Harpies and Friends
Shawn Patton
The Only Game in Town
Somerville, NJ
May 2nd, 2004

Roughly 20 people entered
4 Round Swiss, top 8 single elimination
$10 to enter and you get a pack of cards
3rd-4th get one pack, 1st-2nd split 18 (?)

My Deck (43 cards)

Monsters: (17)
Amazoness Paladin x 3
Amazoness Swords Woman
Amazoness Tiger x 2
Birdface x 2
Cyber Jar
Harpie Lady x 3
Harpie Lady Sisters x 2
Jinzo
Sangan
Witch of the Black Forest

Spell Cards (21):
Axe of Despair
Change of Heart
Dark Hole
Elegant Egotist x 3
Graceful Charity
Harpie's Feather Duster
Heavy Storm
Mage Power
Monster Reborn
Mystical Space Typhoon x 3
Pot of Greed
Premature Burial
Raigeki
Snatch Steal
Swords of Revealing Light
United We Stand

Traps (5):
Call Of The Haunted
Imperial Order
Mirror Force
Ring of Destruction
Waboku


Side Deck:
Electric Snake x 2
Kycoo the Ghost Destroyer
Kinetic Soldier
Magical Scientist
Confiscation
Delinquent Duo
Messenger of Peace
Waboku
Poison of the Old Man x2
Soul Release
Spiritualism
Magic Cylinder
Torrential Tribute

Fusion:
Dark Balter the Terrible
Dark Flare Knight
Empress Judge
Empress Judge
Empress Judge
Fiend Skull Dragon
Fusionist
Ryu Senshi
Thousand-Eyes Restrict

You can also view the deck (and card descriptions) here:
http://www.yugioh-deck.com/ViewDeck.php?deckid=710368374

I know what you're thinking, a Harpie/Amazoness deck?! Yeah, that's right.
This deck was amazingly fun to play, the looks on some of my opponent's faces
when they realized the deck I was playing were priceless. Not to mention it
didn't do too badly. Take a look:

First duel:
Me vs. Mike Jr. (Beatdown)

Match 1:
    The younger of the two Mikes was surprised to see my mighty Harpies
and Amazonesses. He was even more surprised to lose the first duel. Granted, it was
close, but I got him in the end with Harpie Lady Sisters. You can't believe how much
fun it is to summon Harpie Lady and then play the Spell card Elegant Egotist. Ha!

Me: 8000 - 6100 - 4600 - 3000 - 1300
Him: 8000 - 5600 - 4700 - 3200 - 1600 - 0

Match 2:
    This duel didn't go as well as the first. Although, I did manage to pull
off the same trick I did in the first, that is, chaining Ring of Destruction to Breaker's
destroying effect so we both take 1600. That's a classic. Unfortunately, Mike pounded me
and then locked with Yata for the win.

Me: 8000 - 6400 - 4300 - 900 - 0
Him: 8000 - 7400 - 7000 - 5400

Match 3:
    Arg.... well, at least I got out the Sisters and attacked with them once.
But he still managed to get the upper hand and Yata lock me again.
Me: 8000 - 6200 - 4600 - Yata - 0
Him: 8000 - 7300 - 5500 - 4200

Second Duel:
Me vs. Steve (Dark Magician Deck)

Match 1:
    Well, here was a Deck worthy of dueling my Harpie's. It was totally like
Mai vs. Yugi... and no, I don't mind being Mai. I got my Harpie Lady Sisters out and
ran over his Skilled Dark Magician by 50 points, ha. Alas, in the end, his deck proved
the stronger.

Me: 8000 - 6050 - 1150 - 0
Him: 8000 - 4300 - 3700

Match 2:
    Wow, what a duel! I have to admit, the highlight for me was running over
another Skilled Dark Magician with HLS, again. But, the highlight for Steve was probably
the highest highlight his deck will ever see. Here's what happened. I had a HLS on the
field with an Axe of Despair pumping it up to 2950 ATK. He had one monster face down after
my attack. On his turn he gets the one card he needed to start the snowball rolling down
the mountain. He plays Cost Down, allowing him to tribute his Witch for Dark Magician.
He then plays Thousand Knives! Yes, that's right! He kills my HLS with Thousand Knives!
Then, he plays Dedication Through Light and Darkness to bring out Dark Magician of Chaos.
Now, of course, he could have attacked with DM first and then played DTLaD and attacked
again, but even so, I lost next turn... but woah, I was glad to be a part of that incredibly
unlikely combo : )

Me: 8000 - 7900 - 6800 - 4000 - 0
Him: 8000 - 6650 - 5300

Third Duel:
Me vs. No one...

Yes, that's right... I got a bye. Whoop-dee-do. I mean, ok, I didn't think my deck was going
to kick major butt or anything, but at least let me play it for goodness sakes... Ah well
I played some Super Mario Bros. II while I waited on my GBA-SP. I got to the last level and
was fighting that big frog guy... but I lost... oh well, I'll get him next time.

Fourth Duel:
Me vs. Kirk (Insect Deck)

Match 1:
    Kirk seemed to be doing about as well as I had been in the tourney and so we
got right to business. Unfortunately for him I got a monster combo in early on. I Reborned
his Dark Driceratops (2400 ATK), had a Harpie Lady with Mage Power, had a Harpie Lady
Sisters, and set as many Spell/Traps as I could (4 total I think). Then I attacked with all
directly for 7650. Boom!

Me: 8000
Him: 8000 - 350 - 0

Match 2:
    This duel lasted quite a bit longer then the first, and in the end the Harpies
and Amazonesses reigned supreme. I Snatched something at one point, though I can't remember
what. The one annoying thing about having a monster with 50 ATK more then 1900 beatsticks
is having to calculate all those 50s...

Me: 8000 - 7400 - 5000 - 4950
Him: 8000 - 5000 - 6000 - 4400 - 2000 - 50 - 0


Well, that was it for the tournament... Didn't make it to the top 8 this week, though I did
have a lot of fun. However, my day was not over, there were plenty of people who wanted to
challenge the power of the Harpies! Fun Duel Mania!

Fun Duel 1: (fun duels in no particular order)
Me vs. Will

Match 1:
    We had some back and forth at the beginning, but then the Amazonesses started
to shine. I believe I had some Tigers and Paladins out, I think.

Me: 8000 - 7500 - 6500
Him: 8000 - 7900 - 5300 - 0

Match 2:
    I got a Paladin hit in first and then took some damage, then got back on
the offensive and pulled off the win.

Me: 8000 - 7500 - 3700 - 4700 - 1100
Him: 8000 - 6200 - 4400 - 2100 - 0

Match 3:
    We played again (this was for fun wasn't it) and this time the Harpies just
couldn't pull off the win... heh, go figure.

Me: 8000 - 5600 - 5400 - 4400 - 0
Him: 8000 - 7700 - 6400 - 5600


Fun Duel 2:
Me vs. Ryan (scientist/turtle deck)

Match 1:
    Yup... not so good, he got the combo off after healing with a Poison of the
Old Man. So I side-decked in Confiscation, Delinquent Duo, 2 Poisons, and Torrential Tribute.

Me: 8000 - Scientist/Turtle - 0
Him: 8000 - 7200 - 8400

Match 2:
    I believe Confiscation and some Poisons helped me out immensely. I also called
some Reasonings correctly so he lost a couple monsters to the Graveyard. I got the Harpie
Lady Sisters out and everything was ok.

Me: 8000 - 7000 - 8200 - 5800
Him: 8000 - 10400 - 7000 - 6200 - 5200 - 4200 - 3200 - 1100 - 1300 - 0

Match 3:
    Well... I don't know what happened... I was doing fine for most of the duel, got
him down to 600!! 600!! And then he made this comeback somehow... I can't remember how... arg...

Me: 8000 - 7000 - 6000 - 5900 - 2350 - 0
Him: 8000 - 7000 - 6000 - 2750 - 2200 - 600


Fun Duel 3:
Me and Steve (Dark Magician) vs. Brian (Speed Warrior) and Rob (Beatdown)

Match 1:
    Oh yeah! 2 on 2 Duel! Yugi and Mai joined up to go against the evil forces
of beatdown. Early on I Ring of Destructioned a Berserk Gorilla, and then someone else
Ringed one of Steve's Dark Magicians... heh... I believe Brian was the first to go, opting
to hit me instead of finishing off Steve after which Steve finished off Brian. Then, instead
of finishing me off, Rob tried to finish off Steve. Also a mistake, because I came back with
a Dark Hole and summoned Harpie Lady to attack for the win. Whew. Awesome duel guys...

Me: 8000 - 6000 - 4100 - 3500 - 1900
Steve: 8000 - 6000 - 4100 - 2200 - 1100

Brian: 8000 - 6000 - 4100 - 100 - 0
Rob: 8000 - 6000 - 4100 - 2050 - 150 - 0

Fun Duel 4:
Me vs. Rob (Beatdown)
Rob wanted some payback, and he certainly got it this round. He even got out the new Joan
and attacked over something powered up to 2600 (can't remember what, just that he got 200
life points).

Me: 8000 - 7600 - 6600 - 2700 - 0
Him: 8000 - 6100 - 7100 - 6300 - 6500

Match 2:
    Alright, this round I couldn't believe. An amazing hand brought the following to
the field: An Amazoness Tiger, two Harpie Lady Sisters (from two Elegant Egotists), Harpie
Lady equipped with Axe, and an Amazoness Paladin. That, my friends is an even 10000 damage
in one attack. BOOOM!!!!! That's one attack Mai would have been proud of.

Me: 8000
Him: 8000 - 0

Match 3:
    Well... this duel didn't go as well as the last one. Heh, ah well...
That is why they call them Beatdowns...

Me: 8000 - 5700 - 300 - 0
Him: 8000 - 5700


Whew... I think there were a couple other random duels with random people, but I can't seem
to make full sense of my notes... I think I may have dueled another Rob and another Will, but
I can't be sure. I do distinctly remember a duel where I had 3 Amazoness Paladins on the field,
bringing each to 2000, that was pretty sweet.

Conclusion:
So, big revelations... two Harpie Lady Sisters was perfect, the Big Bang Shot I side-decked
out almost every duel... it just didn't really do it for me... I usually put in a Waboku or
Torrential Tribute... I managed to get out the sisters very often, and it really did help,
anytime you can Special Summon monsters without your opponent anticipating it is great,
and the appearance of those Ladies always met with surprise. Honestly, if you want to
make a Mai deck, make an all Harpie or all Amazoness... they look nice together, but I knew
the deck could be really good if I had specialized on one instead of including both... but
I really wanted both : )
Also... Amazoness Swords Woman... not the best card... I hardly ever had it do anything great
for me... I'm glad I was able to borrow it instead of trade for it (Thanks Steve)
Overall, I'd say this was one of the most fun decks I have used, and since it won about 50% of
all the games I played it wasn't that bad either. So, experiment a success!


Props:
Dueling Awesome people!
Having an awesome time with a super fun deck!

Slops:
Losing that one duel to Ryan, I should have had him ; )


Feel free to contact me (Shawn):
spatton@andrew.cmu.edu