that can hinder you from executing your combos, also can force your opponent to activate their set trap cards like "Bottomless Trap Hole", "Torrential Tribute", "Solemn Warning", etc before they be destroyed by "Harpies' Hunting Ground" although it puts the risk of our own Spell/Trap cards. "Harpies' Hunting Ground" can also be searched by "Terraforming", "Hysteric Sign" and "Harpie Queen" (Sending "Harpie Queen" to the graveyard sets up the graveyard for "Hysteric Party"). With "Harpie Channeler" being released in the OCG, you can try to use "Birdface" in your Harpie deck, although people use Flying Kamakiri 1 over this card, you can use this card to set up your hand with a Harpie monster for "Harpie Channeler" or you can have a "Harpie Lady" or a card that is treated as Harpie Lady (Harpie Lady 1 or Cyber Harpie Lady) in your hand for your next turn. Another new Harpie card in the OCG is "Harpie Dancer".

Although she does not have the ability to swarm the field like "Harpie Channeler", She can return wind monsters you control to the hand to normal summon an extra wind monster. You can use "Harpie Dancer" to return Harpie monster you control that is bound by cards like "Call of the Haunted", "Fiendish Chain", or "Hysteric Party" and normal summon another wind monster or even the Harpie monster itself. You can combo this effect with "Altitude Knight", normal summoning an extra wind monster while sending a harpie monster from your deck to the graveyard while "Altitude Knight" is face-up, helping setting up the graveyard for "Hysteric Party". Despite the fact that "Harpie Dancer" is a Harpie card, this card's effect would work better with the Mist Valley archetype.

Other good cards you can add to a Harpie Deck is "Effect Veiler", "Fiendish Chain", and "Breakthrough Skill". These effect negation cards can help patch up weaknesses to Harpies while Harpie Decks have the advantage with spell/trap removal. "Breakthrough Skill" have a very high potential to use than "Effect Veiler" and "Fiendish Chain" due to it's second effect letting you negate a monster's effect by banishing this card from your graveyard (cannot be used on the same turn that this is sent to the graveyard), also this card can be useful against effect monsters powerful effects such as "Rescue Rabbit", "Tour Guide from the Underworld", "Neo-Spacian Grand Mole", "Wind-Up Zenmaines", "Leviair the Sea Dragon", "Number 39: Utopia", "Legendary Six Samurai - Shi En", etc.

"Breakthrough Skill" can also help against anti-special summoning monsters like "Archlord Kristya" to give you a chance to special summon monsters the turn you used it. "Divine Wrath" can also be a usable card, although you must discard 1 card in your hand, this card can stop monster effects that "Breakthrough Skill", "Effect Veiler" and "Fiendish Chain" cannot stop, such as "Effect Veiler", "Gorz the Emissary of Darkness", "Sangan" (Traditional Format), etc. "Ice Beast Zerofyne" in Lord of the Tachyon Galaxy is a powerful Xyz monster that requires 2 level 4 Winged Beast monsters, also has the ability to negate all face-up cards your opponent controls and gain 300 ATK for each other face-up card on the field until your next Standby Phase by detaching 1 Xyz Material From this card, giving more monster negation power to Harpies while destroying spell/trap cards. "Effect Veiler" is also a level 1 tuner monster, giving a chance to summon Synchro monsters like "Vortex the Whirlwind", "Ally of Justice Catastor", and even "Mist Wurm".

Another card that will work well with Harpies is "Windrose the Elemental Lord", which is being released to the OCG in Lord of the Tachyon Galaxy. Although Harpies have enough methods to destroy Spell/Trap cards, This new monster can add a new method to Spell/Trap destruction to this Archetype, except this card can replace the long forbidden "Harpie's Feather Duster". Also this monster boast in high ATK, helping Harpies against monsters with high ATK, and because this card is a Winged Beast, this card can get the power up of "Harpies' Hunting Ground" making this monster's ATK 3000, also this card can be used with "Icarus Attack" for emergencies. Since this card Destroys all Spell and Trap cards your opponent controls, this card can help clean up Spell/Trap cards that can hinder your strategies, help your opponent with their strategies and/or destroys their back row to keep your monsters from being harmed from the Battle Phase.

Weaknesses
Despite the motliness in tactics that "Harpie"s are capable of, there are still Achilles heels within this archetype that can be capitalized on. For instance, all "Harpie" monsters, except "Cyber Harpie Lady", "Harpie Queen", "Harpie's Pet Dragon" and "Harpie's Pet Phantasmal Dragon" are generally low in original ATK and without an ATK boost, can easily get run over by powerful monsters and are also vunerable to cards such as "King Tiger Wanghu" and "Deck Devastation Virus". You can add "Harpie Lady 1", "Bladefly", and/or "Rising Air Current" to avoid these problems, although those cards can also benefit your opponent's WIND monsters too. Harpie monsters can also have problems with big monsters such as "Red-Eyes Darkness Metal Dragon", Blue-Eyes White Dragon, "Legendary Six Samurai - Shi En", "Mermail Abyssmegalo", "Judgment Dragon", "Evolzar Laggia", "Number 30: Acid Golem of Destruction", and others. This problem can be solved by Xyz Summoning "Number 11: Big Eye" through "Harpie Channeler" and use it's effect to permanently take control of your opponent's strongest monster and use it against them.

"Harpie"s are capable of swarming the field making mass destruction cards like "Dark Hole", "Torrential Tribute", "Black Rose Dragon" and "Mirror Force" very deadly against this archetype. Cards like "Bottomless Trap Hole", "Giant Trap Hole", "Dark Trap Hole" and "Special Hurricane" are also dangerous cards that can be used on your "Harpies" Special Summoned by "Hysteric Party". "Harpies' Hunting Ground" can solve most of these problems--also Counter Trap Cards like "Dark Bribe", "Solemn Judgment", and "Seven Tools of the Bandit" can help with these dilemmas too.

Anti-Special summon cards like "Archlord Kristya", "Fossil Dyna Pachycephalo", "Jowgen the Spiritualist" and the "Vanity" cards can also cause problems to this Archetype cutting off their special summoning capabilities. You can use monster removal cards like "Icarus Attack" and "Spiritual Wind Art - Miyabi" to help with those problems. Also you can use "Breakthrough Skill" and "Fiendish Chain" to negate their effect so you can Special Summon.

"Poisonous Winds" and "Milus Radiant" are deadly weaknesses to all WIND Decks. Additionally, "Dimensional Fissure" And "Macro Cosmos" can prevent Harpies from hitting the Graveyard, Preventing the use of "Hysteric Party" and "Harpie Queen"'s effect. "Harpies' Hunting Ground", "Mystical Space Typhoon", "Heavy Storm", and "Dust Tornado" can solve these problems. "Prohibition" and "Psi-Blocker" can shut down Harpie Ladies and most of their support cards, but it does not prevent "Harpie Queen", "Harpie Channeler", and "Harpie Dancer" from being summoned of having their effects become unusable and it can be destoyed by "Mystical Space Typhoon", "Dust Tornado", and "Heavy Storm" (Prohibition), (Psi-Blocker) can easily be destroyed by battle due to its low attack. "Windrose the Elemental Lord" in Lord of the Tachyon Galaxy, can basically deal with both these cards by Destroying "Prohibition" with it's effect (along with other Spell/Traps your opponent controls) and destroying "Psi-Blocker" by battle.

"Silver Sentinel" can cause problems due to it being set on your opponent's Spell/Trap zone. Harpies have the ability to destroy Spell/Traps via "Harpies' Hunting Ground" and if you destroy "Silver Sentinel" on your opponent's Spell/Trap Zone, it can cause you problems with doing big plays for the rest of the turn. "Silver Sentinel" can also Special Summon itself by its effect, giving your opponent a monster to use for their next turn.

Finally, the fact that only 3 "Harpie Lady" cards can be in your Deck can be a weakness in itself because it forces you to decide which of the "Harpie" cards that are always treated as "Harpie Lady" will be best for you. In other words, no matter how you decide, you will not be able to have them all in your Deck and thus, you cannnot maximize the use of all of them because you'll have to for instance, either balance their number of copies in your Deck if you want to exploit all of their abilities or focus mostly on one of them at the trade-off of leaving the rest of the "Ladies" out of the loop.

Recommended cards
There are many Winged-Beast support cards, and can be used easily in combination to overwhelm the opponent.

Monsters

 * Harpie Dancer (OCG)
 * Harpie Lady (If using Rescue Rabbit)
 * Sky Scout (If using Rescue Rabbit)
 * Battlestorm
 * Blackwing - Zephyros the Elite
 * Cyber Harpie Lady
 * Harpie Girl
 * Flying Kamakiri 1
 * Rescue Rabbit (If using Harpie Lady and/or Sky Scout)
 * Harpie Channeler (OCG)
 * Harpie Lady 1
 * Cyber Harpie Lady
 * Harpie Lady Sisters
 * Harpie Queen
 * Harpie's Pet Baby Dragon
 * Harpie's Pet Dragon
 * Mist Valley Soldier
 * Summoner Monk
 * Swift Birdman Joe
 * Genex Ally Birdman
 * Dragunity Darkspear
 * Silpheed
 * Garuda the Wind Spirit
 * Hunter Owl
 * Birdface
 * Summoner Monk
 * Windrose the Elemental Lord (OCG)

Spells

 * Elegant Egotist
 * Harpie's Hunting Ground
 * Hysteric Sign (OCG)
 * Symbol of Heritage
 * Cyber Shield
 * Follow Wind
 * Mountain
 * Swallow's Nest
 * Triangle Ecstasy Spark
 * Quill Pen of Gulldos

Traps

 * Hysteric Party
 * Icarus Attack
 * Phoenix Wing Wind Blast
 * Starlight Road
 * Three of a Kind
 * Trap Stun
 * Treaty on Uniform Nomenclature

Extra Deck

 * Daigusto Phoenix
 * Dragunity Knight - Trident
 * Harpie's Pet Phantasmal Dragon (OCG)
 * Lightning Chidori
 * Diamond Dire Wolf
 * Queen Dragun Djinn
 * Scrap Dragon
 * Stardust Dragon
 * Vortex the Whirlwind
 * Number 7: Lucky Straight
 * Number 11: Big Eye
 * Number 32: Shark Drake
 * Number 16: Shock Master
 * Number 39: Utopia
 * Daigusto Emeral
 * Gem-Knight Pearl
 * Ice Beast Zerofyne (OCG)
 * Mecha Phantom Beast Dracossack (OCG)
 * Evilswarm Ouroboros

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

 * Anti-Spell Fragrance
 * Delta Crow - Anti Reverse
 * Hysteric Party
 * Icarus Attack

Extra Deck

 * Blackwing Armed Wing
 * Blackwing Armor Master
 * Daigusto Phoenix
 * Black-Winged Dragon
 * Stardust Dragon
 * Ice Beast Zerofyne (OCG)
 * Lightning Chidori

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

 * Elegant Egotist
 * Divine Wind of Mist Valley
 * Harpies' Hunting Ground
 * Swallow's Nest

Traps

 * Hysteric Party
 * Icarus Attack

Extra Deck

 * Daigusto Phoenix
 * Mist Valley Thunder Lord
 * Mist Wurm

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

 * Harpies' Hunting Ground
 * Solidarity
 * Swallow's Nest

Traps

 * Hysteric Party
 * Icarus Attack
 * Trap Stun

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")