Mist Valley Harpies

Here’s my list for “Mist Valley Harpies”, which are not be confused with “Divine Wind Harpies”.  Just as one would not want to confuse a Chateau Climens with a Chateau Coutet, so one should not confuse the subtle varieties of Yugioh decks.  DWH plays Divine Wind of the Mist Valley as a means of getting out more Harpies.  MVH uses Divine Wind to make its Mist Valley plays.  Most of these plays revolve around Mist Valley Falcon’s need to return a card to the hand before she* can make an attack.  The classic is to equip Big Bang Shot to your opponent’s monster. When the card is returned, the monster is removed.  Wash, rinse, and repeat.  

The problem with the Mist Valley monsters is that their support is terrible.  Mist Valley Shaman, Baby Roc, and Windmaster are little more than pack fillers.  And why does Executor say “Return face-up spell a trap cards”?  Would it have killed Konami to have written “Return all spell and trap cards”?  As a result, Mist Valley monsters have been forced to play with Blackwings, Ninjas, or other unholy dark monsters.

Enough ranting… here’s the deck I played with this weekend: 

 A couple of notes on choices:

• Two MV Soldiers: I started playing with just one.  The card is something of a dead draw.  However, I wanted this deck to make more level 8 synchro monsters and two Call of the Haunted’s were not enough.  The card does combine with Safe Zone to form a pseudo-Grand Mole.
• No Pet Dragons: I wanted a deck that focuses on plus one plays and avoided dead hands.  The Channeler into Pet Dragon into Dracossack is a great play.  If I had a Dracossack, I’d probably work in Pet Dragon because this deck needs a good turn one play.  On several first turns I found myself saying, “Great, I can XYZ summon into … uh …” 
• One Summoner Monk: I’ll be honest – Summoner Monk is not one of my favorite cards.  A Neg 1 summons is a good way to lose the game.  However, this deck needs some means of getting rid of Hysteric Sign.  Monk serves that purpose.
• Two Magic Planters: It’s a good time to plant some magic!  The only card that really stops this card is Macro Cosmos and that card is not seeing a lot of play.  This card was rarely dead because I play eight targets. 
• Summon Limit instead of Vanities’ Emptiness:  MV Harpies have the chance to great real havoc, but they can be inconsistent.  Summon Limit is much more stable and usually slows down most decks.  When it’s time for the whirlwind of feathered chaos, the card can be ditched with Magic Planter or destroyed by Hunting Ground.  I should point out that Hysteric Party is a single summon. 
• Two Swallow’s Nest:  This card doesn’t see much use but it works really well with this deck.  Swallow’s Nest lets you get to Falcon and Soldier quickly while putting a Harpie in the graveyard for the upcoming party. 

The Verdict

I think this build is comparable to most Harpie decks.  The deck has good match-ups against nearly all decks with the exception of the Dragon Rulers <*sigh*>.  One should probably consider adding Trap Stun to avoid getting burned by chainable traps.  Trap Stun and Hunting Ground really gives you tremendous advantage against anyone running more than a handful of traps.  

The future of the deck going into next format depends a great deal on what happens to Divine Wind.  Limiting that card would pretty much put an end to this deck.  Pure Harpies, on the other hand, may do quite well.  Builds featuring Triple Magical Hats are quite solid.  In fact, if you shackle the dragons and release the Noble Knights, you could see a Harpie deck top a YCS. 

Hey, Artorigus! Why don’t you give King Phineus a call and find out what he thinks of the Harpies. 

* Yes – I said she ... ok, she's a little cut but haven't you seen a buff woman before?