Harpies are one of the most popular monster themes of all time, dating back to Mai Valentine in the original Yu-Gi-Oh! series. Lord of the Tachyon Galaxy brings the first new Harpie cards in a long time, and the star of this hysteric party is none other than Harpie Channeler!

You can discard 1 “Harpie” card; Special Summon 1 “Harpie” monster from your Deck in face-up Defense Position, except “Harpie Channeler”. You can only use this effect of “Harpie Channeler” once per turn. While you control a Dragon-Type monster, this card’s Level becomes 7. This card’s name becomes “Harpie Lady” while it is on the field or in the Graveyard.

Harpie Channeler’s Special Summon effect is a powerful tool for making Xyz Summons. Use it to Special Summon any of the monsters treated as Harpie Lady, and you can make powerful Rank 4’s.

You could use two Level 4 Harpies to make almost any Rank 4 you want, but since they’re all WIND Attribute monsters, you can also play them for the powerful Lightning Chidori. Its effect sends stuff back to the Deck, keeping your opponent from important cards and clogging up their draws.

Since Harpie Channeler’s name becomes “Harpie Lady”, and it can Special Summon Harpie Lady from your Deck, you can use it to trigger the effect of the Field Spell Card Harpie’s Hunting Ground. By Special Summoning Harpie Lady, you can destroy 1 Spell or Trap Card. That puts you one step ahead of your opponent, and clears the way for your Xyz Summon.

But Harpie’s Channeler isn’t limited to Level 4 Special Summons. You can also Summon the Level 7 Harpie’s Pet Dragon, and when you do the Channeler will match its Level. That lets you make Rank 7 Xyz Summons, giving you an instant Number 11: Big Eye.

That’s not all! Special Summoning Harpie’s Pet Dragon will also unlock the Rank 7 Mecha Phantom Beast Dracossack from Lord of the Tachyon Galaxy. This new powerhouse has two effects: Once per turn, you can detach 1 of its Xyz Materials to Special Summon 2 Mecha Phantom Beast Tokens. Dracossack can’t be destroyed while you have at least one Token on the field. On top of that, you can Tribute a “Mecha Phantom Beast” monster to target and destroy 1 card on the field. Dracossack can’t attack when you use that effect, but since you can Tribute the Tokens, you’re blowing away cards for free.

Scott will tell you more about Mecha Phantom Beast Dracossack in a few days.

If you want to get to Harpie Channeler reliably, you can Special Summon it with Summoner Monk or search it out with the new Continuous Spell Card, Hysteric Sign. When you activate Hysteric Sign, you can add an Elegant Egotist from your Deck or Graveyard to your hand. That’s useful, but the Sign’s second effect is what makes it such a gem: if Sign is in your Graveyard during your End Phase because it was sent there from your field or hand this turn, you get to search up to 3 “Harpie” cards with different names from your Deck. You could activate Hysteric Sign and destroy it with Mecha Phantom Beast Dracossack or Harpie’s Hunting Ground to search three more cards, or discard it for something like Raigeki Break or Phoenix Wing Wind Blast.

You can also pitch Hysteric Sign for Summoner Monk to trigger its effect. You can even pitch extra copies of Harpie’s Hunting Ground if you draw more than one, using Monk to turn that useless Spell Card into another Special Summon. Hunting Ground can be discarded for Harpie Channeler, too: you don’t have to discard a “Harpie” monster.

Together, Summoner Monk and Harpie Channeler offer a lot of Special Summoning power. You could use Summoner Monk to Special Summon Channeler, then play Channeler’s effect to bring out another Level 4 Harpie. That sets you up to for three-Material Xyz Monsters like Number 16: Shock Master and Vylon Disigma. Or – if you have enough cards – you could play one Summoner Monk to bring out another; use that Monk to bring out Harpie Channeler; and then Special Summon Harpie’s Pet Dragon. Overlay Channeler and Dragon for Mecha Phantom Beast Dracossack and detach Pet Dragon to Special Summon 2 Tokens. Do that, and you can stack your Monks to Special Summon Queen Dragun Djinn, then use her effect to Special Summon back Harpie’s Pet Dragon. That’s a combined total of 6800 ATK and a pair of Token defenders!

Harpies get a huge boost from Lord of the Tachyon Galaxy, so if you’re a Harpie fan make sure you know which cards to look for at the Sneak Peeks on May 11^th and 12^th. Mecha Phantom Beast Dracossack, Hysteric Sign, and Harpie Channeler take Harpies to a whole new level!