In my previous article, I talk more than a little about this match-up for Harpies. I spent some more time trying to figure it out and the results were more interesting this time around.
Specializing Harpies against Kozmos
I decided to build Harpies into something that could contend with Kozmos, but not be dedicated to outing them. Kozmos play at a much higher synergy level than Harpies, so they’re at a big disadvantage regardless of what you do.
But I digress, here are some cards I put into Harpies that could really work in anything.
Red-Eyes Flare Dragon
2 Level 7 monsters
Cannot be destroyed by card effects while it has Xyz Material. While this card has Xyz Material, each time your opponent activates a card or effect, inflict 500 damage to your opponent immediately after it resolves. Once per turn, during either player’s turn: You can detach 1 Xyz Material from this card, then target 1 “Red-Eyes” Normal Monster in your Graveyard; Special Summon it.
Since Harpies can go into Rank 7s, Flare Dragon adds a way to impede Kozmo progress. It punishes effect activation by burning the opponent for 500 damage each time a card effect is activated. You set this up mid game, after you’ve already done around 4000 damage to them, and this will take care of the rest. It gives you a chance to focus on getting rid of the big ships.
Heartland Draco
2 Level 4 monsters
While you control a face-up Spell Card(s), this card cannot be targeted for attacks. Once per turn: You can detach 1 Xyz Material from this card; this turn, this card can attack your opponent directly, but other monsters cannot attack.
Similar to Harpies boss Monster, Heartland Draco is easier to make and does the same thing. It attacks directly and can’t be attacked. There’s a slight difference. It doesn’t prevent harpie monsters from being targeted by card effects or attacks. But it’s not often Harpies will be sitting out unless you specifically need them too.
Majesty’s Fiend
Cannot be Special Summoned. Monster effects cannot be activated.
Since Kozmos are all about activation, Majesty’s Fiend hits them in the game mechanic they rely on the most. It’s relatively easy to make when you have an Instant Fusion or a Draccosack on board; just tribute the tokens. Kozmos can’t get out high attack monsters easily, so Majesty’s Fiend’s 2400 ATK should be enough. This is another good late game card after you’ve figured out their playstyle.
Discard Outlets + Hysteric Sign + No Elegant Egotist
The following example is what Harpies with Elegant Egotist tend to do.
> Activate Hysteric Sign
> Search Elegant Egotist
> Summon a Harpie Lady
> Play Elegant Egotist & Special Summon Harpie Lady
> XYZ Summon
Bad. Running any of the “Harpie Lady” monsters is bad. Hoping to Harpies Hunting Ground a Hysteric Sign is bad. If running the Harpie Lady monsters is bad, then running Elegant Egotist isn’t worth it, but Hysteric Sign is so good when sent to the graveyard.
Twin Twister
Getting rid of Elegant Egotist, the Vanilla Ladies, and the focus on Hunting Ground, I was able to start testing Twin Twister as a discard outlet. It works really well when the opponent runs backrow.
Karma Cut
This is another experiment to test if discard outlets are viable. Not the best, since it doesn’t directly do anything to Kozmos, but it was the best I could think of at the time.
That’s all for this week. If you’re a Harpie player, I’d love to hear what you’re doing differently or doing the same. What you’ve succeeded or struggled against! Leave a note in the comments or reach out to me on twitter @mattcarterwa
[…] If you want to read more about my testing against Kozmo, you can view that article here. […]